GUEST:
Well, I received this vase about 30 years ago from a real estate client in Miami Beach. It was actually a gift from the father of the first sale I ever made-- the daughter. I sold her a condo.

APPRAISER:
Well that's pretty exciting. How much was the condo?

GUEST:
$48,000.

APPRAISER:
And this was the gift.

GUEST:
This was the gift.

APPRAISER:
And when you got the gift, what'd they tell you they gave you?

GUEST:
It was art glass.

APPRAISER:
Yes.

GUEST:
He's collected art glass, and he had too many pieces, and he just wanted to give me one of them.

APPRAISER:
Well, that was very nice.

GUEST:
It was a difficult sale, so...

APPRAISER:
It was a diff... (laughs) You know, that would be great if people gave you a hard time and then they give you a present afterwards.

GUEST:
Yeah.

APPRAISER:
It does soften the blow, doesn't it?

GUEST:
It does, every time.

APPRAISER:
Do you know where this was made?

GUEST:
Not really, I kind of guessed maybe Italy.

APPRAISER:
All right, well you are right.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
It is an Italian vase. And it was designed by Fulvio Bianconi, and it was made by a master glassworker at the Venini workshops in Murano.

GUEST:
Oh wow.

APPRAISER:
And probably made in the early 1950s. It's interesting because the shape is very elegant, very Italian. The type of decoration is also very Italian. What's interesting about this is it's tall, it's elegant, and it's actually probably meant to mimic the female form.

GUEST:
Oh.

APPRAISER:
Ordinarily when I see a vase in this shape, I'd say, "Oh, it's a double gourd." But Bianconi was known for designing vases that were made that were in the shape of the female form. What I want to show everyone, which is so lovely, is that now we're looking at it from this aspect, and then when you turn it this way, now it's wider and this is narrower. And it's... it's a very clever idea, and you get the... you feel it's sort of the sensuality of the female form. And looks like she has a little waistline.

GUEST:
Yes, it does.

APPRAISER:
Now the type of glass-- and you mentioned that-- the technique that was used to make this was called zanfirico. And zanfirico was typified by fusing together of glass canes. And they're long glass canes, and that's why you see these long lines in here. This particular one is probably one of the rette-- R-E-T-T-E-- configurations, and it's a diagonal one. Beautifully done, beautifully rendered. And it's interesting because you've seen this form, and we've seen it in the marketplace. But we've never seen it paired with the zanfirico technique. And it was very difficult to figure out what would something like this be worth because it's something we can't find anywhere.

GUEST:
Oh wow.

APPRAISER:
I spoke with one of my colleagues, who is very well versed in this, and he concluded in the end that in a retail venue, something like this could sell for $65,000.

GUEST:
$65,000?

APPRAISER:
Yes, yes, yes.

GUEST:
Wow. (laughs)

APPRAISER:
It's very special. And the reason is that this market...

GUEST:
(exhales) (laughs) Sorry. (laughs)

APPRAISER:
I didn't mean to cut you off.

GUEST:
Okay. (exhales)

APPRAISER:
This market has been seeing enormous jumps in it. Like just crazy. And we think the reason is that the people who are collecting contemporary art are now looking at the glass. The pieces have been getting these amazing pushes. Things that were selling for low thousands are now bringing tens of thousands of dollars. And there's even an instance where something has brought a quarter of a million dollars.

GUEST:
(laughing) Thank you, Arlie.

APPRAISER:
You're so welcome. It's really fun to give good news.

GUEST:
It's great news.

APPRAISER:
It's kind of fun that it's worth more than the condo that you sold.

GUEST:
Yeah.