GUEST: So this is my grandmother's Japanese robe, or we believe it's Japanese.

So we know that she purchased it in the late 1980s.

We believe she paid about $2,000 for it.

APPRAISER: And where did she get it?

GUEST: Um, so, from an acquaintance whose family had worked in the Japanese embassy and in Asia.

My grandmother has been a prolific collector for the last 60 years.

But we realized as she's getting older, the rest of the family doesn't know about her collection.

So I've taken it on myself to help catalog all of her collection.

APPRAISER: It's not from Japan.

GUEST: (gasps) Okay.

(laughs) APPRAISER: It's actually Chinese.

GUEST: Okay, I had no idea.

(chuckles) APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

We can see right here, that beautiful purple...

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: ...that's on here.

Well, that's a very good indication of age.

GUEST: Is that mauve?

APPRAISER: It is.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: And aniline dyes, this color purple, in particular, was created in 1856.

This is Guangxu period, 1875 to 1908, and I think it's probably 1880s.

This was a woman's surcoat...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...for formal and semi-formal occasions.

Formal at home for domestic occasions...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...semi-formal for court uses.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So you would wear this, if you can imagine, this is not your formal wear.

You would wear this over your actual robe.

GUEST: That's amazing, because it's so fine.

I know!

I wouldn't think it would be casual.

(chuckles) APPRAISER: If you look at the sleeves, they are incredibly wide.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And that is to account for another article of clothing being worn beneath it with long sleeves.

GUEST; Okay.

APPRAISER: It's silk.

It has a wonderful feel.

It's not a satin, but here the embroidery is satin.

This has some couched, gilt metal wrapped thread.

The cranes up here, they have multiple meanings.

They are one, primarily, a symbol of imperial authority.

Cranes were a symbol of good luck, and heavenly acceptance of whatever you had going on.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: They also are symbols of longevity.

I think this was likely something that was created perhaps for somebody's birthday.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

Interesting.

APPRAISER: Uh, the wife of a prince.

GUEST: Was this very expensive to produce and own at the time?

APPRAISER: Absolutely.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It has these wonderful roundels, which are ornately decorated with the eight Daoist symbols.

GUEST: Oh!

APPRAISER: You can see that there are bats on every single one of the roundels, and the bats are symbols of wealth.

In these skirts, the... this is called "lishui," the fantastic rainbow of colors.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER; The mountains coming up, the waves, dragons.

We have some of the "bajixiang," which are the Eight Buddhist Symbols.

GUEST: Oh, wow, okay.

APPRAISER: It doesn't have all of them.

And if we look at the back, we can see that there are one, two, three.

There are three on the front and one on each shoulder.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So there are eight roundels total.

Looking at the collar, you can see that there's some wear.

Well, that's good.

It means that this was actually used.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: Uh, but there's not so much wear that it is going to damage the value.

What do you think it's worth?

GUEST: Uh... (chuckles) Could we say... $5,000?

APPRAISER: You are right on the money!

GUEST: No way.

Really?

APPRAISER: Yes!

At auction today, (laughs) this would sell for somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

Okay!

So I guess I have my grandma's eye for things.

(laughs) But, uh, that's wonderful.

APPRAISER: Were we to put a insurance value on this, it would be closer to $12,000 to $18,000.

GUEST: Wow.

Growing up, we would just, uh, play around beautiful... (laughs) beautiful pieces of artwork-- carefully!

(voice trembling): But, yeah, it was always displayed in her home very beautifully.

It's an honor to be able to do this for her.