APPRAISER: What really sort of attracted me to this, uh, chair, Douglas, is this wonderful splat in the back.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Uh, it's an Egyptian, uh, Revival, uh, splat.

And I, as you can see by my hair, I like things Egyptian.

(both laugh) APPRAISER: And, uh, uh, this great scroll work, it looks as though it's a column holding up a, a temple in the Valley of the Kings, uh... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Can you tell me where you got this chair?

GUEST: I got it in a fairly small shop.

I walked in, and I usually don't buy American furniture, so... APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: But I saw it, and it looked interesting.

And after about a week, I actually went in and bought the chairs.

APPRAISER: Now, you've done some research on this chair yourself, correct?

GUEST: A little bit, yes, yeah.

APPRAISER: Yes?

And what did you find out about it?

GUEST: Um, I found out that it could be attributed to a furniture maker called Duncan Phyfe.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And I know that there have been a lot of reproductions of Dun, Duncan Phyfe things, but I think... APPRAISER: Yes, yes-- yes.

GUEST: ...that tended to be earlier-looking things.

APPRAISER: Well, Duncan Phyfe is, uh, a maker of American furniture in New York City in the early 19th century.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And he really was the premier, uh, furniture manufacturer.

He was a designer, and had, uh, many floors of, of craftsmen turning out his designs.

Uh, he flowered, uh, in New York, and really put New York on the map in terms of furniture in the early 19th century.

I believe this indeed is a Duncan Phyfe chair.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And it, uh, as you know, has a similar example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It's wonderful that you found one in an antique shop in Seattle.

Uh, it's pretty terrific.

GUEST: Yeah-- two, actually, but... APPRAISER: Do you have a pair of these?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: That's even better.

Do you mind me asking what you paid for them?

GUEST: Um, between $200 and $300 apiece.

APPRAISER: Well, that, that indeed, uh, was a find, uh... I think, were I to place these chairs at auction uh, that I would, uh, estimate them more aggressively than that.

I think they're chairs that, probably, the pair of them ought to fetch between $2,000 or $3,000.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Uh, they're really quite wonderful.

GUEST: Okay.