GUEST: I have two bronze statues that have been in my family for quite a while, and I've always admired them since I was a little boy.
APPRAISER: They are bronze castings by Émile Picault, who was a French artist. They were a model that he first did in 1867, and these were probably done shortly thereafter, circa 1870.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: He did them in a couple of different sizes. Uh, there is one size larger than this, and they depict an Egyptian king and queen, King Menthuophis and Queen Nitocris. They were both husband and wife and brother and sister.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: But, uh, he was actually murdered. And she took revenge on his murder and invited all of the conspirators of the murder to a banquet, where she had constructed a special room. And once the banquet was underway, she had the entire banquet flooded, drowning everybody but herself.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: But, however, she committed suicide shortly thereafter. These do have some condition issues. Primarily, the patina on the base should be very gold.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And it's quite worn. In this condition, probably, uh, at auction, you would expect them to bring between $12,000 and $18,000 for the pair. In perfect condition, or a little bit better condition, probably as much as $25,000 or $30,000.
GUEST: Wow, that's great.
