GUEST: This was given to me by my father.

He got it from his father, who was an antiques collector.

I got it in 1993.

It was appraised at that time at $200.

APPRAISER: $200, okay.

GUEST: I was told that it is a John Bell butter tub, and that's all I know about it.

(laughs) APPRAISER: Okay, well, you're correct, it is a butter tub.

This probably dates to around the 1840s, '50s, '60s, somewhere around there.

And it was incredibly utilitarian.

It was made just to use in the kitchen.

It was never intended to be an heirloom or collectible or to pass down.

It was just something to use every day.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Now, back then, butter, of course, did not come in a package at the grocery store, in a stick.

You would either churn your own butter or you got it from local farmers, and you had big blobs of butter and you kept it in this big pot.

When you brought it out of the box, I thought, eh, you know, it's okay, it's an old piece of American pottery.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: It has what we'd call a Bennington or a Rockingham glaze, which is kind of a tortoiseshell glaze.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The base pottery is kind of a yellowish color.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Then they put on this kind of mottled, sloppy, brown glaze.

And it was just a, a way of making something to use every day in the kitchen that was a little decorative, but it was not expensive.

If it were unmarked, it, it might sell for $50, or maybe $100.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: But we've got something going on here that makes it a lot more interesting.

As you mentioned, it is made by a man named John Bell.

Do you know where John Bell lived and worked?

GUEST: I read that he was born in Hagerstown, Maryland.

He relocated to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, but he had his pottery shop in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

APPRAISER: Okay.

He's from a, a l, big family of potters.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: He learned pottery-making in the German tradition from his father.

Now, he worked pretty much from about 1833 to 1880, when he died.

These things got chipped, they got cracked, the handles got broken off.

They didn't really survive in very good condition.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: But this is one of those remarkable survivors.

If this were to be sold at auction, it would probably sell for between $3,000 and $5,000.

GUEST: Wow!

Oh, my, I did not expect that.

Wow, I, I'm, I'm shocked.

APPRAISER: We did find an auction record for a nearly identical one... with a little different colors that actually sold for $6,000 at auction.

GUEST: Wow.