GUEST: My grandmother passed away in 1982, I believe.

One of her helpers sent us a box of stuff, and this was in there.

We saw one very similar to it on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW many, many, many years ago.

APPRAISER: It's called a shabti and would be called upon during death by the gods to do work.

I'm thinking that it was one of a number that would have been in the tomb.

Sometimes there'd be 500, depending on how wealthy they were... GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...because you would want as many people to help you in the afterlife as possible.

The shabti is in typical mummified form with a tripartite wig and a pick and a flail.

These are the tools used to work the fields and the farms.

It has a seed packet on the back of its shoulder.

The writing on them, it's usually chapter six from the Book of the Dead, which also has a spell.

And when that spell is spoken, the ushabti comes to life.

He says, "I hear and I obey."

This one is from the 26th dynasty, 664 to 525 BC.

And this is when Psamtik became the pharaoh and he'd thrown out the Assyrians.

Egypt had been rather a mess before then, and he sort of got it together and made more of an association with the Greeks.

And this was really a renaissance-- the last major blooming of Egyptian art, the 26th Dynasty.

And the headquarters were in a place called Saite in, in Egypt.

It's known for its extraordinary quality.

A piece of this quality was absolutely for a particular person.

He was probably a very important official or a priest in the 26th dynasty.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: It's a glazed ceramic-- it's called faience.

And they vary in color a lot.

They go from white to dark and some are vivid blue; the cobalt ones.

The 26th dynasty usually ends up being this pale green.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: Very desirable.

You can see the staining on the sides and the bottom.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: That's really come from oxidation in the ground where it's been lying.

But the quality is just so sublime.

You look at it and it's the quintessential Egyptian mummy-formed face as we know it.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: I think retail value would be in the region of $8,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And I would insure it probably for about $15,000.

GUEST: Very good.

(chuckles)