GUEST: I inherited them. They were my great-uncle's. And he had done some work in Costa Rica, planting trees for some kind of a government project. I know very little beyond that.
APPRAISER: And when... when was he there?
GUEST: I could not even tell you. I didn't even think about trying to run that down before I came.
APPRAISER: Okay. Do you have any idea what they are?
GUEST: I have absolutely no idea.
APRAISER: Okay, this is Costa Rican jade, and it comes from the northwestern province of Costa Rica, in an area called Guanacaste Nicoya. And these are three jadeite pieces. The two on the bottom are what we call Axe gods. Axe gods come in two different variations-- avian Axe gods and anthropomorphic. And it's sort of hard to see the wings here, but, basically, this is an avian Axe god. This up here is a pendant, and the two heads on either side would probably be alligators. And you can see there's holes...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...where it could be attached. These are pendants. Now, these pretty much date between 300 and 900 A.D.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh!
APPRAISER: And they are jadeite-- jadeite is very hard. On the hardness scale, it's about six to seven, which is very hard. Now, what's interesting-- these things are reproduced, but I've examined them carefully, and all three of these are authentic. And I'm saying, for the group here, this is $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST: Oh, wow!
APPRAISER: $3,000 to $5,000 on a retail...
GUEST: Well, thank you!
APPRAISER: ...retail level.
GUEST: Thank you-- I had no idea.
APPRAISER: So, I made your day.
GUEST: Yeah, happy dance! (laughing)
