GUEST: My father collected drinking pieces. This was the pride and joy of his collection was his rice wine bottle.

APPRAISER: This being his best piece in the Chinese, 18th-century vein. Well, this happens to be a beautiful piece of porcelain. It isn't Chinese, though. It's Japanese Hirado porcelain. It dates to about 1840 to 1860.

GUEST: Is Hirado a period or a style?

APPRAISER: It's a style of porcelain. It's notable for the pale blues on a creamy white. Generally a very restrained decoration. There's always a lot of white space. This piece today would have a value of $1,500 to $2,500.

GUEST: Okay.