GUEST: The story starts with me deciding to go to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in August of 1986 to take a pottery class.

Every day, spent all day there.

And then one day, I said, "I ought to go up to the glass studio.

I've never seen glass being blown before."

And there's a, this guy, his name is Lino Tagliapietra.

He's an Italian from Murano, Venice, and they worked, uh, there at, at the studio.

And then he finally came and started teaching in the United States from time to time.

And he was teaching at that craft school, Haystack, in that month, that session.

And when I got there, he was just starting this piece, and I had never seen this.

(exclaims): Wow!

It was just like, you know, like... (imitates explosion) I hadn't seen anything as gorgeous as that before.

So I got my camera and started taking pictures, and we pulled out of the sequence.

So it's from the very beginning, all the way through, until the picture of this individual one.

The instructors generally donate pieces for the auction to help raise money for the school.

He donated this, and I bid on it, and won the bid.

I paid a good price, but to me, it was an easy decision.

APPRAISER: And what did you pay for it?

GUEST: I can't remember exactly, but I'm guessing it was probably in the $600 to $800, something like that.

APPRAISER: Is the piece signed?

GUEST: No, it's not.

It bothered me a little bit, then I said, "Wait a minute, I got these pictures," you know?

(laughs) "They're as good as the signature, maybe better, 'cause you can't forge them."

APPRAISER: You do have the documentation of the photos.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And I don't think that can be beat.

GUEST: Right, I agree.

APPRAISER: Lino was born in Murano, as you said.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And we tend to call him Lino, because there is no other Lino in the world of glassmaking.

GUEST: (chuckles): Yeah.

APPRAISER: He was born, I think, in 1934.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And at the age of 11, he was apprenticed to a very important glass blower named Archimede Seguso.

He had a pretty good career, and, and what, what's interesting about this piece is that Seguso was very famous for, um, further developing this filigranic technique, which is what you see.

GUEST: Mm-hmm, hm.

APPRAISER: The white decoration on this piece, which is like canes, uh, that look like filigree that are embedded in the glass.

That technique had been around since the 16th century, but Seguso further expanded upon that.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: So, I think that was very influential in the evolution of Lino's work.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And it's clear that that's what he was doing in the mid-'80s.

In the mid-, mid-'80s, he wasn't quite as famous as he was to become.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And by the mid-'90s, he was really hitting his stride.

And, really, by the 2000s, he was everywhere, and he's represented in over 50 major museums around the world.

He retired in 2021.

This piece is a lot simpler than what was to come afterwards.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Particularly his very in, uh, intricate colored pieces...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...with wilder shapes.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: I would put an insurance value of $6,000 on it.

GUEST: Wow.

Whoa, things have come up.

Wow, that's great.

APPRAISER: Yes, and... APPRAISER: And they probably will come up...

GUEST: Further.

APPRAISER: They'll probably go up further.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: ...just because he is so revered by so many.