GUEST: This is a chest that actually belonged to my grandmother, and when she was a little girl, lived on a farm in North Missouri, and her mother, my great grandmother, bought it for her when she was a little girl to keep doll clothes in. I always admired this chest and really wanted this chest. And my grandmother at one time had a stroke, so she came to stay with us and she shared a room with me. And actually the only thing that she brought with her was this little bureau. And so one day I said to her, "Are you going to die?" And she said, "I don't think so." And I asked her that several days in a row, and she said, "Finally," after she had done a little questioning and found out that what I really wanted was not for her to die, but I wanted the little bureau. So she made a deal with me. I could have the bureau then, and then...
APPRAISER: You had to stop asking.
GUEST: I had to stop asking her if she was going to die.
APPRAISER: (laughing) Ah, gosh.
GUEST: So it's been mine since then.
APPRAISER: Well, that's great, and have you ever had it appraised or…
GUEST: No.
APPRAISER: …did you know anything about where it's from or how old it is?
GUEST: My guess is probably around 125 years old would be my guess, but that's based on… my dad would be 100 now, so my grandmother ought to be at least 120.
And she got it as a little girl.
APPRAISER: Oh, okay. Well, when we're first trying to determine age when we look at something like this-- and this goes for big furniture as well as miniature furniture--you look at the style of the piece. In this case, the style is very much circa 1810, which is more like 200 years old.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: But of course, things were made in that style for a long time, and you want to confirm the age, so you look at certain clues. We look at the back and we see that there's great oxidation. When I rub my fingernail here, I go through this thin layer of oxidation, which has developed over time. I see that they have not used modern machinery to make the back boards. Going back to the front, we see the original brasses. It was built around 1810. And as far as where, it was probably made in the New England area. This is cherry wood…
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: …a typical New England wood. And as far as value, we would easily sell this at an auction probably for about
$5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST: Whoa. (laughs) Thank you.
APPRAISER: Does that surprise you?
