GUEST: These are three basket, I was told, from Papua New Guinea. I got it in Australia in 1975. I was told this is a baby-carrying basket.
APPRAISER: I see.
GUEST: They put the little baby in, and they carry in jungle like this.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
GUEST: This one, I don't remember what, uh, they told me, but I remember this one very well. This is a mask when, during a harvest season, they put this mask on top of a yam potato.
APPRAISER: Correct.
GUEST: And, uh, they dance around the yam potato, saying that, "I'm gonna eat you, I'm gonna eat you," because they think this is, like, their, their enemy. So they put their fighting spirit up. Uh, they dance and they sing and they threw this mask to the jungle and they eat a yam potato.
APPRAISER: That's right.
GUEST: As if they are eating their enemies. Next morning, uh, missionaries, they go to jungle, they collect all these masks...
APPRAISER: Pick the masks up. (laughing):
GUEST: Pick, yes, yes.
APPRAISER: That's...
GUEST: And they bring back to Australia, and that's-- they sell it.
APPRAISER: That's great. That's, that's what they are.
GUEST: That's what I was told, I don't know.
APPRAISER: Yes. They were probably made about the time you got them.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: I don't think they have any great antiquity.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And you're talking about a country that, quite frankly, had lived completely out of touch with the rest of the world...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...until the 1930s. I know this piece and this piece are from the Abelam tribe in Papua New Guinea.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: And, and this I suspect is, too. This is a baby carrier, this is a personal carrying bag, and a yam mask. What really strikes me about these things is, these are handmade from materials in the forest...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...that are gathered, and countless hours are spent...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...to weave these things, and it's probably one of the earliest art forms that humans have ever produced, is basket weaving.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: And I can't think of a culture that doesn't do it.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: I would say each one of these is worth $250 at auction.
GUEST: Mm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Uh... Possibly a little more.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: So, for all together, $750 to $900...
GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...for all of it.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But it-- they're just truly incredible.
GUEST: Thank you. I'm so happy to hear that, and I'm glad that what I remember about 45 years ago in Australia is... I didn't make a mistake. (laughs)
APPRAISER: You didn't.
