GUEST: I bought it for my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. My mother said she wanted something frivolous.
APPRAISER: Well, I guess this is frivolous. How long ago was that?
GUEST: It was in '87.
APPRAISER: Well, it really is very, very fascinating. It is a German cup and saucer, German porcelain. But I think what is particularly fascinating about it is the decoration on the cup. So let me just move this over. What we have on the front here is this wonderfully hand-painted scene of Indians. I think what is most fascinating about it is the fact that Germany, in the 19th century and still today, was and is very, very fascinated with the American Wild West. In the 19th century, a great many Germans went to America into the Wild West to explore the country. And this is obviously a commemorative cup that was made around 1850. Now, we'll get a little more clue as to where exactly it came from, from the saucer. The inscription on the saucer reads-- and I'll translate it, because it's in German-- "L. Sommer to his dear brother Ferdinand in commemoration, 1857." Now, these two symbols on the side here are German fraternity symbols. There are fraternities in Germany. There are two fraternity symbols, meaning that L. Sommer belonged to one fraternity and his "brother" Ferdinand belonged to the other fraternity. Now, how much did you pay for this cup and saucer when you first bought it?
GUEST: $200-- I thought that was kind of frivolous.
APPRAISER: That was frivolous, but I think you did a wonderful thing. If this came up for auction, I would fully expect it to bring in the range of $1,200 to $1,800. Thank you so much, Joyce.
