GUEST: I think they came from my great-grandmother's house in Kentucky.

They ended up with my grandma here, and, uh, when she passed away, my dad cleaned everything out, and they almost ended up in the dumpster.

But my wise, brilliant mother saved them from the garbage and had them under her bed for, like, the last 15 years.

I think they are my ancestors, probably from the South, Mississippi area-- Alabama, maybe.

APPRAISER: They are wonderful oil-on-board portraits of what we believe to be a husband and wife.

Trying to figure out the date of these, we often will take a look at the sitters' clothing.

And when I look at the woman, in particular, I see this high-banded waist.

We refer to that as the Empire style.

And we see that between about 1800 and 1820.

The gentleman similarly has a outfit that we think of as something from around the War of 1812.

So I think this firmly GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: puts it in.

But the big question is, how do we know they're American?

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And so one of the ways we, as appraisers, will look at an object is by looking on, what is it constructed on?

By taking a look at the back here, we can see the wood that it was made on.

It's got this sort of greenish tinge, which indicates that it's poplar, a native American wood.

And we often find that in the mid-Atlantic states... GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: and the South.

What I really love about 'em is their condition.

You probably have the original frame, but it's been painted black later.

APPRAISER: They are so fabulously painted.

I just absolutely love the lacework on the bonnet, and this pink ribbon running through... GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: is spectacular.

The lace on her collar, the, the fringe and the lace on his shirt, the way his hair is so stylized.

APPRAISER: They’re so exquisitely done.

What's different is, if you look at the oval, you see how sort of uneven this line is?

APPRAISER: Well, what I expect to have seen would be what we call églomisé glass.

So, it would have been reverse-painted glass, so... GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: It would've been black with gilt highlights that would have covered up that uneven edge.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: With the exception of a little bit of the exfoliation on the gentleman and a little bit of rub on the shoulder here, they're, like, untouched.

And that's what we as collectors... GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: and appraisers love, this sort of original condition.

We tried in the short amount of time to figure out who the artist was, and we weren't able to come up.

Sometimes... GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: you may be able to find similar profile portraits and ascribe them based on previous attributions.

I think we need to do more research on that.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: I would suggest putting an insurance value of $7,500 on the pair.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

That's more than I thought, wow.

(chuckles) Wow, okay.

They almost got thrown away-- that's amazing.

(chuckling) APPRAISER: When you pulled them out of the box... GUEST: (laughing) APPRAISER: my heart started beating faster and I couldn't contain my excitement.

GUEST: I’m glad my mom was smart enough to save them.