GUEST: My parents were big collectors, and they loved Japan. They made numerous trips there. They had a large collection of what I believe is Rosanjin pottery. They sold most of it in the early '70s, and it was this glaze here. So this is the remainder of the collection that they had.

APPRAISER: Ah! Oh, really? And what do you know about Kitaoji Rosanjin?

GUEST: Well, I know he was a poet, a chef. These have been family friends since I've been a child. And this vessel was always outside with the lemonade and a bamboo dipper. And I can't tell you how many floral arrangements my mother and I did in this vessel. Um... So it's, it's very special to me.

APPRAISER: Where did they buy these pieces?

GUEST: I believe they bought them directly from the artist.

APPRAISER: Kitaoji Rosanjin was born in 1883.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: And he died in 1959. Kitaoji Rosanjin was a, an extremely important, seminal artist in the whole sort of history of modern, contemporary Japanese ceramics. He, uh, was also a calligrapher, he was a painter, he was a poet, and he collected classical Japanese ceramics.

GUEST: Hm.

APPRAISER: And his collection was destroyed in the Tokyo earthquake in 1923. And so after that, he decided to make his own, his own ceramics. He received various honors, the last in 1959, when he was named a national treasure...

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER:…which he refused.

GUEST: I heard that.

APPRAISER: All of these Japanese, uh, forms-- Bizen ware, Oribe ware-- all of these are reflected in the five pieces that you have here, the, the most outstanding of which is your well. Okay? Actually, when you look back in Chinese history, this is modeled after a Han Dynasty second-century BC to A.D. prototype. I understand that you drink out of this, you said?

GUEST: I do, weekly.

APPRAISER: (laughs)

GUEST: It goes through the dishwasher.

APPRAISER: And what about this piece?

GUEST: I think it's an ashtray, but I'm not sure.

APPRAISER: It’s actually an incense burner.

GUEST: Oh, it is?

APPRAISER: Yes, and it probably originally had a silver cover.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: You have various dishes that were part of his whole display for his kitchen.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: And he used them in his restaurant.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: This is, it... Regardless of the damage, and there is a restoration here, and I think one in one of the handles here...

GUEST: Mm-hmm, here.

APPRAISER:…this is probably the most unusual piece of the collection-- all of them are signed with his characteristic signature, which is a ro, it's like a square.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: I think all of these pieces were made in the 1950s. I understand you don't have the boxes, right?

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: At auction, this piece alone is worth between $6,000 and $8,000.

GUEST: (chuckles) Wow-- even with the damage?

APPRAISER: Yes. Altogether, I would say your five pieces would constitute about $10,000 to $15,000 at auction, regardless of whether you have the signed boxes.

GUEST: Wow. Ah, soo.

(both laughing)

GUEST: Domo arigato!

APPRAISER: Yeah, do itashimashite.

(both laughing)

APPRAISER: These pieces are quite rare. You don't see them come up at auction very often.

GUEST: Hm.