APPRAISER: George, what do we have here?
GUEST: We have a bridge that was given to my great-great-grandfather. It's a bridge over the Whirlpool Rapids in Niagara Falls. My, uh, great-great-grandfather was president at the time, and the board of directors gave him this.
APPRAISER: President of…
GUEST: The Niagara Falls Bridge Company.
APPRAISER: Oh, okay.
GUEST: We have both this one and another model, which– this is a suspension bridge, and the arch bridge we have at home, also. And they've been just sitting on the countertop.
APPRAISER: Well, um, you're being pretty modest about this. (laughing) Because what this is, it's not the first bridge over the Whirlpool Rapids...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...but the second bridge over the Whirlpool Rapids. The third bridge, which is still in existence, opened around 1897 or '98.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: But your family has been involved with all three of those bridges. There's a plaque on the front.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: It's basically what?
GUEST: "Thank you for being president."
APPRAISER: Yeah, to your...
GUEST: Great-great-grandfather.
APPRAISER: ...great-grandfather, George Burrows.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: So, this was probably commissioned when the third bridge opened.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And it was given to him in appreciation of...
GUEST: The years.
APPRAISER: ...all the, all the years that he'd served with the company. We see here an incredible scale model, but it's made out of silver.
GUEST: Not wood.
APPRAISER: (laughing) It's made out of sterling silver..
GUEST: Well, that's, that's nice.
APPRAISER: Yeah. So it's not clear whether it was ever meant to be shiny and polished, because– or whether it had this sort of patina. You've never done anything to it.
GUEST: No, I, I did the plaque in front so I could read it, that was it.
APPRAISER: Yeah, yeah, and you can see in here the silver popping through...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...where people have probably touched the, the rapids here.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: And it was made by Ryrie Brothers, Toronto.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: They were jewelers and made silverware.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So this was something that would have been made entirely by hand...
GUEST: Nice.
APPRAISER: ...by a silversmith working for this silver company. This sort of detailed scale models of buildings, ships, and that sort of thing was a very sort of 19th-century thing to do. And they're always presentation pieces for important events, like your great-great-grandfather's retirement as president of the company. So what's it worth? What do you think it's worth? Knowing that it's all silver.
GUEST: $1,000? I don't know– sentimental value is high.
APPRAISER: I think maybe a little bit more.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER (clears throat): I think, since I… I'm gonna assume this a, these are family pieces. They'll never leave the family.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: I would tell you, for insurance purposes, you should insure this for $25,000.
GUEST (chuckling): Wow, that's a lot more than I thought. Wow.
APPRAISER: Now multiply that by two, because you have another one.
GUEST: Yes. Eh, I'm gonna have to polish 'em up, I guess, and cleanse them nice...
APPRAISER: Don't you dare polish them! (laughs)
GUEST: Okay. I won't, I won't. (laughs)
APPRAISER: I want to emphasize that the value is not in the silver, the value is in the model itself.
