GUEST: My grandmother gave me this piece when I was younger. She herself was a Vollrath and she said the Vollrath family had a pottery in Boonville, Missouri, and that this piece is from that pottery.
APPRAISER: It was an entire school and grouping of Missouri German ceramics. It was the typical American story where they were all Germans, they came to America and they split off, started their own potteries, and each of them had their own style and their own brand. And it started about 1835 in Boonville, and it ran up right until about 1890, turn of the century, and a piece almost identical to this is in the Missouri State Historical Society.
GUEST: Uh-uh!
APPRAISER: Right. And they're attributing it to Jegglin Pottery in Boonville.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And this would date about 1870, 1880. Jegglin came to America earlier. He served in the Union Army, started his own pottery. Several people that worked for him went off on their own and started their own potteries. It's a snake jug and you can see it's three snakes, the top one actually forming the handle of the jug, and all three snakes have different carvings on them. And it's really a little gem. It's in mint condition. People who collect folk art would love this, people that collect Missouri pottery would love this. Retail value in today's market: $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST: No way!
APPRAISER: Way! (laughing)
GUEST: Oh, that's awesome.
