GUEST: It's from my mother's side of the family. And it's from her aunt and uncle. So it'd be my great-aunt and uncle.
APPRAISER: Well, this style of quilt is called a crazy quilt. And it actually can be a family history quilt, as well. You date a crazy quilt by the ages of the fabric. So the newest fabric is probably the date that it was made. And this quilt has fabric all the way back to the 1860s in it. What's wonderful about this quilt is, it's made in the opulent era, the 1890s. And the newest fabrics in the quilt are from the 1890s. And there is so much American history in this quilt. The ribbon here talks about President Harrison, who was president of America in the 1890s. This is actually Columbus Day, October 21, 1892. So it was a big historical event.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: There's hand-painted things. Like, this piece right here, actually, the rosebud, the roses, and the forget-me-nots, are all hand-painted. There's embroidery all over the quilt. And if you look, every block has some type of stitching around the block or on top of the block. We get a lot of crazy quilts in, we, we see a lot of them. And the average price we give is $400 to $600. But this quilt is what I would consider over the top. And these reasons: the beautiful fabrics, all of the historical things, the, the portraits, even, that are on it in silk. She's just absolutely lovely. She's 1870s or early '80s.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: And so it's probably more of a family history than you realize.
GUEST: I think it was my grandmother's brother's wife's. I think they traveled a lot in the Midwest area. And they must have chronicled it this way, instead of taking photographs, like we do. It's almost like this is, like, a photo album. I thought it was interesting up here the hose company ribbon up here for, I think, fire hose, because my great-uncle was a fireman in the St. Paul Fire Department.
APPRAISER: Have you ever had this quilt appraised before?
GUEST: Mom had it appraised a long time ago, probably back in the '80s or something. It was like the $3,000 to $5,000 range, or $5,000.
APPRAISER: Well, the condition of it is almost flawless. I did not see any type of rips or tears in the silk. There is no deterioration. For insurance purposes, I would put a $5,000 value on insurance purposes.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Yes. (laughs)
GUEST: Oh, my gosh. I had no idea that these were cigar...
