GUEST: Well, these dogs have been with our family for many years, and we've always had 'em around, and I just really wanted to find out more about them.
APPRAISER: When you first brought it up, I thought we had this great bronze dog.
GUEST (chuckles): Did you really?
APPRAISER: Then I got closer and realized that it was carved wood.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And immediately, I said to myself, "Wow, that's just such an amazing piece of Black Forest carving."
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Typical Black Forest...
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: ...was, it was in Germany and Switzerland, a group of primarily Swiss carvers that really started the movement in the early 19th century.
GUEST: All right.
APPRAISER: This piece should date to the latter part of the 19th, early part of the 20th century.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Because of the subject matter, we can attribute it to a specific carver...
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: ...by the name of Walter Mader.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: As you begin to analyze what brings value to a ple, piece of Black Forest carving, there's a number of factors: the quality of the carving and what I would like to think of as the character of the piece.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: I would say, without question, this is the best piece of Black Forest carving...
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: ...the show has ever seen.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUEST (chuckles): Wow. That's wonderful.
APPRAISER: Now, there's a few things wrong with it. Not, not a lot. We have a couple of repairs.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: This leg came off.
GUEST: Yep.
APPRAISER: Uh, I can't tell what's going on across the face here. Ultimately, none of it affects the character of the piece.
GUEST: Okay. Okay.
APPRAISER: None of it affects the quality of the piece. These come up for auction periodically. Conservatively at auction, I would estimate this piece at $20,000 to $25,000.
GUEST (laughing): Oh, really? Really? That's wonderful! That's wonderful. That's, that's really great.
APPRAISER: It wouldn't surprise me if a insurance value was, was north of $50,000.
GUEST: $50,000? (mouths, laughs)
APPRAISER: If, if you had to go in and find this and buy it retail, it would cost you an awful lot of money.
GUEST: A lot of money, yeah.
APPRAISER: It has just been an absolute privilege and honor to see it.
GUEST: Well, that's great, I'm so happy. Thank you so much.
