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GUEST: It seems to be an antique 
bowl. I bought it at a, sort 
of a charity auction about five

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or six years ago. They called 
it a silver-tone dragon bowl. I 
was born in 1976, and so that's,

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that's the year of the dragon 
in the Chinese zodiac. So, I've 
always kind of kept a lookout

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for dragons, and I have 
a few of them. I find 
them very interesting.

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APPRAISER: Oh, I see.

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GUEST: So, I work with 
some people from China. 
And they always say that 
it's one of the more

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powerful symbols in the zodiac.

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APPRAISER: It's a Chinese export 
silver punch bowl. It's made 
by a company called Wang Hing.

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They were established in Canton 
in 1854, and due to their 
enormous success, opened up in

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Hong Kong in the early 
part of the 20th century. 
I think this bowl dates 
from after they opened

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up in Hong Kong in the 
early 20th century.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: Obviously, the trade 
routes really started to open 
up in the late 19th century,

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and the appetite for Chinese 
export silver became a lot 
greater as that trade sort of

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opened up and tastes became a 
little bit more exotic, let's 
say. We've got these wonderful

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dragons. Now, these 
are separately cast and 
applied to the bowl. The 
bowl itself is raised

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up on a form, as it would 
be normally, and then these 
dragons are cast separately. The

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interesting sort of motif on 
this, as you've probably seen, 
is the flaming pearl in the

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center.

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GUEST: Hm.

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APPRAISER: So the dragon 
chasing the flaming pearl is 
something which you see a lot on

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Chinese decorative arts. So, 
you often see these dragons in 
clouds, and appearing across

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the sky and all kinds of things, 
chasing this, this flaming 
pearl. It's a very, very common

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motif in Chinese decorative 
arts-- textiles and export 
silver like we see here. We tip

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it back... We've got the "W.H." 
for Wang Hing. We've got the 
90 there, which is the sterling

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silver standard mark. And 
we've got the character 
mark for silver in 
Chinese, as well. So all

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in all, a fantastic bowl. Very, 
very collectible. The market for 
Chinese export silver has grown

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exponentially in the last, 
let's say, five to ten years. 
So, you said you bought it at

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a charity auction? It was a 
silver-tone bowl, Chinese-style?

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GUEST: Right, you know, I think, 
if I remember correctly, I 
think I paid about, about $600

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for it.

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APPRAISER: $600?

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GUEST: Yeah. Not too long ago--

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APPRAISER: not too long ago.

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00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:07,133
GUEST: Yeah, about five 
or six years I've had it.

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APPRAISER: The auction estimate 
for this bowl, if it was to 
be in a well-advertised sale,

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would comfortably sit 
at $10,000 to $15,000.

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GUEST: Wow. That's pretty major.

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APPRAISER: Congratulations 
for having it.

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GUEST: Thank you so much, 
David, I appreciate it.