GUEST: I found it in an antique shop right here in West Des Moines.

The lady had just unwrapped it.

I thought, "Wow."

And then I purchased it at that time.

That's been about 25 years ago, maybe 30.

APPRAISER: And what'd you pay for it?

GUEST: I think around $100, $125, something like, something like that.

I went over to the State of Iowa Historical Library.

I looked up the "Ottumwa Courier," and I found the date, that date of it, and the headlines of the paper: "State Democratic Convention..." ... APPRAISER: Was held that day.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: It's clearly an oversized piece of what might be called utilitarian pottery.

And then what might have been an ordinary piece of what we call spongeware, gets turned into a piece of folk art.

A piece of political collectible, because of what it says.

And right on the top, "Ottumwa."

And we have a date, "July 27, 1910."

And it says, "welcome" with a wonderful horseshoe.

Now, when we turn it around, that's the reveal.

GUEST: (chuckles) There's a donkey.

APPRAISER: There's the donkey.

The Democratic seal.

So we now know that this was a commemorative piece made for the Democratic State Convention in 1910.

GUEST: State Convention, right.

APPRAISER: The way that this would have been made, would have been a piece of earthenware, and they would have spattered the decoration, the blue on there.

But the stencil would have been put on to protect all the white sections from getting decorated.

And we have this wonderful ground for the donkey to stand on.

And that was applied with a brush.

And then again... ...on the horseshoe, to give the horseshoe some more detail.

And I always get very nervous when a piece like this has a handle, and the natural inclination is to pick it up by the handle, but if you take a look right here, and then right in here, are hairline cracks.

And you never want to pick a heavy piece of stoneware up by the handle.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: If there was no decoration on here, and this was just a utilitarian pitcher, probably $200, $250.

But with the history and the decoration, and it's beautifully done, beautifully crafted, I would say, no problem, $3,000 to $4,000 retail.

GUEST: (chuckles) Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that's good.

My wife, she's-she's in the Democratic Party.

I'm a Republican, so... (laughs) APPRAISER: Okay!

So where does it sit in the house?

GUEST: It-it sits in the living room.

(chuckles) APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And she says, "You're not selling that!"

(laughs)