Im jamie colby, and today, im visiting townshend, vermont. Classic Norman Rockwell america. Its the kind of place where neighbors can still leave their doors unlocked and where a country lawyer can let clients pay him with food from their farm or dinners at a restaurant or gifts of some kind. In fact, thats how this strange inheritance story begins. My name is paul weber. My father was a lawyer in smalltown vermont, who was always willing to help a client out. And thats how i ended up inheriting a really cool and really old chinese relic and a pretty strange story to tell. Im jamie. I meet paul, a local math teacher, and his wife, sarah, at their home. Come on in. Thank you so much. The residence doubles as a bedandbreakfast the couple have run for almost 30 years. I couldnt help but noticing, as i came in, you have a lot of exotic art. My father was always interested in asian art and he dabbled in painting a little bit. And so thats why we have lots of things around the house. When pauls father, bruce weber, wasnt practicing his painting skills, he was practicing law in nearby brattleboro. What kind of attorney was your dad . Well, as a smalltown lawyer, you dont specialize. You do a little bit of everything. In the mid1970s, a woman comes to bruce in need of legal services. Whether she couldnt afford his fee or for some other reason, she offers him works of art instead of cash for his services. She had quite a collection, so im told, of asian art. And my father was interested in that. And so his fee for the services was to receive these pieces of asian art. How much was the fee . I have no idea. One of the items the mystery client gives pauls father is this delicately carved piece of ivory. Its so intricate, i can actually make out the faces on the people. Right. This is a single tusk . This is a single tusk. Pauls father receives three more chinese artworks in the deal. There was a small piece of jade carved into kind of a mountain scene. And there was also a feather headdress. But the most amazing piece was a table screen. And here it is. Screens like this have been used in china for centuries. A functional piece of art atop a desk. It blocks the wind and sun in an openair work space. It had chinese calligraphy on one side and then, on the other side, a pastoral scene of horses, all held in a bronze frame. My first question who is this client of bruces, and how did these exotic items end up in smalltown vermont . I really dont know anything about it. You must be curious. A little but. But i dont know the woman, and im sure shes long gone now. Shed spent considerable time overseas, particularly in china. Maybe she was in the foreign service. Maybe she was a spy. Maybe. Were they displayed in your home growing up . Yeah. They were always conversation pieces, because theyre pretty unique. When bruce weber passes away, at age 72, the artworks become pauls strange and stillmysterious inheritance. We tried to have the characters read by a chinese teacher. She couldnt read them. In 1997, the couple sends photos of the items to lark mason, the Vice President of chinese art at the famed sothebys auction house in new york city, to do an insurance appraisal. What was the chineseart market like at that time . The chineseart market was dominated by western buyers who had a western perception of what was valuable. Lark thinks those buyers will be most interested in the screen. He appraises it at 10,000 to 15,000. A lot of money. Did you sell . Oh, no. We werent interested in selling at the time. We didnt send them down there with any other intention than just getting an uptodate evaluation. So, for the next decade, the artworks just sit in paul and sarahs home, helping decorate their bedandbreakfast. But the couple will look at these curious relics anew when, on an overseas trip, their lives take a joyous surprise turn. We did not particularly want children, but i just told paul, i dont think i can leave that child here. Thats next. But first, our strange inheritance quiz question. The answer when we return. Can i kick it . Yes you can can i kick it . Yes you can can i kick it . Yes you can well im gone can i kick it . To all the people who can quest like a tribe does. Money managers are pretty much the same. All but while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Because shes listening this to audible. Ughing and this woman is pretending her bosss terrible story is funny. 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Back in the 1970s, a smalltown vermont lawyer named bruce weber does some work for a client and, in lieu of cash, accepts four pieces of chinese art from the mysterious woman. The artwork eventually becomes his son, pauls, strange inheritance. This is a piece of history. Yeah, it is. This finely crafted table screen is appraised for 15,000. But paul and his wife, sarah, arent about to sell. Mostly, they were just pieces that reminded me of my father. Then, out of the blue, life presents paul and sarah with something they neither sought nor expected, in a place far from their vermont home. Its 2005. Theyre on a volunteer trip to a rural village in northern tanzania. What led to your interest in africa . Well, im a teacher, and i took a sabbatical, originally to teach english. What was life like for the people there when you were there . Its a pretty tough life. There was no electricity at all, water by bucket. It breaks your heart. Thats when a young boy named leyeyo steals theirs. Every single time we turned around, there was leyeyo. Sarah and i were walking down to watch a soccer game, and leyeyo somehow inserted himself in between us. And we were Holding Hands with leyeyo. And then we found out that he was sleeping outside under a tree and was literally starving to death. We did not particularly want children, but i just told paul, i dont think i can leave that child here. A year later, sarah and paul are finally able to bring leyeyo to the u. S. And then adopt him. Whyd you feel you had to do more . Because i could do more. The couple opts for private schooling so their son can get the individualized attention he needs. But that takes some serious cash. The amount we paid for private school was nothing that we ever had in our plans. It was a ridiculous amount of money. It probably averaged out for 15,000 a year. The couple uses money sarah had inherited after her father had passed away to fund leyeyos education. But it only goes so far, and as their son reaches the end of high school, with college on the horizon, sarah and paul find themselves running out of money and answers. What do you think that College Education is gonna cost you . Well, you know, it could be about 50,000 times 4. Its a lot of money to put a kid through college these days. Like millions of other american parents, paul and sarah start scrambling. Theyll need, somehow, to raise more cash. Mortgage the b b . Maybe. But what about those puzzling chinese pieces . I thought, well, you know, if they are worth 10,000, that would be a chunk of change for college. In 2014, they track down lark mason, the man who appraised the items all those years ago. Hes no longer at sothebys but running his own auction house. I sent him pictures in an email, and he was very excited. Excited because, lark says, a lots changed since the 90s, when he appraised the screen for 15 grand. Thats appropriate to the time frame . For that time frame, yes, absolutely. Chinas economy has grown dramatically from the 90s up to the present days. Theres a lot more people with money, with ability to buy things. Seems the swelling ranks of 21st century chinese millionaires have shifted the market for chinese art into overdrive. Two weeks later, sarah drives down from vermont and brings the artwork to larks manhattan office. He said the headdress might go for a few thousand, and then the little carved piece of jade that might get a couple of thousand. And that might cover leyeyos textbooks. But then theres the table screen. As before, lark is most intrigued by it. The quality struck me. The workmanship, the design all of it was just exactly what you would want to see in an object that would be coming up for sale. And now that paul and sarah are serious about selling, its time lark zeroes in on the screens past. Exactly when was it made . Where . By whom . For whom . The first clue its exotic materials, gold, turquoise, coral, white jade. All that is something that not a normal person would have. So, it comes together, and you know its special. Exactly. Another clue is how many different kinds of craftsmanship it displays. The people that were doing the bronze work you had the guilders. You had the individuals that were coming up with the differentsized stones here. Youre looking at least 7, 8, 9, 10 different individuals involved in this. But who would have that kind of money to put into the materials even for this . A very important person. A very important person whose identity, lark believes, lies hidden in its cryptic imagery and symbols. The mission to crack the screens code. Thats next. Heres another quiz question for you. The answer when we return. Retail. Under pressure like never before. And its connected technology thats moving companies forward fast. Ecommerce. Real time inventory. Virtual changing rooms. Thats why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent Network Speed across multiple locations. Every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. Leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. Comcast business outmaneuver. Its c. The cookies were made famous by a japaneseamerican immigrant who was the landscape designer of golden gate parks famed japanese tea garden. In the fall of 2014, auctioneer lark mason thinks that if he can decipher the imagery and writing on this antique chinese table screen, he can unlock the value of paul webers strange inheritance. And now the appraiser suspects its directly linked to some important figure in chinese history. Whats on this side . This side depicts the eight horses of wang mu. Wang mu was the fifth emperor of the zhou dynasty, who boarded a chariot in search of the peaches of immortality in heaven. According to the myth, each of his magical chargers had a special talent. One galloped without touching the ground, while another ran as fast as the suns shadow. Now, wang mu ruled about 1,000 years before christ. Lark knows the screen is not that old. But the myth becomes a popular subject for chinese poets and artists and a symbol for the later emperors. But which one . Lark hopes the inscription on the other side holds the answer. His crack Research Staff soon has a translation of the ancient chinese. What does it say . Well, the inscriptions really interesting, because it specifically mentions qianlong. Emperor qianlong reigned during most of the 18th century, which is why lark is so excited by his next discovery. Theres a date mentioned 30 years earlier, in 1743, when i commissioned a painting about horses. So that takes us up to 1773 or so. Smackdab in the middle of qianlongs reign. And so all that ties together here in this one screen. Its museumquality . Oh, no question. Really . Absolutely. No question. That hardly surprises the curator of asian art at the metropolitan museum of art in new york city, which has, on display, a number of works commissioned by qianlong. Was he a proponent of the arts . He was absolutely a patron of the arts, someone who was very involved in using art as a means of selfexpression, as well as to legitimize and maintain his rule. Like this handcarved piece of ivory used to hold paintbrushes. Theyre pretty fancy for putting in paintbrushes. Its a pretty fancy one, yes. Like most pieces commissioned by qianlong, the brush holder tells a story. This is about a young scholar who was so gorgeous that, when he went by, women pelted him with flowers. The detail is amazing. The number of people that look like theyre on a balcony. Isnt that wonderful . Qianlong is revered in china today. He is the emperor to whom people look up as an example of the best of good government. So anything from this particular dynasty is considered very valuable . Very valuable. The equivalent for us, as americans, of owning something that would have been there with george washington. Wow. Wow is right. Betting that wealthy chinese buyers will bid high for something that could have sat on qianlongs desk, lark jacks up his price a bit above his 15grand appraisal in 1995. The table screen was now valued at between 60,000 and 90,000. Six to seven times more than 20 years ago . Thats right. It was more than we make in a year for sure. [ laughs ]. Which, to me, was more than i could ever dream about. 90 grand. An elated paul and sarah know that will go a long way to pay their sons college bill. But lark advises them to test the market by first selling one of the other pieces pauls dad received from that longago client. The result is positive. That jade piece that we thought would sell for about 1,000 ended up selling for 12,000. What . and we were really stunned. Tough to come up with the estimates in a very strong, upwardtrending market. So, then it became clear that we got to put this table screen in an auction. And then, just like that, the buyers vanish. It was listed on the featured items, but nobody bid on it. Will a familys hopes be dashed. Nothing happened. Nothing . No bids . There were no bids. Whats going on here . Or will their prayers be answered . Find out next. Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to tell it. Send me an email or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. [fbi agent] youre a brave man, mr. Stevens. Your testimony will save lives. Mr. Stevens . This is your new name. This is your new house. And a perfectly inconspicuous suv. You must become invisible. [hero] ill take my chances. Right in the heart of the was in his financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. It really scared him out of the markets. His advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldnt be able to retire until he was 68. The client realized, i need to get back into the markets i need to get back on track with my plan. The Financial Advisor was able to work with this client. Hes now on track to retire when hes 65. Having someone coach you through it is really the value of a Financial Advisor. Now back to strange inheritance. In 2015, paul weber is trying to sell his strange inheritance enigmatic pieces of chinese artwork to help fund his sons College Education. It was a question of, you know, how are we gonna come up with the money for him to go to college . His rare table screen, once appraised for 15,000, is now valued at up to 90,000, after the appraiser confirms its connection to the revered chinese emperor qianlong. He is the emperor of emperors. Hes exactly the one one wanted to have commission this object. In april 2015, the table screen is offered for sale in a twoweek online auction. But despite being a featured piece, the screen is not an instant hit with bidders. It was at the top of the list, and nothing happened. Nothing . No bids . There were no bids. I mean, two weeks, anyway, were gone, and we called and said, you know, whats going on here . On the final day of the auction, with just 30 minutes left on the clock, there is still no action on the table screen. It looked like nobody was gonna bid on it at all. They were nervous. Auctions are horribly nerveracking, because youre thinking, my gosh. Nobodys interested in this. This is terrible. Oh, its all out the window. Finally, with just minutes to go, a flurry of bidding. There were two bidders, that i saw, that were going back and forth, and it just started climbing and climbing. The price jumps from zero to 60,000 in about 5 seconds, well into the appraisal range, then surpasses larks high estimate. He sends the auction into overtime. It passes 200k. The final bid . 250,000 to a taiwanese collector. Youve got to be kidding me. I mean, it was like monopoly money. What kind of difference will that money make for you, for sarah, and for your son . Itll make a big difference. Im really grateful that im gonna be able to go to college and, like, feel very grateful for what my future holds. Talk about a strange inheritance that ripples around the world. A piece of art crafted in a chinese emperors workshop somehow ends up in a Small Vermont town two centuries later. It then travels all the way back to asia, changing the life of a young man from africa along the way. My father never knew leyeyo, and thats a little bit of a bittersweet thing. He would have thought there would have been Nothing Better to spend the money on than to give him an opportunity to extend his education. His grandson. Thats right. I think, for my father, it would have been the most meaningful fee that he ever received. The buyer of pauls strange inheritance is a wealthy taiwanese businessman on a mission to track down chinese artworks around the world, buy them, and bring them home