A NEWBORN bought a bowl and two decades later discovered an unusual detail meant it was worth thousands of dollars.
The unidentified woman took her prized honeymoon possession to an Antiques Roadshow event in Fortworth, Texas in 2017.
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She purchased the wooden bowl 22 years earlier during her honeymoon on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Believing it to be from the Pacific Northwest, the woman paid $400 for it.
Little did she know that decades later she would discover her true value.
Appraiser Anthony Slayter-Ralph revealed that the bowl was likely made of spruce and was created by Alaska Natives between the 1780s and early 1800s.
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The expert noted that the aged wooden bowl had an “extraordinary” feature that he had never seen before.
At the top of the piece was a hollow face that almost looked like a small handle.
“It’s extraordinary. I mean, I’ve never seen, and neither have my colleagues, one that had this head attached to the top,” Slayter-Ralph said.
“Eskimos don’t really make decorative art. Everything they do has a function.
“And they also believed that each of these objects contained a spirit, the yua, and I think the head probably represents the spirit of the bowl.”
“I mean, maybe this looks like a mask and this is the body,” he added.
“We’re inclined to think it would be ceremonial…we don’t really know.”
He added that the back of the face was hollowed out as if it were a “miniature mask.”
Despite the bowl’s age and some damage that had been repaired at some point in its history, the owner was surprised to learn its true value.
Slayter Ralph estimated the bowl was worth between $18,000 and $20,000.
However, if additional research were carried out, it could sell for much more at auction, he said.
“Oh my God. Oh my Lord,” the woman exclaimed as tears welled up in her eyes.
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“This is my wedding gift. It makes me want to cry because of the story of where I got it and how I got it,” she said.
The US Sun previously reported on a thrift store shopper who made a $4 purchase after falling in love with a music box before discovering its true value.
Rather than just being an ornate music box, the item was made by the House of Faberge.
The Fabergé Imperial Musical Carousel Egg is worth up to $6,000, according to Live auctioneers.
It’s made with opulent Aurora Borealis porcelain with over 500 genuine Austrian crystals and 24-karat gold accents.
Meanwhile, another thrift store shopper picked up a designer dress for just $6.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
