THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS QUALITY:

Alvin Barr from South Carolina brought in an odd-looking piece of pottery which he had purchased at an estate sale in Eugene, Oregon, for $300.

"It was up in barn. It was covered with dirt and straw. Looked like some chicken droppings were on it. It was very dirty. I had to have it. It speaks to me," he said.

Appraiser Stephen L. Fletcher, found the jug fascinating and claimed the bizarre-looking piece of pottery "dated to the late 19th century" and valued the unique piece at $50,000 (NZ$74,000).

"You even see a little bit of, like, Pablo Picasso going on here. It's a little difficult to identify precisely when this was made, but I think it's probably late 19th or early 20th century," Mr Fletcher said.

But oh so wrong!

It was later revealed the Picasso-like sculpture was actually made by high school student, Betsy Soule, from Oregon, in her ceramics class in the 1970s.

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