GUEST: This coverlet came to my wife and myself from my mother-in-law about ten years ago, and we use it as a wall hanging. And I understand that my wife's great-great-grandmother sheared the sheep, dyed the wool, made the thread, designed the pattern, and wove this all in the early 1850s.

APPRAISER: So that's the story that came down through the family?

GUEST: That's right.

APPRAISER: Okay, first of all, this is called a Jacquard coverlet. J-A-C-Q-U-A-R-D. The technology to make these kind of patterns was invented by a Frenchman, and they used that technology a lot in America. And you see a lot of coverlets like this in the Midwest, Pennsylvania, New York, pretty much all over the United States. And what they did was they would set their looms up, and there was a set of cards at the top of the loom that would drop the heddles down in the loom so that they could do these real complicated patterns. Now, this particular one has a combination of linen fabric and wool. Where you see the blue, that's the wool, and where you see the white, that's the linen. And almost always, they have a nice border, they have a nice cohesive design. And this one, of course, has a nice center medallion. And the other thing that's neat about these is that you have, basically, two ways to display it.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And the thing I really like about this one, too, is that it has a finished border. And you told me earlier you've never had this appraised before.

GUEST: No, uh-uh. Okay, well...Like I say, it's just because it's, uh... sentimental value is the only reason we're interested in it.

APPRAISER: Well, in today's market, a nice blue-and-white coverlet like this would sell for at least in the $800 to $1,200 range.

GUEST: Mmm. Worth preserving. (both laughing)