GUEST: I actually got it at a rummage sale.
APPRAISER: A rummage sale in where?
GUEST: Central Illinois.
APPRAISER: And what did you pay for it at the rummage sale?
GUEST: Five dollars.
APPRIASER: So why did you buy it?
GUEST: Because it has a frog in it.
APPRAISER: Because it has a frog in it.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: It was made by one of two brothers, either Wallace or Cornwall Kirkpatrick, at the Anna Pottery in Anna, Illinois.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And so you bought this in central Illinois. The Anna Pottery is way down in southern Illinois. The Kirkpatrick brothers moved there in 1859 from Ohio, and they established a pottery that was then in business there until around 1900. And their everyday line of work was making utilitarian pottery. But both the brothers had this sort of quirky sense of social commentary, and then they made these. It says, "Cairo's Most Distinguished Musician." Of course refers to Cairo, Illinois, right?
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Which is downriver, on the Ohio, from Anna. But what they're referring to is not Mr. Shiplor, but it's the frog inside the mug that they're referring to as "Cairo's Most Distinguished Musician." That's their sense of humor. It's very, very typical of what they did. What's atypical is the frog itself. You see there, the green paint?
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: Very few of these were ever painted.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: They were painted after the piece was fired, so it's sort of called cold-painted. It's just a marvelous little example of the work of Anna's sort of satirical or fun pieces of pottery. A good auction estimate for this, think about $1,500 to $2,000.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh! (laughs) For my little frog! (both laugh)
APPRAISER: It's a great, great mug. And thank you for bringing it in.
GUEST: (laughing) Well, thank you very much!
