Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER: How did you acquire this?

GUEST: Through a divorce.

(laughs) APPRAISER: Okay, yes.

GUEST: My husband has died since then.

APPRAISER: Did he tell you what he thought, which, what material it was?

Or whatever.

GUEST: Well, he told me it was jade.

APPRAISER: Well, this is Chinese, and it's carved around at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.

This is quite heavy, but it would be heavier when you put the cover on it, which is the piece that you're holding.

However, it's not jade.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: It has a more glassy structure than jade.

It is what they call serpentine.

It's close in hardness to jade, but it's still scratchable material.

Since it's serpentine, it is worth, still, about $800 to $1,200 at auction.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: If it were jade, it would be worth $6,000 to $8,000 at auction.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And it looks great in a cabinet.

GUEST: Yep, it'll probably be my urn when I go.

(laughs)