DAVE HESTER: All right, guys. Let's do this.
This box labeled "police car top" was the main reason
I bought this unit.
And there's only one way to find out if I'm going
to get lucky with this one.
Oh, yeah.
Son of a gun, look at that thing.
What we have here is a metal car.
This is just in mint condition.
It doesn't actually have pedals in it.
So it's some kind of display.
But it looks to me like it's been completely restored.
Definitely cool.
I don't know if this is a collector's
piece or a high-end toy.
But I can tell from the craftsmanship
that it's expensive.
I'm going to say that this has to be in the $500 range.
This is pretty exciting, guys.
Bring me some more boxes.
[mysterious music playing]
Ladies' hairdryer.
Yeah, it's just a brand new portable hairdryer.
It's got to be worth 60 bucks.
How cool is that?
This was actually used in a meat shop or something like that.
300 bucks right there.
Woo, look at that.
What have we got down here?
Oooh.
Now, we're getting into the sterling silver.
Look at that.
Collectibles, 25 bucks.
Sterling weighted salt and pepper shakers, $25.
Well, this box is very cool.
You don't see silver with all that fine, fine detail.
So this is a whole scene right here, probably 1800s.
I'm going to say there's an easy 300 bucks right there.
When I think about getting lucky,
this is exactly the type of box that gets me going.
Beautiful little cuckoo clock, 50 bucks on the clock.
In the bottom, we have some very interesting pieces.
Little wooden statues, that's an easy 20 bucks there.
This is some old terracotta-type of stuff here.
This is in really good condition.
I don't know if this is Native American or Asian.
But you know what the good thing about this is?
There's more in the box.
This one obviously has been broken, damaged.
But this is actually the top piece, I think,
that sits on there like that.
You never know, man.
These could be museum pieces right there.
Kind of looks like Darrell a little bit,
smiling face, big nose.
It's kind of full of [bleep],, you know?
Oh, here we go.
These definitely have age to them.
Super interesting pieces.
Art is so subjective.
The only kind of art that I like is
the kind that makes me money.
Those definitely need to get checked out by an expert.
[music playing]
Hey, are you Gabriel?
I am.
Are you Dave?
DAVE HESTER: Yes, sir.
Gabriel is a pottery expert.
So if he tells me these are serious artifacts,
that means serious money.
What you're looking at are West Mexican ceramics.
So it's pre-Colombian cultures from various areas
in West Mexico.
This is a style that was done between about 300 BC to 300 AD.
And if they're authentic, you're looking at $8,000.
But there's been some extraordinarily
sophisticated faking that's been going on in the last 50 years.
When they made these things, it was slow fire.
The heat wasn't so hot.
Yeah.
When they make them now, they high-fire them.
Gotcha.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: So I would love to do
some tests on these things.
What I'm going to do is an acetone test
that'll show if it's high-fired or low-fired.
I'll start with this Colima dog.
He's got these black deposits on the surfaces.
That should be dendrite, which is a byproduct
of the low-firing process.
But if it's a reproduction, that's going
to be paint mixed with dirt.
It'll come off with acetone.
Well, let's try it.
Let's put some acetone on that.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: All right, cool.
Let's see what comes off with the acetone.
[music playing]
And unfortunately, some of that is coming off,
looking pretty black to me.
DAVE HESTER: Yeah.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: Let me move on to this one.
I don't like this one at all.
OK.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: It wants to be Jainesco in style,
but the color is totally wrong.
The ears and the earrings look kind
of more like a garden gnome.
This is a reproduction.
0 for 2 so far.
So what about my headless guy?
The good thing is that it's got
some exposed surfaces here that we can do tests with water.
DAVE HESTER: OK.
Now hopefully, it'll soak in really fast
and leave sort of an earthy, sweet smell.
I'm just going to spray with some water.
And let's see how fast it soaks in.
DAVE HESTER: Oh, that's fast. GABRIEL VANDERVORT: Yeah.
DAVE HESTER: That's lightning fast right there.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: Well, it's soaking.
It's soaking there.
It's not soaking so fast right there.
DAVE HESTER: Yeah.
It smells like Earth.
Well, that's a good sign.
So this is probably an authentic piece then.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: That looks like an authentic piece to me.
But the acetone test will really tell us for sure.
DAVE HESTER: OK.
Let's give it a test.
So let's do that.
I'm going to find a nice black spot here.
DAVE HESTER: So we need a clean Q-tip, clean Q-tip.
No, that's not looking very clean.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: That's not looking very good.
It looks like paint to me.
So we have three failed tests.
Yep.
But I've had, like, hundred-year-old reproductions
that still had value.
Realistically, these could sell to a decorator.
You might be able to get 100 bucks for the three of them.
Pf, 100 bucks.
Man, maybe I'll just take them to the antique show
and put them on the table and just tell them
I have no idea what they are.
Yeah.
But that wouldn't be very honest.
GABRIEL VANDERVORT: Not quite.
But I could probably get away with it.