GUEST: This is a batik that, um, I acquired about four months ago.

I had gone to a local thrift store looking for baskets to put items in for our high school auction.

And on my way through the store, this caught my eye.

I thought it would be great for my daughter's bedroom that I had just painted.

So I pulled it down, and the price on the back was $12.99.

I looked at the bottom, and there was a business card, and it had a signature and a seal, I assume of the artist, on it.

So I went ahead and pulled it down from the wall and got my baskets, left, came home, and, uh, did a little bit of research on the, on the artist, and thought maybe I found something that was much nicer than I ever imagined.

APPRAISER: And what did you find out?

GUEST: Mr.

Teng is a very, very famous Malaysian artist.

He has passed away a few years ago, but his works are in museums all over Malaysia, and in Asia, as well, and some are quite valuable.

APPRAISER: You do have a batik on cotton.

Batik is a form not of painting on silk, but it's more like a dyeing.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And so you put wax on certain areas that you want to cover up and dye it in different colors.

GUEST: I see.

APPRAISER: And then eventually, you iron it... GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: ...and all the wax comes off.

This piece is in perfect condition.

And what you see in the back is sort of mottling.

It looks like a little crackles.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: It's not damage at all.

Those are visual elements of the process of batik.

Mr.

Chuah Teng was born in 1912 and lived in Penang.

And it's a beautiful landscape.

I can see why it caught your eye.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It's, it, bold colors, it's simple, very geometric feeling to it.

A little village with the palm trees and hot sun, I would say.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: (chuckles) The market seems to be very much in Malaysia, in China, and that's where your collectors are going to be, and that's where he's most well-known.

Can you tell me about the values that you saw?

GUEST: Well, some that were in museums, the estimated values online were, like£ One was $90,000.

Another one was, I don't know, 45, something like that.

I really have no idea, 'cause they're all different shapes and sizes, and... APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: It's hard to know.

APPRAISER: Yeah, so shapes and sizes do make a difference, and it's hard to know what the $90,000 was.

GUEST: Yeah, yeah.

APPRAISER: 'Cause museums don't put their value.... GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: ...on, online.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And there's a lot of misinformation that can be found online.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: For this piece, with the size, and the, at a very simple, though appealing, color scheme, I feel very comfortable putting an auction value of between $5,000 and $8,000.

GUEST: Oh, my heavens.

APPRAISER: Mm!

GUEST: Wow, thank you.

APPRAISER: (laughs) You're very welcome.

GUEST: That's great.