GUEST: I brought up a piece of Van Briggle pottery that I bought at an estate sale.

APPRAISER: What drew you to purchasing this particular piece, if you remember?

GUEST: The-the metal base and the-the, uh, two-color glaze.

APPRAISER: It was done in 1904, which is the year that Artus Van Briggle passed away.

He had moved to Colorado Springs just before 1900 to get better from tuberculosis.

His doctor wanted him to get to a better climate, something better than Cincinnati would have been for him.

He used to be with the Rookwood Pottery.

So he moved here and opened up his own pottery, and started developing his matte glazes and worked very much in the Art Nouveau style.

In 1904, Van Briggle showed at the St.

Louis Fair.

Any art pottery that was showing there was really bringing their very best.

It's either bronze or it is patinated copper to make it look like bronze.

GUEST: Okay, so this piece was done by artist himself, you think?

APPRAISER: Yes.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: He had help from one of perhaps three or four Japanese artisans that would have worked with him at the Rookwood Pottery.

Whenever you see metalwork on Van Briggle, it comes from one of these gentlemen.

What you don't see are these embedded stones.

You have opals here and you have amber.

There are probably a maximum known of three or four other vases... GUEST: Oh, my God.

APPRAISER: ...that have stones embedded in the bronze.

We've done a lot of Van Briggles here on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

We've never done anything really like this.

GUEST: (chuckling): Really?

Wow.

APPRAISER: I have goosebumps.

GUEST: (chuckling): I do, too.

APPRAISER: Um... ...do you remember what you paid when you bought this?

GUEST: I paid $275 for it.

APPRAISER: Was that a lot?

GUEST: It was quite a bit, but I love the piece.

APPRAISER: If we were to put this at auction today, a very reasonable estimate would probably be $50,000 to $75,000.

GUEST: (chuckling): Oh, my God!

You've got to be kidding me.

That's amazing.

(softly): Wow.

APPRAISER: And, it wouldn't be... unlikely that we would reach $100,000.

GUEST: Oh, my heavens, and I'm carrying it around in a bag.

(chuckles) Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: This is one of the great pieces to have ever walked into ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

GUEST: Oh, my gosh.

Thank you so much.

It's beyond my wildest thought of what it was worth.