GUEST: My mother had an antique shop. She started in 1944.
APPRAISER: Okay. Was it here in North Carolina?
GUEST: In Wilkinson.
APPRAISER: What kind of things did your mother sell in the shop?
GUEST: Porcelains were her favorites.
APPRAISER: How come she didn't sell these?
GUEST: Because she knew they were rare. They were never on display.
APPRAISER: Well, she was right. They were rare. First of all, they were made in Staffordshire in England, and they're what we call blue-and-white transfer-printed ware. And we see a lot of that, but these are pretty early in the whole history of that production. They probably date to the 1820s or early 1830s. We can tell that a number of ways. They're very lightweight, and the quality of them, generally, is very good, and these distinctive borders of flowers and shells are very characteristic of that time. You see the little molded shells here.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: You don't see that much after the 1830s or so. We call these, by the way, chestnut baskets.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: And they're complete, which is really nice. They have both elements-- the stand and the basket. And they are complete as a pair. They were made in pairs. It's not uncommon that you find just the base or even a single basket and base. I know. But that's not good enough, and I think your mother understood that, that they were complete and early and nice. They're always printed in the center with a design. To a certain extent, the value depends on that. Some of them just have simple flowers. Usually they have scenes, like this is a kind of a romantic fishing scene. Some of them have American historical scenes. They're the most valuable ones.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: There are a lot of good things you can say about this-- the condition, as I say, the age, the completeness. But there are things about them that are not so good, in my opinion. And I've talked about it with several of my colleagues here. And it's really related to the value. Your mother was right. She was definitely right, in the '50s, that they were valuable and collectible and desirable.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: But the fact is that tastes change over a long period of time.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: I think today-- and I discussed it with several of my colleagues-- they would be unlikely to be estimated at auction any more than about $700 to $900. For the pair. Which is still a fair amount of money.
GUEST: Uh-huh. She'd be very surprised and disappointed. (chuckles)
