GUEST: Grandma purchased it in late 1950s, maybe 1960, from an antique auction in Pasadena, California. She had said there were two sets made in the 1930s for the Chicago's World Fair. And that one set belonged to Al Jolson and she bought the other set. We have 169 pieces of this.
APPRAISER: Whoa!
GUEST: We found absolutely no damage at all on any single thing. We don't believe they've ever been eaten on. Grandma had them displayed.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: Always, till the day she died. Then her daughter-in-law inherited, my mother-in-law, who hated them, so then they got packed up, and they have been in my sister-in-law's barn.
APPRAISER: We can look at the marks on the back. And we have a green mark that says "Hutschenreuther, Bavaria, Germany." And that's a manufacturer, and the mark of that manufacturer is in line with the 1930s. Okay. So that date could be accurate, okay?
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The other mark says "24 karat encrusted gold and platinum," which is in English, not in German.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: This porcelain was actually made in Bavaria by the Hutschenreuther Company.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And it was shipped to the United States plain white, as blanks.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: And there were many decorating companies in the United States that would then buy the white china wholesale.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: They would add designs, patterns, colors to it, and then they would refire it in a kiln.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And then they would sell it. It doesn't say who did it. Don't know who did it for sure.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: It was probably one of the decorating companies in Chicago.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Okay? Uh...
GUEST: So it could be World's Fair stuff, then.
APPRAISER: Oh, that certainly makes sense.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Well, the Century of Progress Fair was in 1933-1934.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And I certainly think this is old enough for that. Vendors, stores, manufacturers will set up world's fairs and they will show their products for sale.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Generally, they bring mass quantities of stuff. It doesn't makes sense to only make two sets and sell it. You, there's not much profit in that.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Could have Al Jolson owned a set like this? He died in 1950-- I don't see why not!
GUEST: Yeah, I don't... (laughs) Can't prove it one way or another.
APPRAISER: And they came from Pasadena. She said she paid $10,000.
GUEST: In 19-- yeah, when she bought it, she paid ten grand.
APPRAISER: Okay, well, let's, let's use the year 1955.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Which just is a little bit before. In 1955, the cost of a two-bedroom house in the suburbia, the average cost...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:...was only about $10,000 or $12,000. Did she buy a set of china that cost as much as a house? Did she buy a set of china that was more than double the average annual salary? If she did spend $10,000...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:...was she the sort of person who could afford to do that?
GUEST: Absolutely. She actually had no biological children.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: Our family, that she adopted, was through a marriage, and she was the prime, um, household worker, and she absolutely could afford it.
APPRAISER: Lots of younger buyers are not interested in sets of china.
GUEST: Sure.
APPRAISER: So sets of china on the second-hand market...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:...and even new sets of china, have plummeted in popularity and in value. So sets that cost a lot of money, whether it's 20 years ago or 100 years ago...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:...are bringing pennies on the dollar. If you paid an, an appraiser to appraise this for replacement value...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...I suspect that they would have probably appraised the whole set for only somewhere, maybe, between $2,000 and $4,000. That seems ridiculously low to me.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: But it's the marketplace that makes the rules. If you sold it at an estate sale or auction...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...it would probably sell for far less than that.
GUEST: Yeah.
