GUEST: I bought him from an antiques dealer in Santa Barbara County. A lady was selling her mother's collection, and she had a bunch of small items. She didn't know whether they were reproduction or original items. She collected items from Mexico.
APPRAISER: And what year was this?
GUEST: When I purchased it, it was about four years ago.
APPRAISER: Oh, okay.
GUEST: Yeah. But she-- her mother's collection is probably 40 years old or so.
APPRAISER: So has anyone looked at it, or...
GUEST: No, I had a teacher who looked at a couple pictures of it and said the paint is spectacular even if, you know, it's not... if it's a reproduction. He liked it, so...
APPRAISER: What did you pay for this piece?
GUEST: I paid $80 for him.
APPRAISER: Well, if I had to put a name on this piece it would be called "All the Bells and Whistles."
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Because it's got everything going for it. It's got this amazing crest at the top, this headdress, the nose ring, the shield here, this staff of authority, and this great painting. It's pretty wild.
GUEST: Thank you.
APPRAISER: Now, it's supposed to come from the west coast of Mexico, in the state of Nayarit.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And the authentic pieces from this area are 200 BC to 200 AD.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Now we've got to find out whether it's real.
GUEST: Right, right.
APPRAISER: Unfortunately...
GUEST: No.
APPRAISER: I'm going to break your heart. Unfortunately, it's a reproduction, and I'm going to tell you why.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: This top part here, this crest, is something that you normally see on Jalisco warriors. Jalisco warriors are from the next province, the next state over.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So in other words, this really doesn't belong on this figure.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And they did everything. They put this headdress, and the paint is amazing, so it's... it was suspicious in the beginning, and you look at it stylistically and you go, "I don't know." But it's big, it's imposing. Now, the other thing that I did, and I don't know whether you saw me do it, but I don't know whether you're going to be able to hear it, but I pinged on the bottom of this right here. Now, people have seen me do this on the show, and I'm sure the viewers right now are going, "Oh, my God, he's pinging again." And what this is, is it has a very high sound, like, crystal.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: What that means is it was fired in an electric kiln.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Didn't have electricity 2,000 years ago. Normally these things would be fired in a pit kiln, and it would be covered up with coals, and it would be fired that way. When you bang on it, you tap it, it sounds much lower.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Okay?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: So therefore, that stylistically, the fact that it's sort of a marriage of various things...
GUEST: I… I was looking at the ears, and the application of the earrings looked kind of odd, and it didn't look like the regular deposits. And the fact that it's got this weird glue on the back, so... but I liked him anyway.
APPRAISER: Well, yeah, we can just turn this, and you can see in profile. It's very interesting. I will show one thing to the camera real quickly. You see this line. These black dots are manganese.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Now, there's almost a flow pattern here, and what they do is they flick it on with a paintbrush or a toothbrush. So that's also diagnostic for a reproduction.
So unfortunately I have broken your heart. I apologize for that. As a decorative piece, in a decorative value, retail, this would be a $200 to $300 piece.
GUEST: Okay. Okay, great.
APPRAISER: If the piece were real...
GUEST: Uh-huh?
APPRAISER: ...this would be a $15,000 to $20,000 piece.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So now are you really depressed?
GUEST: No, because I had prepared myself either way, so I still like him. I just owe my girlfriend a drink.
