Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

This is my father. He was in the Secret Service in the Navy, and he was stationed in Egypt, and at Port Said he became friends with an antique dealer, in a little shop in Port Said. And 1941 they were in Egypt to spy on what was going on during World War II.

APPRAISER

The Germans were there, weren't they?

GUEST

The Germans were there.

APPRAISER

We weren't in the war yet, of course.

GUEST

No, we weren't in the war yet. So, he went to the antique dealer's shop a lot of times, and this vase came in one day, and he wanted to buy it. The antique dealer said, "Well, I'll trade it for cigarettes. I don't want your money, but I want American cigarettes." And so my dad went back to the ship, to the area where he was located, and got American cigarettes, and brought them, and traded it for this vase, which he really enjoyed.

APPRAISER

Well, and your father thought this was a Chinese vase, I believe?

GUEST

Right, he thought it was a Chinese vase, uh-huh.

APPRAISER

Okay, if this were a Chinese vase made about the same time, of pottery, as this piece was made-- and this was made in Japan, actually-- it would be worth perhaps $100. If that much. What we have here is a Japanese Satsuma vase of very, very fine quality, made in the Meiji period, the latter part of the 19th century, and it's beautifully made. It's really wonderful. Underneath it there's a mark which is impressed in it. It's a rosebud mark, and then you have some other marks relating to the Satsuma manufacture. These were hand-decorated, of course, and all the decoration is over the glaze of the pottery. The pottery is very finely crackled. It isn't absolutely clear. It has a crackling on it. There's a large basket with flowers on this side.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

And there's some open work carving in the neck. A piece like this on today's market, in any auction... would bring anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000.

GUEST

Oh, my gosh, really? Wow.

APPRAISER

It's a beautiful piece.

GUEST

Wow, I guess it was worth cigarettes, then.

APPRAISER

I guess so.