Antiques Roadshow guest is left stunned when she learns true value of late husband’s rice bowl
- A female guest went to the show to have her late husband’s rice bowl appraised
- She was shocked to learn it was worth much more than $1,000, as she thought
An Antiques Roadshow guest was utterly shocked to discover that her late husband’s rice bowl was valued at a low five-figure value.
The guest began explaining in the resurfaced clip that the rice bowl and accompanying plate belonged to her mother and father-in-law.
She said her father-in-law was the first consul general for the Republic of Korea – better known as South Korea – and handed the rice bowl to her husband.
The appraiser, Lark E. Mason, stepped in to provide some backstory on the piece.
Expert appraiser Lark E. Mason gave the guest a masterclass on Chinese pottery techniques from the 18th and 19th centuries
In the photo: the rice bowl and dish that the guest inherited from her late husband. The bowl was previously owned by her father-in-law, who she said was the first consul general of South Korea
Mason noticed that the bowl and lid were separated from the plate because they were different colors.
‘Really and truly? As long as I’ve had them, they’ve always been together,” the guest said.
Mason added that the sign was never intended to be a stand for the bowl, as there is no iconography or detail on the sign indicating it as such.
Building on the initial revelation about the lack of relationship between the plate and the bowl, Mason then told the guest that the plate had features reminiscent of 18th century China.
‘You notice that it has a very wide center section that is flat and then curves upwards. This shape is a distinctive Chinese shape,” Mason said.
“This particular shape was something that… was a shape that was favored in 18th century China, and into the early 19th century.”
He concluded that the dish was probably made closer to the 19th century, as 18th century dishes would have had a mark on the bottom.
‘The very white color of this indicates a kind of quality that would only have been available to the very richest people. That’s what helps us understand the time frame this was made,” Mason said.
The guest was completely baffled by the actual value of the rice bowl. It was much, much more than the thousand dollars she thought it could sell for
He used a similar method to figure out what period the bowl and lid were from, although he theorized that the double piece was from the 20th century.
After a deep dive into ancient Chinese pottery techniques, Mason asked the guest to guess how much her heirloom was worth.
“Maybe $1000?” she ventured.
“Well, I guess it’s worth a little more than that,” he said.
He estimated that the bowl and accompanying plate were worth $15,000 to $25,000 at auction.
As he said $15,000, the guest’s face turned into one of disbelief and she put her hand over her mouth.
‘Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness! That is beautiful.’
