Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

I was a college student and I went to the Folk Life Festival at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., on the Mall. I went into a tent and this was there and I fell in love with it. And there was a man that was there and I told him I was a college student and I didn't have a lot of money, so I said I... he said, "Do you like anything?" I said, "I like that." He said, "I tell you what. How much do you have?" I had about $30 and so he let me have it for $30.

APPRAISER

I love it. So how many years ago was that, approximately?

GUEST

30?

APPRAISER

30 years ago. When you walked in with this face jug, as they call it, I recognized that it's possibly a piece that was made by the Meaders family. I recognized it by the glaze, which is called a tobacco-spit glaze. And you can just picture it. It looks like dripping tobacco juice that someone might have spit on it. When we turn it over, we now see the signature, and the signature is that of Lanier Meaders and he was born in 1917.

GUEST

Oh.

APPRAISER

And he was the second son of Georgia potters Cheever and Arie Meaders. They became very famous in Georgia, The Library of Congress honored them in the 1970s.

GUEST

Oh, I didn't know...

APPRAISER

So they actually had a very, very high regard in the field of American folk pottery.

GUEST

My sisters never liked it. So every time they would come to my house, they would turn the face to the wall.

APPRAISER

It's interesting you say that, because sometimes the other name for the pottery is "grotesque face" pottery.

GUEST

(laughing)

APPRAISER

So some of them are actually quite distorted and scary. I think this is wonderful. It's very dignified. Value in today's market--somewhere in the $1,500 to $2,500 range.

GUEST

I love it. Thank you so much.

APPRAISER

Well, thank you for bringing it to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

GUEST

Thank you. you