GUEST: I inherited it when my mother died.

But as a child I used it to put my important things in it.

And I put them in there, and I pretended it was money.

APPRAISER: What you have is an 18th century, circa 1740 to 1770, walnut Queen Anne chest.

And it was called, really, a valuables chest.

Let me just pull out a drawer and just show you what you have here.

This is actually cedar, which should keep away insects.

And on the side this is poplar.

You see that green wood?

Those two woods were used in Philadelphia, Chester County, all those areas near Philadelphia, in the Queen Anne period on furniture.

See those wonderful dovetails?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And look at the back of the drawer.

Here are the original post and nut.

So you have the original Chippendale brasses on this.

You have this overhanging cornice, wonderful, molded drawers, three over two, over a graduated set of three.

Now, if I take this top off and we look at the bottom of this chest right here, you can see that from the witness mark, the light poplar...

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: it shows that this is exposed to air, and this is not oxidized.

That means this always had a base like this on there.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It didn't have bracket feet at one time.

That's important.

It always had a base.

The base would have looked exactly like this.

But this is not an old enough base.

I'm sorry to say that.

It was done 100 years ago.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Okay, so it's nothing you did or your parents.

There was something lovingly done.

Right here on the back, if you look at the tool marks, you see these chatter marks right here?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: That's from a machine tool.

GUEST: (chuckling): Oh-oh, yes.

APPRAISER: It wasn't invented in the 18th century.

Also, if you look on the back side of this-- all the edges are so sharp you can cut yourself.

Feel the edge of that now.

Run your hand on that.

See how all that's beat up and... that's from 200 years of use.

That's why we don't refinish pieces, we don't clean them away.

And that's why this is such a treasure.

I was so excited.

You made my day, okay?

GUEST: Yes, and you made mine.

APPRAISER: As a wonderful piece that has a replaced base, it is worth at auction probably $5,000 to $8,000, in that range.

Now, if this had its original base, it would be worth in the range of $60,000 to $80,000.

GUEST: (laughing) Oh-ho-oh.