GUEST: I inherited it from my mother. She and some of her friends were quite into collectibles, and I'm assuming that she purchased it somewhere in the Washington area.
APPRAISER: The market for Weller has really plummeted in the last ten years.
GUEST: Oh
APPRAISER: It's very soft. There are a couple of lines that have continued to be very interesting to collectors, and this is one of them. This is a line called "cameo jewel…"
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: …and the jewel portion of it really comes from the faux jewels around the perimeter of the piece. These are all hand-painted, they're ceramic that are…
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: …painted to look like jewels. And they encircle the base of the piece. So that's where the name comes from. What's exciting to me about this piece is I've never seen it before. And Weller is one of those companies that produced thousands and thousands of pieces. But once in a while, you see one that just you wonder where it's been, or wonder why you've never seen it. There may be others of this, but it's the first one I've ever seen. And my colleagues and I we have not run into the beautiful woman picking grapes. You've got grapes all over the front of the piece. But we've also got a vignette on the back, carved into the back…
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: …which reflects and adds to the grape theme.
GUEST: Oh yeah.
APPRAISER: And actually, I think between the jewels in the bottom are grapes and grape leaves as well.
GUEST: It is.
APPRAISER: So the grape theme carries through. Appropriately with the grape theme, this is a tankard. It has a handle and a spout.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So I suppose you could keep your fermented spirits in there if you wanted to.
GUEST: (laughing) I guess.
APPRAISER: I've discussed it with some of my colleagues. We think that a retail figure would be around $4,500.
GUEST: Wow. Really?
APPRAISER: That's retail.
GUEST: Whoa.
APPRAISER: I love the colors, I love the design. It's a stunner.
GUEST: It is, it is. I love it.
