GUEST:
So I have this chair I'd love to show you. Just the first piece that kind of kicked off the whole journey of, of me getting into it.

APPRAISER:
This is an Eastlake style chair, which is an American or European interpretation of Aesthetic Movement design. You can tell by the way the back is carved, this ebonized finish. Can't tell you what kind of what it is because the ebonized finish covers it, but probably oak or walnut, but a really good period piece from the fourth quarter of the 19th century.

GUEST:
Oh, wow.

APPRAISER:
I think the chair is a combination of machined and hand-finished. I would guess the larger parts are machined to some extent, but the detailing would be chip-carved or carved by hand. Please, tell me about the fabric, because the way they set this off is just beautiful.

GUEST:
It took me months. When I first started to, you know, get into repurposing them, I... A lot of the fabric that was presented to me as options, they just didn't speak to me. And so I kept looking, kept looking. And eventually I, I, when I was away shooting a project in South Africa, I came across this fabric and I brought it back, and I gave it to the upholsterer. And he had never done it, like, with fabric like this, and I had never done it at all.

APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.

GUEST:
So, it was an experiment. He got exactly what I was aiming for.

APPRAISER:
It's a really nice job.

GUEST:
Yeah. A lot of people think that all the fabric was made in Africa, when, in actuality, much of it was made in the Netherlands.

APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.

GUEST:
Part of why I find this all fascinating and kind of a way of speaking to story is the appropriation of the appropriated. The Dutch having been a colonizing power in the world at one point, they were in Indonesia and were trying to take this batik technique...

APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.

GUEST:
...that the Indonesians had perfected, and was part of their culture, and eventually they had come up with batik fabric that was a copy of that Indonesian technique, but the Indonesian market wouldn't take it. And so that they found that Africans would, and so they started to sell the Dutch fabric using the Indonesian technique to the African market. And now we're, I'm, we're covering European and mid-modern pieces.

APPRAISER:
People look at it and see a beautiful chair, and you... ecologically sound, it's a very small carbon footprint, repurposing an old piece of furniture. Really beautifully done. You've essentially gotten furniture that, even if it was in great condition, much less found in a moldy basement, that there's no value in and you've repurposed it and made something beautiful and valuable out of it. I mean, that's, that's the truth. It's called OBF, old brown furniture.

GUEST:
(laughs)

APPRAISER:
And people by and large don't want it anymore-- the kids don't want it.

GUEST:
Yeah.

APPRAISER:
But when it looks like this, I'd have to think there's a young, new market for it. I know you have similar things for sale-- obviously, they're all one-offs-- but how much would this sell for?

GUEST:
Ooh...

APPRAISER:
The set-- both the chair and ottoman?

GUEST:
Because also, it has the emotional attachment of being the first piece, I think maybe I'd put it up there for $3,500.

APPRAISER:
Emotions are overrated.

GUEST:
Right. (both laughing) How much would you say it's worth?

APPRAISER:
No, I think, it feels like a $2,000 set to me, if anybody was buying new furniture.

GUEST:
That seems like a fair-ish price.

APPRAISER:
I would have expected more, knowing how much time and effort has to go into it. I think this footstool is not Eastlake. I think it's probably...

GUEST:
No, it wasn't.

APPRAISER:
It looks more like Duncan Phyfe to me, which would be first third of the 19th century.

GUEST:
So how much would you say that's worth? Because I got a mortgage.

APPRAISER:
Before you put your hands on it or after?

GUEST:
Both.

APPRAISER:
Before you put your hands on it, about $25.

GUEST:
Oh...

APPRAISER:
After, I'd say $500.

GUEST:
Woo-hoo!