WOMAN: Well, it was a gift
to my father. My father was a
surgeon who took very good care

of little old ladies. And
late in his career, one of the
little old ladies gave him this.

And she wrote a letter, and
in the letter, it said that
the plaque was made in 1790 by

Josiah Wedgwood for his personal
friend John Wesley, the founder
of the Methodist religion.

And this patient told him that
she'd spent her life looking
for a Methodist bishop to

whom she could gift the plaque,
but she couldn't find one.

APPRAISER: (chuckles)

GUEST: And she said then in
the letter that she found an
angel in the cloth of a surgeon,

and she gave it to my father.

APPRAISER: That's wonderful.
And so when did you get
it? How did you get it?

GUEST: Well, I'm the only
Methodist of my siblings, and
so it came to me after my father

died.

APPRAISER: Okay, well, great.
Well, I, what I love is, I
love family stories of, with

objects that have a history
like that, especially when
they concern important
and famous people.

Certainly, Josiah Wedgwood
was important. And John Wesley
was, he was even very important

and famous in his own time, and
many different English pottery
and porcelain manufacturers

made figurines and depictions
of him because he was so
important. Now, according to the

story, the gift was in 1790.
Well, Josiah Wedgwood died
in 1795, and John Wesley died

in 1791, so that would seem
to fit the story. But then you
have to look at the object and

see if the object fits
the story. So in 1860s,
Wedgwood started a date
mark system. The back

is impressed with three letters,
and the last letter is the
year that it was made. And so

this piece has a date mark on
the back, and it was made in
1884. So this plaque was first

made in the 18th century, but
throughout the, the period of
Wedgwood manufacturing, they

remade the plaque because John
Wesley was such an interesting
and important figure.

So, unfortunately, this doesn't
fit the story exactly, because
it was actually made in 1884.

It was made by the Wedgwood
company, it does depict John
Wesley, but it was made much,

much later. In today's market,
this would probably be worth
between $200 and $300. I

still love that written
documentation, and I
would recommend that
you still keep it with

it, but now you can write
something else about,
you brought it to the
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, and

it will just be part of
the history of the piece.

GUEST: Thank you very much.