GUEST: Well, this was passed down to my wife and myself by her mother approximately five years ago. And as long as I can remember, it's hung in her dining room.
APPRAISER: Do you know anything about it? Where it's from, or...
GUEST: Unfortunately, I don't. But I would imagine that she probably purchased it 20 to 25 years ago.
APPRAISER: Well, more than likely it's English rather than American. In the past, we've had several American samplers that were very similar, the difference being the American ones that we've had, even though they're of same quality, same age-- this is probably done between 1800 and 1830-- more than likely you had a professional artist who did the drawing, who did the faces and most of the painting.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: If it were American, we had one that was from Philadelphia that we knew the provenance on and we knew the age and we knew who made it. It was appraised for $30,000 to $40,000.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: However, this being English makes a huge difference in value. As an English sampler, it would probably sell for about $3,000 to $5,000 at retail.
GUEST: Great.
APPRAISER: So it pays to be American.
GUEST: That's terrific, though. I think it deserves more than the cardboard box it came in.
APPRAISER: Absolutely.
