LSU Rural Life Museum, Hour 3

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: "Antiques Roadshow's" experts have the eye of the tiger at Louisiana State University's Rural Life Museum.

APPRAISER: Sharp knives were outlawed because of, of too many, I think, too many dinnertime fights.

You're kidding!

Fist bump!

(both laughing) ♪ ♪ PEÑA: The Rural Life Museum has a wide assortment of utilitarian objects that were invaluable to their owners for their functionality.

But it also has treasured artworks by the beloved Louisiana artist Clementine Hunter, a prolific self-taught painter who lived at the Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches Parish for most of her life.

Hunter started painting in her late 50s.

She worked all day in the plantation house, then painted at night on any surface she could find.

Five of Hunter's artworks at the museum are painted with oil on canvas board, and showcase the common themes of her work: laboring in the fields, daily chores, and religious events.

Did we see any paintings of the prolific Clementine Hunter today?

Take a look.

(guest laughing) Hi, there.

Hi!

MAN: How are you today?

We're good.

(laughs): We're doing great.

(laughing) It's a bucket list moment!

Hoping it is a Louis XV little side table.

Where I work, the lady has this piece, and I was, like, "I'll trade you a desk for that."

She goes, "Okay."

(laughs) GUEST 2: I loved it.

But she said, "Mom, we have to get rid of it, I want this," and I'm, like... (imitates crying) (laughs) GUEST: It was something from my mom's mother, my grandmother.

This is the Hessmobil.

It was made in Germany by a company named Hess.

Now, look on the roof here, you see these dots?

That's caused from bubble wrap.

I would just use some soap and water.

Okay.

Okay.

And while those imperfections are gonna stay, they won't be quite as noticeable.

All right.

GUEST: I brought "The Defenders" number one, page one, and I think it's from 1972.

It's this page.

And where did you get the page from?

I bought it online.

I was stationed in Iraq back in s, '06 and '07.

I saw it go on sale, so I decided to buy it.

And I believe I paid around 7,000 for it, which was a lot, but I had combat pay.

So I used my combat pay to pay for this baby.

I didn't see it for over a year.

I had to wait till I come back to the United States.

You are correct in that, yes, this is page one from "Defenders" one.

When you first came to the table today... Yeah.

...literally, I had to control my eyeballs from exploding out of my head-- that's how good this page is.

Really?

Yes, absolutely.

'Cause no one else ever seems to like it but me, so... Yeah.

Well, you've met the second guy that likes it.

So I'm right there with you.

Oh, thank-- yeah!

Wow.

So, the Defenders, very interesting team of heroes when it comes to Marvel.

While this is "Defenders" one, they were actually first introduced in "Marvel Feature" one...

Okay.

...in, uh, December 1971.

The Defenders were portrayed as the first non-team, really, when it comes to Marvel Comics, 'cause prior to this, you have the Fantastic Four, you had the X-Men, you had the Avengers.

You have all these people that have come tobe, gether as a concrete team, whereas when the Defenders first came, your three initial members are the Incredible Hulk, Doctor Strange, and Namor the Submariner.

From 1972 to 1986, the Defenders had a revolving door of characters that were included.

I mean, you had Valkyrie, Son of Satan, and Luke Cage.

They included Silver Surfer becoming a member officially of the Defenders in issue two.

All right.

But let's get to the page itself.

Okay, mm-hmm.

So you have Sal Buscema on the pencils, and you have Frank Giacoia on the inks.

It's just such an eye-catching page.

In really good condition-- it does have some toning to it.

Okay.

Have you ever had this appraised before or anything like that?

(chuckling): Um, yeah, it was probably about 2011, and it was for $400, which really disappointed me.

Okay, well, I am happy to report that we're going to give you a lot better news...

Okay.

...than $400 today.

If this were to come up for auction in a properly well-advertised setting, I would put a catalogue estimate on it of $15,000 to $20,000.

Whoa.

(laughs) Whoa!

And I wouldn't be surprised, personally... Yeah.

...if that high estimate would be exceeded, if not doubled, because just as a comparison... Yeah.

You know, being original artwork... Yeah!

Yeah, you're, get excited, yeah, this is awesome!

Right, right, right, because I'm just, like, looking at this.

That's more than I paid for it, and that $400, I was so disappointed, 'cause, like, I love this.

I, and I'm not trying to put prices on my paper babies, as I call 'em, but I didn't think it was respectful.

That's how I felt.

I appreciate it, you, I mean, I'm happy, 'cause... Baby, I knew, I knew you were worthwhile.

(laughs) I really did.

It's a great piece.

I really-- oh, thank you, I love it.

Recently, in 2022, the cover to "Defenders" one brought over a quarter-million dollars at auction.

Ooh!

This is a piece that my mother had on her baby grand piano in her living room.

I think she probably got it on her 25th wedding anniversary.

So what year was the wedding anniversary?

1949.

It's made by a company called Meriden, and they were experts at making silver plate.

Oh, okay.

So it's got a nice, wonderful silver layer over it...

Okay, so it's not, okay.

...but it's not solid sterling.

You've got, still have the silver plating to it, which is great-- most people polished it all off.

So thank you for not doing that.

We see pieces like this come to auction a lot.

They bring good money.

Not a l, great money, but they bring good money.

So a piece like this at auction would sell for about $300 to $500.

Okay, okay.

Yeah.

My mama would be pleased that I still have it, and I think she'd be pleased that I brought it here.

GUEST: These are pictures that were purchased from Clementine Hunter by my wife in about 1968-69.

At the time, she was going to school in North Louisiana and had heard about the artist, and drove to Melrose Plantation and asked if there were some pictures available.

And Clementine offered these two pictures to her, and was very apologetic because that's the only two that she had that day to show.

And my wife bought both of them and paid ten dollars apiece.

My wife's impression was that she was a very humble individual who was almost embarrassed to be asking money for what she loved to do.

These are great-- they're really good-looking.

They pop, visually.

The images, somewhat naive, typical of Clementine's style, obviously really captured, with great honesty, figures in everyday life, whether fishing, whether involved with hauling cotton, baptisms, weddings, uh, and funerals.

There was a, a, a feature about her in "Look" magazine in 1953.

But it was really around the 1970s that, uh, people really began to take note in the art community at large.

It's interesting, depending upon what you read about her.

She painted thousands of paintings.

I don't know that we know exactly the number.

It's worth noting that there are paintings on the market that bear the distinctive initialed signature of Clementine Hunter's, the C and the H joined.

There are some on the market that are dubious.

That are not right, that are fakes.

I believe each is an original oil on board.

Each was probably executed right around circa 1960.

I would note that the frames appear to be later than the paintings.

Did you have the frames put on afterward, or were they acquired this way?

No, they were put on afterwards to try to protect the painting.

The market for artists who, during a lot of their lifetime, were not recognized, were not really given their due by the art world, times have changed.

On the supposition that each is genuine, and given the extraordinary provenance as you've explained it, I think I would probably want to insure the two together for $10,000.

Whoa.

That's incredible.

That's a big jump from ten dollars.

But I'm going to have to do that now.

Get them insured for the $10,000.

Now, that's just incredible.

Kudos to my wife.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: This small structure, referred to as the single-pen slave cabin, was constructed around 1840 and moved here in 1971.

It was originally on the Welham Plantation in St. James Parish, Louisiana.

The cabin across from it has two units, designed with a double fireplace in the center of the building.

Boards would be put across the ceiling beams and layered with quilts, making space for seven or more people to sleep in this tiny cabin.

You brought this great pair of Michael Jordan not single-signed, but double-sign kicks.

You got to tell us, how'd you get them?

It's the 1997 All-Star Weekend.

Mm-hmm.

Michael Jordan gives the shoes to Mr. Eric Martin.

Eric Martin played for the Saints for nine seasons.

He was a Pro Bowler, he's in the Saints Hall of Fame.

Eric Martin then gave the shoes to Dr. Tommy Karam.

Dr. Tommy is the head of marketing, does sports branding for LSU players.

Tommy's been a mentor to, for me most of my life, and Tommy then gave the shoes to me as a nice gift.

For Christmas?

Holiday?

What... Graduation.

Gr, oh, and you're graduating from... LSU.

LSU, that's your... Go, Tigers.

(laughs): Go, Tigers.

When he gave them to me, I kind of pushed 'em back at him, because I, I had, he told me the story, and I, I had, look, I don't have anything this nice.

What does Michael Jordan mean to you?

Oh, he's the best, he's the GOAT.

He's the all-around player.

He was a fierce competitor, and I love it.

And he's a bigger brand today than ever.

Jordan not only revolutionized basketball when he entered the league in 1984, he revolutionized the sneaker industry.

When he was drafted by the Bulls in '84, he could have signed with Adidas, 'cause Adidas and Converse, those were the two big manufacturers of basketball shoes.

And Nike was a distant third, if e, if even that.

They were best known for track and field sneakers, and they were having a problem with sales, and they put it all on the line.

They offered Jordan's family-- his parents, they did the deal-- $250,000.

But his parents came back and said, "Michael wants a percentage of every shoe sale."

And they gave it to him.

Five percent.

So the first year of sales, they thought, "Maybe we'll sell three million."

They sold $126 million of Air Jordans.

That's ridiculous-- that is insane.

And part of the marketing was, they had an Air Sole technology they were using, and they decided to go with Air Jordan for the Air Sole.

Hm.

You fast-forward today, Michael Jordan has made probably 15 to 20 times more through his deal with Nike than he ever did in his career.

In 2022 alone-- and remember, he retired in 2003-- Michael Jordan brand Air Jordan sneakers, $5.1 billion.

When we're valuing sneakers, right?

We've got signed, we've got game-issued, and then we've got game-used.

And you had the sneakers he used for the Bulls and the sneakers that they produced for the All-Star games.

And they would produce editions, because every time, that would be more sales for Nike.

The ones that we found that were in the game... You see this little Air Jordan, the logo here, the logo man?

Mm-hmm.

That was actually in red.

Mm-hmm.

We've got dual-signed Michael Jordan sneakers, we know.

We know your provenance, right?

But we don't know how much he wore them or if he wore them.

So an auction estimate on these, $10,000 to $15,000.

(whistles) That's, that's a lot higher than I was expecting.

But I, I know that the market's just constantly growing of more sneaker heads, and people are just falling in love with collecting these shoes.

It's cool to just kind of be a part of this whole sneaker scene.

And to have just such a cultural icon like Michael Jordan, and to have something of his is, I, it means a lot.

Don't wear 'em.

(chuckles) Never once-- no shot.

You're talking anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands if they're worn in an actual game.

GUEST: I inherited this from my mother about three years ago.

Where she got it, I don't know, but she had it for a long time.

She was from Oklahoma.

Okay.

And I'm assuming this would be from Oklahoma.

It's from the Southwestern Plains, made by a Kiowa woman.

The Kiowa people, an extraordinary tribe.

Horsemen, equestrians of the first order.

And they chased the buffalo from north to south, east to west.

They originated in Western British Columbia, Canada.

Came down through Western Montana and the Rocky Mountains, migrated, following the buffalo herds on horseback, down into the Southern Plains.

Just post-Civil War, things were changing dramatically for Native Americans, particularly west of the Mississippi.

Reservations were being established.

The ability to, uh, roam freely was being, uh, seriously eroded.

In 1867, a treaty was signed, the Medicine Lodge Treaty, and they lost their, uh, freedom to just roam.

Mm-hmm.

And thousands of Kiowas were sequestered on a reservation in Southwestern Oklahoma, onto about 2.8 million acres.

A large amount of land.

Yeah.

But not, not so large when you consider what they had come from.

Right.

The Kiowa today are a proud nation, and this is a tribute to their heritage.

It's a vital, vital tribe.

Mm-hmm.

This dates to 1890-1900.

Mm-hmm.

This is a young woman's dress-- the hide is deer.

It's Native-tanned, would have been softened and prepared with the mashed-up brains of deer... Mm-hmm.

...that would provide both, uh, acid and lanolin.

(chuckling): And then we have quite a bit of trade material on this.

The glass beads are from Europe.

The ribbons may well have been from France.

I'm not certain about that, but Europe.

These shells are from Africa-- they're cowrie shells.

At the very bottom, there are tin cone dangles.

(chuckles): Those would have been appropriated from food containers or snuff boxes.

The long, long, long fringe, the Kiowa are famous for their ability to fringe garments.

If it got wet, the hide sheds water quickly.

Mm-hmm.

And it evaporates.

But in addition, when the lady is moving, the fringe moves, and it, it's just very, very poetic.

(murmurs) The Kiowa, they are renowned for their beadwork and their design.

Every element of this is carefully considered.

This woman w, was really quite skilled.

And this is not the first dress she made, I can tell you that much.

This was an individually owned object.

Yes.

Not a clan object.

That would have affected the, uh, potential salability.

Mm-hmm.

A Native tribe might wish to have certain things back in their possession, rightfully so.

I don't believe this is one of them.

On a retail basis, I would value this at around $7,000.

(softly): Whoa.

It, it's highly desirable.

I can't tell you how much we enjoyed seeing this.

Thank you.

I appreciate that, I really do.

♪ ♪ MAN: How much did you have to pay for it?

(laughing): I...

Ten dollars.

'Cause I'm always the one that says, "Don't buy it, don't get that, we don't need it!"

MAN 2: But of course you needed that one.

That's a great one, isn't it?

I know that it's from my partner's grandpa, and we use it every day.

We looked it up and tried to find the sleeping Charlie Chaplin, and we couldn't, so we thought maybe it was worth something.

I should have wiped it down.

Now I feel bad-- shoot!

GUEST: This is my husband's grandfather's watch.

It was a watch that we actually found while cleaning out a home after his aunt passed away about two years ago.

My husband's grandfather served in World War I.

After the war, he stayed in Europe and toured a little while, and we think that's when he purchased it, possibly in France.

This watch, which is a Patek Philippe... Mm-hmm.

...probably the finest watch company in the U, in the world...

Right.

...was probably made between 1915 and maybe 1918.

Okay.

It's an early luminescent dial, and the condition is, like, untouched.

Patek Philippe, which is one of the earliest watch companies-- they started as a pocket watch maker in 1839, and they transitioned into wristwatches.

This is probably one of the first versions of their wristwatches.

This is a 18-karat-gold yellow case.

This particular watch was a man's watch.

The luminescent dial was really distinctive of Patek Philippe, which kind of set a style for everybody.

It was a ground-setting kind of watch.

Their production has never been large, it still isn't today.

They don't make a lot of watches, but they make the finest watch...

Right.

...in the world.

Right.

This was handmade, probably one-off movements, one-off cases.

They probably only made one a day of this style case.

The condition is really, really nice to see.

Most of them have been refinished or damaged, and your watch is immaculate.

The dial's all original.

The dial's probably made out of sterling silver with the, uh, luminescence.

The dial says "Patek Philippe," and it's actually embossed in enamel.

Most of the time, when these dials deteriorate or they get refinished, the enamel comes out.

This watch has all the right characteristics.

Even the crystal's original.

When this watch was manufactured, this dial probably glowed.

You could see it in nighttime when you walked down the street.

Okay.

That's the lum part of it.

A watch in this condition, which is really rare, probably, in today's market, would be about a $40,000 to $50,000 watch, retail.

Okay.

And very collectible and very desirable.

Wow, okay.

Awesome, awesome.

Yep.

I think there may be a fight to the finish on who's going to wear it next.

You unrolled this, and I was, I was blown away.

What's the story with this?

After high school, I, um, hooked up with a carnival and traveled around for a couple of years.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: And during that time, the owner, Don Moyer... APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: ...taught me to eat fire.

I added it to my magic show, basically, and then he, then he gave me the banner.

He gave you the banner years later?

Or just at the end of your... No, during the carnival.

Oh, you were still a kid.

I actu, I, I used it.

Wow.

Yeah, so I was still a kid.

The...

So I've had this for 4, over 40 years.

Is there a secret that... Yeah, well, there's lots of secrets.

I, I really don't share them with too many people, though, 'cause it's kind, it's fairly dangerous.

I had to ask, but did you ever get burned?

(laughs) I did.

And you were the fire eater, you were...

Wait, you were this guy.

Yeah, this was me.

How old were you then?

I was probably, uh, 21.

The wonderful thing is that, as you, you know part of the story, but you brought in a Fred Johnson circus banner, which is great folk art, first of all.

And it's a great document of our, our country's history of having circuses, traveling circuses.

And here I am with the guy that, that ate the fire, right?

That's so cool.

(laughs) Fred Johnson has been called the Picasso of circus banner art-- that's how major he is.

This is an impressive one.

And the great thing is that it's, it is signed down here in the lower right, "Fred Johnson."

And you have "O. Henry Tent & Awning Company, Chicago, Illinois."

And right there is the date, 1940.

So this is rather early in his career.

He worked with the O. Henry Tent and Awning Company in Chicago, Illinois, from 1934 to '74.

It's wonderful folk art, it's very visual.

I would say, conservatively, you could put a value of $4,000 to $6,000, an auction estimate.

Okay.

And it's...

But of course, you're never going to sell it, right?

No, never.

You're never going to sell it.

Now, could you show me, now, now, now that I've done something for you, I've given you the price, can you do the fire eating?

(laughs): No, I... You can't, you can't-- ah, okay, okay.

No, I cannot, no, I cannot.

(grumbling) (laughing) PEÑA: The Revigator water dispenser was an early-20th-century version of an enhanced water product, but one that posed more of a health risk than benefit.

The ceramic crock was lined with radioactive materials, like uranium, that would leach into the water.

Although the makers claimed the water created in the crock would cure everything from arthritis to flatulence to senility, it actually held potential for radon toxicity, arsenic and lead poisoning.

This is a shield that's been hanging in my dining room.

My husband and I, his mother was an avid antique collector, and she passed away, and after she passed, we found this in the attic, probably around 1999.

And my husband thought it was really cool, and so we hung it in our dining room.

He has since passed away, but it was something that he very much adored.

He loved "Roadshow."

This was one thing that he always talked about, whenever we thought about things that we would bring if we ever got a chance to go to the "Roadshow."

Mm-hmm.

He always said that he would bring this shield.

So it's very special.

Yes.

It's, um, a sil, electroplated silver shield.

It's made by Elkington and Company out of Birmingham, England.

They sort of were on the forefront of the electroplating process.

It's a thin, thin layer of silver over a, a base metal, and it was designed by Léonard Morel-Ladeuil.

He was a French artist, he died in 1888.

But he designed the shield having in mind that he was going to design it for the 1867 Paris Exhibition, where it did win a gold medal.

And after that, the gold medal and the shield, or the original shield, which was in silver, in sterling, are now at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Wow.

After that, the Elkington Company produced many replicas and sold them.

They were replicas in electroplate.

So on the front, after the artist signature, it's dated 1866.

Copies of these were sold after 1867, and this is one of those copies.

It was purely promotional to help them sell their more everyday wares that they made.

This is called the, the Milton Shield because the imagery that inspired this by th, by the sculptor was John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost."

In the middle, you've got the angel Raphael and Adam and Eve, you know, being cast out.

And they were made for purely decorative purposes.

They come up at auction in varying degrees of condition, and they consistently bring around $4,000 to $6,000 at auction.

Wow.

Wow-- well, thank you.

GUEST: We were going through my grandmother's attic after she had passed away in 2004, and we found this in her belongings-- I brought a program from the Wisconsin-Iowa game and a letter.

My grandmother was a, uh, big football fan, and she and my grandfather went to the 1939 Wisconsin game.

And when they came back home, they, uh, brought the program and gave it to my mother and her sister.

They were twins.

And each of them looked through the program and decided to write to one of the, uh, players.

And my aunt ended up writing to someone from Iowa.

My mom wrote to someone from, from Wisconsin.

Who was written to for Iowa?

For Iowa, my Aunt Jean wrote Nile Kinnick.

Okay, and for Wisconsin?

Uh, my mother wrote for Bert Connelly.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Well, the Kinnick pick was probably the, the smarter pick.

(laughs): Probably.

And, and, and why?

Well, he was the Heisman Trophy winner that year.

(laughing) Yeah, yeah.

So Nile Kinnick was the fifth-ever Heisman Trophy winner, of 1939.

She got the letter back in November of that year.

He won the Heisman Trophy a month later, i, i, in, in December.

Oh!

So technically, it's a pre-Heisman Trophy le... (laughing): ...letter written by Nile Kinnick.

Uh, if you don't mind, what does the letter say?

Um, it says, "Dear Jean, May I say that you "and your sister are very cute-- very cute indeed.

Best wishes, Nile Kinnick."

That's fantastic.

So here in the photo, we have, we have the, the cute girls.

Yeah.

(laughs): As Nile put it.

That's my Aunt Jean.

Okay.

She wrote the letter.

And the o, one on my side is my mom, Jane.

Okay.

He didn't go on to play professional football.

He wanted no part of that-- what did he do after he won the Heisman Trophy?

He went to law school.

(gasps): Like my husband.

'Cause... Because the world needs more lawyers.

(laughs): Yes!

So he went to law school, uh, did that for a year.

Did well.

I think he was the third-ranked, uh, law student in his class, but he didn't finish that.

Ever the high achiever, he enlisted in the Navy.

He enlisted in the, as a Naval Air Reserve.

And that's part of what becomes morbid about his story, is, it, that's where he met his tragic end.

On June 2, 1943, he was training.

Routine training expedition off the coast of Venezuela.

His plane had an oil leak.

He followed all procedures, everything he was trained to do.

Tried to land, ultimately died when he hit the water.

Wow.

Body was never found.

And ultimately, Nile Kinnick became the fifth Heisman Trophy winner, the first to die.

Oh!

And, and now what we have today is the, be, because of those circumstances, the most rare Heisman Trophy autograph out there.

He was 24.

Oh, my...

He was a month short of be, being, becoming 25.

Oh, what a loss.

That's... Oh, my gosh.

That's, that's what you've got.

I didn't know that, I knew it was a Heisman Trophy winner, but I didn't know that.

I love the provenance.

I love what the girls did and how they wrote.

When my 11-year-old daughter watches this, I can't wait, because this is how you, this... (laughs) ...this is how you write to people.

You know, "Dear Mr. Kinnick, I am eight years old, "and my name is Jean.

(laughs): "When my grandmother "went to the Wisconsin-Iowa football game, she gave us your program."

It's just so polite.

And sure enough, he wrote back, and they were very cute.

Iowa won, 19 to 13.

The condition on the program?

Yeah.

It's taped along the spine.

Yeah.

It's got some creasing.

It's got some tearing-- at auction, let's give it $100 value, because we like, we love Nile Kinnick.

You've got a card in here.

It's a 1955 Bowman.

This probably grades at a two, which on a one to ten scale... Ooh.

...it's on the lower end of that spectrum, not a lot of value.

I'd be remiss to say, fetch more than $100.

Okay?

Well, that's more than I paid for it.

It was $25.

(chuckling): Well, there, there you go.

Have you any idea of, of the value of such a thing?

Of such an autograph?

No, not from what you're describing.

$1,000 or something?

Well... We think that at auction, this piece could sell for $15,000 to $20,000.

(gasps) You're kidding.

(laughs): Oh, my God.

My husband's going to be so excited!

I'm excited!

Are you sure?

Uh, pretty confident.

(laughing) Oh, my God!

(laughing) I'm sorry.

(laughs) Wow, gosh.

We think you could insure this piece for $50,000.

Oh, oh... (laughs) Oh, no, I'm so-- oh, my gosh, that's...

I-- I'm sorry.

(giggling): Oh...

Listen, when...

Thank you, thank you-- ooh!

Fist bump.

(both laughing) Listen, when you came, we, I, I was very excited.

I was really... Oh, well, I'm excited now.

(both laughing) How am I going to get it home?

(laughs) Care...

Very carefully.

Very carefully.

(laughs) GUEST: I've owned it for 12 or 13 years.

Bought it from a woman that, she said her mom owned it back in the '60s, early '70s.

It always stayed under plastic, she was never allowed to sit on it.

I've never seen another one like it.

Well, you know, I've done this since the 1980s.

I've done modern furniture, 20th-century design, and I can tell you that I've never seen one, either.

Mm-hmm.

The plastic did help it.

It's in fantastic condition.

I wonder if it had some sort of, like, medicinal purpose, you know?

Sure, sure.

That maybe you'd hurt your back?

Yeah, yeah.

Or possibly, if you just drank way too much.

(laughs) 'Cause it goes both ways, you know?

Right?

Yes, it's perfect.

You can get out from this side... Yeah.

...or this side.

Exactly.

(laughs): That's as far back as I can get.

(laughing) There you go.

GUEST: When I was a little girl, probably about nine years old, my dad had a peanut farm in Charleston, South Carolina.

And one day, he came home with this old gentleman he found in the woods.

He was just, had an old shack.

He was homeless.

And so Dad said, "Do you want a little job?"

And he said, "Yeah."

So he brought him home, and all of us kids fell in love with him.

He had this, plus other little things in, of interest.

And so I, I liked that, and so he s, said, "Take it, just don't play with it.

It's not good for you to play with."

So I said, "Oh, I won't."

Years ago, I sent pictures to, uh, Smithsonian Institute, and, uh, they said they couldn't check it out unless they had it visually.

But they thought it could be 1200 BC.

This was made in Persia, present-day Iran, and it was made in the mid-19th century, circa 1850.

It was made in the Qajar Dynasty, when they ruled Persia from the late 18th century to 1925.

And the reason we can be so certain is the fact that there are human figures, which are on the grip.

Yeah.

Now, generally, in Islamic art, it was considered profane to... Yeah.

...make the human image.

And it wasn't until the Qajar Dynasty, in particular, that, because there's nothing in the Quran that prohibits it.

Right.

So, suddenly, it appears and flourishes... Mm-hmm.

...during that period of time.

This type of dagger is called a jambiya.

Jambiya?

Um, yeah, which I believe is Arabic for dagger.

Uh-huh, okay.

(chuckles) And it basically refers to the curve of the blade.

This form of dagger you will see from Morocco all the way through Persia... Mm-hmm.

...and even India.

It was a very popular design, and it has this wonderful carved walrus ivory grip.

The good thing about it being walrus ivory, as opposed to elephant ivory, is that it comes with fewer restrictions on selling it.

Walrus ivory is regulated under the Marine Mammals Protection Act.

Due to the level of decoration, I would guess that this is more of something one would wear as a dress as opposed to actually use as a weapon.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

The other thing that's wonderful about it is, is that it's got its, appears to be its original wooden scabbard covered in leather, and it's in excellent condition.

And you almost never see that.

At auction, it would probably make somewhere between $5,000 to $7,000.

$5,000 to $7,000?

Yeah.

Without the scabbard, I would think that, that the value is only $3,000 to $5,000.

It really elevates the value.

Yeah-- well, good.

GUEST: I brought my tin of Madam C.J.

Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower.

It was a gift from my boss.

Mm-hmm.

I had gone online and seen it, and I wanted to bid on it, and he decided he was going to outbid me and give it to me for my birthday.

This was my opportunity to get an authentic piece of Black history.

Madam C.J.

Walker was the first female millionaire... Mm-hmm.

...self-made in the United States, so... Mm-hmm, yeah.

I thought that was pretty awesome.

And...

But that's all I really know about it.

And she developed cosmetic and hair care products...

Right.

...in around 1905.

By the height of her career in the 1920s, she was worth millions of dollars.

Right.

She was also a social activist.

Right.

The can alone can be worth several hundred dollars, $500-plus.

But the boxes are always rare.

I would put an auction estimate of $500 to $800.

You're kidding me!

And I'd expect it to sell for about a grand.

Wow!

I had no clue.

Wow, that is incredible!

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I have a violin, uh, from 16th century.

(laughs) Violin.

Got it from a yard sale, and looked like a good deal.

It's supposed to be 16th-century.

We'll see.

(laughs) This one has an 18th-century label, and this one has... ...a 17th-century label.

Wow.

And I'm afraid to tell you that both these labels, I think, are fake labels.

Oh, you got to be kidding.

Instruments get all kinds of labels, and it's easy to switch labels on violins.

Oh, no.

I can take a label like that right out by soaking it w, with a Q-Tip... Wow.

...and pulling it right out of the sound hole.

Wow.

(chuckles): And I can put another one in, in 20 minutes.

Wow.

GUEST: My parents bought that when I was very young, in New Orleans.

They liked to collect art and paintings, and they really liked this artist, but they couldn't afford her paintings.

So, they found a book that she had painted in and purchased that.

Her name was, um, Gertrude Morgan... Mm-hmm.

...and she was born in Alabama in 1900, and moved to New Orleans in the late '30s.

Mm-hmm.

Women in the Baptist Church were not allowed to preach from the pulpit.

So, she had a church, uh, at her home in the Ninth Ward called the Everlasting Gospel Mission, where she would have sermons.

Uh, she also had an orphanage at one point.

Much of her life was guided by what she said were these revelations that she received from, from God.

So, in 1956, she began painting.

She met a, uh, art dealer, and he started selling her paintings and promoting her.

Right.

And in 1970, she had three major shows at three major museums... Mmm.

...along with other Southern folk artists.

So, she started to become pretty well-known.

And so, this art dealer published this book of, uh, different biblical quotes with her paintings as illustrations.

And in some of them, she painted them.

The book actually sold 300,000 copies... Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

...which was a huge amount.

You can see that she signed it, and then she painted herself.

So, this is the artist, sitting in this green chair.

She always wore white.

And the different members of her congregation on the inside of the book.

So that makes it special.

Mm-hmm.

She did about 800 works of art between 1956 and 1973.

Okay.

This was, this book was published in 1970.

So, a couple of years after this book was published, she stopped making art.

Mm, okay.

And, because she thought she'd gotten too famous... Mm-hmm.

...and that God wanted her to focus on her, her preaching and her spiritual life.

Yeah.

She died in, uh, New Orleans in 1980.

Mm-hmm.

Do you know what your parents paid for the book?

They said it cost $60.

Her paintings started at $350.

So, there was one that sold at auction a few, about ten years ago for $1,600.

Mm, oh, wow.

And some of her works on paper, which aren't much larger than the, the opened pages of this book, have sold for as, almost $70,000.

Wow.

So, I think that this book, illustrated, painted the way it is, is probably worth between $4,000 and $5,000.

Wow.

Wow.

(giggles) That's great.

More than I thought.

(laughs) It's really special.

She's an artist that a lot of people are very interested in right now.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The Rural Life Museum explores how people of past generations lived and died.

Check out this Fisk mummy coffin, patented in 1848 by Almond Fisk.

Marketed as the "Fisk Airtight Coffin of Cast or Raised Metal," the burial case was designed to better preserve a corpse and prevent grave robbing.

At a price of about $100, compared to the two-dollar pine box coffin of the period, the human-shaped container was an expensive choice.

♪ ♪ GUEST: Well, it's 1905.

It's a Navy recruiting poster.

It's a chromolithograph.

I acquired it about 1980.

I purchased it in a phone auction.

I enjoy collecting American history, and the Spanish-American War is a period of time of interest to me.

This poster pictures a ship very similar to the Maine.

Then, it had antiquity to it, so, I enjoyed it.

Can I ask how much you paid for it when you bought it?

$575.

Do you happen to know what ship it is?

I have no idea.

So the funny thing is, I had no idea, either.

And I did a little research and I figured out the name of the ship online.

And then, like a thunderclap, it hit me that the sailors rowing out to the boat are wearing hats that bear the name of the ship.

(laughs) Which is the U.S.S.

Connecticut.

That never crossed my mind.

(chuckles) And the Connecticut, built in 1903-1904, was the last pre-dreadnought class of battleships in the United States Navy.

The important part of this is the history, right, a few years after the end of the Spanish-American War... That's correct.

...and two years before another seminal naval event in America, which was the sailing of the Great White Fleet.

Yeah.

Where 16 battleships, 14,000 men, under orders from President Theodore Roosevelt, sailed around the world, showing off America's naval might.

And that explains, I believe, why this battleship is painted white, in preparation for that.

And that's just wonderful, from a military history point of view.

There are other Navy recruitment posters that say the exact s, have the exact same text, "Young men wanted for the Navy."

And there are two main differences with these other posters.

One is that it was a slightly later poster, where the pay is $17 to $77.

So, we see how inflation hits.

Wow.

(laughs) The other thing about that other poster is that I have never seen an authentic copy of that poster.

I have only seen reproductions.

And frankly, when you came up today, I saw this poster and I was, like, "Oh, it's that reproduction.

"I'm going to tell this nice gentleman his treasured artifact is no good."

And then we looked at it together, and you're right, to a point.

It's not a chromolithograph, it's a lithograph poster.

Mm-hmm.

Printed in Washington by Andrew B. Graham.

In the world of posters, unlike paintings, which can be unique, there's no such thing as one of a kind.

This was a recruiting poster.

They would have printed thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, and distributed them across the country.

And yet, in my entire career, which, I'm embarrassed to say, has been almost 30 years in the business, I have never seen an original copy of this poster before.

Wow.

I'll go one step farther.

When I went online to look for this poster, I found nothing.

It has zero digital trace, which is very surprising, in fact, in this day and age.

So, it also speaks to its rarity.

In 1905, when this poster was printed, it was really the dawn of the modern American Navy.

In the years following the Spanish-American War, the ships were mostly older Civil War-era.

As America entered into the 20th century, uh, we realized that we needed to improve our fleet.

And these Connecticut-class ships were among the ways that we did that.

In what research I was able to do today, I have not found an earlier American lithograph recruiting men into the United States Navy.

There are broadsides, which are typographic only, there are political cartoons, but I believe this might be the earliest American naval recruiting poster, uh, to have been printed.

It's not in the best condition.

No.

Right?

There are some damaged pieces here.

The colors are a little faded, uh, specifically the reds, which would have been a brighter red.

Mm.

And you see a few spots of actual bright red that still are there in front of the letters.

Those are not parts of the poster that didn't fade.

What that is are places in the poster that, years ago, were touched up with paint in red to match the existing red.

But when you get your hands on a holy relic and there are some chips and some flaws, you excuse those... Amen.

...because there's no opportunity to find another one in better condition on the market.

But when you have a piece that hasn't come up for sale before, it's very difficult to find comparables.

So, conservatively is the best that I can be.

Uh, and I would think that at auction today, this poster would sell for between $4,000 and $6,000.

Sounds good to me.

GUEST: So, this my dad brought back from World War II.

He was, uh, with Patton, General Patton's, uh, battalion.

He acquired it somewhere there.

I don't, I don't think it was purchased.

He brought this back, tried and tried to get some information on it.

Never could.

So, a family mystery.

Yeah, it really is.

Yeah.

And, and Dad, he's gone now.

But I wish he could have known what it was, you know, 'cause he loved it.

Yeah.

So, it's in this fitted box, and it's a personal cutlery set.

So, if you were of high income, a prestigious person in Europe-- this is probably made in the late 18th, early 19th century... Really?

Okay.

...you would have traveled with your own, um, your own personal set.

You never knew what you were going to find when you went someplace.

Right, right.

So, you wanted to be prepared.

(chuckles) Right, right.

And this really has just about everything you would need for fine dining.

Probably made in Augsburg, uh, Germany.

There are hallmarks on, um... And I don't know, do you know what this piece is used for?

No.

It's an egg cup.

Egg cup, okay.

So you'd be able to have your, your h, hard- or soft-, soft-boiled egg.

And it has the hallmarks on the front here.

They're, you know, quite small, but there's an Augsburg mark, which helps us know where it's made.

And very much in the Baroque style that would have been popular from the 17th century.

We know that it's, um, not quite that early because of the marks and also, um, the shape of the knife.

Okay.

So, the knife is not a pointy knife.

Oh, okay, hmm.

And, um, certainly in France, right at the cusp of the 18th century, sharp knives were outlawed because of, of too many, I think, too many dinnertime fights.

Oh.

And the fork, um, is a traditional fork that we're used to seeing with four tines.

So, not an earlier form that only had two, that was more for skewering items.

Okay.

The small box, uh, next to you is, uh, probably a personal salt, uh, salt container.

Salt or spices.

Again, you wanted to bring your own so that you were certain that they were safe.

They hadn't been tainted.

Yeah, yeah.

There's a little, um, sort of scoop in front here, which is a marrow scoop, for digging out... A what?

Marrow.

Marrow?

From, uh, the bones.

(chuckles) Oh, my gosh, okay.

Um, and there's a pick, um, there.

Beautiful design, beautiful quality.

It's silver, um, with a gold wash on it.

So, silver-gilt.

Okay.

And at auction, I would say a value between $6,000 and $8,000.

(mouthing) (laughing): Okay, whoa.

I love that.

(chuckles) I don't know whether I could part with it, though.

My brother, you know, he, he'll be willing to, so, I'll just hand it over to him.

(both laughing) I'm assuming it's a liqueur dispenser.

I bought it in Kemah, Texas, about 20 years ago at an estate sale.

MAN: What did you have to pay for it?

GUEST: $100.

We have not tried using it-- this is locked up-- and I couldn't find any information on the, uh, internet.

We got this at a antique store in Greensburg, Kansas, and they were hesitant to sell it to me.

I guess it survived, like, an F5 tornado in 2007, and so I loved it, and we actually went back twice on our way home from Colorado from our honeymoon, and they still had it, and she sold it to me.

MAN: What did you have to pay for it?

GUEST: I think, like, $750 or $700?

MAN: Yeah, they all look very ill.

I, I hope that the, uh, medicine fixed them.

I hope so, too.

Yeah.

Kind of trippy.

(all laughing) It hangs in our basement bathroom.

It's entertaining... All of our guests like it.

Yeah, entertaining decor.

GUEST: This painting was done by a student of my grandfather, who was an, an artist in New Orleans.

Okay.

And evidently, he complimented him on the painting, and it was gifted to my grandfather.

The artist in question here, uh, i, goes by the name of Clarence Millet.

Yes.

And he was born right outside of New Orleans, in a town called Hahnville.

He made his way to New Orleans right after public school.

So, he was 17 years old when he arrived, and for a brief period, worked with an engraver and was sort of knocking around... Oh, really?

...looking for a livelihood.

Eventually, he was sort of discovered.

He was a struggling artist and was discovered by a couple of notable painters.

Uh, one being Louis Oscar Griffith, and another named Robert Grafton.

Both of whom were quintessential, uh, painters of the New Orleans and surrounding area subjects.

Yeah.

Millet pursued an artistic career.

He went to Tulane and graduated as a fine art student, and also went to the Art Students League in New York.

Oh.

And when he came back, he really started working in earnest.

This is an oil on board.

Uh, it's signed in the lower right.

It's also dated what looks to be 21, for 1921.

It's also in a period frame, and the subject is almost undoubtedly New Orleans.

This is a wonderful garden, probably a little courtyard scene that Millet w, he, best known for.

He was born in 1897, died in 1959.

Over a span of many years, he was very prolific.

I think it's a real gem, and a nice example that shows that he was a relatively mature artist, even at a young age.

Yeah.

In today's market, his work has become very collectible.

Uh, it's a must-have for a New Orleans, uh, uh, collector of their... (chuckles) ...regional artists.

And an example of this size, I would imagine, would be estimated in the region of $5,000 to $7,000.

Nice, very nice.

I would suggest an insurance value of about $10,000.

GUEST: Uh, about 20 years ago, my husband and I were in New Orleans, you know, one of the auction houses.

And we happened to walk by, and I saw a baroness was having a bunch of her pieces, um, being auctioned off.

I saw that ring, and I knew it was mine.

(chuckles) And when I found out it was from a baroness... (chuckles) ...well, that even made it more special to me.

And I decided, before purchasing it, to have an appraiser come and take a look at it.

And they had a list of appraisers that would come to the shop and, and, and look.

And the particular guy I chose decided he wanted to purchase it from the auction house, right in front of me, while he was there being paid by me to look at this ring.

Wow.

The auction house was pretty upset about it, and they told him he had to come the day of if he w, had any interest in it, that they were not gonna just go ahead and sell it outright to him.

Sounds unethical to a point, with you paying someone to give you a professional opinion, and here he tries to buy it.

Did you get a refund for the appraisal?

(laughing) No-- I should've.

(both laughing) And can you tell me what you paid for it?

Uh, I was talking to my husband earlier, 'cause I didn't remember exactly, but we think it was around $20,000.

Don't have it insured, work out in the garden all the time with it, so... (laughing) Okay, what you have here is a European-cut, uh, diamond.

So, it's an older cut.

Of course, it's in a setting, so it's hard to pinpoint exact carat weight, but by measurement, it's about 5.80.

It has a little bit of, uh, warmness to it.

It's hard to get an actual color grade on it because of the setting... Yeah.

...but we all agree it's about a K color.

It was very difficult to find any type of inclusions in the stone.

So, we're gonna call it a VS2, though I do believe it's a, a better-quality stone.

But... Wow.

A VS2 is what we feel comfortable at the moment calling it.

So, it's not insured?

(chuckles): Okay.

Should I quit working in my garden with it?

(laughs) I would say yes.

(laughs): Okay.

Retail value on the diamond, we're looking at $130,000.

Oh, you're kidding me!

Oh, my gosh!

Really?

And the setting adds another $8,000.

That's unreal, that's...

I really got a good deal.

I guess that's why the guy wanted to buy it out from under me.

(laughs) Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Very much.

PEÑA: And now it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth.

Today we brought in a bracelet and a painting.

My bracelet, I thought it was a piece of junky costume jewelry.

It turns out it's worth, like, $300.

And I got it at an antique store in the '90s.

So, I'm really thrilled with that.

I got this at an auction.

No one was bidding on it, and that's probably right, because it's actually a replica, and it's worth all the joy it brings me.

I've got a ring I bought back in, uh, 1984.

I paid $1,176 for it.

And it's worth $1,176 today, so...

This is the paperwork for it.

That's the paperwork.

I was hoping that it was worth more, but at least it's not junk.

Yeah.

So, I'm good.

(laughs) This is my great-grandmother's 1850s Japanese vase.

I promised my grandmother I'd lug it down here to the Baton Rouge Antiques Roadshow and see what it's worth.

And Nene, I think you'll be excited.

It's worth about $800.

I came and brought jewelry.

I have two pieces of gold bracelets here and, uh, pearls.

They said the whole lot was worth about $3,000 to $4,000.

And I'm happy.

(giggles) And I brought these, um...

I don't really know what they are, but the story was that they were pre-Columbian arti, artifacts.

But it turned out they were only from the 1950s.

But we had fun anyway.

Yes.

(laughs) We're excited.

"Roadshow" is number one.

And we were so blessed and delighted to be here.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."