GUEST: My grandmother received it from a friend of hers. It hung in her house, and then she gave it to my mother. And as long as I can remember, it was hanging in my mother's house, and frankly, I always thought it was very unusual, but a rather unattractive plate. But I'm curious about what it is.
APPRAISER: Okay, so you've never liked it very much, so you never really found out anything.
GUEST: No, I always thought it was ugly all my life, when it was in my mother's house. I thought it was an ugly plate, but my mother always thought it was very unusual and that it was probably worth something, so we brought it today.
APRAISER: Okay. It is French. It is late 19th century, probably about 1880. It is made by a very famous family of potters called the Avisons, and it's called Palissy ware. It's a sort of revival of a late 16th-century type of pottery that was designed by Bernard Palissy and was revived in the late 19th century and became very, very popular. I don't know, I mean, maybe you won't think it will be quite as ugly as it is if I tell you that on the open market, it'll probably bring $3,000 to $4,000 if it were to sell at an auction.
GUEST: I think it's getting much more attractive.
