Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

My husband bought this plate at an estate sale. It's part of a pair. The man having the estate sale said that he and his wife bought it from a Russian countess and it belonged to Alexander III, Tsar Alexander III.

APPRAISER

About how long ago was that, and where?

GUEST

It was about 12 years ago here in Birmingham.

APPRAISER

And what did you say when your husband brought home these plates?

GUEST

"Surely that's not real."

APPRAISER

Really?

GUEST

He paid about $400 per plate.

APPRAISER

$400 a plate and you didn't know for sure if it was real. Does he think they're real?

GUEST

He doesn't know for sure. But either way, he said they look nice in our dining room, so...

APPRAISER

Okay, that's fair.

GUEST

Worst case, they're just pretty accents for the dining room.

APPRAISER

Sure. The first thing we want to do when we hear something like this-- did it belong to a tsar or someone famous like that-- we try to figure out if it's true or not, and I have to be honest with you, I just want to tell you up front, it's absolutely authentic.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

So it is real. If we look on the front here, we have a monogram of the letter A and a crown, and that's the cipher of the Tsarevich Alexander. And this has been decorated with a blue background and fancy scrollwork. And this is a really elaborate plate, but not over the top. And there's a mark on the back. There's an A with Roman numeral three beneath it, and that's for Tsar Alexander III. And "92," and that's for 1892. So that's when this plate was made.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

This is from a very specific service that was made for the tsars. This service is known as the Farm Palace Banquet Service. And the tsars had dozens of services of china.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

Well, when the Russian tsar was overthrown, a lot of things were sold off by the Russian government, and a lot of things were given as gifts over the years, a lot of things were probably borrowed or taken, who knows, by servants or whatever. After the revolution, visitors to Russia could buy things that belonged to the tsars.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

Now, this particular plate would have a retail value from a specialist dealer of Russian antiques of between $2,500 and $3,000.

GUEST

Wow, per plate?

APPRAISER

Per plate, so you've got two, and you can just double that.

GUEST

Wow. That's great news.