GUEST: My mother actually purchased it in 1998 in Santa Fe. She was shopping and saw this in the window, and she walked in the store and she said, "I want that," and they said, "Well, we just hung it up." She said, "Well, take it down, because I want that." So the little that we know about it is that it was, we think, made in India, hand embroidered using pieces of dignitaries' wives' dresses, mainly the collars and the cuffs of their dresses. And supposedly there's 24-karat
threads in here.
APPRAISER: And what did you pay for it?
GUEST: $1,250.
APPRAISER: Okay, I've never seen anything like this object on the ROADSHOW and I've been doing it 21 years. You've heard of crazy quilts. Crazy quilts are
pieced quilts that are American. This is really the northern India version of a crazy quilt. Now, we can't confirm everything that you said about the dignitaries, but they are definitely pieced segments and they are of various ages. You could certainly have pieces in here as early as 19th century, some that are 20th century. We believe it was definitely put together in the 20th century.
GUEST: Right, right.
APPRAISER: You mention the gold thread. I think certainly a lot of the thread is metallic. And I want to talk briefly about two different markets.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: In fine art, you have objects that would be, like, classical rugs from this area, you have paintings. These are objects that would go into the fine art market. Now, if this went into the fine art market, it probably wouldn't have a great deal of value. What really makes this piece so exceptional is the size and the impact, and I'll tell you right now, this is absolutely a killer piece.
GUEST: Oh, good!
APPRAISER: I love this piece. I would say at a good auction or in a decorative showroom, you could see this thing easily at $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST: Oh, that's great! That's wonderful.
