thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember, you can't take it with you. >> 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.

the answer when we return. here's to the straggly ones.

the lopsided ones. the first ones. the 'i miss my beard' ones. the 'hey', i look good with this' ones. the 'no way he's grown that in a week' ones.

the black, brown, red, and grey ones. the, um, that one the itchy ones. the never forgotten ones. the ones grown by dad. the ones grown for dad. the started late ones. the absolutely filthy ones. the drawn on ones. the finger ones. the pin ones. the 'i nearly didn't do it this year' ones. and the 'yeah', why not' ones. they all raise awareness. raise funds. start conversations and save lives. 'cos whatever you grow', will save a bro' learn more at movember.com >> 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.

the answer when we return. female anchor: it's 6:39, time for 'news update'

male anchor: ...an update on the cat who captured our hearts. female anchor: how often should you clean your fridge? stay tuned to find out. male anchor: beats the odds at the box office to become a rare non-franchise hit. you can give help and hope to those in need. [ dramatic music ]ing ] ahhhh! -ahhhh! elliott. you came back!

>> 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.

>> 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. >> amid the terror of hitler's bombs... >> the airpower of the nazis was turned against britain. >> ...an unmistakable voice rallies the brits. >> i have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. >> you think churchill saw his lisp as beneficial? >> what hitlerism is suffering in libya is only a sample and a foretaste of what we have got to give him and his accomplices. >> it was such an inspiring speech that it just worked magic on people. >> his dental tech worked magic, too. >> churchill said to my father, "you're not going anywhere. you're staying here with me." >> how did he earn a place in history? >> when you opened the box, what did you see? >> well, i saw some teeth staring at me. >> fighting tooth and nail,

dentistry's finest hour. >> these are the teeth that won the second world war. >> any way to get a closer look? >> for you, yes. >> hello. i'm jamie colby. and, today, i'm in the back seat of one of those fabulous london taxis. after crossing the pond, i figured i'll leave the driving to somebody else. i'm here to meet an heir whose father played a big part in world history through his connection to great britain's indispensable leader in world war ii, the one-and-only winston churchill. and i have to warn you folks, they don't call this show "strange inheritance" for nothing. >> my name is nigel cudlipp.

my father, derek, was a master dental technician here in london for over 50 years. he died in 2007 and left his most important work to me. >> hello. i'm jamie. >> nice to meet you, jamie. i'm nigel. welcome to london and welcome to limehouse. >> thank you. it's a beautiful spot. is this where you live? >> we do. we live on a yacht out there. please come this way. >> thank you. nigel's career is in finance, originally for posh resorts and hotels and now for a museum here in london. but i didn't climb aboard nigel's yacht to talk about that. when i was told that i was coming to london to see teeth, i thought it was crazy. do you think it's crazy? >> it might look that way to many people, but churchill was a very, very important man. >> the most important man on the planet, arguably, when, in the spring of 1940, as hitler's forces overrun europe, winston churchill becomes prime minister. and his words become his country's most powerful weapon. >> never in the field of human

conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. >> and never in the field of human dentistry, nigel cudlipp believes, was so much owed by so many to one technician, his father. derek cudlipp is born in 1915 and raised in a modest home in south london. >> i don't think he got on terribly well at school, because he was a quiet, very, very shy man. >> his schoolmasters steer derek to apprentice as a technician making dentures. darn good career advice in the pre-fluoride days, when most britons lose at least some of their adult teeth and end up needing dentures. derek cudlipp discovers he really likes the exacting work, and he's a whiz at it. >> the nature of his personality was somebody who was a perfectionist, and i think, in dentistry, he found an outlet for that part of his

personality. >> in 1936, derek is snapped up by a prominent dentist, in london's fashionable cavendish square, named wilfred fish. >> fish was at the top of the profession, dentistry to royalty and to many, many important people of the day. >> you think your dad aspired to have famous clients? >> no. definitely not. i think his pleasure came from the quality of the work that he produced. my father was a frustrated artist, to be honest with you, but he was absolutely passionate about what he did. >> one of dr. fish's dental patients is winston churchill. a backbencher in parliament, churchill issues dire warnings about the growing threat of adolf hitler and nazi germany. >> [ shouting in german ] [ crowd cheering ] >> now they are rearming with the utmost speed, and ready to their hands is this new lamentable weapon of the air.

>> from the air, hitler's luftwaffe rains down terror on london in the fall of 1940. with the blitz as a backdrop, derek marries his bride, dorothy. >> they went on a honeymoon, they said, on a train with the bombs falling all around them. >> for 76 consecutive days, london is bombed day and night. in the middle of it all, derek cudlipp gets the assignment of a lifetime. >> churchill said to my father, "you're not going anywhere. you're staying here with me." >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer when we return.

>> it's "c." he called it "the black dog." churchill also had periods of manic high energy. some believe he was a manic-depressive. [ bombs whistling ] >> in 1940, as londoners struggle under a nazi onslaught from the sky, one familiar voice bolsters their resolve, that of prime minister winston churchill.

>> you ask, what is our policy? i will say it is to wage war by sea, land, and air with all our might and with all the strength that god can give us. >> people were losing their sons, their fathers, and somehow, he managed to rally the country. >> we ask no favors of the enemy. >> he will become perhaps the most effective order ever to speak into a microphone. >> we will mete out, of the germans, the measure and more than the measure they have meted out to us. >> but churchill was not a natural-born public speaker. from childhood, he struggles with a lisp. >> he made every effort to master it. >> but phil reed, director of the churchill war room museum, says by the time he reaches 10 downing street, the prime minister has more than mastered his lisp. he's embracing it. >> what hitlerism is suffering in libya is only a sample and a foretaste of what we have got to give him and his accomplices

wherever this war should lead us. >> do you think churchill saw his lisp as beneficial or a hindrance to his power? >> i think, in the war, he saw it as being something that characterized him and added a bit of humor to it. remember, this is a man who feigned not to be able to pronounce the word nazis. always referred to them as "nazzies." and it was his way of making fools of them. >> wounds have been inflicted upon the nazi tyranny and the system, which have bitten deep and will fester and inflame. >> how important were his words? >> they were immensely important, because churchill had to tell it like it was, which is, "it's gonna be tough. a lot of people are gonna be killed. but you got to stick with it." and that really did genuinely inspire people with a bit of backbone, basically. >> i have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. >> he was such an inspiring speaker.

the manner in which he delivered, it just worked magic on people. >> churchill is a virtuoso performer. like the pegs, bridge, and strings of a fine stradivarius, the components of his instrument -- his voice, breath, tongue, and teeth -- have to be just so. >> he roused people to the flag, if you like, with his voice and the way he delivered his lines. >> unfortunately, reports nigel cudlipp, the heir in this "strange inheritance" story, churchill treats his dentures not the way maestros treat their violins, but how british rock stars treat their guitars. >> churchill, when he was angry, would put his thumb under the teeth and flick them across the room. and my father always said that he could tell how well the war was going by how far they flew across the room. things were really bad when they hit the opposite wall. nigel's dad, derek, a mild-mannered 26-year-old dental tech, is churchill's denture

repairman. >> my father would be quite anxious about the whole thing. churchill was not a man who was to be messed with. he was quite an impatient man. in the dentist's chair, he would have a cigar in one hand, a brandy in the other. >> and an odd demand well-suited to derek's skills -- make sure those false teeth keep churchill sounding like churchill. >> he is now but a lackey and a serf, the merest utensil of his master's will. [ cheers and applause ] >> do you know, technically, what your father did for winston churchill that was different than normal? >> my father invented, with sir wilfred fish, this distinctive plate that would retain his lisp and his natural speaking voice. >> nigel tells me that i can see what he's talking about at london's royal college of surgeons. hi, sam. i'm jamie colby. >> hi, jamie. >> sam alberti is the director.

i guess when you donate yourself to science, you might end up in a place like this. sam brings me right to the winston churchill display. >> wilfred fish, the dentist, designed the teeth, but, of course, it was the technician who made them. and churchill was devoted to derek cudlipp. the star item is this little item here. >> "made for and worn by sir winston churchill." >> that's right. >> any way to get a closer look? >> for you, i'll take them out. >> you would? >> yes. he wanted to maintain churchill's very particular oratorial style. >> a lisp. >> precisely. in order to do this, he added clasps to the side. and these would just keep the dentures slightly proud of the palate and allow a flow of saliva around them. and this maintained that very famous lisp. >> you think any dental technician could have made those? >> no. these are extremely rare and very, very difficult to make. >> churchill makes clear he

knows that when derek cudlipp breaks some personal news to the prime minister. >> he told churchill that his papers had come through to go into the army, and churchill literally just tore them to shreds in front of my father's face and said to my father, "you're not going anywhere. you're staying here with me." >> because of his dentures. >> because of his dentures, yes. >> you ask, what is our aim? i can answer in one word -- victory. >> this is churchill's office in which he delivered four of his speeches during the war. >> the secret bunker under the streets of westminster is now a museum. >> victory at all costs. victory in spite of all terror. victory however long and hard the road may be. >> the last of the bombing raids happen, and they left everything that you see. and so, for instance, this here is churchill's original chair, and you are going to sit in it. >> oh, my god. you can feel the unimaginable pressure on churchill.

>> churchill was obviously pretty tense. if you just feel that notch at the end there -- that he made with the ring that he wore on that hand, and he belted it like that. [ bells tolling ] >> but his voice never cracks. >> this is your victory. >> may 8, 1945, "v-e day." >> victory of the cause of freedom in every land. [ crowd cheering ] >> when derek's wartime post with churchill ends, he keeps two spare sets of the prime minister's dentures. he goes on to open his own prosthetics service. >> he was probably recognized to be the best in the country. all his clients came to him, word of mouth. >> word of mouth? >> yeah, very much so. >> [ laughs ] >> yes, very much so. >> decades later, nigel's father donates one of his sets of

churchill's dentures to the royal college of surgeons. >> it was something he was very proud of, but, of course, it was a quiet donation, which suited him. >> but nigel thinks his dad deserves a more prominent place in the history books. so when derek dies, in 2007, and nigel inherits the remaining set of churchill's dentures, he stows them in his cufflinks drawer. >> they're not something that you have on the mantelpiece. and i kept thinking to myself, "i must do something about these. they're just sitting there." >> was it about the money? >> it was more about recognition for my father. he was too shy during his life to mention them. >> coming up, nigel's plan to get his dad that recognition. how much interest were you able to generate in these? >> you know, the term is "gone viral," and it did. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. which american revolutionary war figure was also a practicing dentist?

the answer in a moment. hey mom, i can't wait to tell you about today. i met a new friend. it's great to meet someone .. who really understands. she lost her dad last year.

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i put it out there with a godaddy website.

>> so, which american revolutionary war figure was also a practicing dentist? it's paul revere, who started out by apprenticing with a dentist who made dentures for none other than george washington. >> when british dental technician derek cudlipp dies in 2007, he passes down to his son, nigel, his finest piece of work, a set of false teeth he made during world war ii for prime minister winston churchill. nigel puts the dentures in a drawer but never forgets them.

he wants to figure out how to use them to honor his dad. >> i wanted to tell the people about my father, because he was too shy during his life to mention them. >> since his dad already donated one set to a british museum, nigel dreams up another plan. he figures he'll find someone to auction them off. he says he doesn't need the money. he just wants to get his father in the newspapers. >> i could never have sold them while he was alive, 'cause he wouldn't have liked the publicity. >> hello, andrew. i'm jamie. >> oh, hello. so very pleased to meet you. >> nigel thinks he's found the man to finally get him some -- appraiser andrew bullock of keys auctions in norfolk, england. i have a place over here. andrew's sold a lot of odd churchill items -- unsmoked cigars, playing cards, cigar boxes -- but never imagines he'd receive a commission like the one from nigel. when you opened the box, what did you see? >> well, i saw some teeth

staring at me. >> andrew immediately knows he can get nigel exactly what he wants. how much interest were you able to generate in these? >> you know, the term is "gone viral," and it did. >> so it's global. >> it was worldwide, and it got to be sort of quite a joke that the next phone call was gonna be for andrew from timbuktu or somewhere. a lot of people actually found the whole episode a little bit macabre, where others were absolutely fascinated. when something of interest arrives for auction, it may not necessarily be of great value, but there's very often a wonderful story behind it. >> it's a wild story. >> it is. churchill had a lisp, and these partial dentures were specially designed to maintain that lisp. so it was, you know, of paramount importance. >> word got out. >> yep. i came across it in the himalayan times newspaper. and i thought, "probably now,

we've done enough p.r." >> coming up, the bidding begins. >> and it just went rapidly, rapidly, rapidly up. >> who buys dentures? >> well, a very, very good question. >> and one we'll answer 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.

>> now back to strange inheritance." >> if the british empire and its commonwealth last for 1,000 years, men will still say this was their finest hour. >> prime minister winston churchill's voice helped save europe. dental technician derek cudlipp helped save that voice. and when he leaves his son, nigel, the teeth that won world war ii, well, that's one

strange inheritance. no surprise that, after nigel puts churchill's chompers up for auction, the story goes viral. in fact, that's the point. how do you think your father would have felt about so many people knowing about the dentures? >> i mean, he would have been secretly proud, but because he was so shy, he needed someone to speak for him, so i'm pleased to have done that. >> as history called derek cudlipp to fashion false teeth that preserved churchill's lisp, nigel calls andrew bullock to sell them. did you think they were immediately something that you would take to auction? >> oh, yes, yes. one felt sort of quite honored to be handling something to do with a great man. >> after andrew examines the dentures, he estimates their value at around £5,000, or $8,000. they were solid gold. >> yes. i did joke that i thought they would actually fetch more than the scrap price

for gold. >> what did the bidding start at? >> i started it at £3,800. >> that's about $5,800. but it didn't stay there long. >> and it just went rapidly, rapidly, rapidly up, until the hammer fell at £15,200. >> or about 24,000 bucks. the buyer? george ridgeon, a retired english fireman willing to pay three times what andrew expected. were you smiling? >> we smiled. [ both laugh ] >> more smiles may come in this toothy tale, courtesy of nigel's 18-year-old daughter, lauren. >> i was going through a few pieces, and this was one of the books that i came across. >> in june of 2015, she discovers yet another set of gold dentures in a box of jewelry which she inherited from nigel's mother. um, ick. so, there's another mystery.

>> they wouldn't have just been left there, and i would like to think that they belonged to somebody that's quite important, but... >> if they do, nigel and his daughter say expect to hear from them again -- a "strange inheritance" story for another day. six months after nigel's auction, a third set of churchill's dentures surfaced and sold for $25,000. so, the fireman who bought the teeth that won world war ii tried to resell nigel's inheritance on a british tv game show. but when the highest offer came in at only about $7,800, the fireman said, "no deal." i'd tell him, "don't give up." as churchill once famously said, "success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching

this special edition of "strange inheritance." and remember, you can't take it with you. weekend. lou: good evening, everybody. president trump entered this week as a target of the rabid radical dimms seeking his overthrow. and he is this week as the author of two historic trade agreements that add considerable weight and luster to his historic list of achievements and successes over the fires few years of his presidency. president trump's monumental success overwhelming those radical dimms as they ask december -- they desperately carry on with their