Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

My parents and, and family are from Norfolk, and they spent, uh, 30-something years in the Panama Canal Zone, and when my mother retired-- my father passed away there-- she came back to Norfolk. And at one point, a friend of hers named Toots-- really Roberta, but she was always Toots-- who was a widow, and had no children, needed surgery, and my mother said, "Come to my house, you can recuperate there, and I'll help you out." And, um, in gratitude, Toots gave my mother this cellarette, and I inherited it from my mother. Now, Toots's family was from around Edenton, North Carolina. What I'm interested in finding out is, was it made here or was it imported from England?

APPRAISER

Well, as it happens, the person who made this cellarette, um, made another cellarette that is on a pedestal in the museum at Colonial Williamsburg.

GUEST

That's fascinating. (laughs)

APPRAISER

So if you get tired of looking at your example...

GUEST

I...

APPRAISER

...you can go to the, the grand galleries at Colonial Williamsburg and see one that were made by the same hands.

GUEST

I will definitely, definitely do that. Amazing.

APPRAISER

So you have a, you have a very special object here.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

And the history of this piece is really tied into the history of Eastern North Carolina. The Edenton area, where Toots's family was from...

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

...is home base for this object. This has beautiful figured walnut in the top. Um, and it has this distinctive light wood inlay that sort of frames that crotch walnut here. And remarkably, for all of these that I have seen, it is extremely rare to find original bottles. So when Toots passed this on, these three blown glass bottles came with it?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

It's hard to prove or disprove that they didn't start life in this cellarette.

GUEST

Right here,

yeah. APPRAISER

Um, the, the object is in great condition. It has its original hinges, its original lock. Um, it's walnut top to bottom. The nice thing here is, like, if you have the only one of something, everybody sort of scratches their head and says, "Hm, like, why aren't there more of those?" But when you have a great example that fits into a known group, the market tends to really salute. If this were to come up at auction, I would put a pre-sale auction estimate of $50,000 to $70,000 on it.

GUEST

Holy crow. (both laughing)

APPRAISER

So I think, like, what comes to my mind is karma.

GUEST

Yes!

APPRAISER

You know? So your family did something helpful and kind to Toots's family.

GUEST

Right, right. And that's a pretty nice thank you.

APPRAISER

It's a real treasure and it's, it's a, it's a treat to see it here...

GUEST

Well...

APPRAISER

...under the beautiful sky here in Williamsburg, and the, the light out here just... All the warmth of that walnut...

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

...and all the history that this object carries with it is...

GUEST

This would fit right in there. (laughing)

APPRAISER

It sure would. It's quite the backdrop, isn't it?

GUEST

It is!

APPRAISER

For insurance, I would value it at $125,000.