WEBVTT 00:02.066 --> 00:05.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GUEST: I brought a box that my father's cousin gave me. They went to Asia to live in 1915 00:09.133 --> 00:14.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and stayed there until '36. In '54, when I got married, I lived in Harrington. Anne, 00:16.133 --> 00:19.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% as I say, she was a cousin to my father. She would call me to do her handyman work. And 00:21.800 --> 00:26.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I never charged her anything. And she gave me this in 1960. And she died the next year, 00:28.266 --> 00:32.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% so I know nothing about it. And she said, "It's not cheap. It's, it's valuable." That's 00:33.700 --> 00:35.200 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% all I know about it. 00:35.200 --> 00:36.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% APPRAISER: Okay. So they had come back to the United States. 00:36.366 --> 00:37.633 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Yes. 00:37.633 --> 00:38.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% APPRAISER: And where were they living? 00:38.600 --> 00:39.866 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% GUEST: Harrington, Delaware. 00:39.866 --> 00:41.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% APPRAISER: What do you think it is? 00:41.133 --> 00:43.166 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% GUEST: I thought it was a ivory box, it... 00:43.166 --> 00:46.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: The easy leap of faith is to say it might have been made in Asia. 00:46.266 --> 00:47.433 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% GUEST: That's my thoughts. 00:47.433 --> 00:49.500 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% APPRAISER: Yeah. 00:49.500 --> 00:52.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GUEST: It was full of shells. She told me she walked the coastline and picked up the 00:52.966 --> 00:55.433 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% shells and put them in there. 00:55.433 --> 00:57.100 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% APPRAISER: Okay. 00:57.100 --> 00:59.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% GUEST: So wherever they was living, they were close to water. 00:59.233 --> 01:03.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: Okay, well, what we have, what you're looking at, is a scrimshawed, whalebone 01:06.433 --> 01:10.433 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% New England sailor's ditty box-- they call them ditty boxes 01:10.433 --> 01:12.500 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% GUEST: Ditty box. 01:12.500 --> 01:15.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: Yeah, because the sailors put personal, small personal items in there. 01:15.033 --> 01:17.100 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 01:17.100 --> 01:20.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: And this is really a beautiful one. It's fully developed. I'm going to show 01:20.866 --> 01:21.866 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% the backside. 01:21.866 --> 01:23.366 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Mm-hmm. 01:23.366 --> 01:25.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% APPRAISER: You can see these wonderful floral arrangements. 01:25.200 --> 01:26.733 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% GUEST: Oh, yeah, yeah. 01:26.733 --> 01:28.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% APPRAISER: There's a small scene there. 01:28.600 --> 01:30.533 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 01:30.533 --> 01:32.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: A memorial scene. See this wonderful construction with the fingers? 01:32.233 --> 01:34.333 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% GUEST: Oh, yes. Yeah. 01:34.333 --> 01:37.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: And how they're put together with these beautiful little nails? And it's fully 01:37.933 --> 01:38.933 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% decorated. 01:38.933 --> 01:41.033 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Yeah. 01:41.033 --> 01:44.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: So, this would have been made by a sailor, probably off a whaling ship, somewhere 01:46.600 --> 01:48.266 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% around 1830, 1840. 01:48.266 --> 01:50.166 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Oh, yeah? 01:50.166 --> 01:52.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% APPRAISER: Things move around the world. 01:52.000 --> 01:53.200 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Oh, yeah. 01:53.200 --> 01:54.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% APPRAISER: Whalers moved around the world. 01:54.000 --> 01:56.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Oh, yes. 01:56.133 --> 01:59.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: So, we were whaling all over the world, and I can't rule it out, but for cataloguing 01:59.800 --> 02:04.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it, it's not logical to say that this was made and left in Asia, and your relatives 02:05.700 --> 02:07.766 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% picked it up. 02:07.766 --> 02:11.300 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% GUEST: Right, I have no idea. Yeah, I would think they purchased it either before or after 02:11.300 --> 02:13.333 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% they returned. 02:13.333 --> 02:17.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: It has a beautiful lid, and they're trying to show this wonderful exotic wood, 02:19.600 --> 02:20.600 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% which is mahogany. 02:20.600 --> 02:22.633 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% GUEST: Uh-huh, I thought it was. 02:22.633 --> 02:26.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: And then you turn it over, and you see the thin layer of whale bone. 02:26.766 --> 02:28.833 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% GUEST: Of whale bone. 02:28.833 --> 02:32.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: Now, this was not easy to make. This came from the jawbone of a sperm whale. 02:32.933 --> 02:35.066 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Okay. 02:35.066 --> 02:38.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: And it's called the pan bone, P-A-N. And they had tools for actually cutting the 02:39.800 --> 02:41.466 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% pan bone into thin strips. 02:41.466 --> 02:43.533 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Mm-hmm. 02:43.533 --> 02:46.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: They would then steam the strips, and they became more pliable. 02:46.466 --> 02:48.600 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Yup. 02:48.600 --> 02:52.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: And they were able to bend them around a form and then nail them very fastidiously... 02:52.000 --> 02:54.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% GUEST: Yeah. 02:54.133 --> 02:57.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% APPRAISER: ...and form these boxes. These are very highly sought after, and this is 03:00.000 --> 03:03.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a very, very good one. There are parts of it that could be better. But in terms of this 03:04.933 --> 03:08.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% particular box, in today's market, which has been a little challenged, I would feel very 03:09.633 --> 03:13.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% comfortable putting a retail valuation of $6,000 to $8,000. 03:13.566 --> 03:18.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GUEST: Oh, wow. I had no idea. That's why I brought it. I, as I say, I got it in '60, 03:20.866 --> 03:24.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and I knew nothing about it. So I, that's why I come to the ROADSHOW. I wanted to learn 03:24.533 --> 03:24.733 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% something.