APPRAISER: What would you like to know about this?
GUEST: I would like to know, first of all, whether it's American.
APPRAISER: Okay. And if so, where maybe it was made and about when, how old it is.
GUEST: Okay, let me tell you right off the top, because you're a nice lady, I hate to tell you this.
APPRAISER: Uh-oh. But it is a fake.
GUEST: It is?
APPRAISER: Yes, and I know...
GUEST: Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: It descended in your family?
GUEST: Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: Right, okay. Came down all the way through, right? Okay, but somewhere 50 years ago or 80 years ago, came in there and it was a fake.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: Let me tell you why. Can I give you the reasons?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: First of all, it's too narrow and small.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: That's a desirable size, so it was cut down and made up of old parts to look like a more desirable piece. I'm going to show you why. Number one, the shell-- instead of being deep and nicely cut is actually kind of plastic looking, and these are not... it's not really deep. It almost looks like a decal. Number two, when you look at the drawer sides, they have staining. Look at all that staining, not nice oxidation. Number three-- you see these dovetails, they don't really fit? That's... that's roughly cut; it's not nicely fit together. You know, it's... it's a... it's old wood made to fit together later. And I'm going to show you number four and take this drawer out right here. This is an 18th-century board from an 18th-century desk.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: You look at this-- you got... you have this beautiful, nice bevel and all this. But look at this up here-- look at this. What's that?
GUEST: It's a stain.
APPRAISER: They've cut that end to make it shorter and cut it down and stained it to look old. So, they tried to deceive. And I'm so sorry to tell you.
GUEST: Oh, that's terrible.
APPRAISER: And let me tell you, the reason we on the Roadshow, that we have to tell people this is that you can learn from that, right?
GUEST: Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: Are you disappointed?
GUEST: Sure.
APPRAISER: I'm sorry, because you're a nice lady and I hate to tell you that. It was still so much fun coming here. You're so nice. Can I tell you a value?
GUEST: Sure.
APPRAISER: You want to hear a value?
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: It's about $800.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Now, if it were real, if it were period, it'd be about $8,000.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So, it's about one tenth.
GUEST: Okay.
