GUEST: We got it about 35 years ago. And we know that it's from Akron, Ohio.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: That's Summit County.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And there were about 30 potters in Summit County. And I don't know which pottery that came from.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
GUEST: And I bought it from a man whose father had worked at a pottery, but he wasn't sure which one. I gave it to my husband.
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: And my husband didn't like it right away, because he thought that the bird wasn't very nice.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And I said, "Oh, my goodness." I said, "It's supposed to be upside down like that-- it's folk art."
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: So he decided that he liked it. I paid $75 for it.
APPRAISER: Okay. $75 --
GUEST: And we've never had it out of the house since about 1980.
APPRAISER: He charged you $75. Did he know what he was selling at all, or...
GUEST: Well, I think he was kind of down and out.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: He had started... he said he needed a $100 bill.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And I said, "Oh, I can't pay that." And so I got him down to $75.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And we had been buying some other local pottery. And I thought it was worth it, because it was different.
APPRAISER: This piece is one of the most sculptural, most folky, most exciting pieces of pottery, of folk art, that has come to us in years. It has everything. It's kind of the soup-to-nuts piece of sculpture. It is Ohio, I feel. You have two men in front of this stump, right? And I love this guy here with the moustache, the handlebar moustache. Isn't he great? And that helps to date the piece. You look at the clothing, right? There's this wonderful pig, which has survived over... look at... isn't it a cutie?
GUEST: I didn't even see that.
APPRAISER: Honestly?
GUEST: No.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: I did not see that pig.
APPRAISER: And you have this log in front of it that's hollow. The other gentleman is over here with his moustache, his gun, his rifle, a little bit snapped off here, but… it's a glass half full—you have to look at how much survived. And then in the middle, I'm not sure what that really is. It almost looks like a deer. If you think about it, that's deer's head. But then... do you think it's a turkey?
GUEST: Either a turkey or a pheasant.
APPRAISER: Okay, but it's hard for us to really pin down. It dates from about 1865 to about 1895.
GUEST: Because you can tell by the clothes?
APPRAISER: Tell by the clothes, tell by the type of pottery. They were making this type of pottery in the 1890s. And the condition is excellent. You think about how easy it would be for one of these limbs to break off.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: So it's covered with this brown slip which we often call Albany slip. And cobalt blue. It's been really baked, so it has... it's textured, it's colored. And then the base is… dotted with dabs of brown and blue, which have turned more green because of the firing. And this is really a piece of stoneware. So stoneware has very high temperatures. And the only colors that could withstand that 2,100-2,200 degrees of the kiln were the browns and the blues. And even in the case of this, the blue got very… textured. But overall, it is a piece of great folk art. It is... don't you think? I mean, it's all the things...
GUEST: Oh, I love it.
APPRAISER: The things you liked about it...
GUEST: I love it.
APPRAISER: I just love about it, we all loved about it at the Folk Art table.
APPRAISER: Any idea of value?
GUEST: Maybe like $800.
APPRAISER: Okay, I'm going to make you very happy, then. I think that this piece at auction could have an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.
GUEST: I can't believe it.
