'Antiques Roadshow' guest gets a whopping appraisal for vase she bought at Goodwill for just $15

Thrift stores aren't simply places where resellers pick up goods at low prices to flip for a profit, but these shops also have valuable artifacts hidden in them. This was true for a guest on "Antiques Roadshow," who found a century-old pottery vase at her local thrift store. Even the show's expert, David Lackey, was astonished to see that the Roseville Pottery Pauleo Vase had survived for so long without getting a scratch on it. In the end, he revealed that the guest's $15 purchase was worth over $2,000, which was more than ten times its price. 

The guest shared the incredible story of how she found the beautiful vase while browsing through a thrift store. "So I bought this at Goodwill last summer and it was kind of a whim purchase, and I love the colors. I love the style. And I've been trying to keep it from my cat for six months," she told Lackey, before adding that all she paid for it was $15.

When asked about what she found unique about the vase, the guest explained that the pattern reminded her of mermaid scales or fish scales that keep drawing her to it. Taking over from her, Lackey revealed that it wasn't any ordinary vase but a significant one. "You popped it out on the table and  went, 'know what that is.' That's Italian, 1950s. Look at the glaze. Look at the colors," he exclaimed.

However, he then noted that at the bottom of the vase, its design indicated that it wasn't Italian but American. "It's early 20th century. Actually, it was made in Ohio. It's made by Roseville Pottery and it's a fairly early line of Roseville Pottery," he explained. He added that it was made in about 1914, and before that, Roseville was known for making higher-quality artist pieces of smaller production wares. "They weren't doing so well financially. So right around  1910-15, they started moving into production wares, things that were more mass-produced, that could make them quicker, and cheaper, and easier. Lesser quality but higher production numbers," he shared.

Lackey noted that the vase was from a line called Pauleo, which included many different types of glazes like the vase in front of them. "This particular is kind of a crackle glaze," he said. He further noted that, despite being mass-produced, the Pauleo line was still considered to be rare. "They didn't make a lot of it. One thing I really like about it is the handles. They don't seem like much, but they're actually a key part of the aesthetics of it, the way they come down and spread out at the edge. And this glaze is very prone to scratch and for this to have ended up in Goodwill without any scratches through its entire life, which is basically over 100 years old. It's the condition is surprising," Lackey commented.

Coming to the appraisal, the expert estimated that the retail value of the vase in the market at the time would be between $1,500 and $2,000. This left the guest in shock as she couldn't believe that her $15 thrift store find was so valuable. 

"Wow! There's a reason why I kept it from the cat. Beautiful!" the guest exclaimed in the end.