Charleston, SC, Hour 3 (2016)

MARK WALBERG: Nearly 5,000 people were on hand for Roadshow's visit to Charleston, South Carolina.

WOMAN: I didn't play with her too much as a child.

I can tell you didn't, the condition is superb.

APPRAISER (laughing): What are you going to give your grandfather now?

I'll have to do something pretty nice, I think.

WALBERG: Antiques Roadshow checked out the Charleston City Market.

Established in the early 1800s, the market is still bustling with shoppers.

While we were there, we had a chance to see a more than 300-year-old tradition in action.

The art of sweet grass basket making was brought to the Charleston area by enslaved West Africans, and it continues today, having been passed on from generation to generation.

Back at the event, thousands of treasures from generations of collectors have turned up.

Take a look.

MAN: I was 12 years old.

It was in 1970 in Stockholm, Sweden.

I was staying at my friend's house, who was 13, and his older brother said, "Would you like to go see Jimi Hendrix?"

I didn't know anything about Jimi Hendrix, but we went.

And we got to the front of the stage, and one guy had an Army jacket on-- they had just got out of Vietnam-- and the guy on the stage who was traveling with Jimi Hendrix, he had an Army jacket on.

They saw each other, and he said, "Come around to the side of the stage," and they hug each other.

And we all got in, into the orchestra pit.

So it was incredible.

These things here, Jimi Hendrix was playing and dropped his guitar pick.

It was within reach, but I was 12 years old, so I asked him after the song was over if I could have it, and he handed it to me.

The guitar string, we saw that he had broken it, and after the show, the roadie was standing there and we asked him if he could find it, and he did.

We had a pocket knife and we split it between ourselves.

The little pouch there, I bought that the day of the show at a Swedish zoo called... petting zoo called Skansen.

I thought I was pretty cool with that.

The little figure head came from somebody who was in the orchestra pit, and he pinned it onto my shirt.

Then the drumstick, the roadie gave us the drumstick from Mitch Mitchell, so...

I'd always been looking for pictures of me in the orchestra pit.

I found two of these pictures out of a book, but I wasn't in them.

I was actually right behind Jimi Hendrix's bell-bottom there.

So the '70s fashion blocked your head out of this photo.

(laughing): Exactly.

If it weren't for bell-bottoms, perhaps that would have been it.

That's right, so anyway, I really enjoyed the collection that I had, and so my wife framed it for me.

I decided to film it and put it on YouTube, and I got an email from a guy who lived in New Zealand, and he asked me if I had any pictures of the show.

And I explained to him I didn't, but I'd always been looking for a picture of a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old looking up at Jimi Hendrix, and he said, "I've got that picture."

Wow.

So he sent it to me, and the bottom picture there, you can see me right there.

This one's you?

That's me.

And that's your friend?

And that's my friend.

And you guys are up here as well.

Yeah, and that's my friend there with the curlier hair, and then that's me there.

And the other people in the picture were with his older brother.

Wow.

So it was pretty... it was pretty neat.

I just remember how powerful the amplification was when he strummed the first E string.

What?

(laughs) Yeah, exactly.

That'll do it to you.

And so it got you going, obviously.

So from that point on, I mean, I went out and bought my first Hendrix album.

It's also kind of interesting because of the timing on this, this is 1970.

And what month did you say the show was?

It was August 31.

And he died...?

On the 18th of September.

You framed this for your own gratification.

Right.

Clearly, this is something that means everything to you because this is such an extraordinary memory for you.

Sure.

So it's fun that you have your pouch that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Hendrix, but you happened to buy it at that time, and you have the pin from someone in the audience, and all of these things combine to create a wonderful memory for you.

Right.

The values on these are not out of this world extraordinarily high because they are items that they used every show.

However, the fact that you're here and he picked it up from here and handed it to you and it's now in this frame is the most extraordinary provenance I've ever seen.

And I love the fact that your story was that literally, the power of the Internet connected you with somebody how many years later that you were able to then find a picture of yourself.

So normally, a guitar pick might sell for $1,000, $1,500.

A drumstick from Mitch Mitchell might be a few hundred dollars, guitar strings don't really come up.

You have a piece of one, it's really cool.

I think putting it all together with the combination of your provenance and your story turns this more into a $3,000 to $4,000, $3,000 to $5,000 item at auction.

And who knows with this kind of provenance if that doesn't strike someone's imagination, and they love your story and the fact that we're talking to the guy who picked it up and put it in his pocket that day.

WOMAN: These spoons belonged to my ancestor John Rutledge.

John Rutledge was the governor of South Carolina during the Revolutionary War.

He was one of the authors of the Constitution and a signer of the Constitution, and he was on the Supreme Court.

Okay, and what else do you know about the spoons?

They've just been passed in the family for all the generations?

Yes, they've always been in the family.

They were just recently given to me by a distant cousin.

The spoons, interestingly enough, are English.

They were made by the preeminent family of English silversmiths, the Batemans.

The spoons have the mark of Hester Bateman, who's the matriarch of the family.

So she was the most famous silversmith in the 18th century as a woman in England.

The nice thing about English silver is you can generally tell what year it was made.

There's a variety of marks on each piece of silver.

One of them is the year mark.

The year mark is a letter.

There generally also then is the maker's mark, there's the mark showing that it's sterling silver, and there's the crown mark.

When I look at this piece, I can then determine it was made in the year 1774.

American silver was exceptionally rare, especially in the South, so English silver predominantly was in most of the nice households.

Right up here is a marking, and tell me what that marking is.

That is the crest of John Rutledge.

So both pieces have the Rutledge crest on the top.

What's interesting is you've got a pair that have survived now for 250 years.

There does not appear to be any horrific wear on them.

A lot of times, the spoons are worn in the front.

The condition is magnificent, they're sterling silver, and in the market today, a pair like this in a retail setting, especially in South Carolina, would probably sell somewhere in the $6,000 to $7,000 price range.

You should be very proud to have kept them in the family for all these years.

Oh, I am, I am.

Oh, sure.

And you can see this is graphics from the early '60s.

WOMAN: Okay, early '60s.

So $50 to $75, maybe a little more.

APPRAISER: It's Victorian era, so mid-19th century, and it's a mustard pot.

WOMAN: All right, great.

Well, thank you.

This is the second group of ice fishing lures that we've seen today.

MAN: We were actually trying to start a collection of duck decoys.

APPRAISER: Okay.

APPRAISER: So you got this from your mother-in-law.

You inherited them, and do you know much about them?

Actually, I don't know anything about it because I never saw her wear it, and after I got it, I've put it up and I've never had it appraised, so I'm anxious to find out.

You want to know.

It looks kind of like a crown to me.

Well, you know what it actually is?

it's like a shuttlecock.

Imagine playing badminton with that?

(laughing): Yeah.

It's a whimsical piece of jewelry made probably by the maker in the box, Raymond Yard.

He was on Fifth Avenue and jeweler to the upper class.

Oh, really?

And sold very, very fine stones, and that's a sapphire.

It is bigger than it actually looks because it's very, very deep.

It's a beautiful sapphire.

It could be a Ceylon, a Burma, or a Kashmir.

So the only way to tell for sure would be to have a laboratory certificate, and that's not that expensive to do.

And once we determine the country of origin, the value will be determined.

Oh, my gosh.

So you have something that if it's only a beautiful Ceylon, the wholesale value, it could be worth $3,000 to $5,000.

Oh, my gosh.

If it is a beautiful Burma, it could be worth $8,000 to $10,000.

Oh, no!

If it's a Kashmir, it could be worth $15,000 to $20,000 depending where it's sold.

Retail could be higher.

So you know what we have to do?

We have to get a certificate.

For sure.

For sure.

MAN: This is an elevator grille from the Chicago Stock Exchange.

For many years, it hung in my grandfather's basement, where as a kid I would play pool, and there were pool sticks hanging on the grille.

My uncle was an art student in Chicago in the early 1960s.

He was a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

And this was during the era in Chicago architectural history where the old Sullivan & Adler buildings were being torn down.

He and his fellow art students went to salvage pieces like this, and it made its way down to St. Louis then.

The building ten years later was torn down and was a kind of major impetus for the preservation movement in Chicago.

Yeah, that's what's so amazing about this piece.

This is by Adler & Sullivan.

It's one of the most fantastic pieces of interior architecture from that later part of the 19th century.

It was done in 1894.

And the idea that this iconic thing would be torn down, and then on top of that, this stuff sold for scrap.

Right.

This came from an earlier renovation.

When they were tearing down the building, they actually set up a shop down on the ground floor selling this as scrap metal.

Right.

They got melted down.

Also, they got roughly treated.

So this is great-looking, with these little balls and these ovals.

And if you look at it closely, even though it's overall a very busy design, you see lots of these are missing.

So you see they're missing here, they're missing here.

I've also wondered if they sat there as an elevator grille for 70 years in the building, if people waiting for the elevators might not have idly played with these as well.

It might have been in bad shape in 1960 as well.

It's true, because again, the building wasn't appreciated.

It's part of an elevator bank, and it's just one section of a large, probably about a 12-foot-long bank of the elevator; they're flanking panels.

There's a bronze bottom, and then there's a whole top to them that goes across.

So you just have sort of the best part.

Oh, good.

They're fairly rare, I think.

Since they were treated so poorly, very few survived.

Yeah.

They are a number of them in museums.

In terms of the value, in a retail setting, this would probably be in the $30,000 to $40,000 range.

Okay, that's wonderful.

Yeah, it's a great, great piece.

I had been wondering, given its condition here, how much that hurt it because ones I've seen in museums are obviously in better shape.

Well, to be honest, it's fairly easy to repair these.

All of this can be fabricated.

These balls can be replicated in resins or various plastics.

And I think that goes to just the overall great look of it.

Does it affect the value?

Yes, but none of these, not one, ever comes down in perfect condition.

Okay.

MAN: It's something that's been in my family for four generations, I can track back.

It was inherited by my grandmother in a house up in Massachusetts.

I think it's transferware they call it, I thought.

And it's, I thought, porcelain from England, and then the artwork is transferred onto it, but that's as little as I know.

APPRAISER: Okay, well, actually, this is made of pottery instead of porcelain, and you're correct, it was made in England.

It was made in the Staffordshire region, and it was made for export to the United States.

It's got great decoration on it, so let's take a look at some of the decoration.

Here on the side, we've got a wonderful American scene.

We've got an eagle, an American flag, a cannon, and it says, "Peace and independence," but all kinds of paraphernalia relating to American independence, which is really wonderful.

So obviously, it would've been made for the United States.

Yeah.

And if we keep spinning it around, we've got a terrific clipper ship, but this one happens to have an American flag, another sign that it's for America.

And these are transfer-printed, not hand-painted.

However, the decoration at the top is all hand-painted, so we've got a combination of hand painting and transfer.

But then we've got the most important scene on the front: we've got a harbor scene.

First of all, we have a lighthouse here.

This is a lighthouse built of wood, and it's one of the earliest lighthouses in North Carolina.

Wow.

This depicts an actual place.

It says, "A north view of Governor Wallace's Shell Castle and Harbor, North Carolina."

Shell Castle was built starting around 1789.

It was heavily damaged in 1806 by a hurricane and was completely closed by 1812.

So this jug was made before 1812, but I would guess around 1805, something like that.

Wow.

Now, it says here, "Governor Wallace's."

There was no governor of North Carolina ever named Wallace.

Oh, no?

But "governor," if you think of films you've seen where they call someone governor, it's relating to an important person, but he's like the manager.

He was one of the builders of the port.

I always thought it was the governor of the state.

Right.

Now, these buildings show the various buildings that were built there.

There was a grist mill, there was a tavern, there was a store, there were all kinds of buildings built.

It was actually a little island.

Here, we see a ship coming into the harbor, you see an American flag.

Now, this is an exceptionally large thing.

These things were normally made for just presentation.

It wouldn't be one of a kind, there would be more than that.

But this one was actually used because it was... it's heavily stained.

There's some grease and oils have soaked into it.

What would you use it for?

Well, you could have used it for cider or beer or water.

But it would be awfully heavy once you put something in it to serve.

I did some research, and there's...

I only could find evidence of one other of these in existence.

Now, there are probably more, but I could only find evidence of one, and it is located at the Museum of History in Raleigh, North Carolina.

But I could find no auction records, I found nothing else about this jug.

So it is exceptionally rare.

Now, things made for the American market are much more common made for Boston, Philadelphia, New York, but things for Southern areas are much rarer.

So based upon the size, the decoration, the historical importance, I would think that a retail value for this, despite the condition issues, would probably be between $8,000 and $12,000.

Wow.

And that's just pure speculation.

That history of it is really interesting.

MAN: I went into a antique shop near my hometown and really looked around, and the lady I know pretty well, and she had this box, but she really didn't want to sell it.

And I kept begging her, and finally I just gave up.

And a little bit before Christmas, my grandfather went in and just was looking and asking her what I wanted, and she pulled this out, and she sold it to him, so that's what I got for Christmas.

All right, so what did you offer her for the box?

She wouldn't even give me a price or a chance to even really talk about selling it.

So what'd your grandfather pay for it?

Well, he just said he paid $1,000 for it.

Wow, $1,000.

I mean, that was pretty... that was a lot of money, right?

Oh, yeah.

Were you shocked when he told you he'd paid that much for it?

Yeah, I about fell out back there.

Wow, wow.

Well, do you have any idea about who made it, or where it's from?

I mean, you're from North Carolina?

Right, well, it looks Pennsylvania to me, but I don't... and I don't usually buy Pennsylvania.

I like local North Carolina pieces, but it really just stuck out to me.

I like early pieces, too, and she said it was 1800, so...

Okay, it is Pennsylvania.

And it is by a well-known maker of this style of box.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

His name is Jacob Weber.

Okay.

From Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Okay.

We know he was born in 1802, but we don't yet know when he died.

A lot of these early folk artists, very little is known about them.

We know that Weber made these sorts of boxes, and he made them in two different styles: he made them with feet on them, and he made them like this, little rectangular boxes.

It's very simple construction, six pieces of pine, cheap wood, and then painted with this great mustard color.

His work always has the same sort of green ground here with a house flanked by trees, and decorated on each end with a tulip.

And then finished, of course, on the lid with another tulip.

Right.

This box was probably made sometime between about 1830 and 1845.

Okay.

It's missing its hasp that would've closed it, and the hinges have probably been replaced.

Weber was known to have made boxes with what are called snipe hinges, where they're little metal pins here.

But he also did them with wire like this.

But when you look at this box in the back, you'll see the shadow of where these snipe hinges used to be.

Right.

But then the wire that's on here closing it up has been here for a long time.

If you look and see how the wire has worn into the soft pine wood, it's been here a long time.

Now, did he sell these or just make them to give away?

No, he was selling them.

Okay.

He was selling them, it was a commodity, he was making them, and we don't know enough to know how much he sold them for, but there are enough of these boxes around to know that he was obviously selling them.

And they come in various sizes ranging up to, you know, maybe a foot in size to this size.

But enough of these have sold that they are almost a commodity in Pennsylvania folk art.

Really great ones can bring as much as $150,000.

Oh, my God.

This one, I think a good auction estimate for this box would be somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000.

Wow.

I think he did pretty well, then, and what a gift.

Yeah, now what are you going to give your grandfather now?

I don't know.

I have to do something pretty nice, I think.

What do you think he's going to say?

Sell it.

(laughs) Don't do it, keep it.

Oh, yeah, I plan to.

Very, very impressive.

And no chips on the rim, I mean, this is really, really nice.

Original finish.

Yeah, that's what I think is important.

I love... yup.

I know that you hate to see refinished.

Even as a decoration on your piano, and they look kind of nice sitting on the sides, it's worth about $100, $150.

WOMAN: This brooch belonged to my husband's great-grandmother in Russia.

She passed away before her daughter could come to America, but it was one of the few things that she brought over with her when she came in 1911.

The thing is, there's no definitive hallmarks on it to say that it is Russian, but it's most definitely Eastern European.

And I heard you saying you were wondering if they're diamonds or not.

Yes, we've always thought that they were glass.

All right, well, there's a meter I have here, and if the needle moves up into the green, they're diamonds.

If it doesn't move, they're glass.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to come over here and I'm going to push this stone right here.

It doesn't move, it's glass.

Okay.

Interesting, right?

Well, that's exactly what we thought, so...

Right, right, but you know what?

You thought wrong.

Oh.

Because I want you to watch this, all right?

Watch the center stone.

Oh, wow.

That's a diamond.

Oh, my goodness.

That's what they call a rose cut diamond.

Usually, they're set very low in an all-silver mounting.

The bottom of the stone is foil, so to make it reflect.

And we never get to show people what it really looks like from the bottom.

This one's flat.

It's flat, they're like a surfboard.

So if we take it to show everybody, because it's flat, it's not as much as it looks like.

It looks like it's a three- and-a-half carat diamond.

It probably weighs about two carats.

Just in the center stone, you have $2,000 to $3,000.

Oh, my goodness.

That's actually the desirable part of the pin.

Wow.

And then you have another $500 in the mounting with the other diamonds.

So aside from that one stone, the rest of them are also diamonds?

They're also diamonds, yeah.

Oh, my goodness, wow.

So at auction, the whole thing would probably be $2,500 to $3,500.

Wow.

It is diamonds.

Awesome.

(laughing): Pretty cool, huh?

Very cool.

WOMAN: My father actually found it in an antique mall and decided that he liked it.

APPRAISER: And then gave it to you.

And then... yeah.

Well, isn't that wonderful?

This is a Frederick Carder Steuben piece, and Frederick Carder had his start pretty much at Stevens & Williams in England.

And he came to the United States in 1903.

This particular piece is a cased piece, and it's mirror black-- which you can see here-- mirror black over an alabaster lead base.

This is called "The Hunting Scene."

"The Hunting Scene."

And I was so thrilled to be able to show it because we finally have a vase that men will just covet.

(laughs) This is wonderful.

It's interesting with Frederick Carder.

He would have an idea-- let's say in the month of January-- and it would be an entire year later before that would come to production.

So he would think about it for over a year and put these patterns down.

This particular pattern, and again, I want you to look very carefully.

I'm going to turn this around a little bit so you can see the animals and all of the trees and the shrubs.

It's 12 inches tall, and it's number 2683-- that would be the model number.

And the date that this started to be made was 1927, probably till about 1932, so it didn't have a very long time range.

How much of this got made, do you know?

Very little of it's on the market.

The market sort of came down a little bit, and I think people are waiting to put it back out on the market.

It's very hard to find this particular piece on the market.

Can you tell me what he paid for the piece, maybe what year he...

I think it was around 1996 that he got it, and I believe he paid, like, $79 or $80 for it.

It wasn't ex...

I mean, it was dear at the time, but not, like, expensive.

I just cannot believe that anybody was lucky enough to find this for $79.

We dream about things like that happening.

This particular piece for retail would be in the value range of $3,500 to $5,000.

Whoa.

(laughs) Wow.

So imagine... Yeah, that's good.

I guess we could say it was a good buy.

Yeah, good eye, Dad.

MAN: This was given to me about two and a half years ago from a dear friend who has recently passed away.

He purchased it in China, I'm not sure how many years ago.

He gave me very little information except that it was supposedly a very nice bronze, and the gold trim on it and the fish were 24 karat.

And basically, that's about all that I really know about it.

APPRAISER: Do you know what your friend paid for it, or...?

No, I don't.

It was given as a gift.

I don't suppose he wanted to share that.

That's right, I didn't ask, and I figured it'd be inappropriate.

This bronze comes from a golden age in bronze production in the later part of the 19th century.

Wow.

In Japan.

Japan, oh.

It's not Chinese at all.

Okay.

Not tremendously surprising it was purchased in China, but this was made in Japan.

During this period, which we call the Meiji period in Japanese history, it followed the abolishment of the samurai class in Japan.

The greatest metalsmiths of Japan had to reapply their skills.

Following making swords and armor and weapons of war, they applied themselves to making these very fine decorative objects, as you see here.

One indication of its origin is, of course, the subject matter, which is very Japanese.

In Chinese, they like to depict gods and warriors, and so these simple tradesmen and these simple workmen appealed more to the Japanese aesthetic.

Beyond that, though, following the clues, you'll find the piece is actually marked, and there's a mark tucked away on the hem of this gentleman's kimono right here.

And what it says is, "Miyao Zo."

Miyao was a family of bronze makers in late 19th century Japan.

Their work constitutes some of the very best bronze work ever to come out of Japan in this golden age of bronze production.

This figure is what's called an okimono, just a decorative statue with really no purpose other than to be a very fine decorative object to go in the home.

It's somewhat whimsical, with the fish hanging from the line here on this gentleman's bamboo pole.

But what's remarkable is that the fish is there at all.

Over the years since this has been in existence, you could see how easily this could have been broken off, lost.

Even this wonderful and perfectly textured bamboo fishing pole is of a somewhat fragile and thin nature.

You've kept it very well.

Those that possessed it before you kept it very well.

Right.

The 24-karat gold that you mention is indeed.

We call this a parcel-gilt bronze.

It's parcel, just partially gilded.

Have you ever had this appraised or have any sense of the value?

No, I don't.

He had an extensive collection of bronzes.

He probably had 15 or 20, and most of them were in the same field.

Most of them were much larger.

I see.

And I chose this one because of the size to fit in the secretary.

This gentleman right here had a good day fishing.

You can see from the tails bulging out of his fishing basket he's made a few good catches.

Your friend made a good catch as well, and you as a result.

I think the auction estimate for this, with the market being somewhat down, I think conservatively, I could put a $3,000 to $5,000 estimate for its sale.

Wonderful.

As the market increases, which I think it's on an upswing, this could easily reach $5,000 to $6,000 within a few years.

Wonderful.

Super.

Very interesting.

Well, my mother's family emigrated from Germany in 1946, and I was the first grandchild, I was born in 1952.

And my family gave me this as a gift when I was about two years old, and I've had it ever since, and I've kept her in her original box in the closet.

I didn't play with her too much as a child.

I can tell you didn't.

The condition is superb.

So this doll was new in 1954.

This one is made out of celluloid, and it's got a human hair wig.

The condition, I can't say enough about the condition, it's so nice.

To find a Käthe Kruse like this in the original box is really wonderful.

It looks like you got it for Christmas.

I did, I did.

Yup, I can see Santa Claus on here.

Have you ever had her appraised?

No, I haven't, I haven't.

Okay.

In today's retail market, this would bring anywhere between $1,200 and $1,400.

Oh great, super, super.

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing her in.

Awesome, thank you so much.

MAN: I don't know what it is.

MAN: I don't know what it is either.

MAN: That's why I'm here.

Thank you so much for coming.

You can walk right inside the show.

That's a good thing to have.

Now, this is original, and you rarely see them with the original rubber dog bone.

First one I've ever seen.

I brought Great-Uncle Louis's elephant pagoda clock.

I think it's bronze.

Uncle Louis was a lawyer, he was a bachelor, lived in New York City, and he worked for the firm that represented Tiffany.

And I'm told that this was given to him as a retirement gift.

That would make sense.

The quality is certainly good enough to have been handled by Tiffany.

There are no markings on it, so we cannot say that it was made by Tiffany, and in fact, usually they hired clockmakers and other companies to make the things that they sold, and they would often put their mark on those pieces, but this is unmarked.

I don't have any reason to believe that they made it, but it's of that quality.

It's really a wonderful example of a clock made in the Victorian period.

It dates to the late 1800s, probably 1880 or so.

It's in this Japanese aesthetic, and Japanism was very popular at this time, and this clock was actually made in France.

It's really a terrific example, and if we look at some of the details here, it's got the dial with these Japanese numerals.

Oh, that's Japanese, okay.

Yeah.

And the hands are wonderful.

They are the front and back half of a dragon, so when it's quarter of 3:00, we see the entire dragon.

I think that's my favorite part.

It's wonderful.

And that dragon is repeated here in this cloisonné decoration.

And if we turn the clock, we see the detail is just amazing.

I can only imagine what this looked like when it was new, when all these mixed metals were different colors.

This was silver, this was bright brass, darker bronze.

So you had all these different colors, and it would have been beautiful and shiny.

But the detail is wonderful.

The gilding is worn on the base here, but original and really in nice, untouched condition.

There's one little missing drop here.

It doesn't affect the value to any degree.

Again, we have this great dragon motif in the cloisonné on the back.

I love the expression on his face, don't you?

It's a great expression.

And he's got a little necklace.

The detail is wonderful.

So you've had this appraised.

I had it appraised twice: once in 1974, I think maybe $2,000, and about ten or 11 years ago, we had a general appraisal done of all of the items in the house, and it appraised for $10,000.

Okay.

And what do you feel about that appraisal?

Do you think that's appropriate?

No.

I think it's worth a lot more.

I hope it's worth a lot more.

(chuckles): Okay.

What do you think?

Well, let's talk about that.

You've been teasing me about this.

It is worth more.

I think in 2004, a $10,000 appraisal was a little bit low.

In today's world, in a retail store, this would easily be $15,000.

At the peak of the market a few years back, it was more like $20,000 in a high-end gallery.

Good.

How do you feel about that valuation?

I thought it was going to be higher, but it doesn't really matter.

I mean, I still love it.

If this were marked Tiffany, the value would be much higher.

(laughing): Yeah.

WOMAN: I had tickets to the Roadshow, and I had always been curious about this piece that I've owned for about 13 years.

I got it from my mother, I had no idea what it was, but there is a signature on the bottom which I had looked at, but had no way of figuring out what it was.

So this summer, I went to an exhibit of Whistler, saw the big Whistler's Mother, but there were also etchings there, and one of the etchings had a signature that was similar to this one.

And I also had thought that since it's cut out and there's just a signature, that it probably wasn't worth very much because it was cut.

But that etching also looked like this.

Well, that's an interesting point about Whistler and his etchings.

And this is a wonderful example of James Abbott McNeill Whistler's work.

His Venice set-- this is the first of two series he did of Venice-- are really some of his finest work.

You really acquired a lovely print, and you said this was from your mother.

You inherited it?

I did.

I believe it came from my grandparents because they had somewhat classical taste.

In 1879, Whistler came to Venice and was inspired by the beautiful canals.

He was commissioned by the Fine Art Society of London to do a set of these Venice prints, and this is from the first set.

So you may have seen some of those in this museum exhibit that you visited.

The wonderful thing about this print is that quintessential view of Venice-- the canal and the great Palazzio, the palace along the canal.

So this etching is called "The Palaces."

It was done in 1879.

He was inspired by the great etchers: Rembrandt and the old masters.

So etching was revived in the late 19th century by artists like Whistler, and it has all the delicacy, the fine lines of etching in the water.

You can see the gentle lines through here, and the details in the architecture.

He actually would trim these to look like old masters.

You know, he was a dandy, a very stylish man, and he came up with his own symbol.

He didn't just want to use his initials.

So the butterfly appears in his paintings, and as well as in his prints.

And then you noticed the little initials "I.M.P."

He was the printer of this print, and Whistler created this Venice set because he needed the money.

He was bankrupt.

He had just lost his defamation suit against the art critic John Ruskin and he needed the money.

And these prints sold for quite a lot of money in his time, and they sell for quite a bit today.

At auction today, this could bring between $20,000 and $30,000.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, it's a wonderful example.

That's a lot more than I thought.

Oh my gosh.

It's a great print.

Oh, thank you, that is wonderful.

WOMAN: It's a Civil War uniform, and my husband was always interested in militaria items.

And my neighbor realized that, and later on in life, he wanted my husband to have this uniform and other uniforms that he had: World War I uniforms and World War II uniforms from his family-- actually, him and his father's uniform.

But this was very important to him, and he wanted my husband to have this, along with the hat.

And the neighbor, was this in his family?

Yes, it was a relative of his.

And do you remember what that man's name was?

It was Edward Kelsey.

So Edward Kelsey wore this during the Civil War.

That's correct.

It's a rather special uniform, and to look at it, you wouldn't necessarily think that because it has seen happier centuries.

Right.

It's got a lot of moth holes in it, and it has some damage.

There's some damage to the collar, there's some damage at the cuff.

But it's made special because of what he did during the war.

Okay, right.

I looked up his information online to the best of our ability here.

Right.

And found that there were 200-and-some people with that name that served during the Civil War.

Oh.

So it's going to be a bit of a research project in order to get more information about him.

But we can learn a lot more about him just by what you brought here today.

Okay.

The most interesting thing about this uniform is the chevron.

And this tells us what he did for a living during the Civil War-- he was a hospital steward.

There was generally one per regiment.

They liked to choose people from civilian life who had a background as a pharmacist, or maybe a medical student, somebody who's going to be able to be of particular value assisting the regimental surgeon.

Okay.

Every morning in a Civil War camp, there's sick call, and if you're not feeling well, the soldiers could report to the regimental surgeon or to the hospital steward and get medication for whatever ails them.

So there was a lot to do outside of battle just in the overall daily life.

Mm-hmm.

The uniform itself is a private purchase example of a 1858 pattern Union Army U.S. Infantry enlisted frock coat.

We know that it's not an issue pattern because of several details.

If you see here, the photograph that you have of him is actually... he's wearing a different uniform in the photo.

Oh, okay.

And if you look very closely, you can see that there's piping around his cuff, and then also around his collar.

And we note that those details are not present on this particular garment.

Oh.

That's not anything to denigrate the garment.

That simply means that rather than a government issue coat, it's one that he purchased himself.

Purchased, right, right.

Which also helps to explain another mystery on the coat.

The buttons are actually for an officer's coat.

Oh.

You see there's a little "I" in the center; that stands for "infantry."

Okay.

And normally, that's what you would find on an officer's uniform.

He's added these 1851 pattern hospital steward chevrons, and that's really what makes it.

Okay.

The coat itself with the condition issues is on the low end of the Civil War uniform spectrum.

Having an identified Civil War hospital steward's uniform is a very desirable thing to collectors and museums.

Oh, okay.

A conservative auction estimate today would be $8,000 to $10,000.

For this?

(laughs) Oh, my goodness.

Okay.

That's... that's fascinating.

I bought it at a yard sale in 1980.

MAN: How much did you pay?

$125.

So we'll see if it's increased any.

(laughs) I inherited them from my great-aunt.

She was married to the painter.

It's been framed, though, in modern days.

I believe my grandparents got it in Japan in 1909.

Bill, tell me how you got this shield.

My first show of paintings 50 years ago, the little museum wanted one of my paintings, and they didn't have any money.

So we made a trade.

This shield is from Mindanao in the Philippines.

Sure.

Mindanao was settled by headhunting tribes, and this is from a group called the Bagobo.

And when I saw it, I knew the shape, I knew what it was and where it was because a lot of those things came back during the Spanish-American War.

People forget that we fought a war over there in 1898.

At the same time we were in Cuba, we were in the Philippines.

Right.

And when I looked a little closer, I noticed there are little holes all the way around this edge.

And if you run your fingers over them, it feels kind of stubbly, like you forgot to shave.

So it had a fringe.

It had human hair fringe all the way around it.

Whoa.

It wasn't across the bottom, but it was all the way up both sides.

Most of these pieces are from well into the 20th century, but because it had the hair on it, I think it's from the late 1800s, early 1900s, which makes it a fairly scarce item.

They do come up for sale, but not very often.

If this one was to come up at auction, I feel it would easily bring $2,000 to $3,000.

Thank you.

And it's a great piece.

Thank you.

I've enjoyed having it.

Well, my grandparents got it at an auction probably in the '60s.

It was in my house growing up, and I always admired it, and so my mom gave it to me a few years ago.

I know that my grandfather, my mom thinks he paid $500 for it at an auction, and that my grandmother was not pleased.

She thought that was too much.

APPRAISER: Too much money.

Yes.

Do you happen to know the maker?

Tiffany.

Tiffany.

It's a hard label to miss.

Right.

It does date from that time period.

It's a smaller version of a giant clam.

These great flutings along the top here.

This you'd see on a mature clam, for those mollusk fans out there.

It is Tiffany, it is sterling.

The interesting part is it's made in Mexico, and we know that based on the hallmarks that we're going to see inside in the top half of the shell.

If you look here, it's in the lower right hand side, it says "Tiffany Sterling," it says "Mexico," and then there is a little hallmark here on the side, which is probably Taxco, which is the region of Mexico that it was produced.

Okay.

This beautiful gold wash interior would have been throughout.

There was a surge for Mexican sterling in the mid to late 1960s, especially jewelry.

So they were known to employ well-known Taxco and Mexican makers to make the jewelry, put a Tiffany stamp on it, and sell it in the United States.

William Spratling is the best known, probably, Mexican sterling maker, one of the most collected here.

That was sort of the twilight of his career.

Maybe they were trying to get in on that market, I'm not sure.

It does look a lot like a decorator that was working for them, a woman named Janna Thomas.

She worked for them in Mexico from about 1965 to the early 1970s.

Not a super-known person, not a highly collected person.

It doesn't really matter with this shell because it says "Tiffany" on the inside.

Right.

So your grandfather paid about $500 for it in the 1960s.

Yes.

I think in an auction setting, we're looking at about $3,000 to $5,000.

Okay.

Thank you.

WOMAN: This came down through my father's side of the family.

My great-great-grandfather was one of the original Müller Quartet members, and they played for the Duke of Brunswick, they played all over Germany, and then in the 1840s, they started expanding their tour a bit and going throughout Europe.

They were invited to play for the Tsar of Russia in 1845.

They played for Tsar Nicholas the First.

And this was a gift that they received from Tsar Nicholas the First in 1845.

So that's the family history, that's the provenance, is a gift from Tsar Nicholas the First.

Yes.

Okay.

And you guys believe that?

Yeah, that's the story that's come down.

Okay, let's start out with what we know.

Okay, this is a painted and gilded porcelain egg.

Now, it is Russian, and it is indeed made by the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg.

They're unmarked, but I've asked my colleagues around and we're pretty certain it's made by the Imperial Porcelain Factory.

And the big question is the date.

Now, 1840s was when he was there.

1845 was when they played in Moscow.

That's very typical that you find this type of egg that was actually used as a gift from this time period.

Now, you were very curious about what it depicts here.

Yes, very much so.

I believe it's a depiction of St. Alexandra at prayer.

Okay.

Very typical with the crown and the ermine cloak.

Now, the reason we have to guess is because typically, the name of the saint is actually painted across the bottom, but it's not there.

And there's something that's really unusual that we find on Russian eggs like this and throughout Europe in this time period, is this wonderful gilded border.

And as you look to the outside of it, you've got this white line that pulls the whole cartouche out of it and really makes the painting pop.

It's very finely painted.

And on the back, we have a very nicely burnished cypher, and it's a beautiful sunburst and a nice triangular cypher with Cyrillic in it.

We don't know what the initials are, but with a little additional research, we would be able to find out what they are.

Okay.

So very common to also have the silk ribbon that runs through it.

It's just a delightful little egg.

Have you ever had this appraised?

No.

Any idea?

It never really left the house.

Okay, never allowed to leave the house.

Never allowed to leave the house until today.

Well, at auction today, I would expect that this would bring around $8,000.

Wow.

That's amazing.

(laughs) That is amazing.

I inherited it from grandparents.

And where were they from?

My grandfather had railroad interests in these parts, and he came down from New England.

They were from Kennebunk, and they came down in the 1840s, and they got into railroad interests, and then they decided they liked it down here and they bought a plantation.

Now, I see that it's signed "Frederic Remington, 1890," and referenced as being number nine.

When do you suspect that it came into your family?

They did a lot of traveling and bought valuable things in the 1890s to about 1920, in that range.

And were they interested in Western art, or just whatever caught their fancy?

Whatever caught their fancy.

We have various things.

So the family history, then, is that it's been through your family since it was arguably acquired in 1900, the turn of the century.

That's correct.

In 1900, Remington was a known artist.

However, in 1900, people weren't copying his work.

It wasn't something that would have been thought of at the time.

And based on your family history with the piece as well as the quality, the rhythm, the palette, I'm quite confident that the piece is a genuine Frederic Remington.

To my eye, it's a wonderful example of Remington's work in the 1890s.

We want to do a lot more research on the figure.

Is he a scout?

What is the series that's being referenced?

Is it in the catalogue raisonné?

Well, I wondered, with the number on there, I didn't know if it was a print or a painting.

That's what bothered me.

No, it's a watercolor.

It's an original watercolor.

In terms of the quality of it, one of the reasons that Remington's work is so popular now, was popular in 1900, is because of the freshness and the exactness of his hand, really a loose hand, really a great vitality in what he was doing.

So even though it's a very specific figure, it's very loose and contemporary and appeals to a contemporary audience.

In terms of condition, the paper has been toned, and you have some creasing here.

As I said, it's something that we want to do more research on and make certain that it's in the catalogue raisonné, but given the family history with the piece and the quality of the piece and taking into account the condition, I would value it at auction between $80,000 and $120,000.

I see.

Uh... Would you do anything with it, or is it leave it just the way it is?

You pointed out some imperfections.

I would probably take it out of the frame and make certain that it was conserved properly.

I've heard it a million times on the Roadshow.

I didn't expect that.

(laughter) WALBERG: And now, it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth.

And I brought a magic stick.

I thought it was a magic stick, but it turns out to be a swagger stick.

And I brought these candlesticks.

They're brass, obviously.

I knew they were either 1980s or 1800s, and it turns out they're 1980s.

This field drum has been up in Upstate New York.

It's from World War II, I played it in the '70s, a lot of parades, a lot of miles.

And it's a Ludwig, it's worth about $150, but it's got a lot of miles and memories.

Thank you!

We brought our antique platter from Uncle Mike, and we found out that it's worth just enough for us to all go out and get some dinner.

ALL: Thanks, Uncle Mike!

Yep, and I got this tin toy from Germany, paid about ten dollars for it and they told me it was between $300 and $500.

Score!

I came with my great Beatle album signed by the Beatles.

Unfortunately, they are fake, worthless.

However...

I got these beautiful Victorian belt buckles from the turn of the century for free, and they're worth more than her albums.

A lot more, actually.

(laughs) Sucker!

I brought this here painting, and I thought I was gonna be rich, but also, I'm on the Antiques Roadshow, and that's enough riches for me.

Woo-hoo!

WALBERG: I'm Mark Walberg, thanks for watching.

See you next time on Antiques Roadshow.