GUEST: This is a gramophone.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: We picked it up maybe 25 years ago in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: We had just completed a week-long hiking tour of the Slovenian Alps... APPRAISER: Wow.

GUEST: ...and it was Sunday morning, and, um, they had, like, a flea market set up... APPRAISER: Sure.

GUEST: ...with booths and tables along the river.

And this was all polished and shined up and caught the sun.

And it caught my husband's eye... APPRAISER: Ah GUEST: ...and, uh, it was going to go home with us.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: We think we paid around a hundred dollars for it, but we're not sure.

APPRAISER: Okay.

Right.

GUEST: And we know that we made the vendor's day because within ten minutes, he had folded up shop and went home.

APPRAISER: And I have to settle a bet between you and your husband?

GUEST: My husband has always been convinced that it's got to be authentic because it came from Europe.

APPRAISER: (chuckling): Right.

GUEST: Uh, I know that there are all kinds of knockoffs that look exactly like this that are worth about $100 apiece.

So you can settle that for us.

APPRAISER: (laughing): Okay.

Well, I'll try to do my best.

So I remember when I first did the first season of ROADSHOW these gramophones would come in and they were always a big hit.

APPRAISER: Now the markets have changed since then.

And there are also real ones and later productions.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: I think you're both right.

I want to settle this.

GUEST: Oh, you're a diplomat.

APPRAISER: I know, I-I did not want to offend anyone.

(chuckles) But there's a couple of things that I want to point out.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: First of all, this label in green.

That is a later reproduction of the piece.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: I would date this in and around the 1940s.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The other part of it is the back mounting that's holding up the whole horn is either replaced or a later production.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: You also have this dog and tell me the story about this.

GUEST: (chuckles) That dog I found at an outlet store in Savannah.

This is Sparky.

He should have his head cocked and the sound of my master's voice.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: The mold maker thought that the-the dog was defective because his head was cocked.

APPRAISER: Wh ah.

GUEST: So he changed the mold and made all of them with their-- so I have a Sparky with his head on straight and he's probably not worth very much because of that.

APPRAISER: (chuckling): Well, his name is actually Nipper, not Sparky.

GUEST: Oh!

Oh!

APPRAISER: So it was Nipper.

And even on the record you can actually see that he is there with his head cocked.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And that's Nipper.

Also he has the black spot around his eye, which he shouldn't because... GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: that-- Nipper never had that.

And also the way that this is painted, you could see that there's the paintbrush.

They painted outside of the lines.

So this is the knockoff, Nipper.

GUEST: (laughs) APPRAISER: So this is the knockoff.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: This is a later production-- however, with everything together, with the gramophone and the reproduction Nipper, (laughs) I would put an auction estimate in the $800 to $1,200 price range.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Yes.

GUEST: Okay, so am I right or is my husband?

(both laugh) APPRAISER: That is the question.

GUEST: I think you're both right.

APPRAISER: Okay.