GUEST: My parents and, and
family are from Norfolk,

and they spent, uh, 30-something
years in the Panama Canal Zone,
and when my mother retired--

my father passed away there--
she came back to Norfolk. And at
one point, a friend of hers
named

Toots-- really Roberta, but she
was always Toots-- who was a
widow, and had no children,

needed surgery, and my mother
said, "Come to my house, you can
recuperate there,

and I'll help you out." And, um,
in gratitude, Toots gave my
mother this cellarette,

and I inherited it from my
mother. Now, Toots's family was
from around Edenton, North
Carolina.

What I'm interested in finding
out is, was it made here or was
it imported from England?

APPRAISER: Well, as it happens,
the person who made this
cellarette, um,

made another cellarette that is
on a pedestal in the museum at
Colonial Williamsburg.

GUEST: That's
fascinating. (laughs)

APPRAISER: So if you get tired
of looking at your example...

GUEST: I...

APPRAISER: ...you can go to
the, the grand galleries at

Colonial Williamsburg and see
one that were made by the same
hands.

GUEST: I will definitely,
definitely do that. Amazing.

APPRAISER: So you have a, you
have a very special object here.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And the history of
this piece is really tied into

the history of Eastern North
Carolina. The Edenton area,
where Toots's family was from...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...is home base for
this object. This has beautiful
figured walnut in the top.

Um, and it has this distinctive
light wood inlay that sort of
frames that crotch walnut

here. And remarkably, for all of
these that I have seen, it is
extremely rare to find

original bottles. So when Toots
passed this on, these three
blown glass bottles came with
it?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It's hard to prove or
disprove that they didn't start
life in this cellarette.

GUEST: Right here, yeah.
APPRAISER: Um, the, the object

is in great condition. It has
its original hinges, its
original lock. Um, it's walnut
top to bottom.

The nice thing here is, like, if
you have the only one of
something, everybody sort of
scratches

their head and says, "Hm, like,
why aren't there more of those?"
But when you have a great
example

that fits into a known group,
the market tends to really
salute. If this were to come up
at auction,

I would put a pre-sale auction
estimate of $50,000 to $70,000
on it.

GUEST: Holy crow.
(both laughing)

APPRAISER: So I think, like,
what comes to my mind is karma.

GUEST: Yes!

APPRAISER: You know? So your
family did something helpful and
kind to Toots's family.

GUEST: Right, right. And
that's a pretty nice thank you.

APPRAISER: It's a real treasure
and it's, it's a, it's a treat
to see it here...

GUEST: Well...

APPRAISER: ...under the
beautiful sky here in
Williamsburg, and the,

the light out here just... All
the warmth of that walnut...

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: ...and all the
history that this object carries
with it is...

GUEST: This would fit right
in there. (laughing)

APPRAISER: It sure would. It's
quite the backdrop, isn't it?

GUEST: It is!

APPRAISER: For insurance, I
would value it at $125,000.