GUEST: It actually belonged
to my father-in-law.
Um, he was in the boys'
choir at the Washington

National Cathedral, and when his
voice changed, he worked on the
custodial crew at the cathedral

to help pay his tuition. And
he said he found this lamp in
the trash, being disposed of,

and he rescued it. When he
passed away, no one in the
family wanted Dad's ugly lamp,

and my mother-in-law was going
to call someone to pick it up
for scrap metal. I asked her

not to do that, to let me look
it over. When I saw that it
was marked Samuel Yellin, I

did a little bit of research,
and my husband and I visited the
Washington National Cathedral

to kind of learn a little bit
more about Yellin, and we were
shocked to find what appears to

be an identical lamp
hanging on the wall of the
Chapel of the Resurrection.
When my father-in-law

had it displayed in his home,
he had that shade on it. I
don't know if it was original

to the lamp, or something
that he created to go with
it, but that's how we got it.

APPRAISER: Well, I'll tell
you what: It has nothing
to do with it whatsoever.

GUEST: (laughing)

APPRAISER: I think it was just
a nice, decorative shade that
fit well. But no, it has nothing

to do with the piece at all.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: I love the story, and
what's really wonderful about
this piece is this the mark

on it of Samuel Yellin is
so very clear, and Samuel
Yellin was a metalworker
based in Philadelphia.

And he started his business
in around 1907, and at the
peak of the business, had over

200 people working for him,
providing metalwork and lighting
for great American homes. Also,

national monuments-- the
Washington Cathedral.
From my little research
I could do, he continued

to supply pieces for the
National Cathedral throughout
a period of time. What's lovely

about the piece is that we're
here at Winterthur today, and
there are actually drawings in

the museum collection
of Samuel Yellin's work.

APPRAISER: Really?

GUEST: Yes, so really wonderful
to see this here. This is
a single light fixture, and

it's more ecclesiastical in
design, so the value's, uh, a
little on the softer side for

his pieces. But if I were to
see this come up for auction, I
would expect to see an estimate

of around about
$3,000 to $4,000.

GUEST: That's fantastic.
That's an expensive piece
of scrap metal. (laughs)