thanks so much for watching. and remember, you can't take it with you. >> a daughter inherits a mysterious diary from her father, an artist who survived the holocaust. >> he had to live so that he could show the scenes that he witnessed. >> his words become her quest. >> i made a promise to my father that i would show his artwork to the world. >> these pages, her road map. >> here is a man who went through so much horror. >> but can she recover what the nazis stole from him? >> what do you think went on in that room? ♪ i'm jamie colby, and, today, i'm in rockland county, new york, an hour north of new york city. i am meeting a viewer who wrote me about her strange inheritance

and how it turned her into a sort of time traveler, right back to her father's harrowing past. >> my name is miriam friedman morris. my father, david friedman, a painter and holocaust survivor, left me a diary, "tagebuch fuer miriam friedman." as i read it, the diary led me on a remarkable journey that continues to this day. >> miriam, i'm jamie. >> hi. welcome. >> miriam wrote us an e-mail that said... it was so impassioned, i had to meet her. my goodness. look at all of this. i feel like i'm in fine-art gallery or a museum. tell me about your parents. >> my parents were both holocaust survivors, and in 1954, we moved from israel to new york. >> in her mind's eye, little miriam sees only gauzy pictures

of her father's past. he doesn't tell her all that much. she knows he was a painter, who, in world war i, drew combat scenes on the russian front and was decorated for bravery. but she's in the dark about the full scope of his artistic career, including hundreds of drawings of top personalities for german newspapers and exhibitions of his work in major cities. in december 1938, friedman fled berlin for prague, czechoslovakia, after what's known as "kristallnacht" or "the night of broken glass," when jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues throughout germany and austria were ransacked. in prague, he continues to paint portraits. he snaps black-and-white photos of them and puts them in albums, which somehow survive. >> i would go and look in the albums, and this one really spoke to me. >> but he doesn't tell her the stories behind those pictures.

>> he knew that i was looking at the pictures in the book. i was really quite fascinated with them. he just would watch me, but he wouldn't really say much. >> young miriam knows her father was in a concentration camp but not how he got there or how in the world he survived. how did your parents meet? >> they met in a small town about one hour from prague. it was a place where the survivors went for healing. >> nor does miriam know about her father's disappointing attempt in israel to use his talent to express the horrors of the holocaust. he'd only write about that years later. >> "i had a one-man show in tel aviv with paintings of the concentration camps. i'm sorry to say, the interest was only small, and learned people do not want to talk about concentration camps. >> feeling defeated, the 60-year-old artist moves his wife and 4-year-old daughter to new york and madison avenue.

and that was really, like, the "mad men" era. your dad went into advertising. >> that's right. and the company moved us from new york to st. louis, where he was a lead artist. >> that's the dad miriam grows up knowing -- the guy who paints these gigantic billboards for major clients, like michelob and 7 up. what was your childhood like in the united states? >> we were happy and we had a beautiful apartment. i noticed many of our friends had accents and had the numbers on the arm. the survivors all were the same, in the sense they wanted their children to have a better life. >> in search of the american dream. >> indeed. >> for david, the american dream demands compromise. >> "i had to forget about art paintings and i had to forget what was hidden in my heart -- the pictures from the concentration camps. i had to work hard to make a

living. >> then, in 1961, an envelope in the mail sends his spirits soaring. it contains a reparations check -- $4,350 -- from the west german government for his looted art. it wasn't the money but the official recognition that his life's work -- all but obliterated by the nazis -- meant something. >> i remember lots of excitement in the house. i really didn't understand it at the time, but i knew that it was very important to my father, who had been recognized for his case against the german reich for the loss of his paintings. >> now, at 68, david sets up his easel, full of trepidation. >> "i had the idea to try again but was afraid to start. >> he alone can put to canvas the evil he witnessed. he tried years before. he's now ready to try again. >> "in december 1963, in the

night, i quietly left our bedroom for my studio, placed a piece of paper on the easel, took charcoal, and made my first sketch." >> over four furious months, friedman creates 28 haunting drawings -- memories of the holocaust. >> it was like the pent-up emotion of images that lived inside of him. he just tore it out of his head and put it on this canvas. >> the drawings awe miriam. she becomes more and more curious about her father's past. on a college trip to germany in 1970, she visits an aunt she'd never met, who has a painting she's never seen. >> it was a painting of my father's first wife, mathilde friedman. >> miriam had only heard mathilde spoken of in whispers. david married her in 1937, but

she perished during the war. >> i wrote my father from germany that i had seen the painting, and he didn't understand what i was talking about. >> her father arranges to have the painting sent from west berlin to st. louis. >> my father took the package and he went into the bedroom for three days. >> what do you think went on in that room? >> i think he was remembering a woman that he had loved and lost. >> after college, miriam launches her own career as a fashion designer. she moves to new york, marries harold morris, and starts a family. then, in february 1980, her father peacefully passes away at 86. and then comes her strange inheritance. >> when my father died, my mother handed me the little diary with my name on it. >> he started writing it the day

miriam was born. turns out that the father who had revealed only fragments of his past would now fill in the blanks. >> the more i learned about him, it sort of drove me to rescue him from obscurity. >> where it drove her next. >> but, first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. in the movie "the monuments men," george clooney is intent on recovering what work of art looted by the germans? the answer in a moment.

>> it's "c," michelangelo's "madonna and child." it becomes paramount in the film after nazis kill one of clooney's men who attempted to prevent its theft. >> when painter and holocaust survivor david friedman dies in 1980, he leaves his daughter, miriam, a diary he wrote for her. she can't bring herself to read her strange inheritance until her mother dies, in 1989. when she does, one statement in the opening pages stops her cold. >> "nazi criminals deported me, my wife, mathilde, and child, also named miriam." >> as a girl, miriam had picked up inklings about a half-sister with the same name who was killed in the war. but now, reading about her, in her father's hand... >> i was quite astounded that many of the things that he spoke about from his first daughter were similar to experiences that

i had with my father, like he taught her how to paint and he wrote about how he kept scrapbooks of her art. >> she reads on. her father reveals details about his life after the germans conquered most of europe and began deporting millions of jews to ghettos and concentration camps. the nazis loot her father's apartment in berlin and steal his artwork after he and his family flee to prague, czechoslovakia. >> "i was only married for two years and had a 3-month-old baby. and there was the anxiety of how to get out of this hell." >> in 1941, the germans deport friedman, now 48, his wife, mathilde, and their daughter from prague to a large ghetto in the polish city of lodz. in august 1944, the nazis liquidate the ghetto and deport the 65,000 jews living there to

concentration camps. >> my father was on the last train to auschwitz, and he never saw his wife and child again. >> upon arrival at auschwitz, men and boys are led one way, women and girls another. he never learns how and where his wife and daughter die, though the gas chamber is most likely. david's life is spared. >> "i would not be alive today were it not for a lucky fluke." >> using improvised paints and brushes, david creates a mural of a nearby river on the prison wall. his talent impresses the guards. they let him live. friedman survives five more months in the nazis' most notorious death camp. then, on january 25, 1945, the russians arrive. he is liberated and heads to czechoslovakia. but miriam's strange inheritance

does more than fill in the gaps about her father's life. it leaves clues for miriam to find his lost art and implores her to restore his legacy, which, like so many others, was all but erased by the nazis. >> "between 1919 and 1933, my works were constantly on view in the various exhibitions of the berlin academy of the arts." >> the more i learned about him, it sort of drove me to rescue him from obscurity. >> to rescue him from obscurity, miriam writes to museums and archives in germany and czechoslovakia. polite responses offer nothing. it's as though her father never painted, never existed. european art appraiser robin starr says miriam faces a needle-in-the-haystack challenge. how much art did the nazis loot? >> millions of works. hitler was collecting them for his own private collection, and

there were soldiers at all ranks who were grabbing and plundering. >> in 1994, miriam flies to europe to use the diary to reassemble the pieces of her father's life. what did you find? >> i went to berlin, to the newspaper archives that i had been told previously did not exist. and i was very excited to find portraits my father published in the newspaper. >> it's miriam's first big discovery -- a vast spread of her father's sketches, from the 1920s to early '30s, of luminaries including politicians, sports personalities, and musicians. and what did finding the newspaper clipping do for you? >> it showed me that i could find more. it would help me find evidence of the lost work that the nazis did not destroy. >> and miriam's strange inheritance is about to lead to more evidence -- kept by the

nazis themselves -- that will resurrect some of friedman's early paintings and shed new light on his darkest works. this is a particularly disturbing drawing for me -- electrocution by choice. why do you think your father didn't make that choice? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer in a moment. feel a cold coming on?

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>> it's "b." in 1939, museum director jacques jaujard smuggled it out of the louvre in an ambulance to the french countryside. >> like an impressionist painting that gets clearer as you step back from it, so, too, has miriam friedman morris' image of her father. she's been following clues in this diary, which she inherited after he died. she's had some luck in berlin, where she found hundreds of drawings he did for the newspapers. then, in 2003, miriam and her daughter, lauren, meet with the director at the jewish museum in prague. the museum discovers, in its archives, these meticulous nazi-era catalog cards that name specific works of art by her father and when the nazis looted each one. and along with the catalog

cards... >> i discovered the jewish museum held several of my father's works. >> including this image of a jewish holiday celebration and lithographs of david's hometown in czechoslovakia. in all, miriam uncovers nine of her father's artworks. and what does it feel like for you, miriam, when you find a piece of your father in that way? >> it is so exhilarating. it feels so triumphant. one more work that has survived that the nazis did not destroy. >> one painting she discovers is of a jewish cemetery in prague, a cemetery which she visits with her daughter, lauren. >> it was just unbelievable to me that his artwork existed outside my house, outside the museums here in the united states, and it made me very excited to see what else we could discover. >> they discover, next, a living link to her father's past. april 2009, miriam's speaking to a new york audience about that

photo album from her youth. >> it showed my father's pre-war career, and there was a portrait of a young girl. she looked to be about 8, 9 years old. >> suddenly, another speaker on the panel gasps. she recognizes this girl. >> she said that it was her friend, and she had moved to buffalo. >> does she still have the portrait? >> yes. >> here, after all those years, is the actual portrait david friedman painted back in 1941. >> it's the only portrait painting, from this period of my father's life as a refugee in prague, to survive. >> when you've identified someone that was in one of your father's paintings, what is going on with your heart and your mind? >> it's just like everything comes together. >> it also makes it impossible to forget that others her father painted did not survive. but miriam believes her father's life and her journey are

unfolding this way for a reason, all going back to the vow she made to him the night he died. did you make him a promise at his bedside? that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler

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give thanks. da las gracias. give thanks. donate now at st. jude dot org or shop wherever you see the st. jude logo. "strange inheritance." >> we've told you the story of artist and holocaust survivor david friedman, his first wife and daughter killed by the nazis, his life's work looted, how he came to america and started over... and how the strange inheritance he left his second daughter sent her on a journey to reclaim his legacy. we haven't told you about his dying wish and his daughter's vow. >> did you make him a promise at his bedside? >> all he could think about was

what was going to happen to his concentration-camp pictures. i made a promise to my father that i would show his artwork to the world. >> those concentration-camp pictures were not the ones lost in europe or mentioned in the diary. they're the ones he furiously drew here in america, as a retired sign painter, in his late 60s. but they were, in fact, his most impassioned work, the art father and daughter both knew that he was put on earth to create. keeping her promise, she donates some to the u.s. holocaust memorial museum here in washington, d.c. this is a particularly disturbing drawing for me -- electrocution by choice. the drawing depicts concentration-camp inmates throwing themselves against the electrified barbed wire. >> people had been dehumanized, tortured. they could no longer think, and this was a better option. >> why do you think your father didn't make that choice?

>> he had to live so that he could show the scenes that he witnessed. that was a powerful reason for his survival. >> he had to live to show what he witnessed. miriam also ensures his paintings find a home at the renowned yad vashem holocaust museum in jerusalem. half a century after david friedman felt defeated by that failed exhibit in tel aviv, his paintings are now on permanent display at israel's leading holocaust memorial, all due to a daughter inspired by her strange inheritance. >> even when i was young, i knew he was special. i wanted him to be recognized as an artist and i have achieved that. >> are you proud of her? >> very. >> miriam's daughter, lauren. one day, her mother's strange inheritance will pass to her. what will she do with it? the diary, the story, your mother's efforts -- do you feel a responsibility to continue her

work? >> i feel a huge responsibility. i just hope that everybody from the next century on will not forget what happened. >> behind me are bleak reminders of kristallnacht, "the night of broken glass," the awful night in november 1938 that convinced david friedman he had to flee berlin. but here's what happened 70 years later, in november 2008 -- the berlin philharmonic commemorated kristallnacht with a concert, accompanied by an exhibit of david friedman's artwork. the 30 portraits featured jewish composers, musicians, and conductors, many of whom were part of the berlin orchestra before the nazis took it over, an historical treasure from an era the nazis tried to erase and a testament to the enduring power of david friedman's artistry.

i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance." >> a mysterious client pays her lawyer with an exotic object. >> maybe she was a spy. >> maybe. >> it becomes his son's strange inheritance. >> it is quite a stunning piece to look at. >> can he decode its past and unlock a fortune? >> it's the equivalent -- for us, as americans -- of owning something that may have been there with george washington. >> wow. >> "wow" is right. >> a small town, an ancient emperor, and a puzzle. >> it was a three-week auction, and nothing happened. >> nothing? no bids? >> you're thinking that "my gosh. this is terrible. oh, it's all out the window."

>> i'm jamie colby, and today, i'm visiting townshend, vermont. classic norman rockwell america. it's 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, that's how this "strange inheritance" story begins. >> my name is paul weber. my father was a lawyer in small-town vermont, who was always willing to help a client out. and that's how i ended up inheriting a really cool and really old chinese relic and a pretty strange story to tell. >> i'm 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 bed-and-breakfast the couple have run for almost 30 years. i couldn't 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 that's why we have lots of things around the house. >> when paul's father, bruce weber, wasn't practicing his painting skills, he was practicing law in nearby brattleboro. what kind of attorney was your dad? >> well, as a small-town lawyer, you don't specialize. you do a little bit of everything. >> in the mid-1970s, a woman comes to bruce in need of legal services. whether she couldn't 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 i'm 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 paul's father is

this delicately carved piece of ivory. it's so intricate, i can actually make out the faces on the people. >> right. >> this is a single tusk? >> this is a single tusk. >> paul's 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 open-air 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 bruce's, and how

did these exotic items end up in small-town vermont? >> i really don't know anything about it. >> you must be curious. >> a little but. but i don't know the woman, and i'm sure she's long gone now. she'd 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 they're pretty unique. >> when bruce weber passes away, at age 72, the artworks become paul's strange and still-mysterious inheritance. >> we tried to have the characters read by a chinese teacher. she couldn't read them. >> in 1997, the couple sends photos of the items to lark mason, the vice president of chinese art at the famed sotheby's auction house in new york city, to do an insurance appraisal. what was the chinese-art market like at that time?

>> the chinese-art 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 weren't interested in selling at the time. we didn't send them down there with any other intention than just getting an up-to-date evaluation. >> so, for the next decade, the artworks just sit in paul and sarah's home, helping decorate their bed-and-breakfast. 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 don't think i can leave that child here." >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question.

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>> it's "b." many were flown over enemy camps, meant to be interpreted as warnings from the gods to

flee. >> back in the 1970s, a small-town 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, paul's, 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, aren't 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. it's 2005. they're on a volunteer trip to a rural village in northern tanzania. what led to your interest in africa? >> well, i'm a teacher, and i took a sabbatical, originally to

teach english. >> what was life like for the people there when you were there? >> it's a pretty tough life. there was no electricity at all, water by bucket. it breaks your heart. >> that's 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 don't 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.

why'd 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 leyeyo's 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. it's a lot of money to put a kid through college these days. >> like millions of other american parents, paul and sarah start scrambling. they'll 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. he's no longer at sotheby's but running his own auction house. >> i sent him pictures in an e-mail, and he was very excited. >> excited because, lark says, a lot's changed since the '90s, when he appraised the screen for 15 grand. that's appropriate to the time frame? >> for that time frame, yes, absolutely. china's economy has grown dramatically from the '90s up to the present days. there's 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 lark's 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 leyeyo's textbooks. but then there's 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, it's time lark zeroes in on the screen's 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 it's 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 different-sized stones here. you're 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 screen's code. that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you.

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>> it's "c." the cookies were made famous by a japanese-american immigrant who was the landscape designer of golden gate park's 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 weber's strange inheritance. and now the appraiser suspects it's directly linked to some important figure in chinese history. what's 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 sun's 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 inscription's 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. >> there's a date mentioned -- "30 years earlier, in 1743, when i commissioned a painting about horses." so that takes us up to 1773 or so. >> smack-dab in the middle of qianlong's reign. >> and so all that ties together here in this one screen. >> it's museum-quality? >> 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 self-expression, as well as to legitimize and maintain his rule.

>> like this hand-carved piece of ivory used to hold paintbrushes. they're pretty fancy for putting in paintbrushes. >> it's 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 they're on a balcony. >> isn't 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 qianlong's desk, lark jacks up

his price a bit above his 15-grand 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? >> that's 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 son's college bill. but lark advises them to test the market by first selling one of the other pieces paul's dad received from that long-ago 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, upward-trending 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 family's hopes be dashed... >> nothing happened. >> nothing? no bids? >> there were no bids. "what's going on here?" >> ...or will their prayers be answered? find out next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

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that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? >> 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 son's 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. he's exactly the one one wanted to have commission this object. >> in april 2015, the table screen is offered for sale in a two-week 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, what's 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 nerve-racking, because you're thinking, "my gosh. nobody's interested in this. this is terrible.

oh, it's 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 lark's high estimate. he sends the auction into overtime. it passes 200k. the final bid? $250,000 to a taiwanese collector. >> "you've 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? >> it'll make a big difference. >> i'm really grateful that i'm 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 emperor's 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 that's 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. >> that's right. i think, for my father, it would have been the most meaningful fee that he ever received. >> the buyer of paul's strange inheritance is a wealthy taiwanese businessman on a mission to track down chinese artworks around the world, buy them, and bring them home. he says he's thrilled about his newest purchase, both for its immense beauty and its great historical value. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance."

thanks so much for watching. and remember, you can't take it with you. >> a brilliant young architect designs this gem... >> tony! oh, my gosh, look at all this light! >> ...long before he's a legend of design. >> pietro belluschi. innovative architectural designs. they evoke the grandeur of this land. >> his kid becomes an architect, too. >> i didn't want to be "the son of." >> it's a blessing and a curse. >> and that's what i went through for 40 years. >> will he let his father's masterpiece face the wrecking ball? >> did your heart stop? >> absolutely, my heart stopped. >> or breathe new life into it after he's gone? >> before your dad died, did he tell you he was proud of you? [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ]