GUEST: My mother-in-law was the housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Hall. He was the first superintendent at Howe Caverns, which is down in the Catskill Mountains. After Mr. Hall died, Mrs. Hall was breaking up housekeeping, and she invited my mother-in-law to come in and pick out a couple of things that she might like to take home. However, the stipulation was that she had to come in after the antique people went through. And she picked out this vase. That was probably in the '50s. And then I was at her house, and I saw this vase sitting on the window ledge with a cat working around it. And I said to my husband-- I was afraid the cat was going to break it-- "I wonder if she would let me have it." So I ask her if there's anything that she wanted, and she wanted a new blanket from the Montgomery Ward catalog. So I told her, "I'll pay for the blanket if I can have the vase." And she said, "It's a deal."

APPRAISER: Well, that was a good way to acquire this. I'm sure you took very good care of it over the years.

GUEST: I did.

APPRAISER: This is a Quezal vase, and this was made around 1920 in New York. There is a signature on the bottom, says, "Quezal." As you can see, it's one of those nice iridescent glass vases with beautiful feathering, green feathering, and some beautiful iridescent glass effects around the surface of the top, and a nice, ruffled edge. This particular vase I would estimate to be worth about $1,500.

GUEST: Oh! Great.

APPRAISER: That was a nice surprise, right?

GUEST: Splendid, splendid. Not bad for just a blanket.

APPRAISER: For a blanket, I think you did very well.