GUEST: I went to one of my favorite shops in Frederick, Maryland, and the intent was to find some natural elements to decorate a house that we are going to be building soon, and I saw this on the shelf.

I saw the beautiful little deer on it.

So, I picked it up and-- to see how much it was.

It was only $25.

APPRAISER: When did that happen?

GUEST: Had to have been in February, I believe, of this year.

APPRAISER: Remarkable find.

GUEST: Oh, thank you.

APPRAISER: It is a creation by a gentleman by the name of Charles Loloma; he's a Hopi artist.

He's a 20th century contemporary artist who's a great innovator.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: In the time he was creating this, he had just come out of the service.

He got a G.I.

grant to study pottery and also some additional grants to do a perspective of traditional pottery, which is hand-formed, hand-coiled.

He used a wheel.

He used elements in his creation of these pots to give them more texture and more character.

The inclusion of the deer and the dirt devils and the sun face... and the rain, they are symbols, they are all part of the Hopi tradition.

The color he chose is very Hopi, which is the blue interior.

It's just a magnificent piece.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: It's absolutely magnificent.

You can see his incised name and the date of '49.

When he resettled in his Native land, he went back to the Second Mesa and did the studies with his wife.

They moved down into Scottsdale and were part of a shop that opened there.

So, they had their pottery line there for about a year, year-and-a-half...

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: ...but then he became enamored with silverwork, and he drift-- they drifted away from pottery.

So, to find these is like finding, you know, hen's teeth.

He was a creative master, and this is one of the best pots I have ever seen.

GUEST: (soft chuckle) Wow.

APPRAISER: If you were to offer it at auction, I would expect you to see between $7,500 and $9,000 for it.

GUEST: Oh, my gosh.

(laughs) (voice breaking): That's... (soft chuckle) that's amazing.

APPRAISER: It is amazing.

GUEST: It is amazing.

APPRAISER: It is amazing, and-- GUEST: I wasn't expecting that.

APPRAISER: And congratulations on your good eye.

GUEST: Thank you, wow.

(laughs) Who knew?

APPRAISER: Who knew?

Well, thankfully, we knew.