Additional Coverage:
- ‘Antiques Roadshow’ guest says ‘never in a million years’ could she have guessed the value of her item (marketrealist.com)
A Pennsylvania woman received a shock on “Antiques Roadshow” after an old tin coffee pot, a family heirloom she’d always associated with hot chocolate, was appraised for a staggering $7,000 to $9,000. The guest, who fondly remembered the pot from her husband’s grandfather’s house, admitted she never suspected its true worth.
“I knew it was a special object to them,” she explained, recalling how he’d carefully hide it whenever visitors arrived. “The family always called it the ‘chocolate pot.'”
Expert Kelly Wright identified the piece as a prime example of Pennsylvania Dutch tinware, crafted between 1860 and 1890 using a decorative painting technique known as tole. He noted the coffee pot’s “lighthouse” form and distinctive gooseneck spout, while also pointing out a small dent on the finial. Despite this minor flaw, Wright declared it one of the finest pieces of Pennsylvania tinware the show had ever seen.
When asked for her own estimate of the pot’s value, the guest humbly replied, “I like it just because it’s pretty, but I don’t really think that it has a whole lot of value.” Her jaw dropped when Wright revealed the auction estimate.
“Are you kidding me?” she exclaimed.
“Never in a million years would I have thought that!”