GUEST: My mother was a, uh, librarian in, uh, North Carolina, Haywood County, and a gentleman that lived near there befriended her and gifted her this box around 1985.

The note was not addressed to anybody in our family.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: But it, it was in the box, and I thought it was a nice note, so we left it in the box there.

APPRAISER: This is the smallest version of a Shaker box.

They made different sizes, and one of the things they're known for is their quality.

They felt like earthly goods in, in very nice quality got them closer to heavenly perfection.

You can see how finely made the fingers, or lappers, are.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: And the other thing I noticed is it's got those little copper tacks in it, and that's very much a distinctive characteristic of Shaker perfectionism.

And it's a very desirable color.

That's called chromium yellow.

And I started looking at the note, and it actually mentions who it came from.

If you look right up under the bottom here, it actually has her name and that she was an eldress in the Shaker community in, uh, New Hampshire.

The writing on the bottom of this, as well as this note, are probably from the 1950s 'cause, if you look at the back of the note, that's like a valentine or an old gift card from the '50s.

And without that note, I could've never known the date of 1851.

She mentions that date probably 'cause it was documented in her family.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: The bottom and the top are, are made out of white pine, and I think the, the sides are some kind of figured wood, maybe maple or beech or something like that.

There is a little bit of wear on the top.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Have you ever had anybody look at this and talk about value?

GUEST: No, I-- my mother always suspected that it had some value to it.

APPRAISER: This is a very rare thing.

People that collect this kind of thing, everybody wants the best of the best.

And in a retail setting, they would ask $12,000 to $18,000 for this.

GUEST: Well, she was right then.

It had some value.

That's great.

APPRAISER: If it didn't have the note, it would probably be $8,000 to $12,000.