GUEST: This came from my grandmother's home, upstate New York.

The home was built back in the early 1800s, sometime between 1800 and 1820, on a Revolutionary War grant, a land grant.

This came from the home.

I really-- we always called it the "bread bowl."

APPRAISER: Well, in the business, we would refer to this as a "burl bowl."

GUEST: Burl bowl?

Oh.

APPRAISER: A burl is on the side of a tree and it looks sorta like a wart, or a knot.

GUEST: Oh, yes, mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And so, the guy that made this had to have a burl about that big...

GUEST: Oh, my.

APPRAISER: ...cut it off the tree...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and then make a bowl out of it.

And the thing about a burl is that it's very, very hard wood.

And as you can see from looking inside of here, that the grain is all swirly...

GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Well, the reason they made it out of burl was because it, it would stay stable more so than a straight grain would.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Because all that grain was intermingled.

The time period fits perfect with what you're saying-- 1815 or '20.

GUEST: Oh, my.

APPRAISER: I looked for lots of wear on the inside.

You can see where they used tools on it and they put dough in it-- they just used it.

That's what you want to see.

Now, the other thing about this one is that it was turned on a lathe.

If you look real closely, you can see the rings underneath here, and if you run your hand over it... Can you feel how uneven that is?

GUEST: Oh, oh, my, yeah.

I never noticed that.

APPRAISER: The other thing that is great about it is that it has an oval shape.

When it was made, it was perfectly round.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: But over the years, it expands and contracts, and it'll contract one way against the grain more so than another, so what was perfectly round becomes oval.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: I showed this to a couple of the other guys and we think it's made out of ash.

You hear us talk about surface on the show all the time.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: For some things, it's not as critical as others, but in a burl bowl, that's very important.

It has a nice old surface.

Now, where do you have this in the house?

GUEST: Well, it was sitting on top of our big old TV, holding, uh, DVDs and videotapes.

APPRAISER: (laughs) Really?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: You got a big, wide spot on top of the television?

GUEST: Yes, and I think...

Yes, I still have one of those old TVs.

(laughs) APPRAISER: Would you put less DVDs in it if I told you that, in a retail setting, this bowl's worth $6,000?

GUEST: Oh, my-- oh, my.

(laughing): Oh, my.

I don't know what I'll put in it now.

(both laugh) APPRAISER: You might want to at least put it somewhere where you won't knock it off on the floor.

GUEST: (chuckling): That's right.