GUEST
My aunt passed away recently. And in the late '70s, she came to visit me in Texas. And we went to an antique show, and we saw this horse's head, but it was painted dark brown, and someone had rubbed green over it. So she had it in her attic all these years. And I decided to strip it down when she passed away. I, I wanted to see what kind of wood was underneath.
APPRAISER
Right.
GUEST
And when I stripped it, this was what was underneath, and I can't imagine anybody putting brown paint over this, but that's what was there when I stripped it off.
APPRAISER
Didn't you tell me they were asking $75 for it?
GUEST
Yes.
APPRAISER
She got them down to $50?
GUEST
$50. She said, "If you come back the third day of the show and nobody's bought it, I'll give it to you for $50," and that's what she paid for it.
APPRAISER
Wow. The way they made these things...
GUEST
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER
...was they made them... Of course it's carved out of wood.
GUEST
Yes.
APPRAISER
And... You can see that there's several different pieces of wood laminated together here.
GUEST
Yes, I saw...
APPRAISER
And this is the head off of a carousel figure.
GUEST
Carousel.
APPRAISER
The thing that makes it so wonderful is the details in the carving, like this really nice, flowing mane. I love the open mouth, and in horse talk, he's, he's short in the tooth, so he's still pretty young.
GUEST
Oh, is that what that... oh, okay, I didn't know that's what it meant.
APPRAISER
And you got glass eyes and the jewels here, but this was made during the peak time of production, especially in the Philadelphia area.
GUEST
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER
Probably 1890 to 1910, somewhere in that time period.
GUEST
Oh.
APPRAISER
The further they got in their production, the more demand there was for the figures. As the carvers aged and there weren't people coming in with the same level of skill, then the quality level of what they were doing dropped.
GUEST
Oh, oh, I see.
APPRAISER
That's why I say this is from the golden time. I know you're not a professional restoration person...
GUEST
No.
APPRAISER
But the quality of the job that you did taking that overpaint off is amazing. You saved all this craquelure.
GUEST
Yes.
APPRAISER
You must have just done it painstakingly slow, a little bit at a time.
GUEST
Yes, I did.
APPRAISER
You know, the thing that always draws us into objects is...
GUEST
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER
...quality and eye appeal.
GUEST
Yes.
APPRAISER
And in, in the case of folk art and things like that, surface. I bounced this off my colleagues and we feel very comfortable.
GUEST
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER
This would sell for $2,000 or $3,000.
GUEST
Oh.
APPRAISER
Without a doubt.
GUEST
Oh...
APPRAISER
Without a doubt.
GUEST
Oh, well, I... Oh, well, I'm, I'm thrilled. I think it's so pretty.
APPRAISER
I think he's wonderful.
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