GUEST: We lived in a small village in Ilo, Peru, and sometimes some of the Peruvians would bring things to see if we'd like them.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And I purchased this.
APPRAISER: What did you pay for it?
GUEST: Probably about 20 soles, which is about ten dollars.
APPRAISER: And what year was that?
GUEST: It was 1989 or 1990.
APPRAISER: 1989, 1990. And, where is Ilo in Peru?
GUEST: It's on the coast, it's about 25 miles from Chile.
APRAISER: So way in the south.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: I know that you watch this show.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And I know that you know that I do a lot of fakes.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And so, the good news is, it's not a fake.
GUEST: Oh, great.
APPRAISER: So that's great.
GUEST: That's great.
APPRAISER: So we're off to a good start.
GUEST: That's good.
APPRAISER: I want you to note here the elaborate headdress on this figure, and the nose ring, the very elaborate costume, and this sort of golden staff. This upper part is gold. What this is down here is a copper alloy. In my judgment, this dates between 300 to 900 A.D. Stylistically, this is something that we would expect more typically central to northern Peru. And an object like this, and I think this is a tool, but for an individual to own this, and have this sort of design on it, this sort of a figure, he would have to be extremely important, 'cause this represents a ruler or a deity. You can see that the costume, we've got another, sort of similar shape to the nose ring on the back. All of this indicates royalty. This is something that would set this off as a very important object. Now, having said that, it's a small figure, it's a tool, it's about as esoteric as you can get. And I can say on the ROADSHOW I've never seen one like it.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: So, when we consider what sort of values to put on it, we have to think about the marketplace-- certainly at a major auction house, which is where you'd have the sophisticated buyers to purchase something like this, and I'm gonna give you two prices. I'm gonna try to be conservative and say, at a good auction, $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST: (chuckling): Wow.
APPRAISER: However, at one of these auctions, if you had a couple of bidders that were really excited, I wouldn't have any problems seeing $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness, that's amazing.
