GUEST: They were my great-grandfather's.

So my great-grandfather grew up in the same village as Josef Hoffmann in Czechoslovakia.

APPRAISER: Uh-huh.

GUEST: And then they both moved to Vienna.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And then my great-grandfather wanted to support him... in his, in his designs, and so he acquired these.

GUEST: Josef Hoffmann, he was born in 1870, and he actually lived until 1956.

He was classically trained, and he won the very prestigious Prix de Rome.

And he actually started out as an architect.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And he continued to do architecture throughout his life.

He also designed furniture, he designed silver, he designed glass, he designed textiles.

And early 20th century, 1903, he started something called the Wiener Werksätte.

And it was actually a group of different designers who worked together.

Josef Hoffmann designed these for the Wiener Werksätte.

We're not sure what these are used for.

They can just be decorative vases.

Uh, they could be cachepot and had, uh, flowers or greenery in it.

The Wiener Werksätte did last until the 1930s, but they ran out of steam.

And I think these are examples from the high point of their production.

Sort of 1910, '15.

Each of these is hand-hammered.

On the underside... it has the Wiener Werksätte mark.

And up here we have Josef Hoffmann's initials.

And then we have the Wiener Werksätte mark.

And then we have the mark of the person who actually fabricated it.

900 refers to the grade of silver.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: So most of us talk about sterling silver.

Sterling silver is 925 parts of silver per thousand.

This is the high point of design in the early part of the 20th century.

And then Hoffmann was the Master of Design.

I think a retail replacement value for them would be in the $30,000 to $50,000 range.

APPRAISER: Are you serious?

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: (laughing) Oh my God.

Wow.

I had no idea.

Holy cow.

I... should probably keep-- better keep... (laughing) I should probably take better care of them.

Keep them better.

Wow.

Oh, my God.

That’s amazing.

Thank you so much