GUEST: My grandparents lived in the country.

They lived near a railroad track, and, um, hobos used to come, and they would feed them.

So one of the hobos took a lock of their hair and left and came back with this picture for them.

So this is all family hair.

APPRAISER: And where did they live?

Where was this farm?

GUEST: Belleville, Illinois.

APPRAISER: There's a lot of hair in, in, in this.

GUEST: There is a lot, yes.

APPRAISER: And there's also personal photographs.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: So when did this come into your life?

GUEST: It came into my life 37 years ago.

And... From my grandmother.

APPRAISER: It's kind of a little bizarre.

GUEST: (laughs) APPRAISER: And some people think they're a little creepy.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: But they're done in the style of these late-19th-century memorials... GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...that were done earlier in that century.

There are watercolors and there are a lot of needleworks.

And the quintessential piece is, typically, the weeping willow.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

Okay.

APPRAISER: And we see this in watercolors.

We see needlework.

I've not seen one made of hair.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Yeah.

I do not recognize the artist's hand.

I don't know of any other piece that's similar to this.

So you might say the artist did this, and it's one and done.

These are pictures of your relatives?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Okay.

So they would have been cut out of a cabinet card.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And cabinet card was 19th-century photography.

And they were done typically in studios.

And especially the one next to the monument is the husband and wife.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And then you have the wife and then you have another family member.

Do you know who they are?

GUEST: I do not.

I know it wasn't my grandparents, so it had, could have possibly been their parents.

APPRAISER: We have this hair that is used everywhere, along with what I'm thinking is pressed felt.

It's on the fence on the bottom and it's on the monuments.

And everything is mounted to a ribbed paper.

So this is late 19th century.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And I think in a really good retail setting, I would put a value on it of $5,000.

GUEST: $5,000?

APPRAISER: $5,000.

GUEST: Okay, thank you.

APPRAISER: And if you're insuring it, I would put a value on it of $7,500.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: You're not going to find another one.

GUEST: Thank you-- yes.