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GUEST: My grandmother passed 
away recently, and I found it 
in her attic. She didn't do

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any extensive traveling in Asia 
that I'm aware of, but I think 
her parents may have at some

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point.

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APPRAISER: So did you know 
that the robe was Chinese?

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GUEST: I had a feeling.

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APPRAISER: Well, it's 
Chinese, and it's actually 
kind of unusual because 
of a number of different

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features. One, it's for a child.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: But the child 
was also probably a eunuch.

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GUEST: Oh, really?

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APPRAISER: And a 
servant in the palace.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: These robes 
are pretty standardized 
from the 17th century 
to the 20th century,

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but certain things change, and 
one of the things that change 
is this area in the robe,

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on the bottom. It's called 
lishui. Later on, into the 20th 
century, this gets longer and

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longer and longer, and one of 
the reasons why, it was the 
easiest part of the robe to

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embroider.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: So, basically, 
they were cost-cutting 
on it. The motif on the 
bottom actually represents

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the firmament, and then 
the dragons are all 
couched in gold thread.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: And that gold thread 
was gold leaf that was actually 
wrapped around threads and

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used for the embroidery. There 
are these round figures with the 
flames, and those are celestial

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pearls, and there are bats on 
the robe, too, but bats just 
mean prosperity. The robe is

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silk, the embroidery is also 
silk. At this period of time, 
which was about the 1850s,

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there were just a huge 
quantity of people attending, 
basically, the emperor's every

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needs. And it was people 
like this that were 
doing the clean-up work.

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GUEST: Sure.

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APPRAISER: Even in these robes. 
At auction, I would expect 
this robe to sell for around

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$2,000.

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GUEST: Wow, great.