Appraisal: Shigemitsu Silver Tea Set, ca. 1900

GUEST: This is a tea set... APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: ...that my grandmother bought in Japan, I'd say probably in the '60s... APPRAISER: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

GUEST: ...at some point.

It's been a favorite.

APPRAISER: Did you use them?

GUEST: I've never used them... APRPAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: ...um, for tea.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: I've always kept them polished on the shelf in my living room.

APPRAISER: All right, all polished, yes.

GUEST: What I love about these in particular are the feet on the bottom.

APPRAISER: Oh, okay.

GUEST: I love these feet.

APPRAISER: Right, yes.

GUEST: And, and they're on all of them.

APPRAISER: Yes.

GUEST: Which make them really unusual, I think.

APPRAISER: It's wonderful, wonderful work.

GUEST: Because they're, they're so well-finished.

APPRAISER: You can see, yes.

GUEST: Um, on the bottom as well as the top.

APPRAISER: So you knew he was a really good art, right?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Good artist.

So this is a tea set for Western... (chuckling): Western tea set.

This is for hot water and this is for cream.

And this is for sugar, I would say.

So, Japanese, and it was done probably around late 19th century.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: About-- up, up to maybe 1900s, yes.

And the artist's name-- I know the artist.

GUEST: Oh, really?

APPRAISER: Yes.

I know...

GUEST: Wow, you can tell from the hallmarks.

APPRAISER: I mean, not personally.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: He's too old, but, uh...

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: His name is Shigemitsu.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Which is written as a hallmark.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And it's, uh, pure silver.

Shigemitsu is a known Japanese artist, worked in silver all the time, and it's always wonderful work.

The birds are very common in Japanese art.

These are quails, usually depicted with a, with a millet.

This handle is, um, a millet.

You have seen, that's grain.

At the auction... You probably would like to know the prices, right?

GUEST: I would love to know what you think.

APPRAISER: Yeah, okay, at the auction, I think it should go to $6,000 to $9,000.

GUEST: That's fabulous, yeah, yeah.

APPRAISER: Maybe a bit more, yes.

GUEST: Thank you.

APPRAISER: All right.

GUEST: That's really wonderful.

APPRAISER: Yeah, yeah.

GUEST: I appreciate that.

APPRAISER: Thank you.

GUEST: I don't think I want to get rid of them.

APPRAISER: (laughing): No, you shouldn't.