GUEST: I brought bellows. My husband got them at an auction. I like Black Forest and I think that's what attracted him to it. We also like Arts and Craft. So this had the nice Arts and Craft look and the date, so he bought them.
APPRAISER: And how much did you pay for it?
GUEST: $150.
APPRAISER: When you first came to the table, our colleagues and I also thought Black Forest carved bellows, but then, you take a more close look at it and you see this bird is not Black Forest carved bird, it's a kookaburra, which is an Australian bird. And then also, there's a signature right down here. It's "R. Prenzel" and it stands for Robert Prenzel. And he was actually a German-born carver born in 1866, and in 1888, he went to Australia. And he studied under several master carvers and then he went out on his own. And he worked in native Australian woods such as eucalyptus, which is what this is.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: A lot of his clients were churches, so he carved pulpits, panels, that sort of thing, but he also had wealthy clients in Melbourne. This was made in 1913. This might be a client's initials or something like that. We would estimate it for auction in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
GUEST: Oh, my. For bellows.
