CREW: Hello, hello!

HOST: It's not every day that a visit to ROADSHOW turns out to be truly extraordinary.

But this is the poignant story of how a rustic stoneware jug Allan Katz found 20 years ago in St. Paul, Minnesota, wound up changing a family's life for good.

To share the whole touching story, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW recently arranged a reunion with this impressive piece of folk art, which, all involved, still consider a much-loved old friend.

APPRAISER: It's an amazing story.

And it's very bitter, and very sweet.

This was my first season, it was June of 2004.

GUEST: This piece belonged to my grandmother.

As I grew up, this was a part of all the parties and Christmases there.

And when she sold her house, the grandkids and the kids could choose different things.

And this is the piece that I always wanted.

So my name was on this one for a long time, so that was-- APPRAISER: And when did you actually get it?

GUEST: About five years ago.

APPRAISER:(voiceover): I do remember Tom, our guest, approaching the folk art table, and he was pulling a metal red wagon with this jug inside of it-- except... the decoration, this whole decoration part was face down.

So from afar, my brain immediately digested this as just a large piece of utilitarian stoneware that maybe has a value of $350, $400.

And that's when Tom turned it and rotated it.

And, obviously, that took my breath away.

APPRAISER: The writing and the decoration takes up the full palette, and that's what we in American folk art look for in a great piece of stoneware.

This is all slip cup decorated, very, very thick and drizzled on.

And it-it really is a tour de force piece, to have this complex of a decoration, a master, master decorator had to decorate this pot.

If I had this at a show, I would have this priced at somewhere between $65,000 and $85,000.

GUEST (laughing): Are you kidding me?

APPRAISER: No, I'm not.

GUEST:(laughing): Oh, my God!

APPRAISER: I think it's an absolutely monumental piece of American stoneware.

GUEST (laughing): Earlier when I lifted it up here, you said you almost had a heart attack when you saw me grab it by the handles and set it up.

APPRAISER: I did!

You were lifting it by the handles, which is just an absolute no-no for a small piece.

GUEST: I've moved that-- APPRAISER: So never do that again.

GUEST: I've moved it a couple times like that, but I won't move it that way anymore.

APPRAISER (voiceover): That was a Saturday, and Monday morning the phone rang.

And it was Tom.

He said, "Were you serious about the price?"

He said, "cause we could really use some money."

Well I was able to arrange to have it picked up two days later.

And I brought the piece to the Philadelphia antique show in April of 2005.

First person in the door was a client of mine, and he purchased it immediately.

We sold the piece for $110,000.

I remember calling Tom that night and he was just blown away.

They then told me that for the first time in their lives, they had enough in their bank account to now apply to adopt a child, a baby boy from Guatemala.

The bittersweet part of the story is that sadly, four years later, uh, Tom, our guest, passed away at the age of 46.

Carol, his wife, had written me and told me about it, thanking me for the moments and the good times that, uh, Tom had on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW and that their wonderful, adorable Henry was now in-in their lives.

Henry is now grown up.

And we have invited Carol and Henry here today as guests of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW to have this reunion.

My client, who I sold it to in 2005, has graciously allowed me to bring it here today and to have Henry see this piece that set in motion his adoption, his reason that he has joined this family.

(chuckles) GUEST: Whoa!

That's the, that's the jug?

GUEST: The jug's here!

(chuckling): Hello, old friend.

GUEST: Wow.

GUEST (voice breaking): It's just as pretty as I remember.

GUEST: After the appraisal, we were so shocked at the value, and we were afraid to have the piece in our home, because it is more fragile than it appears.

And, um, right away, we made arrangements to work with Mr. Katz to find a buyer.

And in the meantime, we were pursuing this dream of growing our family through adoption.

And the sale of the jug made that possible, because international adoption is a great way to add to our family, but it is an expensive way.

And there's a lot of travel expenses, and a home study can be an expensive proposition.

And we could involve our younger daughter, Rachel-- she could travel with us to Guatemala.

And even my parents were able to travel with us.

And it was just such a miracle that the sale of this beautiful piece could grow our family.

Not only were we able to expand our family, but we did make another purchase and bought a second car.

We were able to buy a Volkswagen Beetle used, of course, it was a sensible purchase.

And that was called the Jug Bug.

GUEST: I've always known about the jug.

It contributes to the person of who I am today.

Just all of it sort of roots back to this, um, to this jug.

APPRAISER: Now you just, you just graduated high school.

GUEST: I did just graduate high school, yes.

I'm going to college in Chicago for studio and audio engineering.

And I know that not only my father, but, um, uh, my rest of the family would be incredibly proud.

GUEST: This experience, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, was one of the proudest moments of Tom's life.

He would be so happy for Henry to be here with the jug, able to actually see it and touch it.

APPRAISER: It's hard to comprehend what this money meant to them; it's a story of what ROADSHOW can do to change someone's life.