APPRAISER: Well, Jim, here comes Santa Claus.

GUEST: That's right.

APPRAISER: Tell me, where'd you get him?

GUEST: Bought him in a yard sale about four years ago.

APPRAISER: And, uh, what'd you pay for it?

GUEST: $200.

APPRAISER: $200. And did you get any history with it?

GUEST: Just understood it was a store display in a hardware store.

APPRAISER: Well, that's exactly probably what it was. This is what we call a sales stimulator. It would be used in the store windows to attract attention as you walked down the street. And how did that work? Has this clockwork motor here. Wound that up—big, strong spring-- and this guy would just sit here and nod away all day long. So you'd be walking down the street, and you'd see this movement in the window, and you'd say, "Hey!" And then I guess they figured you'd look at something else in the window, too. Well, it was made in Germany, from the 1920s, and it's really a lovely, lovely piece. And this is just the way you found it. I see he's got... your... a little feather tree, and he actually would be handling that in his hand, which was sort of in his hands on a little spring, so it would get a little movement, too. Well, it's really terrific. What do you think something like this might be worth?

GUEST: Well, I was hoping $300 or $400.

APPRAISER: Well, I'd say definitely that. You know, you do have a few problems here. The reindeer, it's needing one little repair here, but, um, I'd say at auction today, we're looking at least $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST:(chuckling) You're... you serious?

APPRAISER: Yeah, so you've got a real wonderful piece here.