Transcripts For WMPT Republican National Convention 20120828

at subaru, versatility and safety drive all our vehicle designs. because however big, small, new or old your cargo may be, it's all precious. my dad never talked about his family, and i wasn't sure where to start, so i went to ancestry.com and started with me. soon these little leaf hints popped up and led me to my great-grandfather ernesto, the barber. (laughing) and his brother the barber, and their cousin the barber. apparently i come from a long line of... of hair. everyone has a family story. you can discover more about yours at ancestry.com. franklin templeton investments. gain from our perspective. and by contributions to your pbs station from: welcome to antiques roadshow. i'm mark walberg, and this week we're in mobile, alabama. our experts are looking at thousands of items brought in by people from all across the gulf coast. so let's take a look. man: probably six years ago, my brother-in-law had seen an article that there was an auction up in birmingham, and he wanted to know if i wanted to go over and look, and try to buy a couple shotguns. mm-hmm. so i just rode over with him, had no intention of buying anything. and they brought out these jars and i wasn't even listening, really, to what they were talking about. but what caught my interest is when the guy that was with the auctioneer says i'm going to excuse myself from the stage, and i want to come and bid on these. so, it kind of piqued my curiosity, i guess. so i, i waited until they were about to slam the hammer, and i raised my hand up, and the next thing i know, i was the proud owner of these two blue jars, and my brother-in-law was kind of looking at me like i've lost my mind and... that happens at auctions. yeah. so you paid a couple hundred dollars for them? i think about $200. and what have you done with them since then? they're still in the original box. i bring them out occasionally and show them to visitors, you know, show them my expensive blue jars here, yeah. and put them back. that's it. okay. they've been at my house ever since. the first thing is they're glass, and it's a very thick glass. yes. and this particular shape is called a bottle form. this kind of glass, this very intense, deep, dark color blue was created in china during the late 17th century and the early 18th century. so these are chinese. okay. and the question is, are they old or are they... yeah. not. right. so let's take a look. on the base we see there's a square and it's got four characters. and these four characters are important, because they tell us this was made during the reign of the ch'ien-lung emperor. okay. which dates from 1736 to 1795. all handmade, hand-polished, hand-blown. beautiful quality, very nice, and it's really unusual to find a pair. a pair. so that's good. and the other thing that i noticed immediately is, there's a lot of chips on the base. yes. and... there's a big chip here on the top. right. and you've watched the roadshow enough to know that chips and cracks are... no good. they're no good, that doesn't help anything. on very thick pieces of glass like this, these chips, although they're unsightly, they don't really affect the stability and the overall integrity of the object. okay. and if they're shallow chips, those can often be polished out. right. now, i don't advocate doing that on this. because these are fairly deep chips. and they certainly affect the value. yes. but, so i would say, in the current condition of these, conservatively, and i'm going to give you an auction estimate. right. and you can roughly double this for retail purposes, what you'd have to pay in a shop. right. at auction, these would sell for $4,000 to $6,000. wow. as they are now. (laughs) okay? okay. that's a lot of shotguns. yeah, it's a shotgun. okay. now, if they were... i hope my brother-in-law is watching. i hope he's watching, too. now, if these were not chipped... yeah? $12,000 to $18,000. wow. phew. that's fine. this was in my mother's family. it was my mother's grandmother's. and i've always loved it. i had an uncle that used to sit on it. he used to sit on, on this? and put his socks on every morning. okay. and take his shoes off, i'm sure, at night. threw his dirty socks inside. inside there? i thought i, i thought i smelled something, i don't know. there you go, there you go. yes, it's still got that scent. but they say that you can see his little bottom end marks. you know, with some imagination, i can imagine that. i don't know if that's... my mother always said that this was used as a document box on the mantel in one of the bedrooms. in one of the bedrooms, okay. well, first of all, this piece is made in the tradition of philadelphia. philadelphia cabinetmakers, during the federal period when this was made-- 17, probably 90, okay, to about 1805-- were using inlay, like this light wood stringing. the piece itself is walnut with this wonderful light wood inlay, which is probably holly. these were made with a compass-- they took the compass, made the incision, and inlayed this. also this banding, and coming down, this wonderful veneered skirt with flared french-style feet. so you have all these philadelphia characteristics. cabinetmakers moved west and then down the shenandoah valley, and then spread out. so they were making pieces in this style all through virginia and maryland. so it very well could be virginia. it also could be western pennsylvania. let's open the top up. you probably know that the hinges have been replaced, right? exactly. and this has a little patch here, right? mm-hmm. where they and then... there's no patch there, as you may know. this piece of wood has been replaced right here. so the hinge broke. somebody let this drop way before your uncle sat on it. and they replaced that little piece. inside it looks so wonderful. the color in there is just great. it's really been used and it probably was a document box, but you could store almost anything in it. the fact that it's been used, the fact that when you close it back up, the stringing on the side and the front matches the stringing that's down at the bottom, we know that lid's original, okay? right. and when we turn it upside down, look at this wonderful oxidation here. look at that nice color. a little chip in the plane that planed that board. all that's what we love to see. and do you see where this block fell off? this glue mark? yes. that attached the bottom board to the front. and the witness mark matches between the back of the skirt and that bottom. so that's, that's evidence, that those were connected for 200 years or so. so we know it's right, we know it's a, a wonderful federal piece. now, i've talked to some of my colleagues. we've got a consensus here. retail value on this little box, because of the wonderful inlay, because of the feet, because of the nice condition, i would say $7,000. ooh, thank you. that's pretty neat. i tell you, i don't think your uncle would sit on it anymore if he knew that. no, i don't think so. no, i don't think so either. i don't think so. i found it at an estate sale in south mississippi. i saw it, thought it was absolutely beautiful, and initially, even thought it was a costume piece. but you found out later that it was not? right. okay. i found out it was actually a fine jewelry piece. i want everybody to know what you paid for it. i paid $5,400. you know a little bit what you have? yes, it's a verdura brooch. according to the box that it was in, it's from 1954. right. i'm an old-time jeweler, and i knew mr. verdura. he passed away in 1978, but he made some fabulous, fabulous jewelry. and he loved color. he loved insects. he loved flowers, and he was a 5th avenue, upstairs jeweler. that to me is like the top of the line. and he also was a designer for paul flato. paul flato was a designer for tiffany's. oh. he apprenticed under him. so you have a verdura flower pin here. yeah, we can also, if we look it up, we can find out what year he made it in, because he has beautiful records. now, in this particular piece, you have diamonds, which are all full cut, all set in platinum. you have emeralds, which are south american emeralds, which are green. they're not colombian of the better grade, but they're very fine south american emeralds. it's 18-karat gold, and your amethysts are of the top quality of uruguayan amethysts. they have that purple-blue in them, and verdura, when he made this piece, he made it so beautifully. in the back here all these little set screws come apart so you can take the flowers off, repair it, and put it back together again. yeah. oh, how interesting. it's very easy for a jeweler to repair this, if it ever breaks. but he made it like a piece of rock. oh. i have to go back and do some homework on it. i'm going to see how many he made of this. i don't think there's many, might be one or two. now, a piece like this, if it came up for auction and we advertised it right, could easily sell anywhere from $25,000 to $35,000. oh, my goodness. oh, wow. it's like one of a kind. everything is made by hand. every little setting is, uh, put together systematically, and it's a beautiful bunch of flowers. oh, well, thank you, i'm very happy. i actually found it in an architectural antique store in buffalo, new york. it was hanging from a string, broken in half, and i asked the guy at the store how much for the antique guitar. and he told me, $40. so i, uh, snapped it up and took it to a guitar dealer and got it repaired, and, uh, here it is. now, did you know what it was when you saw it? i suspected that it was an old martin guitar. okay. from the neck and some of the accoutrements. but nobody has been able to really date it for me. and you've had it for how long? i've had it about four or five years. okay. i think we can pretty much tell what the age is. all right. the first thing we'll do is look at the slotted peghead up here. and that's very typical of martin guitars that were made around the mid-1800s. what's a little bit unusual is that it has very nice, maybe even ivory inlayed tuners on the side with silver mounting on it. the fingerboard is made of rosewood, and the bridge is also made of rosewood. the martin guitars of that period were usually made with ebony fingerboards and bridges. it's a very old spruce top. the first thing we want to do is to identify the model number, and martin had a very wonderful system of identification. they were very consistent. by the measurements of this guitar, we identify it as a size number three. the second number identifies the level of trim that it had, so we look for clues like the rosewood binding on the edge of the body, and the amount of inlay it has near the sound hole. so we identify this as a model 17, but then, when we look at the type of wood used for the back and the sides, it was nearly always made of rosewood. but here we have mahogany. so, it was kind of an attempt by martin to build a guitar that was more on the lines of an economy instrument. so, that would mean that it's a model 16. so, it's a model 3-16. and to get the age on it, we look inside the guitar, and we find the stamp that's up on the neck block. and beginning in 1866, it said cf martin & company, but before that, it just said cf martin, so we know that this guitar is probably before 1866. i would date it around 1850. right now, these guitars-- they're pretty conservatively priced. it's probably worth between $1,800 and $2,400. all right. which makes them very affordable, and in the future, i think that price is only going to go up, because they're not making these anymore. no, they're not. because it's not worth that much, i can keep it. (laughs) woman: this jewelry belonged to my mother and to my father, who were good friends with a man named antonio pineda, who is a mexican silversmith, and he's quite well-renowned, but the interesting part is that this is all gold jewelry, rather than silver. and he is really noted for the silver jewelry. appraiser: and what connection did your mother and father have with antonio? they were very, very good friends, and they even owned the first house that he had built in taxco, mexico. now, did they purchase these pieces from him? yes. yes, they did. do you have any idea what they might have paid? i have absolutely no idea. antonio pineda was an apprentice of william spratling, who is the master silversmith of taxco, sterling, mexican jewelry. and antonio went another route. he opened his own business in 1941, and by 1950, he was using a trademark of antonio underneath a crown. now, the fact that these pieces are gold is very, very special. they're all 14 karat. they're extremely rare. antonio is known for a modernist style, which was extremely popular in the 1950s through the 1970s. he's very collectible. this ring here has two blue stones. one is a natural australian sapphire. the other one is a manmade sapphire. and that was common in mexican jewelry. yes. the next ring we have is a huge smoky quartz. moving to the necklace-- which is almost a trademark style of antonio-- it barely hugs the neck, and gracefully ends in a pearl, wraps around the neck, dangling down to a pendant of an emerald, and rubies all done in 14 karat. notice the sleek simplicity of his work. we also have some cufflinks that were marked antonio, and 14 karat. this pair of cufflinks has some golden citrines, square-cut stones. and this is a green beryl. some people would call it a low-quality emerald. absolutely beautiful pieces. on a retail level, and at a very good jewelry store, this necklace would be valued at around $3,500. very nice. the citrine cufflinks... mm-hmm. about $2,500. i'm surprised. the ring with the australian sapphire, $2,800. ca-ching! we're going up. yes, we're going, going, going. the smoky quartz ring, about $1,800. and the green beryl cufflinks, about $2,200. this is phenomenal. your total comes to about $12,800. i think i'd better put it in the bank. (chuckles) you brought in this tiger. where did you get him? well, from my mom. she downsized, and she gave me a whole collection of bronzes and furniture, and i'm into antiques, and she passed them on to me. uh-huh. i just love him. do you know what it is? no, i really don't. ah. i've tried to find something out about it, because she told me at one time it had a plaque on the front with a name, and i've lost it... uh-huh. ...and i can't find anything out about it. well, it's actually signed. oh, is it signed? yeah. it's signed right up in here, in this indelicate spot here. yeah. (laughs) right around... and not only is it signed there... mm-hmm. ...but it has a foundry mark. oh, does it? it was made by the gorham company founders located in providence, rhode island. oh, okay. and this was done in the 1920s. and it's signed hyatt. her name was anna vaughn hyatt, and she married the philanthropist archer huntington, and she added huntington to her name, so her name is anna hyatt huntington. okay. and this is one of her most famous models. it's called "the yawning tiger." oh, is it really? she did it in two sizes. she did it in this size, and then she did it in a 28-inch size. okay. she was trained in new york city. she studied with gutzon borglum, who was the sculptor of mount rushmore. oh, my goodness. and then she exhibited quite extensively. she was one of the most prominent sculptors of the early 20th century. this piece is wonderful. you can see how nicely she's modeled this, how she's captured the animal, how he's yawning. it's very finely cast. the details are very good, and it has this wonderful original patina. they come up fairly frequently at auction. this piece is numbered 235. i don't know how many were actually made, but even so, it's very desirable. at auction, this piece would bring between $8,000 and $12,000. oh, wonderful. (laughing): all right. that's great news. right. yes. thank you. thanks. thanks for coming in. well, it's an interesting painting you have here. it looks like it's been through a war or something. (laughing) well, this is actually the reason why i bought it. it's a mat, it's not the frame. right. and so i thought, well, it must have come out of a beautiful frame to have a mat that was this nice. yeah, it probably had. this is just a liner. yeah, yeah. what we call a liner on the inside. and it was velvet, and you can see it's sort of all worn out. it was probably a large gilt frame. about the painting itself, though, do you know who it is? well, it says it's albert lynch. i know he was an illustrator, an american illustrator. but he's from peru, and that's it. right. that's all i know. yeah, he is one of the few peruvian artists, who is known as alberto lynch, and actually, if you go to lima, there are streets named after him, you know-- calle alberto lynch-- he's so famous there. but like many other spanish artists, like madrazo and rico y ortega, really made his flash in paris, and painted at the turn of the century. this was probably painted around 1900, i would think. you can tell by the costume and everything else. it's signed, but you can barely see it. it's down here, and you can see "l-y-n-c-h." it's hard to see that signature, but to me, this is signed all over. you have his typical beautiful woman in high society from paris. now, where'd you get it? i got it from an estate sale, an estate auction. uh-huh, okay. did you pay a lot of money for it? no. well, i paid $400 for it, but i thought she was certainly worth that. and it's a little yellowed. did you try to clean it at all? no, that was not me. i wanted to tell you, i'm not responsible for that. okay. that's not your doing. that's not me. yeah, it looks like somebody did a little attempt to clean this at some point. they probably took a solvent and got through some of the yellowed varnish here. that can be cleaned, i think, for a modest amount, but i would contact a local museum and have them recommend a conservator who could do that, because it's worth doing on this painting. one of the things i like about it is it's a very sophisticated painting. you get this french high society, this very aristocratic face here, this very pointy nose and pouty lips, but also, this very deft use of light, and how he's picking up the arms and the fingernails and the hands. so this back lighting, which is difficult to do and pull off correctly. lynch is quite popular. i would think if you were to put this at auction today, i would put an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. oh, wonderful! that's lovely. but keep the little label, because it's not really signed that strongly. here in mobile, we've heard an inspiring story about a collection of art pottery, a genius potter, a devastating hurricane, and the people who are working hard to make sure that this story has a happy ending. on august 29, 2005, hurricane katrina hit the gulf coast with unrelenting force. afterward, homes and businesses across the area counted their blessings and took stock of the damage done. man: the ohr-o'keefe museum was started to celebrate the life and works of the mad potter of biloxi, george ohr. walberg: and i understand that it was very near completion when katrina hit? tommy mcpherson: it was almost done. they were planning to open july of 2006. the construction was almost complete on several of the buildings. we offered to go get the pottery collection and move it to mobile for safekeeping, as long as they needed. the pottery was upstairs in a municipal building in biloxi that was serving as a library on the first floor, and as the pottery museum on the second floor. if the pottery had been on the first floor, based on what we saw, it would all be broken and lost. walberg: tommy, thanks so much for telling us the story of how all of this great pottery was rescued, and we sure wish everybody in biloxi the best in the future. walberg: david, these four pots that you've put here on the table i can't wait to hear about, but i'm even more intrigued to hear the story of the mad potter of biloxi. well, it's a long story to tell. george ohr, who was born in biloxi, mississippi, in 1857, was known as the mad potter of biloxi, and he started producing pots around the mid-1870s. was he truly mad? i think he was crazy as a fox. i mean, he had an artist's sensibility, so he certainly wasn't thinking like the average person was, but it was also part of his shtick to appear crazy, and his pots may have suggested to people that he was different than the rest. this is a relatively simple piece of ohr, and we're using this one because it shows how experimental and inquisitive he was. if he was in new orleans, for example, and he saw some mud on the streets that he thought was pliable enough, he would dig it up, take it home, make pots out of it. this is typical of the mobile clay that he used, which is a very hard, white clay. this was probably made around 1900, 1901. and what is the value of a comparable piece of ohr pottery? a comparable piece like this maybe would be perhaps $1,000 to $1,500. it's so delicate and so lovely. george ohr said that no two souls were alike. he's going to make no two pots alike. so a part of his artistic goal was to make each piece as individual as humans are. this is atypically large for ohr's work; he tended to work in hand-size pieces. the form is somewhat traditional. and the way it's decorated here, this incised wheat decoration is traditional. it's been done before. but the addition of these manipulated handles, and the stark royal blue glazing on top of this gun metal flambé at the bottom is most unusual and very modern. what year was this done? this one dates to about 1895. if you could find something similar to this, it would be about $75,000 and $100,000. walberg: spectacular, and you can see he was really starting to stretch and grow as an artist. stepping out. this piece is a little farther down the road than the one we just saw. the glazing is really extravagant. it's red feathered with white, with mint green around the midsection. it has a deep embody twist in the center of the pot, which you can see on the inside as well. this is just phenomenal. very thin. i want to point out, there's also incise on this piece but it's more abstracted now. instead of being representational, it's been abstracted. and what year did he do this? this is about 1898, 1900. it has a typical block stamp mark on the bottom. this, too, if you could find one, a comparable piece would be about $75,000 to $100,000. amazing, and then this fourth piece is in an entirely different vein. he just never really could be contained, could he? around 1900, he said that god put no color in souls, so i'll put no color on my pots, and he stopped glazing them. and just as people like gustav stickley, the furniture maker, used quarter-sawn oak because the grain in the oak was decoration, george ohr mixed darker and lighter clays together in a process he called scrotaling. that's his word? that was his word. as far as i know, it was his word. and then he would make these paper-thin pots and then deform them into... is it a vase? is it a pitcher? we're not really sure what it was. it was beside the point as far as he was concerned. it's just simply an artistic expression, isn't it? very much so. and what would be the value of this piece? well, the first time we saw bisque pieces, which was in the '70s, uh, i saw one very similar to this and it was $45 and i didn't buy it because we thought it was unfinished. now, a pot like this would bring between $10,000 and $15,000. it was just getting right down to the pure form. it's just beautiful. i understand that we're lucky to have ohr's pottery. there was horrible devastation early in his career? 1894, actually, was the great fire of biloxi. george ohr's section of biloxi was burned to the ground, including his pottery and all the pots that he'd created up to that point. and yet he continued to pot after that? yes. survived, and katrina once again threatened the ohr collection. but although we get to see it here in mobile, we look forward to it returning back home to biloxi very soon. david, thanks for sharing it. thank you. well, we saw this clock at auction about 20 years ago, and we wanted it but it went a little above our budget. and apparently the clock collection was dispersed recently, so about a year ago, it came up again. and, uh... we bought it. and you fell in love with it 20 years ago, and you've always wanted it. we like the case. this is a very rare form of what they call a "coffin clock." made by elnathan taber, of roxbury, massachusetts. he's a very famous maker, elnathan taber. he had a brother steven taber as well. he was an apprentice to simon willard, who was our country's most famous clock maker. elnathan taber was a very good friend of simon willard. he worked from 1790 to 1854. and he was really one of the few guys who made coffin clocks like this, and he was pretty famous for these clocks. they're very simple, very primitive in design. what did you pay for it at auction, if you don't mind me asking? $3,500. $3,500? yes. well, bruce... if this was real, it would be a fantastic buy. (groaning): aah... but unfortunately, this was made with the intent to deceive. okay. and there's a number of reasons why i know this. all right. most often, this would be a mahogany case, and it wouldn't be painted like this. so whenever we see paint, it's sort of a warning flag. and someone did a pretty good job of kind of grunging it up and making it look bubbled, but not a great job, because if you open it up... you'll see that they painted the inside of the case as well, and there's really no reason to paint the inside of the case. it wasn't a painted clock to begin with. and they also got paint on the hinges here. and you can actually see paint on the dial as well. so somebody was a little bit sloppy when they did this. also, when you look at these elnathan taber coffin clocks, they're usually engraved on the weight tin down here, okay. and not on the dial, as you'll see right here. the signature is not too great. the "roxbury" is a little blocky. it's just not well done. and to the eye, when you see a clock like this, you can tell when a signature's original or not if you see enough of them. if you look at the fretwork here, and it's the wrong form. it doesn't really reach up, and it's not graceful. it's a little bit short. it fails in proportion. so it's not a real good job there. the blocking is suspect. the glue blocks here, they have an oxidized front but not oxidized from the back. some of these clocks i'll see, that have come through, will have just a solid case right here without a pendulum aperture. and when you see a pendulum aperture, you usually see it perfectly round, like the bob of the pendulum, and not this oval shape. okay. so that's wrong as well. it is a nice clock. it's a nice look, but it's not what it's as represented. fair enough. if it was real, it would be a $25,000 clock. the movement is period. the dial has aged, but it's also been age-processed-- somebody's used some sort of varnish or something to make it look older than it really is. i do believe that the dial's probably period. it has a nice decorative look, that value-wise... would probably be around $1,500 for a look like this with a period movement, but not much more than that. when i first saw it, i was very excited about it. but the closer it got to me, the more it showed its hand. okay. so that's what you have, bruce. but thank you for bringing it in. hey, fair enough. thank you. i inherited this from my great-grandmother on my mother's side of the family. i'm not sure how she actually obtained it, but she had that and several other pieces of jewelry. and when my mother had it, she would wear it just for special occasions. it was mainly in the safety deposit box. we didn't get to see it very often. aw... she would bring it out for graduations and for weddings. it's just always meant a lot to me. have you ever had it appraised? had it appraised about 25 years ago, and at that time, they said it was around $2,000. mm-hmm, mm-hmm. well, you know, i always love it when jewelry speaks to me. it shouts out quality, quality, quality, and you love it when those words come through. first of all, you've got a beautiful, beautiful handmade chain. every link in the chain is handmade. wow. all 18-karat gold. then you have a functional watch with an enamel dial and the baked-on gold letters, and then you have a little applied gold dots between each of the roman numbers... or not the roman numbers, arabic numbers. (laughing): sorry there. but then when we turn it over, look what we have back here. you've got the dragonfly, which was very popular in this time period, which is your 1890- 1910 time period. it has european cut diamonds for the back and the wings and whatnot, and then it has beautiful little eyes made out of rubies. rubies. you've got the lilypads with the water lilies floating on. and you've got wonderful pierce work here, just absolutely a piece of art. now, if that's not enough, when you open this, you've got this beautiful, beautiful enamel work here. and what this enamel scene shows is a sunset on a lake with water lilies and all that. so when you have it closed, you can sort of look through a three-dimensional way and see that the dragonfly is flying over in the forefront and the beautiful scene is in the background, and it's just absolutely gorgeous. the pierce work, everything about it is quality. now, this was made in switzerland. switzerland? yes, and it was made by a very well-known company, agassiz. and this is the quality they made. in the same quality they made some very similar to this with the tiffany name on it too. wow. but you want to know what it's worth today? definitely-- please. i think you're looking at a good retail price, a very reasonable retail price at 10,000. 10,000? wow. yes, thank you for bringing this. it's just a treat for the eyes. that's wonderful. thank you. very nice. all i can say is, my great-grandmother must have had really good taste. this is a piece of my great-grandfather's pottery, george ohr. and he was the mad potter of biloxi, mississippi. and how did you come about having this? my mother is an ohr. she was otto's daughter, and otto was george's son. and so she got five pieces. i have a brother and a sister, and this is the piece that i picked. you picked well. thank you. i think so. this is really gorgeous. thank you. and i'm a big fan of george's work. oh, great. i think he is the greatest ceramic artist, living or dead, in this country. oh, that's what they always say. so ahead of his time. george was working out of biloxi, mississippi. right, and it's not that far over. however, as you may know, most of your great-granddad's work went up to new jersey. right. maybe some 10,000 pieces or so with mr. jim carpenter, who was an antique dealer, and that happened in the early 1970s. and so little was left beyond that, yeah. and the pieces that are actually descended from the family are very, very rare. and these are called "pre-carpenterian" pieces-- before jim carpenter. and this is a large and beautiful piece. george worked mostly hand-size. so anything that is bigger than hand-size is very good. and this is a particularly sweet piece. it has a nice in-body twist here at the base, and a gorgeous mottle glaze. he worked often in fairly dull, black glazes, brown glazes. and this is so alive, it has a lot of mottling of the greens and raspberries. these are really beautiful. there is a chip here at the front. do you know how that happened? no, i don't. these things happen, right? probably in moving. (laughs) and another smaller one on the inside here, but this is such a lovely pot, with so many terrific attributes, that it still has some great value. i want to show the mark here, which is the mark that we most often see... yeah, it's stamped. ...on george's pots, this stamp here that says biloxi, mississippi. and this lovely piece, because of everything it has, because of the provenance... would easily be at auction $15,000 to $20,000. really? absolutely. oh, my goodness. oh, well, see, i just wanted to know for my own-- you know, my own piece of mind what it was because i've never had it appraised before. never had-- ooh, goodness. that just takes my breath away. this is my great-grandmother's china doll, clara, that she gave to my father, and she left a little note in the box that we keep her in. and she got the doll in 1869 for christmas when she was 18 months old. and my aunt june broke her foot off back in 1918. okay. she's been living in her shoe box with her quilt that was made by my great-grandmother's aunt. and these are pictures of her back in about 1870, in between the time she would have had the doll. great. well, it's a wonderful little package. you have the provenance with the note, you have the photos and the original quilt. the doll is made in germany, and it's what's called untinted bisque. you have painted eyes, which are really nicely done. had they been glass eyes, it would have added quite a bit to the value, as would a swivel neck; this is a solid neck. if i had this up at auction, i would probably estimate the doll between $800 and $1,000. and what if the foot had been intact? had it been intact, you could have added a few hundred dollars to the appraised price, i think. you know, it's just a great piece. we don't know too much. it's been in our family for a long time. my grandmother, when she died, we got it about 25 years ago. and the family story that i remember was that it came from either virginia or north carolina back in the 1820s or '30s, when their family moved to greensboro, alabama, which is in the middle of the state. i see. what do you most want to know about the piece? well, i had some questions. one, there are holes in the tops here, and i wondered if there were finials on there or something originally. it definitely would have had fairly simple urn- shaped finials, both in the center and on the outside. one of the most distinctive details about this piece, i think, is the pediment, which has this great cresting wave going toward the center, or scrolls. you do find that kind of pediment in central and southern virginia and down into the piedmont of north carolina. so, right off the bat, what you tell me about the history of it makes sense from what i see with the physical attributes of the piece. you have this beautiful vertical span. how tall are your ceilings at home? that's been a problem. we've moved several times and finding a house with nine- or higher- foot ceilings has been quite a problem. this looks like over eight feet. it's about 8 1/2 feet, yeah. 8 1/2. well, it does have that great vertical sweep, which is also characteristic of southern pieces of this period. pieces of this form, with the deep top drawer here and turned feet-- you're getting into the 1820s, into the 1830s or so, when you see that form. one of the nice details about this is the original glass that you see in these doors. right. the inclusions and bubbles and that sort of thing in it tell us that it's in all likelihood period glass. one thing to look for on these is: a good craftsman would often have the shelves in the interior line up with the mullions on the doors. now, these don't line up, but the shelves are replaced. it looks like there were originally maybe even adjustable shelves there or something? exactly. you could have the shelf set so it was at the mullion height... right. or you could adjust it a bit. another detail is the woods that the cabinetmaker chose. the backboards are poplar, yellow pine inside the case, um, in some of the drawers, secondary. typical woods for piedmont, north carolina, and up into virginia. so again we have another corroborating bit of evidence there. let's have a quick look in the interior here. this nice fold- down secretary. again, typical of that 1820s and '30s period. you have a very meticulous craftsman here. in the back of the prospect door, you see here where he has hollowed these out so you can close it all the way and it will account for the knobs. very finely detailed construction, fine dovetailing. this is a piece at auction that would bring probably $8,000 to $12,000. great to see it. thank you for coming in. thanks, that's great to know. i appreciate all your information. my grandfather bought the watch for $25 in pritchard, alabama, at a pawnshop, and his old watch, he traded in. he wanted an elgin watch. i was approximately 11 years old when he got the watch, and i'd asked him for it. he said he would hand it down to me. when he was deceased, he gave it to my mother, and she deceased this year, so i brought it out to find out something about it. well, you've done some homework here. what can you tell me that you found out? chicago defender presented this watch july 26, 1942 at wrigley field to satchel paige. also, they presented a six-foot bouquet of flowers to him, and that's about all i know. i got the information from the chicago defender, which is the oldest black newspaper that's still in existence. when i called them, they sent me all this documentation and asked me questions to describe the watch, and they told me they felt like it was authentic. well, satchel paige was the greatest pitcher in the negro leagues from the 1930s through the 1940s. he was elected to the baseball hall of fame and is possibly the greatest pitcher of all time. and this is an excellent example of how an item can be worth more than what it normally would be because of the provenance. this is an elgin watch, which still works, and it was produced in 1923. it's 14-karat filled, and if you were to try to sell it today, without it being attached to satchel paige, a dealer would probably buy this from you for about $50 to $100. and it's interesting that it was produced in 1923, and that it was presented to satchel paige in 1942. there are virtually no materials of satchel paige's, personal material, out there on the marketplace. it's very, very thin. in an auction, sports auctions, which are very, very hot right now, i think that this watch would sell upwards of $20,000. really? yeah. that's not a bad investment of $25. i was just going to say that. that's a pretty dang good investment, yeah. it is. this belonged to a friend of ours who collected antiques, and i had always admired it. when he died, he left it to me. i believe he said he bought it in new orleans. well, this is a piece that does come from europe. it was made in a town that is called turn-teplitz and the name of the manufacturer is the amphora porcelain works. now, this is a company that went into business in the late 19th century, around 1896, and had different partners. and as the different partners came in and out of the business, the name would change a little, but it was always referred to as amphora porcelain. the piece dates probably to around 1910, 1915, and is in what is referred to as the art nouveau style. now, this is a style of decoration that became very popular in the late 19th, early 20th century. it relied on natural forms and movement. in germany and austria, it was referred to as jugendstil, which basically means "the new, young style." and as you can see, it's a natural form. it almost looks like a giant onion in shape, and it has molded on the surface these water lilies, the pads of which are in very, very high relief. and at the mouth of the vase, you have pierced decoration. the bats that are hanging-- and they're nibbling on fruits that come up through the stem-- and then in shallow relief, molded on the neck of the vase, you have those same bats. and this bizarre combination of water lilies and bats, that really echoes the shape of the vase and then flows over is very typical art nouveau, as is the fact that nothing is really a straight line. you can see how the stems trail around the side of the vase. now, the vase is marked. and it's the word "amphora" impressed into the side of it with a number underneath. i believe the number reads 668. what that number is is a model number, and it will be found on whatever vases were produced by amphora of this shape. one of the things that struck me about this is the condition, which is very good. i think there's one repair, where a stem has been snapped here and here, and it's the original stem glued back in, so that should not affect its value too much. normally, an amphora vase sells at auction for less than $1,000, sometimes up to around $1,500, but this piece is such a great example, if it were to come for sale at auction, you'd be looking at a selling price more between $3,000 and $5,000, maybe even as much as $6,000, just because it's such a great example. that was about what my husband had guessed. he's not as conservative as i am. i thought maybe $700 or $800. man: i had gone to an estate sale and saw the frame and really purchased it just for the frame, not really looking at the artwork in it. appraiser: and how much did you pay for the frame? i gave $25 for it. $25. yes. and have you done any further research? very little. i have... went on the internet and searched a little bit, and found that the painter studied under the masters. my understanding, he died in 1935. but i know he won a couple of awards, and that's about the extent of what i know about it. well, it's signed down here. and this is henri alphonse barnoin, who's a french painter. and he was born in paris and died relatively young. he was in his early 50s when he passed away. both born and died in paris. but he's most associated with brittany, and this is a breton scene that we see here. and unlike that other artist who we often associate with brittany, paul gauguin, he took a much more conventional career path. he studied in paris at the beaux-arts with emile dameron, who probably introduced him to impressionism. but in this painting, we can still see the roots of the realist tradition that was very prevalent in france. and by that i mean, it's showing ordinary working folk doing what they do. fisher wives in the quay, awaiting the men coming back from the fleet. and you're absolutely right, he won many, many awards, and his work hangs in many museums. and i think it's a really wonderful painting. what appealed to me when i saw it first is the composition and also the dramatic use of light. so we see the light breaking through in the background here. and then you see all these verticals comparing with all the diagonals. and again down here. so we're being led directly into the painting. and the light also plays on the headgear of these breton fisher folk. and also it's interesting in the composition the way these looping nets are picked up in the ripples in the water. so it's really a very sophisticated composition that we have here. now, you told me you paid $25 for the frame, which it has to be said is not in the best of shape. but even at that, it must be worth $25. oh, yeah. and of course, that leaves you with a painting which at auction, i believe, could easily be worth $12,000 to $18,000. so that's not a bad return on your $25. no. that's a real good return. yeah. so given that, you'd probably want to invest in a new frame, i would think. oh, yeah. man: i was the fortunate bystander, i guess you could say, in a liquidation of a large collection of mount vernon memorabilia that was known at that time as the edmond law rogers smith collection. and a descendant of the custis line liquidated that large estate, much of which went back to mount vernon, especially the items that were known to have been at mount vernon during the occupancy by george and martha washington. and i purchased this directly from the descendant. when did you buy it? i bought it in approximately 1981 to '83, and i do not recall the price. it was probably... over $1,000, under $3,000. the history behind this box is absolutely incredible. i want to start off by pointing out that there's a silver plaque here. the plaque says, "presented by marquis de lafayette "to eliza parke custis, who gives it to her beloved daughter eliza law." now, who is the marquis de lafayette? we all probably know. mm-hmm. who is eliza parke custis? the marquis de lafayette was one of our big allies and one of our liaisons with france during the revolutionary war, and was very important in our winning the revolutionary war. and eliza parke custis is the granddaughter of martha washington. she was jack's daughter, and jack was martha's son. correct. jack custis. right. now, when you open it up, this is basically a lap desk, a lady's writing desk, a traveling desk. here in the top, you have all the necessary tools-- a little sander to brush on top of your inked paper. this is a little ink well; you'd put your pens in here. this may be where a sealing wax or something went. and basically, this says that this was given to eliza parke custis, and she's giving it to her daughter in 1823. same thing is more or less written on this much longer letter on the inside here. this is on the kind of paper that one would expect to find in 1823, and this is basically telling a little bit more about it, saying, "it was sent to me by the marquis de lafayette." it's french. there's no question about it. i've showed it to several of the other appraisers who really know european items. mm-hmm. the marquis de lafayette came here in 1777. after the revolutionary war, he went back to france. then in 1824, at the request of congress, president monroe asked lafayette to come to visit us. mm-hmm. and he did that, and he was here for 14 months. he visited all 24 states at the time. but this box predates his visit to the u.s. so it says, "this was sent to me from the marquis." so presumably this was sent from france to the united states. the plaque probably wasn't on the box, or if it was on the box, it was not engraved. right. now, you've done a lot of work on the genealogical connections between all the various family members, and i've got to say, from what you've shown me, the provenance of this box is absolutely ironclad. in terms of the value of it, i would place a presale estimate of somewhere from $30,000 to $50,000. wow. well, it's not a bad investment for $1,500, $2,000, whatever. indeed not, indeed not. wow. um... (sighs) i'll be very careful driving home. (laughing) i'm aghast. (laughing) you're watching antiques roadshow from mobile, alabama. in a minute, more roadshow, right after this. , turn to pbs for stories that define the american experience. man: it was wild and out of control. the flash, apparently official... revealing our strengths... it shall be called the hoover dam. our struggles... man: he said it is madness beyond measure. putting you into history. and taking you to the moment. announcer: we have a lift-off. these are our stories. man: it's felt experience. our american experience, only on pbs. now, the people who make antiques roadshow possible. it's not about the things we have, but the memories we make with them. liberty mutual insurance, proud sponsor of antiques roadshow. at subaru, versatility and safety drive all our vehicle designs. because however big, small, new or old your cargo may be, it's all precious. in today's global economy, finding smart investments requires expertise from the ground up, seeing first what others see eventually. at franklin templeton, we have experts across the globe with local insight to spot distant opportunities and navigate world markets. our approach has given us a unique perspective on global investing for over 60 years. franklin templeton investments. gain from our perspective. additional funding provided by: and by contributions to your pbs station from: walberg: and now it's time for the roadshow feedback booth. brought this little face jug today. i was really excited to learn a lot about it, and they told me lots about it. said it was worth about $500. if we could identify who it was made from, it'd be worth $2,000. but i love coming to the roadshow. i had so much fun today. people got a lot of stuff here. i brought several books signed by carl sandburg. unfortunately, carl signed a lot of books, so they're not worth very much. but now, my little watercolor here is worth $800. and we brought an old violin to find out some information about it, and exactly what we found out, that it's old. it's not worth anything but for decorations. but we did bring a print, and we were glad to find out that it's worth $400 to $600. we came, we saw, we had a good time. huh, mama? yeah. (laughing) found out this colt peacemaker's worth between $1,500 and $2,000. that's pretty good. and this little ball and cup, anywhere from $35 to $75. magic lantern-- around $400 to $500. we saw mr. farmer and he said that if we, we could either hang our pictures like this, or if we're mad at each other, we can hang our pictures like this. and i brought my husband's grandmother's ring with me that i was given. it's worth $14,000 to $16,000. (laughing): i was, like, yay! thank you. i'm mark walberg. thanks for watching. we'll see you next time on antiques roadshow. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org be more. pbs. be more. pbs. ♪ anncr: geico. committed to providing service to it's auto insurance customers for over 70 years. more information on auto insurance at geico.com or 1-800-947-auto any time of the day or night. ♪ i'm definitely feeling the pressure to have to buy something. you're killing me at 425. 285 cash. can we do a little bit better? three hundred. i'll defer to you. somebody's gonna not be happy at this. give me a break! oh, my god! market warriors was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from: mark walberg: cumming, georgia, is less than 50 miles outside of atlanta and exists somewhat in the shadow of its big city neighbor to the south. the lakewood 400 flea market takes place the third weekend of every month. it has space for 500 dealers, who set up shop mostly indoors, although some display their wares outside as well. gonna make money today? gotta make money today. walberg: our pickers know they're in miller gaffney country. miller: you brought your carpet bags, i'm sure. walberg: a native of nearby south carolina, miller thinks she has the edge in this competition... let's get this show on the road, here. walberg: ...where her manners and her charm will curry favor with the dealers, who share her southern roots. what happened to ladies first? walberg: however, she'd be foolish to underestimate her yankee competitors. it's shopping first. walberg: because they know southern hospitality will get her only so far in a world where dealmaking and profits determine what happens, no matter the location. let's make a deal. i like that. (chuckling) welcome to the sunny south, gentlemen. wow, nice. your turf. "the honeybee is the official insect of georgia "because it pollinates more than 50 different crops in the state. "since all of our pickers will need to pollinate "cowan's auction house in cincinnati, ohio, "with great items to sell, "get ready to act like busy little bees "and start buzzing around this marketplace. remember, the honey is in the money." yeah... i like sweet honey. walberg: here are the rules for today's competition. there are three rounds of buying: two rounds at the flea market and one round at a nearby estate sale. each picker gets $1,000 for their flea market buys and $300 for the estate sale purchase. are you ready to shop in the south? always ready. okay, you're in my turf. walberg: the target item will be chosen by auctioneer wes cowan at cowan's in cincinnati, ohio, where all of today's items will be sold. wes is a featured expert on two pbs series, antiques roadshow and history detectives. for your target items, i'd like you to find advertising. look for signs, country story display items, clocks, anything that advertises a product. but look out, because there are lots of fakes in the market. if i see anything that was made after 1970, though, it's out. interesting. advertising, i love that. always hot, always collectible, always fun. sometimes the rustier, the better. walberg: game time will be kept by this banjo clock, which seems like a fitting timepiece for down south, even though this style of clock originated in massachusetts. pickers have just one hour to find their target item... good luck out there. walberg: ...starting now. knock 'em dead. miller: what i love about advertising memorabilia is it shows a love of nostalgia from the past. look at this from the saturday evening post. i love it. advertising is a great category at auction because people have a sentimental attachment to it. i love this. sunbeam bread says americana, says the way things used to be when people actually were slow. oh, i would kill to have this in my home. this is so cool. i love vintage advertising-- tin signs, paper-- it's fun stuff. advertising! talk to me about the gargoyle. the nickname was lollipop. they called it a lollipop because of the look. it's on the original stand. and that's typical up and down. where could you go pricewise on this? 750 is the lowest i'd go on that. i'd love to get down to the six range somehow. i can't do that. right up there is a really cool sign. that's something that you're not going to find a comparable on. and it's an old one, i guarantee that's an old one. that's not a new one. 99% of this stuff, you can find another one sold. this guy's researched it, he knows what the price should be, and he knows where it's selling at. but you find something like that, that's open to judgment of what you actually want to pay for it, and if you put it in front of the right crowd and it looks kind of really cool, that's the type of thing you can make money on right there. miller: i'm looking for something for advertising. i've got some advertising on the wall. miller: oh, you do? what do you have? got an old coca-cola clock up there. tell me about the coca-cola clock. that's probably early '60s. everybody loves coca-cola. yeah, coca-cola's always a good seller. okay, but you know it's before 1970? yeah, yeah. that's the main thing, these guys are going to push back. i'm pretty sure it's '60s. walberg: miller seems determined to stay loyal to one of the most famous brands based in the south. now you've got me wondering. i know, because they could push back. walberg: her northern competitors are finding ads for other southern-born soda brands. interesting, nugrape. not one you see every day. dr. pepper, that's a good one right there, too, but $400. how'd you come up with a price for this of $400? is that something that you researched, or... ? well, you know, i can tell you, my husband does his pricing, okay? if you're really interested in this, i'll see just how low he can go. i've got a cell phone, and i can call him. yeah, call a lifeline, let's see what we can come up with. hey, terry, i'm looking over here at a dr. pepper clock. terry (on phone): it's actually made out of a composite material instead of metal because it was made during the war, when metal was short. and the color is a little lighter than usual, the darker green ones you see, because that paint was being used a lot in the military, too. what's your best price on the dr. pepper clock? i'd do 300-- that's about as low as i could go. yeah, i hear you. i don't know as i could send it out to auction and make money on it, though. i think that's right about there, where it should be. all right, thank you very much, terry. thank you. the clock is priced on the internet everywhere for 400 bucks, but i think there's a little different piece to that clock there. most of them are shown in dark green paint, so being that this one is in light green paint might mean a little something to that clock. maybe we can grind him another 50-- that might work. red rock cola. a sack bag. that's just one-of-a-kind. walberg: i'll tell you something one-of-a-kind about this brand that also hails from atlanta, georgia. red rock is the only cola baseball legend babe ruth ever endorsed. let's talk about buying. walberg: since there's a big market for sports memorabilia, i think this could be a hit with collectors at auction, depending on buyers' trivia knowledge and price. is that all original paint and everything? all original paint. timeframe on it's just right. that's back in the '40s, '50s. how much are you asking for it? four twenty-five. 425, you're killing me at 425. oh, what could you do on it? three seventy-five. i really want to do three. three and a half. three, i need three. three and a quarter. give me three. well... why not? cool, thank you, man! walberg: at a purchase price of $300, a buyer will need to have some deep pockets in order for john to turn a profit. in babe ruth baseball terms, i'm not sure if this is a home run or a swing and a miss. hi there, is this your stuff? i just don't want to touch it if i'm... can i just put it down okay? yeah. all right, thank you. i love this old biscuit box. the price on the tag is $139, and it's circa 1900. it's got a beautiful amount of age, from philadelphia, pennsylvania. again, i'm selling at cowan's, but it's something to keep in mind. oh, a very cool harley sign. this is actually a porcelain sign. everybody who rides a harley has some memorabilia at home. it definitely speaks to me. this is... i love to ride. it's in great shape... i hope it's pre-1970s. this guy will know a little more than i do. beautiful. and kind of down low. it's probably been missed by people as they walk by. another little trick: always look at different places. eye level, that's where everything's picked. you got a harley sign down here. uh-huh. can you tell me something about it? how old is it? it's out of the '60s. what do you got for a price on that? nine fifty. 950, huh? i knew it was a good one. 500 cash doesn't do anything for you, does it? six hundred. i would love to be able to pay 600, but i can't. i have a budget, so i'm going to have to think about how i can actually get you down some on that sign. great guy, great stuff, but i don't know if we send anything to auction from him we're going to make any money. maybe we can go there and grind him a little bit on that harley sign later on. walberg: it may look as if kevin is willing to walk away, but that harley sign has dug its hooks in deep. you see, kev is a lifelong harley rider and he may make the mistake of letting his love for an item get the best of him. kevin: let's go look. walberg: looks like miller is thinking about switching cola brands. yeah, i'd love some help. tell me about the rc cola. this one here is probably around the '50s. walberg: this is also a southern brand. like its more successful competitor, rc cola also comes from georgia. it's had a lot of wear. well, if you were hung around like that for a while, you'd have a couple scratches, too. come on, mike. but the thermometer itself is what you want. is that working? yes, it is. but it's right there in the lettering. i hate that the age came in the graphics, but it still looks good, you still know what it is. yep, okay. so you're going to give me a triple discount because of all the damage. well, we have 155 on it, and i'll go $100. okay, not a little bit more? nope, can't do it. can only go 100. we've seen a lot of cool advertising in here, but unfortunately the guy who has all this advertising i'm not going to be able to get anything to make money, i don't think. that's what it's all about, finding something to make some money. priced, everything's priced. let's go find some bargains. just what i thought: all decorative items. nothing that's going to help us when it comes to advertising. we gotta get out of here. i'll be honest. i'm feeling really strong about that harley-davidson piece. if i can get that thing for $500... i don't care if you're seeing comps of that for $400, that thing is in mint condition. walberg: kevin has it bad for that harley-davidson sign, so bad he may violate the cardinal rule for pickers and buy from the heart, not with his mind. he may say he could turn a profit at $500, but don't believe it. he sounds to me like he's trying to talk himself into it. kevin: i'm really thinking about that harley sign, not just because i love harleys, because i know that it's so highly collected. somebody, or two people at that auction, are gonna have to have it. we southerners stick together. all right, here we go. okay, so you gotta help me out here. they're tough, they're brutal. so okay, what's your best price on the coca-cola clock? let's see, what's my worst one... 145. i'll do 125. 125? do you want me to lose? no. you gotta remember, though, we have to buy stuff, too. i wanna win, i wanna win! walberg: do you hear how miller's southern accent gets a little thicker as she tries to seal the deal with her fellow southerner? okay, i'll do 115 on it. 115? i'm thinking one. you got me on air, so you... i know! okay, i'll do it. those fighting game cocks. okay, yay! okay, you've got a deal, $100. thank you, eston. you're welcome and i appreciate the business. i love getting a coca-cola clock in the state of georgia. (in heavy southern accent): bye! bob: okay, it's just i'm curious what your very best price is on this guy. let's see... i guess i could do 119. yeah, i was thinking more like 75. ooh... walberg: this is only the fourth time cristy richardson, along with her parents, lynn and arthur, have been dealers here at the lakewood 400. i don't know, that's a pretty neat piece there. it's got the name on the top. walberg: they have been dealing in antiques and collectibles for only a year. i mean, it's in really good shape, too. walberg: but arthur has been collecting antiques as a hobby for over 40 years and started taking cristy to garage sales when she was just three years old. lynn: he offered 75. well, i said i was thinking 75. oh... arthur: the best we'll do for you is 80. so $75? seventy-five. you told him 80. but we just said 75 now. seventy-five. all right. i'm gonna do it for $75. i hope you enjoy it. bob: yes, you let him have it and i'll take this away. (everyone laughs) crack the whip. walberg: that makes bob the third picker to find a target item with only a stressed-out kevin left to go. i want that harley sign for 500 cash. talk him into it. that's way more than 500. we gotta figure this out quick. i love your booth, i love your advertising, i just don't love the prices. you haven't found anything, have you? no, we're looking for something good. john: i wonder if somebody else got all the good stuff? walberg: kevin is so agitated, he may have lost his focus. kevin: we got minutes, right? we got minutes. walberg: and the clock is ticking, which only makes it worse. what's the texaco sign? dealer: the texaco is 850. i got good taste. i'm feeling the pressure right now. i'm definitely feeling the pressure to have to buy something. i didn't want to have to do that. walberg: kevin finally decides to play it safe and rules out the harley sign. let's keep taking a look. look at all the advertising we have here. we just got to find the needle in the haystack. walberg: he is still without a piece of pre-1970 advertising to send to auction in cincinnati, ohio. oh, this is very cool. that lights up. it's art deco, and i don't think you're going to find another one. that one is 475. does it light up? oh yes. can i offer you something on it? sure. two fifty. got more money than that in it. well, talk to me. i don't have much time. three twenty-five. how about 275? 300, bottom dollar. 285 cash. three hundred. two ninety. 295, done deal. oof, could i tolerate down to...? i gotta do it. rock on. cool, it's in great shape. thank you. thank you. walberg: kevin is going to have to hop to it if he's going to make it back in time. we gotta truck right back to where we're supposed to be. walberg: if he doesn't get there, he'll have to pay each of his opponents a $50 penalty. i think we're down here, right? let's boogie. walberg: the pickers are about to assess all the items to determine if they fulfill the target round assignment. miller: ah, what do we have here? walberg: the assignment is pre-1970 advertising. pickers can reject any item for whatever reason they choose. wrong or right, majority rules. so what do you figure, who's gonna go first? you think we should do ladies first? always ladies first. miller? wow, is southern hospitality rubbing off on y'all? i was hoping maybe... i have a classic coca-cola clock. it lights up, doesn't it? yes! i think it's kind of common myself, though. you better have gotten a really good deal. john: i wouldn't say it was common... it's kind of common. yeah, it's a little... coca-cola advertising memorabilia is always the best. the only thing is, you know, about the age, if there's a way to tell. is that pre-'70s? no, look at the star face here. this is always in the '60s. look at the type, the way they did the numbers. that's always done in the '60s. can i see the back? of course. walberg: is miller bluffing her way through her defense of this clock? let's see if her opponents behave like real competitors and call her on it, or let chivalry prevail and let her slide. i'm not an authority enough to say whether it's '60s or '70s, so i would actually, looking at the style like she said, probably let it pass for somewhere in the late '60s. yeah, me too, because i'm not an authority on... i mean, it's '60s or '70s. well, i'll defer to you. kevin: i say thumbs up. i just hope you got a great deal on it. so we'll give you a thumbs up. thumbs up on it. who wants to go next? want me to go? i think you should. can i assist? don't damage it, don't... all right, what we got here, it's pennvernon window glass, which was used in the chevys in the 1930s and '40s. it's got that classic deco look to it. all right, there you go. how much more simple does it get than that? it just has a kind of light bulb. john: a single light bulb, yeah. kevin: it's gonna appeal to any guys or girls who love a garage filled with kind of the old automobilia-type advertising stuff. this appeals to me as somebody who loves art deco. i have a fireplace and it has the exact same strips on it, a glass block. i love this. did i meet the challenge today? you met the challenge, kevin. everybody gives me a thumbs up? good luck. big thumbs up, absolutely, you got it. coming over your head, mill. well, this is me all the way through. it's a sack rack. this hangs over a general store counter. i see it hanging in somebody's kitchen, and if you've got kids in school you can pull down... brown bag it! and it's different. absolutely. so did i meet it? i give you a thumbs up. i'll give you a thumbs up, it's definitely pre-1970s. okay, guys. what have you got, bob? it's bigger than a bread box. (john chuckles) holy moly. isn't that different. old bread box, early 1900s. take a look at the signage right here. with the label inside, that's very important. bob: i just think somebody could actually use it, put magazines in it. it's a little rough and tumble. has the bottom been replaced, the wood? you know, i don't think so. i don't think so. can you see...? that's right as rain. so? yeah, advertising, definitely pre-1970s. thumbs up. bob: thanks, guys. and girls! and girls. walberg: you've seen the banjo clock. now let's find out more about it. it's a french mantel banjo clock. it was made about 1900. it's a french clock made after an american design. almost always, it's the other way around. the banjo clock design was invented in 1802 and patented by simon willard in boston. we have this clock priced at $3,500. walberg: time for the bonus round. the pickers are on their way to meet indiana native cherilyn cutter, who started learning the business when she was just a kid, accompanying her parents to flea markets, antique shows and auctions. cherilyn is about to explain the challenge. the winner will receive an extra $100 in spending money. i hope you've been treated really well here. beautiful. you folks are fabulous. good. your challenge today is to tell me where this rolltop desk first was manufactured. this particular piece, as you can see, was probably in the neighborhood of 1880 to 1895 as far as when it was manufactured. we can go in and take a quick look at this? go right ahead. hold that. cherilyn: we're going to do this individually, and you're secretly going to tell me, and whoever gets the closest or hits the nail right on the head wins $100. who wants to go first? it's been a ladies first day all day, so miller, you go first. go for it, miller. miller can step on around here. gentlemen, take two paces back that way. boys, can you cover your ears, please? oh... (whispering): columbus, ohio. okay, we'll see. cherilyn: all right, who wants to go next? go for it, bob. (whispering): i'm gonna say cincinnati, since that's where our auction is. okay, all righty, i'll let you know. and who's next? i'll go. all right. (whispering): i'm gonna go with michigan. okay, all right. cherilyn: and last but not least, john. hi-ho. (whispering): part of me wants to say connecticut, but part of me also wants to say england, so i'm torn between the two, so i'm gonna go with my first instinct, which is connecticut. okay, i'll let you know. cherilyn: all right, pickers, would you turn around and come on back over here to the rolltop desk, please? unfortunately, nobody got it right, nail on the head. the actual location was in jasper, indiana. it kind of evolved from the cylinder desk, your pedestal desks that of course started over in europe. that's what you were thinking. two of you were really close, but the person who was the closest was bob. wow! with cincinnati, ohio. thank you. way to go! so congratulations, and i think that goes to you. thank you. i still think they're great to cover up your laptop. it is great to cover up your laptop. exactly, you don't have to look at your mess. somebody shows up and you just put it down. walberg: we are about to start round two, shop 'til you stop. pickers can buy one or two items in this round, but no more than that. this time, we have a theme, based on georgia's official state song, "georgia on my mind," music by hoagy carmichael and lyrics by stuart gorrell. "with his lyric, 'just an old, sweet song "keeps georgia on my mind' as an inspiration, "find an old, sweet something that keeps your home on your mind." that leaves it pretty open. should be able to find something good. now you're going to sing a couple bars for us? no, you said you wanted to do karaoke, maybe you can. yeah, we'll karaoke it afterwards. let's get shopping. let's get shopping, that's right. let's start! see ya. kevin: right now, with what we have to look for, something that reminds us of home, feeling a little more relaxed. i think i can definitely find something we can make money on. being we're buying for cowan's, it's a more sophisticated crowd. definitely want nice smalls-- porcelains, glass-- items that have a value behind them. walberg: "smalls" is a term to describe decorative objects that can be defined simply and broadly as anything smaller than a bread box. dealer: they're mint juleps, frank smith from the 1930s. oh! john: all right, now this is cool. it's a chamber pot. before you had full-blown indoor plumbing, if you woke up in the night and you had to relieve yourself, this is what you used. would have had a porcelain pot, and then when you finished, you'd close it. walberg: oh, john, after you used it you would never turn it over like that in somebody's store. i mean, give us a chance to get out of the way at least. john: i have a task to find something that reminds me of home. i grew up in an old home in brooklyn and we had these. walberg: john, this commode may make you flush with nostalgia, but how many bidders in cincinnati are going to be moved to buy an antique porta-potty? all right, you're asking 155 for it? yes. what can you really do on it? bottom line? one twenty-five. i need to get under 100, or as close to that as i can. one hundred five? that's a $50... yeah, 105, we'll do that. i think it's a cool piece. okay. 105 it is, thank you. lot of fun, lot of fun. (gasps) i like this kutani charger. these have sold well at cowan's in the past. japanese ceramics are rising in prices tremendously. hi, i like your kutani charger. do you have any other pieces of kutani? mmm, let me see what else i could show you. tell me about this piece of pottery. this is roseville, dogwood. but it's a scarce piece because of the handle work. they took it out of production because these were always getting broken in transit, but this one was perfect. it's just a real fun example. that is nice. it's in great condition. it's a really graceful piece, stunning. thank you, norman. i'll be back. i'll see you in a while. i'll wait right here for you. okay! bye. bob: so i bring a few things with me from home. i have a little picture of my brother, and in the back of my hat, i have a little pin that was my grandmother's, and her favorite book was jonathan livingston seagull. and i think in short, the motto of jonathan livingston seagull is that if you want to fly higher, go right ahead. i actually have a collection of these. so this little guy here is made out of papier mâché on top of stretched camel gut. my grandmother had an actual lamp, like, two pieces, a top and a bottom-- the top would light up and the bottom would light up-- and i loved it. and i inherited the lamp from my grandmother. and now every once in a while when i see a baby, i'll add it to the collection. i have three in a row in my apartment. walberg: after hearing him talk about his grandmother from two booths away, the dealer gives the lamp to bob as a gift. really? it's yours, take it. you know, they talk about southern hospitality. i've never been here before. thank you so much. it's really kind of you. i do this with my family, and i'm glad you found it. bob: this was his price on it, and i just think that's very sweet. in the middle of the flea market, i saw some really cool walking sticks, all silver ends on them and things like that. i want to go try and find them, i want to try and make a deal with the person on one of them. that's something that you'd find in my house because i kind of collect. that's pretty. does that rubber come off the bottom? you can take it off, i'm not sure. that's how i got it. kevin: you can see that it actually has the original tip underneath there. this stick right here was kind of used for dress. you'd wear it under the arm, "how ya doin', chap?", you know, the whole thing. i know a pretty lot about sticks, and this is a nice quality stick right here. having the little birds all with the silverwork. the stick is rosewood. right. a lot of times you see them they're just in walnut, so if anybody knows anything about sticks, you got a nice rosewood shaft on sterling with etchwork, it's a good thing. it's priced up there at 275. what do you think you could do? 275-- that's not too bad. i can do two... i'd do 225, would be my very best. i think that's a little more than i would want to have to pay for it. i have to bring it to auction. i understand. if i made you an offer on it, i wouldn't insult you, would i? you would not insult me. all right, i'm looking, like, 160. one sixty... i can do that. you can do it? i can do that. awesome, because i want to buy it for 160. it's a really nice stick. cash, right? cash. all right, cool. kevin: a lot of times you find canes at these places, the tops have been put on a different shaft. they call it, like, frankencanes-- in other words, like, put together with all different parts. this is all original. we put it in a good auction and they know what they're looking at, they're going to pay good money for this cane. thank you so much. thank you very much, i appreciate it very much. excellent. kevin: you'll definitely find a ton of these around my house. if these don't remind me of home, nothing will. walberg: kevin just negotiated the price down a full $115, or just over 45%. here comes bob, who's spotted a weller coppertone bowl at the same booth. let's see how his haggling skills measure up. coppertone was just the name of the line. it's kind of a finish. yeah, like the statue of liberty, which started off copper and had some green verdigris aging on it, so coppertone is sort of the name that this line was of weller. and it's hand-signed. you said three was your asking? what would be, like, your very best on it? two seventy-five. still a little expensive for me. is there any way we could do a little bit better? best i can do is 250 on it. yeah, and i was gonna say 220, so i know we're close. you remind me a little bit of my grandmother. she was a very smart business lady. she had great style. two forty-five. i was gonna say 235. can we meet in the middle at 240? 240, you got a deal. all right, i'm gonna take this. walberg: bob was only able to get her down $60, or just 20%, less than half of the discount kevin got. maybe telling the dealer she reminded you of your grandmother wasn't a great idea. you remind me a little bit of my grandmother. walberg: it may surprise bob to know that before dealing in antiques, patricia campbell was half of a husband-and-wife acrobatic dance team. bob: we had a little challenge that something that says home, and this says home. i'm glad it came to you, then. you got a very good deal. thank you so much. and you're not a bad businessman either. walberg: when the dealer says that, it probably means you could have done better. a pleasure, thank you so much. my pleasure. walberg: john is looking for a follow-up to his commode purchase, and gratefully we won't be in for any more of his toilet training. he ends up at the richardson booth. john: what can you tell me about it? we just got it yesterday. doesn't look like anything much has been done to it, does it? the stirrups are still intact. i think possibly the tail has been replaced. doesn't feel like real horsehair. yeah, they changed that. walberg: warning, john: if the horsehair isn't original, there may be other parts of this toy that have been reproduced also. john: where would you date it? i think probably the '20s to the '30s. '20s, teens maybe, yeah, somewhere in the teens, '20s. is that a hard price? the best i would do would be two and a quarter. i was trying to get you down to 200. two hundred? what about... let's do 215. there's rust where there should be rust and paint where there should be paint. the leather all seems to be intact. so we said what, one and a quarter, right? (laughs) walberg: arthur richardson may be new to selling antiques, but he wasn't born yesterday. i want this guy to work for me. you're hired. 215, right? thank you so much. appreciate it. walberg: bob is thinking about making a second purchase and finds dealer james allen, who sold john and kevin their target items. he specializes not only in advertising, but in country store antiques. i love the coca-cola stuff, since we are in coke country. you can see the price that i've got on it. 400 down to 275. and this was the kind of thing that was distributed by coca-cola and then people would put their own menus inside of. you think we could get it closer to two? that's really the number i need to hit. um... two and a quarter? i'll help you out: $200. 200, you're cutting the price in half. bob: here's the real deal. he's been gracious enough to cut the price in half, but there's issues with the sign. it's missing paint under the "g" in "good," the glass is broken on the side a little bit, and condition is really important at auction. i appreciate you spending more time, because you're one of my, like... i have to have a list of a couple to come back to, so... okay, thank you. thank you, sir. quite welcome. walberg: bob may have just offended this dealer by seeming to negotiate to get his best price and then telling him he still needs to think about it. you're done. i'm done with you. i can't shop with you anymore? no. i'm just trying to make smart decisions. walberg: it won't help that bob goes to another dealer within eyeshot to look at a different piece of coca-cola advertising. i've never seen any with the actual strap on them before. that's what they used at stadiums. they put them around here and they'd carry the cokes. they'd pop the tops here. wow. did you do this to reinforce it? yeah. what'd be your best? i can do 250. okay. i was thinking more like 140. oh, no. what would be the best that you could do? i know you said 250, it's just that's still a little bit much. 225 is the lowest i can go. all right, i appreciate you working with me. no problem. thank you. have a good day. all right, thank you. wow. nice collection over here. i love great smalls. yeah, they are some great smalls. a nice little case right there. it's a little card case. yeah, it is. it's sterling silver. sweet. looks chinese to me, right? yeah, it's certainly pacific rim. right here, can you see that mark right there? that's a chinese mark right there. it's beautiful. it's got all the lotus on it, it's got birds. you can see how much that's lifted right off the top surface. yeah, excellent work on it. what are you asking for this? i can do 150 for you. 150, that'd be the absolute best you could do on it? yeah, that'd be my best dealer price on it. so my next question is, what's the absolute best you could sell it for? absolute best. oh, best i could see it for would be... 400, right? or 375, yeah. but 150... 100 bucks ain't gonna do it, right? no, it's a piece from the hottest possible market. it is the hottest market. oriental silver. it's an antique. i specialize in chinese and different things, so... well, i'd consider it a deal done at 150. it is a deal done at 150. that's sweet, i appreciate it. that's definitely working with a dealer. this stuff is hotter than a firecracker right now. that's just the best. card fits right in there? excellent. kevin: i'm wicked stoked about the silver piece. if this doesn't have $300, $400 extra left in it at auction, i'll eat it, put it that way. it's unbelievable. i'm stoked at 150, i really am. i'm wicked excited. hi, kevin. how you doing? good, how are you? are you done shopping? not yet. no? you want to come in, i'll leave. okay. walberg: dealer norman weingarden is a picker magnet, having just collected $150 from kevin and now with miller back in his booth ready to buy. a 47-year-old veteran in the antiques business, norman specializes in fine art. one seventy-five. oh, thank you, norman. it reminds me of home with the dogwood trees. i'm trying to decide if i should go with the kutani charger as well. if i knocked a hundred bucks off of this and made it 295, you think you're safe? oh, that's going to be too expensive for me. champagne taste, but we're on a beer budget right now. ah. is this japanese? it is. it's similar, it's nice. i can do this one for you for a hundred bucks. would you take 70? i'll only back up ten bucks more on this one. how about eighty? what's five dollars to you, norman? well, yeah, what is five dollars? nothing, it's nothing. five dollars is a lot to me, though. i've got to win this game. i'm going against three tough competitors. i need that five dollars' difference. do you? yeah, i do. okay. thank you. walberg: bob is determined to buy a second item before time runs out, and his heart is set on that coke luncheonette sign. after the dealer gave bob his best price, bob walked away from him. is there any way for bob to work his way back into his good graces? i love it. you're really not done with me? i'm really not done with you. thank you. you're welcome. i'm under the clock, so i gotta grab and run. great doing business with you. great doing business with you, thank you, sir. walberg: now it's time for house calls, our third and last round of buying which takes place at an estate sale in nearby duluth, georgia. estate sales are usually held on a first-come, first-served basis for scores of pickers, but our four warriors aren't complaining; they're about to get exclusive first dibs. i'm robin. and i'm rochelle. and we're the owners of the perfect piece estate liquidators. rochelle: you'll have 15 minutes to look around. you'll have five minutes to negotiate and buy your item. are you ready? let's go get 'em. bob: the minute we got in there, we just split. wow, that's awesome. we didn't get in each other's way. they got coats in the bathroom. let's go downstairs. check this out in the light. it's japanese cloisonné. if i can get it for the right price, even though it might not be the best piece of cloisonné there is in the world, i think there's a little profit in it, so... can we do somewhere around 80? sixty? how about 75? i'm not gonna beat you up too bad. 75's a deal. i'll pay 75 bucks for it. all right. this is beautiful. there's a letter in there that she had written... oh my gosh, i love stuff like that. ...to the national palace museum. bob: this person did their due diligence and authenticated it, and they actually lived in asia for a while, and that's where they purchased it, so it was the real deal. 50, please? you're a nice guy. thank you. where can you go on price with this? i was thinking 40. no, we can't do 40. $32.50. john: you're breaking my heart. rochelle: thirty dollars. $30, okay, cool. i think we've got a fair deal. i think we did, too. what i like is that the majority of temple rubbings from cambodia, egypt, wherever, are smaller, only like a third of this. this is the piece i need. this is a beautiful weller vase. weller was made in ohio. i'm selling in ohio. i think this is perfectly fitting. okay, $200. yay! walberg: let's review what each of our pickers bought and how much they spent. here are john bruno's lots: a red rock cola sack rack, a toy horse tricycle, a commode, and a thai temple rubbing. bob's lots consist of a steam bakery bread box, a coca-cola drive-in menu, a weller coppertone bowl, and a japanese moriage vase. kevin's lots include a pennvernon window glass sign, a chinese sterling silver card case, a sterling and rosewood walking stick, and a japanese cloisonné moon vase. miller's lots are comprised of a coca-cola clock, a roseville dogwood vase, a satsuma-style teapot, and a weller forest vase. now it's on to cincinnati, where all of their items will be sold at cowan's auctions. potential bidders are reviewing our pickers' items in addition to hundreds of other lots that will be sold at the same auction. watching the bidding behind the scenes will be all four of our pickers, but before they do, they each have the option to choose one item to remove from the auction block. the choice is strategic: do any of them have buyer's remorse when it comes to what they bought and how much they spent? let's find out. you know, i think i paid a little much for my advertising piece, but it's one of those things that's either going to sell for $500 or it's going to sell for $100, and i'm going to take a shot and see if i can make any money with it. i'm going to let my items fly. how about you? how about you? (laughs) the only piece i think i might pull is the roseville vase. i think i paid a little too much for that, but cowan's just has a very strong pottery market. what are you going to do, bob? what are you going to do with your coke, your drive-in piece? yay or nay? there's some condition issues with it. oh. so i think that somebody who's really, really, really serious about coke might have an issue with it, but somebody who sees it as a decorative thing might spend more than 200 for it. so that's my dilemma. the weller bowl, i mean, it's got a sublime, beautiful look, it's in pristine condition, and i feel great about the bread box. i love the bag holder. the horse i think is a gimme; there's no problem with the horsehair whatsoever. the commode, i don't know. did you have bellyaches when you bought that? oh, goodness! come on. ciao, bruno. miller: sorry, i think that one's going down the drain. i don't know, john. we'll see. you guys are convincing me to keep it now. i want you to keep it. i'm gonna show you you're all wrong. i'm pulling the roseville vase. that's it. what are you going to do with your commode? i'm leaving the commode. i'm gonna prove you guys wrong. what are you going to do with your coke piece, your drive-in menu? i have to listen to my gut and i'm going to pull it. all right. and i hope i don't regret it. (laughs) walberg: it's auction time. this is what we've been waiting for. okay, here we go! cowan: the pennvernon countertop advertising. neat sign here, in neon. $100 here, please. bid 100. i'm sorry? 75 i have. 75, now 100. now one and a quarter. see, there's the one guy in the back, you can tell he rebuilds motors. he knows what he's buying. cowan: 150 bid with the gentleman. asking 175. closing at 150. asking 175. that's terrible. that's definitely not good. bob: there just wasn't the right person there. no. great piece here, great decorative piece here. this is awesome. cowan: but i want to make sure everybody knows that this is not an old piece. this is a... probably made somewhere in the pacific, trike. but it's still a great piece, great look, great color. there you go, you bought a reproduction. nah. let's start the bidding here at $100. is there a bid of $100? one and a quarter. now 150, bid 100-and-a-half. 150's bid on the net. 175, sam? 175 to your bidder. don't look good. 175? oh man. sold to 161 for $150. oh, i would have thought that really did really well. it's the age on it. i'm rejecting this clock. the assignment was bring things in that are made pre-1970. the earliest record i can find for the production of this clock is 1972, and it's not worth very much. auction records for this clock range from ten to 25 dollars. i've seen other comps! it doesn't fit within my kind of auction. oh, you've been booted. wes... kevin: how'd that feel? let's hope round two's better. look ashamed, look very ashamed. walberg: while the number of potential bidders at the auction house has been thinning out, there are still interested buyers waiting to bid online. cowan: cola tin sign. great sign here, at $100 here to start. 75. 75, and now 100. is there $100 to bid? 75 is bid on the net, asking 100. 75 is bid, asking 100. try 85 one time. doesn't look good, john. 75, asking 85. last call. sold, $75. aw... you're eating spaghetti this week with no sauce, for sure. (laughs) the weller coppertone center bowl. nice bowl. missing its frog, though. should have a frog that goes with this, and not the weller frog, but a flower frog. so let's start the bidding here at $100, if we can, on the weller coppertone bowl. any interest at 100? $50 to start. $50? 50 i have. and now 75. 50's bid, bid 75. try $60, anyone? 75. now 100, okay? 100, now 125. i like that better, 125. asking 125. new bidder, 125. 150 in the back. 125 standing here. 150, asking 150, are you in or out? done? sold, $125, bidder number 194, 194. i didn't know that there was a flower frog that had originally gone with that bowl. did you feel the bowl and could tell that... oh no, there was definitely not, like, a space that something was missing. i would use that bowl just as is. but anyway, lost money! cowan: the sterling card case, i really like this. oh, did you hear that? wes said, "i really like this." good. 150, 175 now, back to the net. 150 on the floor. i'm even. cowan: 200 okay? i'm up. 200, new bidder. now two-and-a-quarter. bid 225. $225, bid is asking two-and-a-quarter. come on. one more. last call at 200. and sold, $200 to our bidder number 192. i would have never thought it would go that high. everybody is just ignoring the stuff. i don't get it, i truly don't. kevin: because it's not good enough. in today's world, it's got to be better. it's got to be better than it was ten years ago. forgive me, the little case is nice, but it's not worth that money. it's just a little case. why everything i make money on is not worth the money and everything you lose money on is worth ten times more? that doesn't make sense. well, who knows? right. cowan: lot number 248, great piece of advertising here. let's start the bidding here at 50 if we can on this great box. great wooden box with the lithographed labels. $50, is there a bid of 50? any interest at $50? try $20. 20, 30, bid 30. i see a 20, now $30. bid 30, 20's the bid. is there a bid of 30? 20 is the bid, asking 30. any interest at $30? 20 only is bid. cowan: asking 30. last call. sold, $20. man... cost more for a plastic tote. right, and at a big box store. i'm gonna go over there and smack you down in a minute. quiet. i'm rejecting this japanese teapot. it's a piece of 20th-century satsuma ware. it would have had a bunch of little cups with it. it's basically a tourist piece. wow, miller. cowan: i understand somebody paid $85 for this. you got hosed. you shocked? you know, i'm disappointed. i think the satsuma market's very strong. it is part of a bigger set, though. but that doesn't matter. some people like to buy piece by piece. yeah, i agree. and the sterling and rosewood ladies' walking stick. nice english stick here. how about 150 here to start? $100 and go. $100, 125, 150 now. 150 with the nice rosewood shaft. 150, 175, 200, 200 now, please. two from your bidder. two is bid, 175 is bid here, i'll need 200. all through at 175? asking 200. last call at 175. making a $15 profit. cowan: sold for $175. it's all about making money here, kev. right, eking a $15 profit. hey, you made it. wow... you know, when i started in the auction business, the auctioneer that i apprenticed with told me never to say anything bad about merchandise, but folks, i can't say too much good about this. i've got to make an exception. this is not... let's just see what it brings. you're killing the sale! $50, please. $50 for the reworked, rehashed, and redone porta-potty, portable potty, here. oh, give me a break. come on, are you kidding me? $25. who brings a toilet to auction? we warned you it's going to go down the drain. mercy bid, five dollars? that guy's laughing. thank you, five dollars. how about $7.50? you're bidding $7.50? oh, you're a good man. would you have pulled it now? that's not the point. ten dollars, look at that, $12.50. enjoy, enjoy. they're loving it, too. $12.50, and are we all through and all done on the wonderful porta-potty at $12.50? thank you very much. (laughing) oh my god... at this point, we're minus money, not doing very good. we're all down in the toilet. kevin: we're all down in the toilet, for sure. show me the money. can we make some money somewhere, anywhere? 361, the weller forest vase, the weller forest vase. and how about $100 to start? kevin: how big was that, miller? about eight inches. 75 is bid on the net, and how about $100 now? 75 is bid, and now 100 for the weller vase. miller: weller's an ohio company. yeah, but that stuff is so common. oh, come on. cowan: 75, bid's 100. now 100, thank you, 125. come on, work the room, work the room. all through at 100 with the gentleman. and sold. it's a beautiful vase, but the market, yeah. for 30, the thai temple rubbing. any bids on the net, there? no bids in the book? let's try $50. any interest at 50? $25. interest at $25? wow... somebody gonna give me a mercy bid of ten dollars? there we go, ten, thank you, now 20. ten dollars is bid, now $20. all through at ten? somebody's going to not be happy at this. where is this auction house again? don't blame the auction house. geez. 427, the japanese moriage vase on the stand. that should do well. i'm hoping. is there a bid of 100? 100-and-a-quarter, now. you got 100 right off the bat. cowan: now 150, is there a bid of 150? 175... kevin: you're doing good. 200, two-and-a-quarter. two-and-a-half, 250. wow! cowan: 225, 250. 300. wow. 375, then. 400 to the net. 375 is bid... four-and-a-quarter. four-and-a-quarter. wow. cowan: 500. 475 is bid on the internet. i'll need $500 from anyone else. are we all through at 475 on the internet? sweet. cowan: sold. mazel tov, that's good. wow. wow, good job. 428, the cloisonné moon vase. miller: i saw that. it's beautiful, yeah. cowan: how about $100 to start? should be 100 bucks. it's just decorative, though, it's not old. it's probably 1950s or something like that, mid-20th century. kevin: nobody cares. cowan: 50, 75, now 75. i took her first, 75 okay, sir? now 100, ma'am. 75 is the bid with the gentleman, i'd like $100. i'm with you, sir, at 75. that's a break-even. asking 100. kevin: he thought it was worth a couple hundred. $75 to bidder 157, thank you. goose egg. walberg: as the only picker who made a profit at auction, the winner is bob richter. unbelievable. wow, good job, bob. thank you. this is my first win, and i beat the champ, and we were neck and neck at the end. coming out with no profit is not what i like. it's not what i'm all about. this was a nail biter, but i have to say that estate sale saved me. market warriors was made possible turn to pbs for stories that define the american experience by contributions to your pbs station from: ms? the coke sign and roseville vase were auctioned even though the profits and losses didn't count towards their final scores. let's see how well they did. the dogwood basket, fairly difficult form to find. $100 here, please. any interest at 100 to start? start the bidding at 50, then. $50 for the roseville basket. 60, bid 60 now. 50 is bid, asking 60. almost getting to the point where you can buy them as clay pigeons. oh, come on. (makes shooting sound) cowan: bidder 173, nice buy. i like the coca-cola display sign and the menu. how about $100 here, please. 75 here. 75, 100 to the phones. 100, 125. 100 is bid with janet's bidder, asking 125. are we through at 100 on the phone? asking 125, last call. 100 it is... wow. you saved yourself. this is wonderful. this is such fabulous stuff. vaseline glass, 1930s, '20s, '30s. there's a slight bit of radium inside the glass which gives it the glow when you put it under black light. there was a big movement in the 1980s, '90s, the fear factor about, "oh, you can't eat off this, you're going to get radiation poisoning." it's silly, there's not enough radium in this. very, very collectible. you don't see a bunch of it in one place at one time. may i see that? isn't that a beautiful piece? it is beautiful, and this is why it's called vaseline glass. it looks like vaseline petroleum jelly in the jar, and it glows this radioactive green. i know, it's wonderful, yeah. that's fabulous. i don't know how safe it is to eat out of. we were just talking about that. it's totally, totally safe. is it really? absolutely, because it's clear glass, it just blows out the color and it's just much more dramatic, but you can eat safely out of this. i just think it's too beautiful. you ought to put this on a pedestal under black light. isn't that interesting? they're eel spears. what kind of spears? eel spears, e-e-l. oh. what you do is they're on poles, you go up into the new england area or in a mid-atlantic state in the winter and they burrow into the ground, and you start chucking these things into the ground, and if you skewer one on it, there's a lot of other ones buried in the same area, and you pull them up. and eels are a delicacy in europe and in the united states, they're used for sushi. it's very unusual. thank you for sharing that, marvin. announcer: available now from shop pbs... woman: male, adult. must have been in there a couple of weeks. buried with some ceremony. this is incredible. the dagger and the flame. is that a clue? lewis: i want facts, i want evidence. get it sorted, robbie, now. announcer: to order, visit shop pbs, or you can download on itunes. man: the journalists of pbs. they answer to no one but you. they take the time to explore all sides of a story. that's why more voters trust pbs than any other television news source. in this election year, you deserve nothing less. trusted. in-depth. independent. pbs. go further. fly higher... get closer to nature. winner of the prestigious grand teton award ... nature from the most remote corner of the world... to your own backyard. nature, only on pbs. mark walberg: this week, antiques roadshow is on the trail of great stories in phoenix, arizona. my father hated these paintings. she loved them. she'd put them up, he'd take them down; she'd put them up, he'd take them down. did you ever see the movie gone with the wind? i can say i have not. what? you've got to be kidding me, really. don't miss a minute of antiques roadshow. stay tuned. captioning sponsored by liberty mutual, subaru, the corporation for public broadcasting and viewers like you (firecrackers exploding) announcer: now, the people who make antiques roadshow possible. it's not about the things we have, but the memories we make with them. liberty mutual insurance. proud sponsor of "antiques roadshow." at subaru, versatility and safety drive all our vehicle designs. because however big, small, new or old your cargo may be, it's all precious. subaru, a proud sponsor of antiques roadshow. franklin templeton investments. gain from our perspective. and by contributions to your pbs station from: welcome to antiques roadshow. hi, i'm mark walberg. this week we're at the phoenix convention center welcoming thousands from the american southwest. it's great to be in arizona, home of one of the natural wonders of the world, the grand canyon. what will the valley of the sun have to show us? let's take a look. man: i got this in 1982 or 1983. i had just purchased a home and a friend of mine had gone to england to visit henry moore's studio. and he said, "i'd like the give you a house gift." and i said, "jeez, that's a little extravagant, isn't it?" he said, "well, i only paid 300 bucks each for them, so feel free to pick whichever one you want." and this is the one i picked. and i've had it in my home ever since. well, the fun part is is that it came right out of henry moore's studio. right out of his studio, yes. now, henry moore is rather an important artist. he was noted in england for having brought modernism to great britain. he made monumental sculptures, huge ones that are today out in front of many museums. this is solid bronze. it is hand cast, and the important part of this is that henry moore, he did not do the foundry part-- the making of it-- but he did the hand finishing of it. i see. and so his hand actually touched this piece. so he did... what is that, a patina? he did the whole patina and the finishing of it. it's just a small little piece, 6.3 inches i think we measured. and this is called "half figure, round head." and i think when you came in... i told you "round head, half figure," i didn't know. in fact, i don't know which is the front or the back. i kind of think this is the front because usually the artist will sign them on the back. i see. now, this is marked "moore" and then it has the noack foundry mark and it says it's number nine of nine. so there's only nine of these... there are only nine of them made and they did not make a larger one. this was all that they made. this is probably going to be worth $15,000 to $20,000. what?! yep, it's worth about 15 to 20... you've got to be kidding me, really. and at auction it could do a little more than double that. you never know. my god. it's a wonderful piece, and what do you think of that? i thought... first of all, i love the piece. secondly, i thought it was maybe worth $800, $900. it is absolutely correct. i am flabbergasted. it's got all the right markings on it. you are very lucky to have a henry moore that's real in your home. well, it's going to stay in my home. good. i'm really surprised at the value, though. that really, really... (both laughing) woman: my father bought them. he collected royal worcester. and then when my mother passed on, this was one of my picks from her collection because they were on the night table by her bed. if she had them on her night table, they meant a lot to her and they must have been good. and your mother didn't tell you what they were? if she did, honestly, i've gotten so old i don't remember. (laughs) okay. they're very striking and the quality of them is very, very high. they're made of porcelain and even though they are rather overtly japanese in their style, they're english-made. they were made by royal worcester. and royal worcester is an old, established english porcelain company. royal worcester is currently in the process of going out of business after over 250 years of continuous operation. so it's quite sad. but when these were made by royal worcester, they were at a high point in their history in terms of success commercially, and also in terms of quality of manufacture. there's really no one else that it's likely to be except for royal worcester. but we can confirm that by turning over one of them. and you'll see there's a little printed mark on the bottom. it's kind of a roundel mark. and underneath the round is a number, 73. and that's the date-- 1873-- right in the middle of the reign of queen victoria. one of the fashions in 1873, not just in england but also in this country, is what we call japonisme. and japonisme is a french word that's used in english to describe the western interpretation of japanese art and design. and the art of japan was somewhat unknown to most westerners. it wasn't until just a few years earlier in the late 1860s that the first exhibitions of japanese art and artistry had been held in london and paris. the shape of them is a traditional asian form we call a moon flask shape. but the front panels are decorated to simulate carved and stained ivory, which is a japanese technique. and the main ground of the vases is this speckled gilt finish over a deep blue ground that simulates japanese lacquer. and the vase maker has gone as far on the back. both vases have this fabulous flying crane device on the back. this has all been done in porcelain. they've got great condition. i love the form of them, i love the scale of them. they're just the right sort of size to sit on and decorate a mantelpiece. i talked with a couple of my colleagues and we felt that the auction estimate would be at least $10,000 and maybe as much as $14,000 or $15,000. okay. thank you. that means a lot to me. i also think that the value of them would potentially be a little greater in england than anywhere else. man: when i was in school, i decided to write to queen elizabeth just to see if i could get a response, and she answered my letter through her lady-in-waiting. and the next time i saw john f. kennedy on television and i thought he was such an eloquent speaker that i wrote him a letter. he was senator at the time. and he sent me back a letter thanking me for mine. and that year he also sent me a christmas card saying, "best regards, jack." well, that started me on this, and whenever i heard anybody i was impressed with, i wrote a letter to him. and then as i got older, when i was active in the church, i created a celebrity auction to raise money. so i would write to well-known movie stars and television stars and ask them to send us a package back unopened and we would have an auction and auction off these unopened packages, and we raised a lot of money not knowing what was inside. well, you were so ahead of your time having celebrity auctions back in the '60s and '70s. one of the things that you had as a bonus is these personal letters. this joan crawford is a wonderful big signature, but believe it or not, she signed tons of stuff, and so her signatures are only worth about $20 to $30, which would surprise most people. this mickey mantle is actually a stamped signature, which we see very often with celebrities who just didn't have time for responses. now, this robert kennedy, an original signature like that, on senate paper, that's going to be about $2,000. and then we have these early signatures of jfk. and jfk is one of the signatures that's almost always a secretarial signature. so here we have a letter from 1956, which although it almost looks like an autopen signature, it is actually an original signature. and that's a signature that has a value of about $2,000 to $3,000. but what i really love here is the christmas card. "best wishes, jack." that is such a lovely, authentic, wonderful signature and someone would love that salutation. usually a senator's signature is worth less than a presidential signature, and especially one that's not a full signature, but this one, because it's so personal and so lovely, it would also have a value of about $2,000 to $3,000. so, you've brought just an amazing collection. we have about 30 letters and envelopes. for auction, on the whole collection, i would put a value of $10,000 to $15,000. really? unbelievable. man: as far as i know, it's a civil war flag or banner dating 1863, maybe. other than that, i don't know too much about it. do you know what kind of pattern of flag this is? i have no idea. did you ever see the movie gone with the wind? i can say i have not. well, that's your homework. in gone with the wind, rhett butler and scarlett have a daughter and they name her bonnie because her eyes are as blue as the bonnie blue flag. this is the bonnie blue flag pattern. it's got the single star in the middle and it's called a secession flag. it's got "57th georgia regiment, dixie boys." and it has "company a." the local companies would actually name theirselves. it's a way to give the boys pride. and they were the dixie boys out of georgia. you're not going to like me by the time this is done... okay. but you're going to help people out there save money. this is a reproduction. is that right? okay. and they're done for two reasons. an ancestor of somebody that served in the 57th georgia wants something to go on their wall that shows the regiment that they served in as a way of honoring that person that served. they're made for that reason. and they're also made to fool people and to steal their money. there's a few things that you can look for. the cloth, it's made out of cotton, and, if you notice, a bullet hole or something along that line. a bullet isn't going to stop at the first layer of cotton, it's going straight through that thing. originally there would have been ties on the side on the original one where they tied it or nailed it to the pole. this one has holes, but it has nowhere where it was ever flown. but it's a beautiful display piece, which is oftentimes what they are sold as. i assume you paid a decent amount for it. yes. purchased it in an antiques store in northern arizona in the late '90s for $1,500. a flag like this, should it be real, would be worth between $40,000 and $60,000. the reproductions like these that are made just as a nice display piece will usually cost a couple to $300. they're beautiful on the wall, but we see them all the time, and that's the reason i wanted to talk about these today. and you're going to make sure that that doesn't happen to other people. okay, that's the way it goes. you win some, you lose some. if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. right. this is a photo of your father working in his shop. my grandfather. your grandfather. and he was a platinum jeweler. yes, he was. now tell us about this great piece. my grandfather made this platinum glove for my grandmother right after they got married. where's the other one? well, you know, i don't know. my mother, this is all i found that my mother had. when i was a young child, she showed it to me and she only had one at the time. so i'm thinking in the 1920s maybe they wore two, maybe they wore one. we had a michael jackson then? maybe, i don't know. i just want to let you know-- it will fall-- that this is not a glove. oh, it's not a glove? not a glove. what is it? it's a purse. it's a purse? and it's damaged up here where the string, the drawstring, and it goes like that. my goodness. and they would put a colored handkerchief on the inside and change the color all the time. wow. very interesting. now i'm going to sadly tell you the other thing. oh, no. it's not platinum. oh, no! it is cut steel. cut steel? it's made in germany. it could have been done in austria, but in that area. 1920s. the flappers wore this down here for a purse. this is all woven and the women do this. so your grandfather never made it. my goodness. with the condition-- cut steel is very nice and it does sell-- it's worth about $350. fantastic. if this was platinum, we're talking $10,000 to $15,000. wow. woman: i was at an auction in missouri in the early '70s. they had the hall tree and i thought i would like it. my husband was standing in the back row and i could hear him say, "who in the world would bid on that one?" and it was me. (laughing) one of the things i love about this hall tree is the fact that the back is open. most of the time they have a big mirror on 'em. in america, the hall tree was introduced a little bit later than it was in england. did you know that this was english? no. most people would look at something like this and assume that it would be later in the 19th century, like the 1870s or the 1880s. but this is actually before 1850. oh, it is? yeah, it's probably 1830s or '40s, and the reason that i knew that was the overall design, the quality of the carving. if you look at those toes and those feet you know right off the bat that those are hand carved. the whole leg is hand carved, as well as these little foliate decorations right above the knees. and the reason i think these became so popular was because they were so useful. you have these great places to put your umbrella when you come in so it doesn't drip on the floor. the marble top... yeah. ...which is, i would assume, probably original. it's got a little bit of wear on it. yeah, it's original. and you've got a drawer here that you can put your gloves in. and one of the characteristics of this that made it english, besides the overall look, was the fact that the secondary wood is very thin compared to what we did in america. and also it's mahogany. and in america, we would have used a much softer wood for the secondary wood. oh, i see. the primary wood on this is walnut. it's got a few places where it's been repaired. yes. on the hat rack. we've moved it several times. well, you know what? that doesn't matter. it's more important that it's the original hooks. well, if i was this old, i'd be having dings and things like this also. what did you pay for it when you got it at the auction? about $350. in my opinion, a good insurance value for this would be $5,000. okay, that sounds good. and if you were to put it in an auction, you want to estimate it $2,000 to $3,000, but i think it could take off up there towards that insurance value. so, get it insured for about $5,000? yeah. okay, that sounds good. woman: this boat has been in our family for quite a few years. my great-grandfather worked for dent hardware in allentown, pennsylvania. and he, i've been told, made this boat and several other toys while working at dent hardware and he gave this to my grandfather. well, dent hardware actually started in 1894. they were a foundry and started in newark, new jersey, but shortly after that moved to fullerton, pennsylvania, which is right near allentown. so the factory was actually in fullerton. what time period would he have brought this home? my mother recalls it coming into her home when she was a little girl in the '30s. it's the battleship new york. it reflected a real battleship from that time. it's made of cast iron. not to be a toy for the water, it's actually a floor toy, like a pull toy. and you can see that by its sheer size, it's a large piece of cast iron. i mean, this is a heavy boat. if a child got creative and thought, "well, let's put it in the water and see what happens," it's going to sink right to the bottom. so this is a great large, oversized toy for a cast iron manufacturer. now, the typical new york battleship is painted. and this toy obviously is not painted, it's plated. we call this "copper flash." now, this is something that they did a lot on some of the other toys they made, but you don't see it very often on the battleship. so, i think it's interesting that instead of bringing home a painted one, he brought home a special one. there's so many pieces to it. these masts remove. all these guns, which, by the way, are nickel-plated cast iron, they remove. and also we have the anchors up there, there's two of them. and we're showing one that has a little damage. the other thing about this toy is that to show action, it had a off-center front wheel. it doesn't work very well because it hasn't been cooperating with us, but i want to push it and show you. you'll watch the front end drop down and it simulates water. my opinion is a retail price would be in the area of $4,000 to $5,000. really? yeah. oh, that's exciting. now, some of these boats have sold for more, painted. there's a possibility that if the right collectors really felt that this was superior in rarity and finish, it might bring more. but it's hard to say because i've never really seen a copper flash version sell to the market. so i think it's a good, conservative estimate. i'm just thrilled. woman: these paintings were purchased by my mother, i believe in the late '50s, early '60s, at an antique store for $120. i have the receipt. my father hated these paintings from the day she brought them home. she loved them. she'd put them up, he'd take them down; she'd put them up, he'd take them down. and it was sort of just a running joke with the two of them. and they finally compromised on placing them in an obscure place in the house where my dad didn't have to look at them. after they passed, i chose to keep them and don't even know if they're real. i always loved them and just thought they were fun. these are really terrific. they are indeed original oil paintings. really? they're executed on canvas. now, you may have noticed both of them are signed. the one by you is signed up here in the upper left. the same is true over here in the lower left-- "e. zampighi." eugenio zampighi was italian. he was born in modena in 1859 and he was somewhat of a young prodigy. by the age of 13 he was enrolled in the local design academy and he very quickly won a scholarship and traveled to rome to study further. by the early 1880s he was set up in florence in his own studio. these were probably done in the early 1900s, and these two works are quintessential examples of what he would do. he loved to depict images of peasant life. and he made them very jovial. interior scenes of happy families, and you have two lovely examples. the one closest to you shows the single figure, who is seated jovially laughing with his cup. it's a fairly simple composition for him. he's more noted for more complex compositions, such as the one that's closer to me. the hallmark of these genre paintings was getting the textures of the elements. and if you look here, you're very aware, for instance, of the texture of the fur on the cat. and contrast that to you can pick up the sheen on the edge of the porcelain cup up here. so you're very aware of all the different textures. that's why i actually thought they were prints, because they almost look too smooth to be oils. they're painted very carefully with thin glazes. there's not a lot of what we call impasto-- heavy paint-- and that's what allows them to create that sense of the tactile qualities of things. the frames are approximately period, and are actually hand painted in terms of this rinceau-like motif around the middle. although they're period, they're not particularly special as frames go. it's very probable that originally they had liners inside that have now been replaced at some point with these linen liners. the one closest to you, at auction, you could reasonably expect that to bring $6,000 to $8,000. oh, my god. the one closer to me would probably bring $7,000 to $9,000 at auction. oh. so, not to get in the middle of a family squabble, but i think mom was right. i guess she was. dad, i'm putting the paintings back up. she's looking down and smiling. (laughs) walberg: today's botanical gardens, like the desert botanical garden here in phoenix, are living libraries of beautiful and sometimes rare plant species from around the world. long before botanists could hop a plane or research online from afar, botanical illustrations were the next best thing to inspecting a floral beauty up close. don, you've brought a few examples of different botanical art traditions and i'm looking forward to learning about them. what can you tell me? all three of these are antique natural history prints, all dealing with botanical specimens. the earliest one here is an early 17th-century print done in amsterdam by emanuel sweert. it's an engraving. it's printed in black and white and then, because they couldn't achieve an accurate color any other way, they mixed watercolors so that it would be just right. as you can see, it shows four different pictures of a cyclamen. it's art and science. a print like this could sell for anywhere between $800 and $1,200 on a retail basis. this is early 18th century. this was done in nuremberg by a man name johann volkamer. and he is showing citrus. he's also showing where that citrus was probably grown. and if you look at the fine details in the bottom left, you have a garden displayed. you've even got a gardener at work. and over to the right is the owner, who would be a nobleman or a very wealthy man, signified by wearing a sword. now a print like this is worth approximately $1,500. let's move on to this third example, which, artistically, looks entirely different than the other two examples and a little bit more scientific. tell me about this. sure. well, you're getting into the early 19th century. it shows an orchid, but it also expresses a lot about what was going on in the botanical community. if you look at the lower left quadrant, you'll see that there's details on the stamens and pistils of this orchid, and that's very important for the science of the time. it was done by samuel curtis in 1827. it really is beautiful. and what would be the value of this third piece? well, now, that's an interesting question, too, because this is a lithograph, where the other two are engravings. they could make many more lithographs than they could engravings. also, by the 1820s, the buying public was much larger, so more would have been made. and if you take the good old tradition of supply and demand, there was a much bigger supply of those. there still are. you can get a print like that that's almost 200 years old, a fair market value would be about $250. well, they're all just beautiful and i appreciate you sharing them with us. woman: my father had a jewelry store from early 1900s until about 1970, probably. i can't remember exactly when he retired. i worked at it until i was married. and the things that he wanted we kept, and the rest of them sold them at an auction. we're going to start first with the turtle. he's made out of 18-karat yellow gold, but what i love about it is the chasing. chasing is a different form of engraving, and you see how they chased the feet over here. the relief and the detail, they just look so real. yes. we have diamonds and we also have what they call madeira topaz. now, they're all cut, and it's like a puzzle. they have to fit everything together, so there's a lot of labor in that. and then it's tied together with the little diamonds. we'll flip it over and you can see again the detail on the belly. we still have a little surprise for them, don't we? yes, right. so let's bring it back around. and you push this little button in the front, and as you push that, we push down on the tail. and he opens up... it's a watch. correct. a woman would wear that on her coat, and then when she would look down, she would be able to tell the time. this piece, i feel, at auction would bring $8,000 to $10,000. oh, my. it's unbelievable. maybe you need to start wearing it again. no way. let' move on to this. here we have a beautiful art deco lapel watch. you have carved emerald-- a rather large piece, i may add-- beautifully accented by diamonds, black onyx and enamel. and it's hung from this cord, which we call hastings cord. they actually used to use this a lot on watch bracelets. now, we looked on the back, we found hallmarks that identify it as being french. it is platinum, and you also have it accented by old mine diamonds. now, what i'm going to do is spin it around for everybody and we can see that it's a watch. it has the name of the company that probably sold it at one point in its life. at auction, $30,000 to $50,000. gee. (laughs) that's unbelievable. it is numbered in the back. and after showing it to everybody at the jewelry table and talking over with the watch people, there is a slight possibility, with research, we feel that it may possibly be cartier. it's worth looking into because let's say it was cartier and we can document that, then the price would change. it would be even higher? higher, of course. so it could be possibly $50,000 to $75,000. that's unbelievable. are you kidding? no, i'm not kidding you. man: i got this from my grandmother. she lived in wisconsin for several years, and i was a young boy then, and i always admired the piece. this is a watercolor on paper, and this is what folk art is all about. the flowers are the same size as the people, the birds are huge, the butterfly is huge. this is a very talented but naive artist. and some of the things that i personally love about it, the butterfly is huge, but he's also painted over him with egg white to give him a nice gloss, and all the yellow is done that way. and the other thing i really, really love is this poor guy who hooked himself-- his pants are hitched up, and see how the pole is bent? bent back, yeah. and then this guy actually hooked a spotted fish. and their clothing is wonderful. it's a little faded, and it has one other major condition problem. it's mounted on, i would say, the top of a cardboard box and the box has got 20th-century writing on it, so it doesn't relate to this at all. these are found all over new england, and this one is dated 1850-something-or-other, which is the appropriate date for the clothing and when these were very popular. but i think you have information from your grandmother that it's probably done... in kentucky. we always thought, because she was born and raised there, that that's kind of where it came from. i'm not sure, and we thought that it was one of her male relatives that did this, but with all this light detail, i now kind of wonder whether it might have been somebody else-- one of the females in the family. it could be male or female. it's an unknown artist. the way it is, at retail, in the condition it is, i think that it would be between $3,000 and $5,000. wow. if you could prove that it was tennessee or kentucky by doing some research, the pieces are so rare and so undocumented that it would raise the price. it would be $10,000 or more. wow! oh, i'd be very happy. but i would contact your state historical society down there. thank you. we're just thrilled about it-- more so now. well, this shaving stand's been in our family... we can account for about 110 years or so. it was originally my great-grandfather's and then it passed on to, i believe, his son and then my mom inherited it, and then it's been in our living room ever since i have memories. so it's been around for a while. it's a great piece of furniture. it has everything in a piece of victorian furniture that you'd like to see. one, it's a shaving stand. we don't use shaving stands today; we shave in the bathroom. this is just sort of an unusual object that we don't run across. two, it's tall, it's sculptural, it's beautiful. this piece is made out of solid walnut, has wonderful legs, curves and arches. very, very sexy. it just screams victorian when you see it. it has a fluted column. what i love is this handle, too. on this side of the handle, we have quite a bit of wear where people have hung the strap up there for 110 years, 120 years. most victorian furniture has some sort of decoration to it, and we have these wonderful pieces that are hanging down. we have a drawer-- fantastic. put your razors in, put your accoutrements in. we have a great marble top. a lot of victorian furniture has marble tops, and a lot of it has a wonderful beveled edge, just like this. it's very difficult to tell exactly where it was made. indiana, new york, pennsylvania-- those were all places where this type of furniture was made with some regularity. we have two condition problems. one is the mirror has been replaced. the back has been replaced here. in victorian furniture, it's not such a big deal to have the mirror replaced. we are missing the knob here. that would be fairly easy to get replaced. you could use one of these as a reference. when i was younger, in my 20s and 30s, victorian furniture was the absolute epicenter of the antique market, and now, if you watch the antiques roadshow regularly, you know, we see a lot more early furniture, we see a lot more 20th-century furniture, and victorian has kind of been pushed to the side a little bit. from a value perspective, this piece is probably worth at auction, $3,000 to $5,000. wow. okay, wow. that's very good. (chuckling) man: we live in the black hills in south dakota. my parents ran a private museum and a wild west show. and my dad was born in deadwood, south dakota, in 1908, grew up in deadwood. apparently some lakota, native american ancestry on his mother's side. a lot of the native people would bring him pieces that they wanted preserved, that they were afraid would be lost in their family and things like that. so to the best of my knowledge, that's where this came from. okay, this is a lakota bag, and it is a doctor's bag. and as you can see, it's beaded on all sides. yeah. what's a bit unusual is a lot of the bags are white background, and this is a blue background. i want to show how this opens, and as you can see, it has a trade cloth lining on the inside. is that what that is, the stripe? yeah, absolutely. i didn't know. now, there are a couple of ways that we can date this. if you look right here in the center, these are metal-cut beads. now, metal-cut beads really date into the 1890s. so this bag is 1885, 1890. and it's not thread, it's sinew. again, that's one of the ways that we date native american material. one other thing that is an issue of condition, and i don't know whether you can see this or not, but do you see this area here? yeah, i think there's another little small spot near the bottom. exactly, you have a few areas that need to be repaired. now, that does impact on value. uh-huh. obviously, right now, the economic times, you're going to see slightly lower prices than you might have seen, say, a year ago. right. two years ago in auction, there was one that sold in cincinnati with a white background and flags for $3,000. i have seen a blue one with a blue background being offered in the past year in a gallery for $6,500. really?! a lot of collectors would look at this, and because it has this blue background and because it's basically really in great shape... yeah. ...it would be highly desirable for them. and you have almost this transition from native american into the early settlers in the west. yeah. and you have the blending of those two cultures yeah, it's fascinating. right in this bag. juxtaposition. and i think that's terrific. what i want to do is i want to give you a realistic value, and i think you can use this for insurance. okay. in a gallery, i think you would expect to see this sell for between $5,000 and $7,000. i'm... i'm flabbergasted. for a thing that was just commonplace to me growing up. it was just a family item. that's quite a shock. this was part of a collection that i bought from my mentor just before he died, and i always thought that this one was the most important part of the whole collection. well, it probably is. it certainly is a significant book. it's francisco de gamboa's commentary on the mines of mexico, which was the first compendium of mexican mining, printed in madrid in 1761. it's in absolutely original condition. beautiful original vellum binding, with the manuscript spine titling that was very common practice at the time so that books all looked uniform on the shelf. and what's really also additionally wonderful about this is its most recent provenance before you and your mentor, which was thomas w. streeter, who was undoubtedly the greatest collector of printed americana that has ever been known. very nice. in terms of a value, i think it's safe to say conservatively we could estimate it at auction at $3,000 to $5,000. wow. well, that certainly makes it the most valuable in my collection. man: my uncle had a storage room and moved out east, and he was looking to just get rid of everything in there, and so my brother and i decided to take it and, instead of getting a few bucks for the whole lot, we would go through it and see what was in there. uh-huh. and we've run across quite a few things, and we ran across a box with some dolls in it. and as far as what i know about them, uh, i'm about to learn, i guess. okay. i chose two dolls out of the lot just so we could compare the two. both of these dolls were made at about the same time, early 20th century, about 1900 to 1910. the doll in white was made by a company called armand marseille, and it sounds like a french name, but he's a german manufacturer, probably the most prolific doll manufacturer in germany at the time. they made these what we call "dolly face" dolls, and they have sleep eyes, an open mouth with teeth showing, and those were all the bells and whistles that people wanted. this is a great example. it's got all of its original clothes, original wig. thousands and thousands and thousands of this type of doll were made in germany. okay. about the same time, one of the companies, called kammer & reinhardt, wanted to make some character dolls, something that was a little different than the dolly-face doll. mm-hmm. so they started making this type of doll, and you'll notice it has painted eyes, it has a mouth with painted teeth... uh-huh. people still wanted to buy the doll with the sleep eyes and the open mouth. the dolls like the doll in black did not sell. therefore, it made that doll extremely rare. okay. the artist that designed this doll worked for kammer & reinhardt. he had a little tiff with that company. he moved to the simon halbig company in germany and made this series of dolls. this particular doll doesn't really have a name, but it's referred to by the number. it's a simon & halbig 1-5-1, or 151. the doll in white, made by armand marseille, is a number 390. they're both style numbers for the particular doll. okay. the doll in white, on today's market, retail, would sell for about $450 to $550. wow. the doll in black is going to sell, retail, from between $10,000 and $12,000. whoa. (chuckles) it's just a very, very desirable, sought-after doll. they did a series they called the 100 series, and there are other dolls in that series that are worth even more than this, but you've got a spectacular doll. great. thank you. woman: they all belonged to my mother, and she passed away in 1997, but i've had them and have known them even before then. well, she liked purple. mm-hmm. and one of the most popular purple stones in jewelry is amethyst, and that's what she collected. well, and we're also both february birthdays, which is the birth... gemstone. i'm going to start with the piece closest to you, which is a pendant. it's on a gold chain with a gold setting, and it's a pear-shaped amethyst. amethyst is purple quartz. and quartz is a stone that can be clear, white and colorless. it can be yellow-- then it's citrine. or it could be purple, and then it's amethyst. but generally these stones are produced in great quantities in mines in south america, and they're inexpensive. this i chose as the first one because it's the palest color. and amethyst that is not a deep, dark color does not command as high a price as the more saturated, deep purple amethyst. so a pendant like this is only worth about $300, even though it's in a gold setting. the next set are her pear-shaped earrings. she might have worn these with the pendant, but again, they're not terribly saturated in color. they're kind of on the pale side. and a pair of earrings like this, again, i would say about $300 for the pair in the gold settings. mm-hmm. suddenly we move up in quality to her ring, and this one has very dark, deep, saturated purple and diamonds around it, which, of course, add to the value. it's a lovely ring. if it was any darker, it would be too dark. a ring like this with diamonds around it, in 14-karat gold, now we're at about $2,000. that's a big jump from $300. the circle pin has a collection of these oval amethysts that are cabochon. they're not that faceted, they're more polished round. the color is lovely, and they match from each stone to the other. a pin like this, about $1,200 to $1,500. really? this one, it's in a box from bulgari, and there's a second lesson here, which is don't always believe what the boxes say. we examined the bracelet. the bulgari mark is not there. really? and the gold is 14-karat. bulgari only worked in 18-karat, even during wartime. but it's still a very special bracelet. and it's special because of the color and saturation of these amethysts. these are siberian amethysts. really? oh, my goodness. all of your other amethysts, your mother's collection, came from south america. we never see siberian amethyst except in old pieces. it has a violet, purplish-blue color that you don't see in any other amethyst from anywhere else in the world except from those mines in russia. there's no diamonds or anything else to enhance the value, just the stones alone. at retail in a fine jewelry store, this is a rarity. it would bring $10,000 to $12,000, and the person that knows amethysts will know if they don't buy it now, they may never see another one. my goodness. oh! i thank you so much. my pleasure. it's much more than i would have realized. (laughs) man: i brought in a pilot's license that was issued in 1924 by the international federation of aeronautics. and what made it interesting to me and, i hope, to everyone else, is that it's signed by orville wright. the photograph that you see is a photo of my great-uncle, loren ritchey, and we've referred to him as uncle buzz. he had an ambition that he wanted to fly as a young man, and so in 1924 he went about purchasing an airplane and taking flying lessons-- the whole boot-- and getting his pilot's license. the license here is the international license. this license, which is pretty much a duplicate, is used within the united states. what is so nice about the archive that you've brought in is how complete it is. you have a series of checks. they start in march and they go through may. and the checks are made out to people who are involved in the aviation company where he was taking lessons. so either they are checks for flying classes or possibly they are related to this document, which is the receipt for the biplane that your uncle bought. he bought it for $650, and we have close-- very close-- we're $75 off here. yes, and i don't think that he shortchanged them. i think maybe one of the checks has gone missing, so... maybe one has gone missing. over here we have photographs of your uncle in flight, taken from one biplane of the other. and i don't know which plane your uncle is in, but i'm assuming he's in one of them. here he is standing outside of a plane. here he is again in the cockpit. and you're right. the two most interesting pieces are the two licenses-- the international license and the american one, both issued by the federation aeronautique internationale, which was the governing body for piloting in the period. commercial aviation was so young in 1924. we're just 20 years away from the wright brothers' flight. right. that's how new and that's how fresh these things are. they are really wonderful pieces of history. there's a photograph of your uncle, his signature, the documentation, orville wright's signature. here is the license number, 149, which is a fairly low number. yeah, it's very low. tell me what happened with him. well, unfortunately, the next year, the year after he got these licenses, he just went on a fishing trip up in the sierras, to bishop, california, and not knowing what happened, he was involved in a plane crash and he was killed. he was born in 1904, so he was 21. but i think that that love of flying that he had was passed on through the bloodlines to my dad, who became an aviator himself and remained in aviation all his life, so... have you ever had this appraised? no, i've gone online a couple of times just to research orville wright's signature and see what those are worth, and i think i saw $700, $800 or something along that line, but these pieces, no, i've never had them appraised. well, i think you're sort of in the ballpark. you have the two licenses, and they can sell kind of in the $1,000, $1,200 range. the entire archive together, i would put a value of $2,500 to $3,500 at auction. with such a great story, it would definitely find a market. well, thank you very much. that's good to hear. woman: this painting was painted by chuck close when he was a student at everett junior college. he was just a young man. my husband was a drama professor, and chuck approached him, saying that, "doc, i need eight dollars. i'm going to be evicted from my apartment tonight." and so my husband said, "but you have eight dollars worth of paint on it." and he said, "but i've got to have eight dollars, doc." so, boyd gave him eight dollars, and in 1960, that was... eight dollars was quite a bit, for us. and... brought it home. it's been hanging in my front room ever since. well, it was a very kind thing for him to do. this is dated-- we can see it's signed here, "close, 1960." so he would have been what-- around about 20 years old when he painted it? well, i would say 18, 19. that's about the age of students in junior college. and he went from there to the university of washington and yale, and then he just, all of a sudden, he was famous. yes, he certainly was. but none of it looked like this. that's absolutely right. but when he painted this, he was still very much in thrall to the influence of the abstract expressionists. oh, yes, very much so. jackson pollock, mark rothko, and, clearly, in this particular case, willem dekooning. i love this painting. i think it's a fantastic painting. particularly for a young artist. well, my husband asked him, "well, what is it?" and what did he say? and he said, "it's 'man walking.'" and he said, "well, how do you figure that?" and he said, "this is the way i feel "in the spring of the year "when i'm out stepping in the bright sunshine and the flowers and the spring of the year." well, obviously this is very different to what he's better known for. oh, yes-- portraits now. indeed. he really became a prime mover within the photorealist type or realist movement. definitely. and famous for doing the very large portrait heads. i believe he felt that he wasn't a good enough painter to follow on as an abstract expressionist, so he changed tack. i think on the evidence of this, he could have been. oh, yes. i think it's a magnificent painting. this is an early work, work of a young man, but still, i think, a very impressive piece. have you ever given any thought to what it may be worth? you know, i would expect it to have some value, but what it is, i really wouldn't... i couldn't fathom a guess. it must be in the thousands. i would say it was in the thousands. would you be surprised if i said $100,000 to $150,000? how much? at auction, $100,000 to $150,000. oh, wow. that is a... that is a great deal. it will make my son very happy, because it's in the will for him. this is an interesting painting in terms of his development. and who knows, it may even make a little bit more. and not a bad return on the eight dollars that saved him from being thrown out of his digs. oh, i would say not. my daughter has been saying all day, she says, "and they'll tell you that it's worth eight dollars." but i think you've told me a lot more than that. absolutely. thank you so much. my pleasure. you're watching antiques roadshow from phoenix, arizona. did you miss a part of tonight's show? or maybe you want to see something again. then head over to pbs.org. there you can watch this hour, view other full episodes or put together your own show, using the roadshow archive. now let's get back to phoenix, right after this. i'm mark walberg in mobile, alabama. that's what collectors want! that's what everybody wants. i mean, when you pulled this out, i almost lost it. what would you think if i told you they were worth ten times that? (gasps) oh my lord. you've got to be kidding. (laughs) you've got to be kidding. don't miss these appraisals and many more, next time on antiques roadshow. it's not about the things we have, but the memories we make with them. liberty mutual insurance. proud sponsor of "antiques roadshow." at subaru, versatility and safety drive all our vehicle designs. because however big, small, new or old your cargo may be, it's all precious. subaru, a proud sponsor of antiques roadshow. in today's global economy, finding smart investments requires expertise from the ground up, seeing first what others see eventually. at franklin templeton, we have experts across the globe, with local insight to spot distant opportunities and navigate world markets. our approach has given us a unique perspective on global investing for over 60 years. franklin templeton investments. gain from our perspective. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. it' feedback booth. saw lots of wonderful people, had a wonderful time, and my doily my mother made for a little bit of nothing was worth $75. mom, this dog was from, like, 1892 to 1900, and it's worth between $150 and $200, and we had a good time, man. but my dogs are barkin'. (laughs) and we get to spend the whole hour ride on the plane saying, "i told you so, mom." i brought in this picture of gene cernan, the last man on the moon, and i was quite surprised, they appraised it for, like, $3,000 and going up. and this picture that i paid $1.50 for is worth $200 to $300. and she'll definitely be dragging me more to garage sales all the time now. shirley was fantastic, and shirley really likes the antiques roadshow. everything i brought is staying in the bag. it's not worth anything. shirley had a great time. i had a great time at the antiques roadshow. and you're supposed to say... don't call me shirley. we had this all worked out. and our ex-husband's mother gave me this pin... and our ex-husband gave me this antique hymnal. to bring to... so we came to the antiques roadshow together to get them appraised. yay, antiques roadshow! i'm mark walberg. thanks for watching. we'll see you next time on antiques roadshow. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org what do you know about this? wedgwood, huh? woman: my neighbor's friend paul gave me a box of things, and these two photographs were in them. do you know who these people are? absolutely. all right, you watched television as a child. absolutely. we all grew up with lone ranger and superman. yes, sir. and what you brought in was a photograph of the lone ranger and tonto. clayton moore signed it and personalized it to paul, as did jay silverheels. now, clayton moore is very common. he went, toured all over the place and did a lot of signings, and his autograph, in this condition, would make about $100, $150. mm-hmm. but when you add jay silverheels to it, this photograph can move up to around $500 to $700. wow! and this one's signed, "to paul, george superman reeves." that photograph, if it came to auction, would probably sell for close to $4,000. oh, my god! oh, my god! >> tom: i'm tom hudson with an "n.b.r." news brief. apple's big win in court, meant an even bigger win for shareholders today. the stock gained 2% and closed at nearly $676 dollars a piece, an all-time high. the rally comes as apple moved today to stop the sale of eight samsung electronic devices, including its galaxy and droid smartphones. wall street kicked off the week with nearly $8 billion in deals: hertz is driving to the alter with "dollar thrifty," ibm's buying kenexa, a maker of human resources software applications. and in the financials: m&t is buying new jersey's hudson city bancorp. the dow lost 33, the nasdaq gained about three points, and the s&p lost a fraction. tomorrow, an update on home prices, as we get the latest reading on the s&p case-shiller home price index. for more financial news, tune in to "n.b.r." weeknights on this public television station.

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