GUEST: My husband has a lot of interest in all kinds of the Chinese cultural things. And this is a Buddha, so he has a lot of interest in that kind of thing.

APPRAISER: And he was advised to buy this by someone?

GUEST: He always look at the Buddha things, and it has a lot of Buddhas there, and he will show that kind of Buddhas to his friends like a group.

APPRAISER: Oh, yeah.

GUEST: Yeah, and the friends will tell him if this Buddha's worth it to buy, or this one is really, really interesting.

APPRAISER: Well, they were good friends.

GUEST: Yes, yes.

APPRAISER: And what did he pay for it?

GUEST: About $30,000.

APPRAISER: Yeah, and when did he buy that?

GUEST: It's an auction house online.

APPRAISER: What time period?

GUEST: It is at the beginning of this year.

APPRAISER: Well, it's an image of Vairocana Buddha, right. It's a rare image. And it's also a Yongle one from 1402 to 1424.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: And it's a beautiful example of these gilt Sino-Tibetan bronzes. In the hand of the Buddha there's an object called a vajra, and that represents a thunderbolt. It's a symbol of instant enlightenment. The other hand is in a position of benediction.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And then he's seated like in a yogic position. They were made as gifts from the Chinese empress to various clerics in Tibet. Often they're signed, but sometimes... in fact this one actually is signed, which I just noticed.

GUEST: Yes, that's Chinese characters.

APPRAISER: Yes, bestowed during the Yongle reign. And in fact, I didn't see that signature initially when I saw the thing, but I just saw that it was a really beautiful bronze.

GUEST: Thanks.

APPRAISER: Well, that signature actually changes what I was going to say in terms of the value. Did you have any idea what the value was of it?

GUEST: No, I have no idea for that.

APPRAISER: Well, this bronze, it's really good quality, very finely done, perfect proportions, very, very elegant. This bronze is worth between $150,000 to $200,000.

GUEST: Wow!

APPRAISER: Yeah, he had good friends.

GUEST: Okay, thank my friends.

APPRAISER: If there was no signature on it, I would have said $100,000 to $150,000 anyway. But with the signature, $150,000 to $200,000.

GUEST: $150,000 to $200,000?

APPRAISER: Yup, yup.

GUEST: It's good. (laughing) It's excellent!