GUEST: My wife found it in a, in a little antique shop in the village where she grew up, which is not far from Newmarket, which is a big racecourse in England.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And this actually sat in the Newmarket jockey club for several years.

Part of the connection was that my grandfather worked for W & T Avery.

APPRAISER: Worked for the company?

GUEST: Until about 1922 or '23.

Don't know how old it is probably a hundred years, I don't know.

It's a toy in our family room, basically.

Guests come and they decide they want to weigh themselves.

Unfortunately, it's painfully accurate.

APPRAISER: (laughs) GUEST: (stammering): So, you know, it doesn't lie, so... APPRAISER: Well, this is a jockey chair scale.

It's incredibly rare.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: You don't really see them that much.

And, uh, during the time period of the late 19th century when this was made, about 1895 to 1900, the W & T Avery Company produced these chairs with leather seats, walnut primary wood, and, uh, secondary wood we see English oak.

We've got these spindles, all in the Edwardian style.

The base has these wonderful moldings.

And then this incredible cast-iron scales, with beautiful gilt decoration, all original.

And of course, then, these weights.

And when the jockey sat in this chair, it was a serious thing, it was very serious.

GUEST: Yep.

APPRAISER: If a jockey didn't make his weight, he could not feed his family.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: These were chairs sat in by men who were incredibly strong, agile.

I think this chair is absolutely fascinating.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: I love the fact that it has its original leather.

So all this wear we know is probably mostly from jockeys over the years.

GUEST: Yeah.

Well, I think this... most of this damage has come from grandchildren.

APPRAISER: Would you mind sitting in the chair?

GUEST: Oh, you want me Yeah.

APPRAISER: Do you want to like take for a weight?

GUEST: I'm a bit big for a jockey.

(laughing) So there we go.

APPRAISER: Let's see, I'm gonna give this a try.

Now, this is eight stones.

GUEST: Eight stones.

APPRAISER: So one stone equals...

GUEST: 14 pounds.

APPRAISER: 14 pounds.

Right.

Now, this is the...

GUEST: 16 stone.

APPRAISER: 16 stone.

GUEST: I mean, I can't imagine a jockey would ever be 16 stones, but there we go.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: Now, there's a fine adjustment here.

Now set this.

That's another four pounds.

APPRAISER: There it is, right about...

GUEST: 16 stone... APPRAISER: About there, a little bit less.

GUEST: 16 stone, half a pound.

APPRAISER: Just right there so 16 stones, half-pound.

And that translates...

GUEST: To about 225 pounds.

APPRAISER: Now, may I ask you, do you know what this is worth?

Have you ever had it appraised?

GUEST: No, as I say, it's a novelty at home, so we use it more as a toy than anything else.

I paid about, by the time we got it here from the village in England... APPRAISER: Yes?

GUEST: ...about $1,500.

APPRAISER: $1,500 U.S.

GUEST: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

APPRAISER: Okay, well, one recently sold at an auction down south for $12,500 U.S.

GUEST: (chuckling): Oh, you're kidding.

(laughing) APPRAISER: And that one had replaced leather.

And I don't know whether it had the original weights, which is so amazing these have survived.

GUEST: Oh yeah, that's right, yeah.

APPRAISER: And all the original paint.

I would estimate this at auction between $10,000 and $15,000.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

Well, I think the grandchildren will stay off it from now on.

(both laughing)