Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

You threw a heavy sock at me.

GUEST

I did throw a sock at you.

APPRAISER

And what do we have that came out?

GUEST

It's a whale's tooth. It was a piece of our family history, my husband's family history. Either his great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather did a favor for the original artist. He was a whaler, and he gave that to him in appreciation for it.

APPRAISER

We see a lot of whale's teeth or supposed whale's teeth at the folk art table, and the minute this thing popped out of the sock, I knew that it was right, it's a real whale's tooth. This is probably from the mid 19th century, 1840s, 1850s. It's got a whaling scene on one side...

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

...With the boats, and then on the other side, it gets a little juicier. We have a battle scene with an American ship and a British ship, and one sinking. So have you ever had this appraised, or...?

GUEST

No, we took it to a person, told us $500, he'd buy it from me, and I refused.

APPRAISER

In a good auction, that would probably bring $6,000 to $8,000.

GUEST

Wow! Dang, thank you!