GUEST: I'm not sure where it came from originally, but it belonged to my husband's family. And every Christmas, he comes out and sits and watches us.
APPRAISER: It's a Santa figure, it is made in Germany, and it's dressed in crepe paper clothing. And what is really interesting about this is that while this is sort of papier-mâché the face is bisque, which is a fired pottery.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And probably made by a doll manufacturer, not unlike, say, someone like Simon and Halbig, which lifts this into another category of value because so many of these Santa Claus figures were papier-mâché faces, which were not as durable.
GUEST: Face, right.
APPRAISER: It really dates from right around 1890 to 1900.
GUEST: Really? Okay.
APPRAISER: It even has his sack on his back... Which is really nice. But he was more than just a Christmas decoration. He was, in a way, a Christmas present, because... He's what we call a candy container.
GUEST: Oh! Good, good.
APPRAISER: So in this condition, cause he is a little darkened, an auction value I would say, I would expect somewhere in $600 to $700.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: Well, now I believe in Santa.
APPRAISER: (laughing) That's great!