GUEST: I brought a Royal
typewriter that was presented to
my grandfather, and he worked

at Royal for many years. For
his ten-year anniversary as
vice president of sales, he

was presented this typewriter
by his staff, and all the top
salespeople were able to sign

it, and then get it-- and so
it was engraved at Cartier.
And it's gold. (chuckles) And

my dad also worked at Royal,
and so it went from my
grandfather to my father to me.

APPRAISER: And they do refer
to this as the Gold Royal.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: So Royal Typewriter
Company was founded in 1904,
but it wasn't until the 1930s,

when your grandfather was in
charge of national sales, that
they really started to take off.

GUEST: Right, right.

APPRAISER: Which, as a result,
led him to be the top salesman,
and then eventually the

president of the company.

GUEST: Right, and he actually
only had an eighth-grade
education and became president

of a Fortune 500 company.

APPRAISER: Right. There's
1,064 names inscribed in this.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: And they're inscribed
by a fellow named Warner
MacDonald by hand, individually.

The typewriter itself has
2,257 different parts. What
Royal did is, they then took a

completed typewriter,
took it to Cartier...

GUEST: Yes, okay.

APPRAISER: And every exposed
piece, large and small, was
plated in 24-karat gold. That

was in 1939 at a cost
of $5,000. When I asked
some of the appraisers
at the jewelry table...

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: "What would you
think it would cost to have
something like this commissioned

today?", they couldn't even
put a number on it, barely.
Because of, the cost of labor

was less back then.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And the cost
of gold was less back
then. $150,000, $200,000,
perhaps, they speculated.

It was exhibited in the
1939 New York World's Fair.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Then it went on
tour all around the U.S. at the
offices of Royal sales agents.

And it was presented in 1940 to
your grandfather. Half a dozen
appraisers were all involved

in this with me...

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: As we tried to talk
about the different components
to it. We would put a value, at

auction, of $30,000 to $40,000.

GUEST: Oh, my God. (laughs)
Awesome! That's amazing, wow--
I had no idea. It's been in

my closet. (chuckles)