1925 Punch Pot

Appraised on: July 14, 2007

Appraised in: San Antonio, Texas

Appraised by: Nicholas Dawes

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: Tasty Treasures (#1520)
San Antonio, Hour 3 (#1209)

Originally Aired: March 24, 2008

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (1:20)

APPRAISER: Well, when you walked in with this, I heard a couple of people say and the crew right here were saying, "You can get a lot of tea out of that. It's the biggest teapot I've ever seen."

GUEST: Yes, yes.

APPRAISER: But do you know what it is? Because it's not a teapot.

GUEST: Oh, really?

APPRAISER: No, ma'am.

GUEST: I keep tea bags in it.

APPRAISER: Well... well, that's as good a use of it as any. But let's see what it says here. "Another little drink won't do us any harm."

GUEST: That's what caught my eye.

APPRAISER: Well, that's not talking about tea. It's talking about what this is designed to serve, which is punch, alcoholic punch.

GUEST: I see.

APPRAISER: And when I first saw this, I thought, "Oh, this is a great Victorian punch pot." I thought it was probably made in the 1860s or '70s or something like that. But then if we look at this verse on the other side, it tells us "present to a friend, 1925," which is quite unusual. That's very late for this type of thing. And I think it's got some value. How much did you pay for it when you got it?

GUEST: I paid $75 in an estate sale in Fredericksburg.

APPRAISER: Okay. Well, I think you made a nice buy, because in a good-quality shop, it would have to be at least $400 or $500.

GUEST: You're kidding.

APPRAISER: Oh, yeah.

GUEST: Oh, well, thank you. That's exciting.

APPRAISER: No, you keep your tea bags in it. I think that's perfect.

GUEST: Well, maybe I'll let them ferment a little.

APPRAISER: Yeah.