APPRAISER: You told me you bought these about 25 years ago in an estate auction. How much did you pay for them then?

GUEST: About $800 apiece.

APPRAISER: Well, I have to tell you you certainly picked out a really terrific pair here. I can't tell you precisely which factory produced these, but I can tell you that they were made around 1880 in what I refer to as the "aesthetic period." This is a time of Middle Eastern and Far Eastern revival throughout Europe. And anything Persian or Egyptian or Japanese or Chinese was very trendy at that particular time. The porcelain looks very much like enamelwork. And it's really beautifully hand-painted. If we look at some of these panels here, you've got leaves, you've got leaf-shape panels in the most wonderful colors. And they've even got little figural subjects creeping in here, in boats, on meadows, and this then heightened with this fantastic gilding. And that's just the ceramic alone before we get to the gilt bronze. The gilt bronze mount's also extremely finely tooled and then finished off incorporating this onyx pad into the base. These are definitely French. But I think I might shock you when I tell you what I would quote on them if they were to be sold at auction.

GUEST: Oh, I'm hanging on.

APPRAISER: Okay, if these were to come up for auction on the East Coast, I could quite easily see them with an estimate of between $8,000 and $12,000.

GUEST: Oh, that sounds good.

APPRAISER: So you did really well.

GUEST: Okay. Thank you very much. Would that be for the pair?

APPRAISER: That would be for the pair. Very important, always keep them together as a pair.

GUEST: Yes, I will.