'Antiques Roadshow' guest stunned after hearing the value of her snuff bottle: 'You're kidding...'
A simple item which people may be using every day at home could go on to fetch a massive appraisal, and that's what makes “Antiques Roadshow” so popular. This was seen when a guest walked in with a tiny bottle, which impressed the expert Richard Cervantes. He said that it was a snuff bottle that was made in the 18th century, which would make it about 200-300 years old. The most interesting part of it was that it had a two-step manufacturing procedure.
The expert said that the snuff bottle was made in China, where it was illegal to smoke during the Qing Dynasty. However, the emperor had said that if one wished to consume tobacco, one had to do so using a snuff bottle. Therefore, the production of such bottles at the time was rising. While the bottle was originally made in China, the embellishments on it were made farther east in Japan.
Cervantes said that the plain white jade bottle wasn’t good enough for the owner, and it found its way into Japan, where the decorations were added. It was a two-step process. The scene embellished on the bottle was a depiction of the Japanese countryside, and it showed a child bringing some Lingzhi fungus, which was considered a lucky symbol to have on the bottle. The elements that were used to decorate the bottle were soapstone, hard stone, lapis lazuli, lacquer, and seed pearls, as per the expert.
Before the bottle's appraisal, Cervantes asked the guest if it had ever been valued in the past. She said no and revealed that she had no idea how much her great aunt, who had originally purchased it from her travels far east, paid for it. The segment was recorded in 2016, and at the time, the expert said that the bottle had a conservative value of $4,000 to $6,000.
This wasn't the first time that such an item got a high valuation, and another example of this happening was when a woman brought a vase that she always thought was ugly. She had purchased it 15 years before the segment was recorded, and at the time, had paid $580 for it. What she did not know was that the vase was a Jean Cocteau Ceramic Sculpture.
"We call it the ugly thing or the ugly vase. I bought it about 15 years ago. I'm never sure if it's a pregnant woman or if she's getting to topple over. It's a weird little piece. I liked it when I saw it," she had said. The expert on that occasion, Suzzane Perrault, said, “It has animal, it has bird, it has female figural. All of this is happening in this piece of glazed ceramic that was done by a very famous artist called Jean Cocteau."
When it was time to appraise the item, the expert said that it was worth a whopping $10,000 to $15,000. The guest wasn’t expecting this at all. "That's fun, for an ugly vase. Perfect. Wonderful, thank you," she said.
