GUEST 1: Uncle Steve's daughter's husband, Lanier, is the one that makes these. That's our second cousin. And Mother and Daddy used to go up and visit with them, and see Uncle Steve, and they would go up there a lot, and she brought this and some other small pitchers, um...
APPRAISER: So she's got a collection of them?
GUEST 1: She's got several of them, yeah, she keeps this one on top of the-- above the cabinet, and this one's in the entryway, and it's got a little brother that sits there with it, so that's...
GEUST 2: I think it's probably about six or eight pieces we've got all together.
APPRAISER: Really? Now, this is called a face jug or a grotesque jug. And when they were first made, they were used to put vinegar in them, lamp oil, moonshine, whatever, and a lot of these go all the way back into the 19th century. And what has happened is that people in the national market have discovered their uniqueness, their Southern-ness, shall we say, and so there's a lot of interest in them now. And one other thing I wanted everybody to see was the teeth down here and these grotesque features. They were exaggerated features, I think, to make them more decorative. They actually took pieces of broken china to make the teeth out of. Now, this piece probably was made more for decorative purposes. It was hand-thrown, and then they would mold the decoration and put colors over top of it. You can see where they have green on the flowers and blue on the grapes. And Lanier Meaders almost always signed his pottery on the bottom, and both of these have his scripted signature right here. You were telling me that one of the pieces that he made, your mom actually wrote her name in the bottom of it?
GUEST 2: Yeah, she wanted to make sure she got it. He made it especially for her and wanted to make sure she got it, so...
APPRAISER: Yeah. And you told me, you still have the original bill of sales on these, too.
GUEST 2: Yes.
APPRAISER: You've got to remember that they've been doing this for successive generations now. Other members of his family are also potters. And Lanier became very popular in the '70s. The thing that's important about these is that they go back before he was into such large mass production. You were thinking maybe in the '50s?
GUEST 2: Yeah, early '50s.
APPRAISER: Early '50s, okay. Their production level wasn't nearly as high then, and the people who collect these are much more interested in the ones that came along in the early years than they are the ones that came along later. These molded pieces like this have been bringing anywhere from $1,200 to $2,800. And the face jugs, different price ranges, depends on the size, depends on the detail of the decoration, but they'll go anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000. I figure this one right here's probably worth about $2,500.
GUEST 2: Wow.
GUEST 1: That's great.
APPRAISER: And I think putting things like this grotesque jug in your house is an acquired taste. I mean, have y'all ever thought about putting it in your house?
GUEST 1: No. (laughing)
