GUEST: This was painted by my great-grandfather Herman Petzel.

He was an immigrant from Germany.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: He was a member of one of the local German churches, St.

Liborius, and he was part of the German choir.

And it was as much a social club as a singing club.

And this is what is called a, a Schnitzelbank prompt.

It's like cue cards for a song.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And the Schnitzelbank being a shaving bench in translation.

You name the different items, all in German, and then you sing the song.

And then the response be, would be, "Ja, das ist ein Schnitzelbank."

And then you would name the different things.

(speaking German) And then you would move down the line... APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: ...and each time, you would repeat everything as you went, until you got back to the Schnitzelbank.

APPRAISER: It would be a, kind of a mnemonic for German Americans in St.

Louis?

GUEST: Yes, yes.

APPRAISER: Good.

GUEST: And it wasn't unusual for breweries to print them out with their label... APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: ...and give them to the bars and stuff, so that they would sing the Falstaff or the Anheuser-Busch version of the Schnitzelbank.

This would've been his own version... APPRAISER: Got it.

GUEST: ...that, that he, he was, things he was acquainted with.

APPRAISER: I also learned that your great-grandfather was kind of a hero, right?

I mean... GUEST: Yes, this was painted in 1904, and in 1905, his choir was at a venue in St.

Louis County.

There was an 18- or 19-year-old who got in trouble swimming.

And so they immediately turned to Herman, because everybody knew Herman was the best swimmer.

And unfortunately, he, he overpowered Herman, and they both drowned.

He was posthumously awarded a, a Carnegie Medal for heroism.

APPRAISER: Wow.

GUEST: Along with a stipend that was very helpful for my great-grandmother and her six kids... APPRAISER: Wow.

GUEST: ...one of which was my maternal grandmother.

APPRAISER: It really tells the story of St.

Louis in, around 1904, what was going on, especially what was going on with German Americans.

GUEST: And most anybody from St.

Louis would easily recognize Union Station.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: And then, being good Germans, who were very much against the temperance movement, would include a rather evil-looking caricature of Carrie Nation.

APPRAISER: And Carrie Nation, of course, being the, the famous suffragette and also a pro... GUEST: In the temperance... APPRAISER: ...temperance... GUEST: Who was known for s, breaking open beer kegs with a hatchet.

APPRAISER: It's hard to know, really, without testing it, about the paint.

And it could be oil, but it appears to be painted on, literally, a cotton curtain.

If I were to insure this piece, I would put a value of $6,000 on it.

GUEST: (gasps) APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: (laughing) I'm gonna cry.

APPRAISER: (chuckling) Yeah, of, it's... It'd be impossible to replace, of course.

GUEST: (crying) Oh, gosh.

Thank you.

APPRAISER: Of course.

GUEST: My mother would've been s... (voice breaking) ...so proud.

It's more than I would've ever thought.