Antiques Roadshow guest nearly left cooking vessel worth thousands behind at estate sale
An Antiques Roadshow didn't quite expect to hear the real value of an old cooking pot she picked up at an estate sale.
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WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antique Roadshow guest was left “very excited” when a cooking pot she purchased more than a decade ago and almost left behind, was given a small fortune price tag.
The PBS show saw expert Allan Katz step in to appraise a cooking vessel that its owner had come across during an estate sale.
She explained: “This is an early American cooking vessel, probably used by the early colonists and it comes from Virginia.
“I went to a sale of a lady’s estate, she ran a small shop in Monona Village. When she passed away, I went to her estate sale and I purchased it from the estate.”
But she almost missed out on the valuable item altogether, adding: “I was called up after the sale was over as I didn’t take it home with me on either day of the sale.”
The guest commented that she paid just $75 for the piece around 12 years ago and it now sits by her fireplace.
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It was Katz’ turn to give some commentary on the item, elaborating: “From the side view, it looks somewhat of an ordinary cooking vessel on three legs, cast and bronze.
“We see a name ‘Taylor Richmond’ and then I’m going to swing it around and then you see ‘Virginia’.
“This is all cast into the piece. All original, all, as you said, all very, very early.
“This pot dates to about 1790 and it’s made by John Taylor. John Taylor had a foundry in Richmond, Virginia.
“Very early on, pots like this were typically made in northern cities, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Newport, Rhode Island.
“It’s rare to find a southern-made piece like this. He did tea kettles, mortars and pestles, anything that he could cast in metal.”
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Katz continued: “And these pots were called posnets, an early English term for ‘small pot’.
“My immediate reaction to why this back leg may be longer, is because if you’re using it for a small amount, it would tip it forward so it would accumulate in the front end. If you’re only making a small batch.
“You would put this in the fireplace and you would melt butter and make sauces and during the Colonial Revolutionary War, they would actually melt the lead to make the bullets.”
When questioned if she had any idea of its worth, the guest replied: “Not really, I don’t. But because of its heritage and where it came from, Virginia, I thought it would be worth something.”
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Summarising, Katz stated: “This would be coveted by so many different types of collectors.
“I would put a retail value and feel very safe in doing it, of in the neighbourhood of between $10,000 and $15,000.”
Instantly upon hearing the price, the guest exclaimed: “Oh my goodness. Wow. Well, that’s very exciting.
“I hadn’t any idea that it would be worth that much.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.
