GUEST: My grandfather had been traveling around the globe around 1909.

We think this is one of the pieces that he brought back, possibly from Japan.

He was at the base of the home that my father grew up in, at the staircase.

When my grandfather passed away, he came into our home in New Jersey.

I inherited him in 2012.

I've always been told that he was some type of an idol, a Japanese idol.

APPRAISER: It is Japanese.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's enormously heavy.

GUEST: Yes, yes, we weighed this section.

It was 80 pounds.

APPRAISER: Just that section?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Right, and it's because this is made of bronze.

It's a lantern.

What you see on the surface is not the way the metal appears when it comes out of the foundry.

Also what they do in that process, when it comes out of the foundry is they are finishing the details.

Then you need to do something to give a uniform appearance that takes away that, those kind of inconsistencies.

And that is called a patina, and one of the things that you can see on the shoulder here is the first coat was a deep, reddish brick color.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: How much light do you think is going to come through this?

GUEST: With a candle?

Not a lot.

APPRAISER: Not a lot.

(chuckles) It's supposed to be more atmospheric.

It's supposed to be something that is going to conjure up some sort of an emotional response.

What kind of emotional response does he conjure up?

GUEST: Well, he scared us as children.

APPRAISER: (chuckling) That's exactly right.

This is the stuff of nightmares.

GUEST: Yes.

Yes.

APPRAISER: And that's exactly who that is.

This is an oni.

And an oni is a mythical figure that we can best describe as a devil who has superhuman powers.

The eyes have a kind of off-white appearance that is been achieved with some sort of enamel that would have shown and been penetrating in low light.

This dates to about 1909.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Which is at the end of the Meiji period, which ended in 1912.

During the Meiji period, Japan was rapidly industrializing.

One of the ways they did that was by creating works of art that would be astounding.

That would be sold to people who had influence, which would be seen by the other people of influence that would then have an effect on commerce with Japan.

For insurance purposes, a reasonable figure would be in the $60,000 range.

GUEST: Oh, that's very nice.

How nice.

One of seven, I have to-- sure I'll have a discussion with them.

(chuckles)