Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

We lived in a small village in Ilo, Peru, and sometimes some of the Peruvians would bring things to see if we'd like them.

APPRAISER

Okay.

GUEST

And I purchased this.

APPRAISER

What did you pay for it?

GUEST

Probably about 20 soles, which is about ten dollars.

APPRAISER

And what year was that?

GUEST

It was 1989 or 1990.

APPRAISER

1989, 1990. And, where is Ilo in Peru?

GUEST

It's on the coast, it's about 25 miles from Chile.

APRAISER

So way in the south.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

I know that you watch this show.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

And I know that you know that I do a lot of fakes.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

And so, the good news is, it's not a fake.

GUEST

Oh, great.

APPRAISER

So that's great.

GUEST

That's great.

APPRAISER

So we're off to a good start.

GUEST

That's good.

APPRAISER

I want you to note here the elaborate headdress on this figure, and the nose ring, the very elaborate costume, and this sort of golden staff. This upper part is gold. What this is down here is a copper alloy. In my judgment, this dates between 300 to 900 A.D. Stylistically, this is something that we would expect more typically central to northern Peru. And an object like this, and I think this is a tool, but for an individual to own this, and have this sort of design on it, this sort of a figure, he would have to be extremely important, 'cause this represents a ruler or a deity. You can see that the costume, we've got another, sort of similar shape to the nose ring on the back. All of this indicates royalty. This is something that would set this off as a very important object. Now, having said that, it's a small figure, it's a tool, it's about as esoteric as you can get. And I can say on the ROADSHOW I've never seen one like it.

GUEST

Oh.

APPRAISER

So, when we consider what sort of values to put on it, we have to think about the marketplace-- certainly at a major auction house, which is where you'd have the sophisticated buyers to purchase something like this, and I'm gonna give you two prices. I'm gonna try to be conservative and say, at a good auction, $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST

(chuckling): Wow.

APPRAISER

However, at one of these auctions, if you had a couple of bidders that were really excited, I wouldn't have any problems seeing $5,000 to $7,000.

GUEST

Oh, my goodness, that's amazing.