Appraisal: Windsor Chair & Passport, ca. 1815

GUEST: My father's family is originally from Newburyport, Massachusetts, and this document is my great-great-great-grandfather's.

He was a man of color living in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and this documents allowed him to travel to the South, where he had relatives.

It's dated 1815, and my father passed that down to us and we treasure it.

And this we call the grandfather's chair.

APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: Now, we're not sure which grandfather.

We know it was my father's grandfather, but if it was his father, we don't know.

There are various dates under here.

1850-something, 17-something.

We just always sat in it.

You can see the bottom is quite worn.

APPRAISER: And you sat on this chair?

GUEST: I sat on this chair.

My father sat on this chair.

Probably his father, as well.

You can see, it's taken quite a beating.

APPRAISER: It's a great heirloom.

This is a passport.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's very straightforward document.

And as we see, it's from Essex, town of Newburyport.

It's notarized by a man called Woart, W-O-A-R-T.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And he is justice of the peace.

It's got his seal...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...and signature.

And as you said, the date of 1815.

GUEST: The date.

APPRAISER: It's suffered a little bit of bloom and damage.

A couple of holes here.

But essentially, it's a great historical item.

GUEST: We think so.

APPRAISER: Here you have the respect given to a man of color...

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: .

..in the North in 1815.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: It's very early.

And the other interesting thing is, we have crossover here.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And, yes, indeed, this is an absolutely genuine Massachusetts-made Windsor chair.

GUEST: It is?

APPRAISER: And as you've said...

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: It's got some...

GUEST: (laughs) APPRAISER: Some repair.

It's had its feet cut down, but it is a child's chair.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: At auction, the whole package is worth $2,000 to $3,000.

GUEST: Okay, all right.

APPRAISER: But obviously, it is of...

GUEST: It's, yes.

APPRAISER: ...tremendous family significance.

GUEST: Value.

Well, we treasure both items, and this chair has, a lot of bottoms have sat on it, and we love it and hope to just keep passing it down.

APPRAISER: Yes.