GUEST: It was given to us by a good friend of my wife's mother, and it was from her family and we think it was in the 1800s this... the dress was made.

My wife is a home EC teacher and so she was very interested in all the work that went into making the dress.

It was given to my wife about in the 1960s.

APPRAISER: It's earlier than you think.

It is a very rare example of an indigo printed cotton dress.

That dates to 1798.

Or thereabouts.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: This type of printing was very complicated.

And so we as Americans, just a few decades after the Revolutionary War, we didn't have that skill and that infrastructure to make this type of multi-process printing.

And so there is very good possibility the fabric, at least, comes from England.

It's in wonderful condition.

It's a glazed cotton and I can see around certain areas it's a little shiny.

It is lined-- the bodice is lined with a very heavy linen to kind of keep body sweats away.

It has a pull drawstring tie at the top and one on right at the bodice.

And the inside, there's just a little opening.

You can see there is sort of a flap closure inside, just for modesty's sake.

The aspect that really helps us zero in on the date is all in the back.

We have a really tight triangle piece that's put here with amazing, tiny little hand-done pleats.

Everything is hand-handmade here, um, and a lot of fullness.

This is a pleating with a lot of fullness in the back.

Later on, even ten years later, five years later, we slowly start to see this more like a column.

But this sort of nice sweep and fullness at the back is helping to date it to the very late 1790s.

Had you ever thought about the value?

GUEST: No, we've never really worried about it.

My wife just said it's just a museum piece and we just need to keep it because it's a very valuable dress.

APPRAISER: She is absolutely right that it's that's the kind of level of dress it is.

It is a very elevated, up-to-date day dress in great condition.

For insurance purposes, you would have an insurance value of $15,000.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

That's amazing.

APPRAISER: It-it's very rare.

GUEST: Unsuspected.

(chuckling) APPRAISER: Unsuspected.

My heart stopped when we saw it!

GUEST: (chuckling) APPRAISER: The color alone and then looking at it...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...and dating it to that early, there was a lot of excitement on the table.

So, um, thank you so much for bringing it in.

GUEST: Okay.

Well, we appreciate all your help in telling us more about it.