GUEST: There was a couple of fellows who came to Alabaster, which is about 20 miles south of here, in 1922. They came in with a carnival and decided to stay in Alabaster. A Mr. Simpson, who owned a curb market in Alabaster, befriended them and gave them room to practice their trade as cobblers. They made this as an appreciation gift for Mr. Simpson and presented it to him 12/30/22, it's dated. As a child I delivered papers in downtown Alabaster. We were from a poor family, didn't have any toys. And I would look at this thing for hours-- I loved it. He had it on display. It was just about head high for me. About ten years ago a fellow came into my office and he started telling me about this little blacksmith shop he had purchased. And I stopped him and I said, "You don't need to tell me "about that blacksmith shop. "I've looked at it for hundreds of hours as a child. "And if you ever want to sell it, I'd love to have an opportunity to buy it." Well, about two years later he came back and said, "That blacksmith shop's in my house, nobody ever sees it. If you'll display it in your office, I will sell it." We paid $500 for it.
APPRAISER: People bring stuff to the folk art table all the time that are handmade, that are not as successfully executed as this is. When I started looking inside this thing and I saw the forge and how much trouble they'd gone to make everything in there, there's even a little fan in there that looks like it was made in one of those factories back in the '20s.
GUEST: External blades, exactly.
APPRAISER: Yeah. It's amazing detail. I would say for insurance purposes you should probably go in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
GUEST: That's great, that's great.
