GUEST: I bought it at a thrift store. It was $10.98.
APPRAISER: $10.98 plus tax?
GUEST: Yes, plus tax. I was looking for a box for my coffee table, and I thought it was pretty. I think that it was meant to hold incense.
APPRAISER: So you have this little round opening here and these two slots.
GUEST: Right, for the sticks.
APPRAISER: What it is is an inkwell.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: So there would have been a glass liner here, and you would have kept your pens here.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: It was made in Austria in the early part of the 20th century. The designer of this was Josef Hoffmann, who founded this organization called the Wiener Werkstätte, the Viennese Workshops. And they produced furniture, decorative arts, in Austria at the beginning of the century, and they're very, very clearly marked. We see Hoffmann's monogram, which is a J and an H. It says "Wiener Werkstätte " and it says "made in Austria." It's made out of brass. It's really very, very rare. I've actually never seen this form. I think a retail price for this would probably be in the $6,000, maybe even $7,000 range.
GUEST: Oh, man! Awesome, awesome.
