Vintage San Antonio, Hour 2

♪ ♪ APPRAISER: What you have here is a 1905 World Series program.

Incredibly scarce-- incredibly scarce.

WOMAN: Wow.

(laughing): Really?

That's amazing!

APPRAISER: Yeah!

(laughing): Well, that sure beats $800!

I'm loving the cows.

I am loving the cows.

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: When "Roadshow" visited San Antonio back in 2007, fans from the Lone Star State brought in a trove of treasures from both near and far.

Can you guess if the values went up, down, or stayed the same?

Let's find out in "Vintage San Antonio, Hour Two."

MAN: I was born in La Jolla in San Diego, and when I was very young, Dr. Seuss used to, uh, read books to children at a, a local bookstore.

And that's the first time I actually got, got the chance to meet him.

I've tried to collect and find him at any estate sales I go to, and bookstores, and I found these at an estate sale in Long Beach.

The person who I bought them from said that she had purchased them from someone in Texas, from a person who had worked at a lunch box company, and that Seuss did the artwork for some of the lunch boxes.

And that's all I know about them.

What you have here is some original artwork for the World of Dr. Seuss lunch box.

This lunch box was created by Aladdin in 1970.

And what I love about this overview that you have here, is, you have the original stamps from it.

And Dr. Seuss was extremely meticulous about controlling his art.

If you've seen it, the, the lunch box, which sells in great condition for about $400, you'll know that you have the back panel.

The back panel has Horton and some of the other wonderful characters.

And this is the exact colors that were used in the back of the lunch box.

The front panel of the lunch box is actually the Cat in the Hat, and that's blue.

Wow.

So there's another panel that you're missing.

Oh, I... You have also what are the sides.

It has the Sneetches on it and another example of a side.

So we have wonderful original art done by Dr. Seuss.

You are, again, missing the Cat in the Hat, which is almost the most iconic figure.

Yeah.

But nonetheless, I feel that something like this would easily bring between $10,000 and $15,000 at auction.

Oh, my God!

Really?

Yeah!

(laughing): That's amazing.

WOMAN: My father bought these in Hong Kong in 1947.

He was stationed at Clark Field in Manila, took the boat over whenever he could.

He was an avid collector of Oriental art, and he also had his clothes tailored there, his uniforms.

And one day, his tailor told him about a guy who had some stuff to see.

So my father went to see him, and he fell in love with them, and he bought them.

And we came back to the States in 1950.

And what did he tell you that these were?

They're the four seasons of planting rice.

The way I understood it, they're teak frames.

In Chinese art, you'd often get the four seasons.

Flowers of the four seasons.

These are unusual because the subject matter.

It's unusual to have something that shows the cycle of the planting of rice.

And it starts, from what I can see, right here at the back, where they're plowing the field.

And here they're sowing, putting the seeds in.

And then here is where they're harvesting.

And then finally, there they are, knocking the grain from the stalks.

Mm-hmm.

So that, that's the sequence.

Okay.

The other thing that's interesting is, obviously these are in relief, high relief, because most painted porcelain panels are not.

So in order to determine the age, there are several things that we go by that are clues.

One of which is this pink color.

Because enamel-decorated pink colors did not exist until the early 18th century.

Okay.

Now, one of the other clues that we have is the design here at the top.

This is called iron red, and it has stylized dragons, which are drawn from archaic bronze motifs, Chinese ancient bronzes.

You'll notice that it's sort of uneven.

This kind of depiction one finds in the late 18th century, early 19th century.

But I don't think you're going to find it with that kind of uneven quality.

It's going to be a lot clearer, crisper, without the unevenness that you see here.

Okay.

So I think that we're looking at something that dates probably to the early years of the 20th century.

Okay.

During the early years of the 20th century, there was a lot of turbulence in China, because the Qing Dynasty fell in 1911.

The craftsmen who were producing things for the Qing court didn't just disappear.

They continued to make things in Jingdezhen.

And so I think that these probably date to the 1920s.

The wood is actually not teak.

It's a wood called hongmu.

Okay.

Which people mistake for teak.

But one of the other recent changes in the Chinese art market is, the Chinese have developed a very robust economy.

And guess what they want to collect.

Their old stuff.

Their old stuff.

(laughing) And there's not a lot of that around.

So they're starting to collect things in the 20th century, and they're starting to focus on things made during the 1920s and '30s that are just like this.

Okay.

And I can tell you that 15 years ago, these were not worth very much money.

Okay.

But at auction, how about $40,000 to $60,000?

(chuckling) (voice breaking): Okay.

(laughs) (exhales) Take my breath away.

(laughs) I never would have dreamed.

Never ever.

I thought maybe $3,000 or $4,000.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you so much.

You're very welcome.

My father will be...

He would be so, so pleased.

(exhales) (chuckles) This is, uh, my inheritance from my father, who died 25 years ago.

He started collecting pocket watches and clocks in the late '60s, when I was three to four years old.

And he did this in order to pay his way through graduate school, and some groceries, and, uh, my doctor bills.

He thought when he made five or ten dollars those days on a watch, it was a pretty good profit.

It sure was.

Listen, money's money.

But you told me that he then went to the credit union.

When I got ready to go to college, he took these to the credit union and borrowed against them for my first semester's tuition.

And he borrowed $10,000 those days.

When a collection like this comes in, you never know what to expect.

But your father had an eye.

We can start with the Vacheron and Constantin that you have here.

In very, very good condition.

This watch alone is, is $1,000 today.

Mm.

We go over here and we look at the Sixty Hour Bunn Special.

N.O.S.-- new old stock.

In the box, you have the original container.

Mm-hmm.

You have the box, you have the papers.

Bunn Specials today bring $1,500 to $2,000.

I mean, what an eye he had.

And then I want to take us up here, and we go to a rather obscure thing, a Tremont.

Made in Boston.

Again, another $3,000 on a good day at auction.

Mm.

The only European watch in the batch, not a great watch, but great-looking-- $500.

We come down here to the Veritas, which was made by Elgin-- at auction, a solid $3,000 watch.

Mm.

But what we're going to do, we're going to pick out the best one now-- you ready?

This watch is made by the Columbus Watch Company.

Okay, Columbus.

They were only in business for a little more than a quarter-century.

They started around 1874.

They were started by a guy who came in, Gruen, who was also in the watch business.

He was with another fella, Savage.

It's a 25-jewel movement.

It has a finish on the movement that's two-tone.

What we call two-tone damascening finish.

This is fantastic in a railroad watch that was built in the United States.

It also is a Columbus King model, which is very rare.

One thing that's unusual about it is, you can wind it from the crown, but it also has another wind that you can wind with a key... Mm-hmm.

...over here.

And on top of that, it's inside of a very heavy 14-karat yellow gold case.

This watch was made around 1887.

You'll also notice it has what we call a double sunk dial.

In other words, the dial is made in three pieces, and it sinks once on the larger portion and then in the subsidiary seconds.

So what do you think this one's worth?

$4,000 or $5,000?

That's a great guess, but I got to tell you, it's more like $6,000 to $8,000.

So, if we tied a whole package up neatly, I think you're looking at something at auction around $16,000 to $18,000.

Wow.

I guess I shouldn't leave them in my car when I go to the grocery store anymore.

(both laughing) When you look at the different components, it's all, it's Civil War.

All of the armaments and the emblems are Civil War Union marks.

I believe that it was made for the Grand Army of the Republic, the G.A.R., which was a veterans' group that formed after the Civil War and as, as a community of, uh, discharged veterans that, um, were one of the, America's first lobbying groups.

Oh, wow.

That, they had gathering places and meetings and posts, and this was probably something that was used in one of their buildings.

It's a hall tree.

So you'd hang up your hats, and you put your umbrellas, and you could check the, uh, check your hat and make sure in the mirror that it was on, on straight.

We just were so interested in what it even was.

No one ever knew.

APPRAISER: Well, when you walked in with this, I heard a couple of people say, and the crew right here were saying, "You can get a lot of tea out of that.

It's the biggest teapot I've ever seen."

WOMAN: Yes, yes-- yes.

But do you know what it is?

No.

Because it's not a teapot.

Oh, really?

No, ma'am.

I keep tea bags in it.

Well... (laughs) Well, that's as good as a use of it as any.

But see what it says here.

"Another little drink won't do us any harm."

That's what caught my eye.

Well, that's not talking about tea.

It's talking about what this is designed to serve, which is punch.

Oh.

Alcoholic punch.

Oh, I see.

And when I first saw this, I thought, "Oh, this is a great Victorian punch pot."

I thought it was probably made in the 1860s or '70s or something like that.

But then if we look at this verse on the other side... Mm-hmm.

It tells us, "Present to a friend, 1925," which is quite unusual.

Right.

That's very late for this, uh, type of thing.

Mm-hmm.

How much did you pay for it when you got it?

I paid $75 at an estate sale in Fredericksburg.

Okay, well, I, I think you made a nice buy, because in a good quality shop, it would have to be at least $400 or $500.

WOMAN (gasps): You're kidding!

APPRAISER: Oh, yeah.

WOMAN: Oh, well, thank you-- that's exciting.

Well, you keep your tea bags in it.

I think that's perfect.

(laughs) Well, maybe I'll let 'em ferment a little.

Yes.

MAN: A friend of mine's father passed away, and I helped him clean out the house, and it was one of the items that he didn't want to keep.

So he asked me if I'd like it, and I took it home, and there it sat for a while.

And my wife saw a picture of one in a magazine so we sort of knew it had some value, and we wanted to find out more about it, and that's why we brought it to the show here.

Great.

What you have here is a very interesting chair.

It's made by a gentleman named Finn Juhl.

It's called a '45 chair.

He actually-- kind of interesting, he started designing it in 1941 and didn't really finish it up till 1945, when he presented it to the world.

Finn Juhl is often considered to be the best Danish designer of all time.

What's really interesting and I think very powerful about this chair is, this chair helped change the entire way the rest of the century would look.

Before the '45 chair, his furniture was heavy and it was clunky.

It didn't have the grace or the charm that this chair did.

So when he came out with this chair, it was almost controversial.

It was one of those things that smacked people really hard, and, and people had to rethink the way they, they looked at furniture.

He also began the use of teak, and it became very popular with Danish furniture makers.

The 20th-century movement is on fire.

Prices are going up all the time.

Oh, really?

Uh, oh, it's unbelievable.

And one controversy that's kind of going on, that, that's still evolving-- we haven't worked our way out of it yet-- is the notion of condition.

And your chair obviously has some condition issues.

Now, some people would immediately refinish this.

They would immediately reupholster this.

They'd immediately respring and refoam this chair.

Now, this chair is in bad enough condition where I think you could do it without hurting the value at all-- a matter of fact, any money that you invest in this chair would be well-spent, as far as I'm concerned.

I see, very good to know.

It's seen a little bit of wear, but it's still a really wonderful chair.

Is this leather on here right now the original?

No, I don't think so.

Oh, okay.

No, I think somebody has redone this.

Probably was maybe a more tobacco color, something a little browner, something a little bit more natural, in keeping, again, with the, with the organic nature of the chair.

Yeah, that wouldn't contrast so much with the wood.

Exactly, exactly.

I understand.

As far as value goes, a chair, a '45 chair in this condition, at auction, is probably worth between $4,000 and $6,000.

Wow!

(chuckling): I didn't think so.

Yeah, that's, that's what it is.

That's wonderful.

If you did reupholster this chair, it would probably increase the value to probably $6,000 to $9,000.

As far as cost goes, it might cost you $500 or $600 to get it reupholstered.

WOMAN: My mother got it, I think, from her mother.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

Or, or else she acquired it somewhere, but I... Somewhere in my mind, when I was a kid, I think it was my grandmother's.

Well, the artist's name is Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta.

And he's a Spanish artist.

His father was an artist, as well, and he's very famous for painting in the 19th century, early 20th century.

He lived from 1841 to 1920.

Although he's Spanish, he painted mainly in Paris and New York.

He had a studio there.

A lot of society people collected his works and were painted by him as a, as a portrait artist.

Although this is not a portrait, this is a, a, a genre scene.

Do you know what's going on in the scene?

I'll let you tell me, 'cause you know better than I do.

(chuckling): Okay, well, you've lived with it longer.

That's true.

Yeah, but it's two ladies having a, a little conversation over a love letter, but it's for a missing man.

And it's probably this fellow up here.

This is what's known in the art world as a pentimento.

It's an Italian word.

It's something that's not always clearly done.

It might be ghostly in the back.

It might be painted out at times.

We have this little fellow looking over the balcony here.

The balcony is not finished.

You see here, there's a piece coming along there.

And then it's a little bit faded at his hand here and his head up here.

And this fellow is looking at what's going on down here.

These, they're having a little confab down here about this little love letter.

And, and you can almost hear the, the giggles.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, one of the things that Madrazo was most noticed for was his handling of really fancy dresses and pretty dresses, and, and you see that here.

The lace...

These, these, the lace and all that.

He's, he's a fastidious worker and did fabulous lace.

And that was good for the, the ladies at the time, for their, their portraits.

So, added onto that, you get the flowers and these, these beautiful peacocks.

So it's, it's all a bonus here.

One thing that will hold it back is, it's put on Masonite.

It's also a very dirty painting, but that can all be restored, be cleaned, and taken off that Masonite.

Have you ever had any, uh, valuation on it, anyone tell you what it might be worth?

Nothing.

No, mm-mm, no.

The big joke in the family was that was supposed to educate my kids.

Yeah, send them through college?

They got... Yeah, we've all, they've all, that's already done.

(chuckling): That's done?

Okay.

Yeah, we got grandkids in college now.

Okay.

He's a very popular painter in the auction rooms.

Of this type of painting, these realist, fancy dress paintings, he's one of the best practitioners.

We've been talking about it at, at the table with my colleagues, and I was more conservative because of the condition.

If I were to put this in an auction, I would probably put it at $60,000 to $80,000.

My colleagues have said that it might even be as much as $70,000 to $90,000.

So I think it definitely could, could make that.

Probably, uh, not a full four-term, year at a college these days.

No, no.

But at least a year or two.

Wow.

Yeah, well, I have one granddaughter.

That, that'll be nice-- then she can go.

It's a beautiful painting.

Um, I'm glad you brought it in.

This is my mother's favorite, favorite painting of everything she ever had.

WOMAN: I brought some, uh, World Series baseball programs that my great-uncle had collected over the years, and he gave them to me.

I was a big baseball fan.

In fact, when I was growing up, I loved baseball.

I knew batting averages, pitchers' E.R.As.

I, I loved it.

APPRAISER: Oh, that's great.

And I used to watch baseball.

That's great.

Well, what we have here is a collection of World Series programs, as you know, from 1905 to 1954.

The late 1920s to mid-1950s World Series programs at auction could go for about $800 as, as a collection.

Wow.

Okay?

Oh, as a collection, okay.

But what you have here, this 1905 World Series program, they gave these out at the Polo Grounds, which, of course, no longer exists.

1903 was the first World Series.

1904 was canceled.

That makes this second World Series program.

Wow, I didn't even realize that.

Okay?

Not only that, but when you open this... See, this is scored, and it's scored in, in pencil very lightly and neatly.

The 1905 World Series were between the, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics.

And the scoring tells us here that Christy Mathewson challenged Chief Bender, both Hall of Fame pitchers.

Wow.

This, that makes this the game five World Series program, okay?

Incredibly scarce.

Wow.

Incredibly scarce.

It was Philadelphia's last chance, their last hurrah.

They put their best guy on the mound.

Mathewson got the better of 'em.

Four games to one, New York went home champs.

Condition is, is decent-- it's very nice, it's acceptable for, for being, you know, over 100 years old.

At auction, one recently just went for $12,000.

Wow!

$12,000?

Yes.

It's a great item.

And I have another one at home.

(both laugh) It's a great item, it really is.

Terrific, that's wonderful.

WOMAN: It belonged to my mom and dad, and I just, I've inherited it.

APPRAISER: Do you know anything about it?

Well, in about the early '60s, I was teaching up in New Hampshire, and Mom and Dad came up to visit me and went antiquing.

And Mom bought this up in New Hampshire.

Northern New Hampshire.

I'm not sure if she knew a whole lot, a lot about glass.

She was always learning, and, and I think she thought it was something really wonderful.

Well, it is pretty wonderful.

It's a piece of Steuben.

Ooh.

And this was made in Corning, New York.

I'm talking about the period of Steuben glass that was during the Frederick Carter era.

And he was the man who ran the company starting in the early 1900s.

And the, the first production was art glass, and made all kinds of different art glass, decorative pieces, that had different kinds of names.

This piece was made in the late 1920s, and it's called Green Florentia.

And the "Green" refers to the decoration in the middle.

And the "Florentia" is the type of glass or the technique that was used to make it.

What the bowl is comprised of is a fumed cased glass that has little glass particles that are encased between the layers of glass.

And that's why you see those little speckles in it.

Yes.

Usually contained a design that looked like a flower.

It came in a number of different colors.

Some people would say that this was more of in the Art Nouveau period, but when I look at it, it's classical, it's stylized, and it has more of a geometric feel, like the Art Deco pieces that were being made at the time.

Art glass was really a luxury item for most people.

This wasn't something that you were serving things in.

Mm-hmm.

You were actually putting it out on your table as decoration.

And it probably sold for, I'm sure, under $100.

Is that right?

Um, which still was a very substantial amount of money.

Mm-hmm, oh, yeah.

These pieces are fairly rare.

Ooh, good.

And we don't see very many of them.

In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen one at an Antiques Roadshow.

Oh.

Steuben is a very, very hot market, and a piece like this, if it were in a dealer's shop, could sell for anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000.

Oh, wow.

I'm sure my mom didn't pay that much, she was... She had an eye for... Oh, I kid.

There's no way she paid that much, no.

Not back in the '60s, no.

No, not back in the '60s.

Wow.

Ooh, that's wonderful to hear, yeah.

Well, thanks for bringing it in, it was a real treat.

Well, this is a real symbol of Japan's desire to copy the best of Western silversmith techniques.

This is a Louis XV-style five-light candelabra, but with a Japanese twist, with the use of chrysanthemums here as the dominant motif.

And of course, chrysanthemums are associated with the imperial household in Japan.

And you have superb workmanship done by a very famous Art Deco silversmith called Miyamoto in, uh, Kyobashi in Tokyo.

Done in the late '20s, early '30s.

This had to have been commissioned or owned by a very important, wealthy family in Japan during this period.

WOMAN: This was my great-grandfather's, and he played with it as a child.

He was given the toy in 1875.

And then it went to my grandfather, and to my mother, and then to me.

This is one of the great optical toys of the late 19th century.

In this country, we called it the Whirligig of Life.

In France, they called it the Praxinoscope.

It's a pre-cinema toy.

It uses the same phenomenon called persistence of vision that makes movies work for us.

The different mirrors act just like a shutter in a movie camera.

And when you stare right at one point on the mirror, as the toy is going around, you see the action.

This is remarkable.

(chuckling): And to see it go through so many children's grubby hands... (laughing) ...for 125 years is absolutely astounding.

So, I think in today's market, we're probably looking at between $2,000 and $3,000.

Wow, okay.

MAN: I have a quiver with a bow and arrows purported to be made by Geronimo, and it is signed by Geronimo.

It was passed down through a dear family friend whose grandfather, we think, was a Texas Ranger.

And it's been in my family for a number of years.

What research have you done that makes you think Geronimo made it?

30 years ago, I went to a museum and had them give me some ideas about it.

And they told me I should take it further.

I've shown it to several friends who have researched it and sent me articles about Geronimo, and that he, in fact, made a few bow and arrows for sale.

And when he discovered signing them brought more money, that's what he started doing.

You know, he was here.

I understand he was at the Quadrangle for a short time, in the late 1800s?

Right before the turn of the century?

1880S.

Okay.

And there are a number of photographs made of him here in San Antonio.

On his way to prison, they stopped at Fort Sam Houston, they were kept at the Quadrangle for several weeks, and then taken on to prison in, of all places, Florida.

Then Geronimo was hauled to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

So it was a big switch from the serious desert of Arizona, to the swamps of Florida, and then back to Western Oklahoma.

The bow case and quiver are made out of deer skin.

It's a rawhide, it's dried out, it's tanned with brains, and livers, and so forth and staked out in the sun.

And the fringe is dyed with yellow ochre.

Overall, it's a pretty nice piece.

The bead work is mainly thread-stitched, which tells me it wasn't a piece made during the Indian Wars-- it was made to sell.

Okay.

He did make things.

Maybe one or two.

He didn't make this.

Geronimo was Chiricahua.

He was a Chiricahua Apache warrior from Arizona.

This was made by Mescalero.

Geronimo didn't make much of anything.

He sat around Fort Sill, and you're right, he autographed things.

And, right here, this is his autograph.

And no question about it-- he was autographing photos, which now sell for $1,000, $1,500.

But anybody who made things, they would bring them to Geronimo, he would sign them, they'd split the deal.

He would sell 'em.

He sold all kind of things.

He sold drums, he sold shields, he sold bows, he sold arrows.

He had a steady market.

If some Mescalero brought this in and tried to sell it, so what?

If it was attached to Geronimo, it was a hot property.

He was a celebrity.

And the old song "Geronimo's Cadillac," he rode around in a Cadillac at Wild West shows and gave out his autograph.

At a public auction of American Indian material, $6,000 to $8,000.

Is that right?

Yeah, it's a nice thing.

It is a real Plains Indian bow.

The arrows are real arrows.

There's another bow in this case.

Right.

It's real.

They're worth $300 to $500 easily by themselves.

And it's a great bow case and quiver.

Really, really classic Mescalero piece.

Well, all I really know about it is, it used to hang in my grandmother's house in Corpus Christi.

And after she passed away, it came to our house.

And then it hung over the couch in our house for a long time.

And then now it's at my house.

APPRAISER: So it's still hanging up.

It's been protected in a box, but it's in our house.

And we're trying to find a place for it.

Okay.

And you knew that it was signed somewhere.

I did, I just couldn't read it because it's so dark.

Well, I have to say, it took me a little while to decipher the signature today.

Uh-huh.

It's right down here, in the dark area.

Okay.

The first thing I was able to read was "Moran."

There's a very famous American artist named Thomas Moran, who's known for painting the Grand Canyon...

Okay.

...and, and lots of wonderful Western landscapes.

Uh-huh.

And his record price is almost $5 million at auction.

Okay.

However, this is his younger brother.

Well, that's good.

(laughs) He actually had two brothers who were artists.

Uh-huh.

He had one brother named Edward, who painted marine pictures.

Uh-huh.

And then this is the youngest brother, Peter, who was born in 1841.

And he's known for his studies of animals.

Okay.

And we can see here that he has lovingly depicted these cows in a landscape.

Uh-huh.

He lived in Philadelphia, and he would often go out into the Pennsylvania countryside... Uh-huh.

...and paint these bucolic landscapes.

Right.

And I think it's just a wonderful picture into 19th-century life, and I think it probably would date from the late 19th century.

Do you have any idea what it might be worth?

No.

Any guess?

We, we were guessing maybe $800-- we didn't know, no clue.

Well, one of the thing that makes it really great, as far as the presentation... Uh-huh.

...is the fact that it has this original frame...

I know, mm-hmm.

...which is so ornate.

And what's amazing is what great condition it's in.

Right.

And maybe it's because you were keeping it in a crate.

Right.

But it is unusual not to see big hunks missing.

It is, it is pretty.

I think this might bring about $25,000 if it were sold in a retail gallery.

Oh, my gosh!

Well, that sure beats $800!

I'm loving the cows!

(laughs) I am loving the cows, that is awesome.

I bought it at a little antique shop in Hamilton, Virginia.

We used to live out in Loudoun County, in Round Hill.

I purchased it for $500 about three years ago.

Mm.

Why did you buy it?

I just bought it because I really liked it.

I liked the colors, I, I thought it was interesting, and... Uh-huh.

I just, I liked the fact that it was Georgetown and, um, you know, we lived near Georgetown, so...

I see.

Well, it's oil paint on plywood.

I think it's a very interesting, wonderful map.

Uh, I relate to it because I was born in this area.

Oh, really?

I was born at, at Washington Circle.

It does indeed show a lot about Georgetown and Georgetown history, starting with Roosevelt Island.

It's called Roosevelt Island because Roosevelt was a conservationist and they were conserving this island.

But from anybody in Georgetown, what makes your heart beat is this little vignette here, showing the very early view of Georgetown when it was the biggest port on the Potomac River.

Now, it's interesting what they decide to show, because of the historical interest of such a map.

The Oak Hill Cemetery Gatehouse is still there.

And, of course, the major streets-- 27th, 28th, 29th Street are shown.

Now, another great and wonderful historic site that is still in Washington is the Dumbarton Oaks House, which is now part of Harvard University.

There's a museum and a library there.

Right.

The United Nations were planned there.

Here's another view of Georgetown here.

And then, of course, coming through here with this beautiful old antique-looking compass rose, but then look at this beautiful view of Georgetown University.

Right.

You know, it's just absolutely charming.

Here's the entrance to Georgetown University.

There is indeed a circle there.

And on down to the river and Key Bridge.

Francis Scott Key Bridge.

I think that at an antique show, even with the, the flaws in it... Uh-huh.

...because this is essentially folk art, we, we don't have to document that much.

It's just exuberant.

And if it's in too good a condition, I find folk art collectors are suspicious.

Right.

(laughs): So, there are some nice chips and bumps and things like that.

And I would, I would offer it at $4,000.

Okay.

Great!

Well, thank you.

WOMAN: This is a Fraktur that my parents bought in, uh, Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

I was with them, I was six years old, in-- I won't, in the 1960s, we'll just leave it at that.

And they paid $50 for it at a flea market.

They lived in upper Montgomery County in Pennsylvania, and were very interested in Pennsylvania folk art.

And how did you learn that it's a Fraktur?

I probably spent every weekend of my life at, uh, auctions and estate sales with my parents.

This is a lovely piece.

Its roots are in Germany, and Germanic samples of illustrated manuscript, uh, came over here very early on.

And Southeastern Pennsylvania, you ultimately saw those folks adapting those ideas and making them very much their own.

The medium here is watercolor, pen and ink.

I think in all likelihood, it was done by a man who made his living... Mm-hmm.

...doing these for families.

Uh-huh.

These were meant to be enjoyed in a home.

They were meant to be attractive.

Right.

Kind of fun, actually.

Mm-hmm.

They announced, uh, important family events.

In this instance, this is a Fraktur indicating the birth of a child.

Mm-hmm.

And in Old German, it talks about the mum and dad, the name of the child, and the birth, which was in 1818.

The reason that this is so much nicer than a lot of the Frakturs we see, it's totally hand-done.

The later ones in the 19th century are, are colored with watercolor, but printed.

Right.

This one is an original composition.

The fact that it has a full standing figure in profile, this man is so interesting, and he's flanked by these sort of conventionalized tulips on vines.

Some say that the tulip blossom, which fundamentally is easy to paint, uh, might even represent the Trinity.

Uh-huh.

So there are some religious overtones, although in this one, that's purely conjecture.

Uh, the condition on this piece is good.

There is some slight discoloration.

Someone has written a name very early on the top-- we'd love to know what that name is all about.

Perhaps through some research, we could figure it out.

Now, the frame on this piece is not original.

I looked at it pretty carefully.

The way that it's constructed, along with the fact that they've used modern nails, indicates that frame is 20th century.

But having said that, I think it's a good mix.

It looks well on this, so I don't think I'd change it.

Okay.

Any idea what it might be worth today in the current market?

$1,500, I guess, would be a guess that I would make.

Yeah?

Well, I did a little, little bit of homework, made a couple of calls, and talked to my friends here.

And, uh, we tend to think that it's worth in the area of $8,000 to $12,000.

Wow.

Um, it's especially interesting because of that full-size profile portrait of a man.

It differentiates it from a lot of the others.

My grandfather made it during World War II.

He was on the U.S.S.

Plaice.

Mm-hmm.

Which is a submarine, and it's the battle flag for their submarine.

Okay.

Exactly-- basically, what these represent is action or achievements, uh, war achievement.

You've got Japanese flags for Japanese merchant and military vessels that the U.S.S.

Plaice sunk.

Uh, you've got the ship's logo in the middle, and this kind of has a crossover value, as well, as a Disneyiana piece, because it's got Jiminy Cricket...

Right.

...riding a plaice-- you know, a fish.

All the U.S. subs were named after fish.

The one I find the most interesting is the rescued American aviators that the, uh, U.S.S.

Plaice picked up out of the water once they ditched their planes.

MAN: Well, it was my, uh, dad's, he bought it in 1953, uh, from a pawn shop in Dallas.

He, uh, scraped up money and went, uh, hitchhiked there and bought it at a pawn shop.

I know it says 1952 on the neck.

On the end of the neck.

So you've taken the neck off, and, and...

Yes.

Does it have also some initials?

I know it has TG-825-52 on the neck.

We can look down here to confirm that date of 1952 by the serial number, which is stamped on the bridge.

Also, it has pole pieces on the pickup that are even across the top instead of at different heights.

And another characteristic of 1952 being sort of a transitional year is that you have a mixture of slotted screws in the top holding in the pick guard, and two Phillips-style screws on either end of the control plate.

So, transitional year, 1952, probably late in the year.

But I want to talk a little bit about those initials that are on the end.

TG were the initials of Tadeo Gomez, who was almost by now a legendary neck carver for Fender.

Worked there a long, long time.

And today, instruments that are made with his necks are the most highly esteemed from the period.

When you plug them in, it's true what they say about the old ones, that they are real screamers.

Have you had any kind of a, an evaluation done on it?

No, we looked on the internet, it, it was about... We thought it was about $10,000, uh, five year... Well... Four or five years ago.

Okay.

I would conservatively rate this at about $25,000 as a bottom end.

Uh-huh.

But probably closer to $30,000, because it's so clean, for the year, and just in consideration that it is Tadeo Gomez.

Wow.

So a collector would mean a great deal.

(chuckles): Okay.

WOMAN: She was kept at Captain's Head, which was a farm in Scotland.

She came down through my grandfather's side, through my mother.

There is a reference to her, 1789, in a manuscript.

Her name was Bottoms, which I believe meant "stamina" in Old English, I'm not 100% certain on that.

She never lost a race.

Other than that and the fact that she's against an Italian background, I believe, that's all I know about her.

APPRAISER: It is a wonderful portrait, and as I'm sure you know, uh, British art history has a great tradition of portraits, and that came to include their animals, as well-- their dogs, their horses, and other livestock.

Unfortunately, the piece is not signed, but I would date it to around 1830.

And it's in the tradition of the great animal artists such as George Stubbs, and continuing through artists such as Gilpin.

I don't believe the frame is original to the piece.

I suspect that it would have been in a much more elegant frame than, than this later 19th-century frame.

In terms of the value of the piece, even though it's unsigned, I think it's a great example of English animal portraiture, and I would estimate it at auction between $12,000 and $18,000.

Good heavens-- unbelievable!

Yes.

She's come up a winner again.

Yes, she has indeed, bless her heart.

I got it at an living estate sale about two or three years ago.

It looked like it was all original, and the color was, was great.

I liked the little drawers on it.

Yeah.

And then the way that, that these things slide out, and that the tabletop folds down.

So this is the writing surface, right?

That's the writing surface.

And it had some little cubbies and some little drawers that were pretty attractive.

And what'd you pay for it, may I ask?

Uh, it was, I can't remember exactly.

It was, like, $200 to $250, from what I remember.

Okay, do you know where it was made?

I don't know where it was made, but the individual that I bought it from, she was about 80 years old, and she was from the New England area.

Okay.

And she said that she could remember her dad writing on it, you know, at night, and things like that when she was growing up.

Well, New England makes a lot of sense, because this, stylistically, is a Massachusetts child's desk-on-frame, and actually, these are extremely rare.

This form for children's furniture in the 18th century, in the, in Colonial America, they hardly ever turn up.

Oh, really?

They just didn't survive.

Yes.

And interestingly, we know that they're coveted so much that over the years, we've seen pieces that, where they have extended the base and raised the height of a piece as the child gets older.

Oh!

This upper section, look at that wear.

Look at the indentations and all the marks.

Yes.

The beautiful patina, the nail holes coming through from the hinges, all that's great.

Uh-huh.

And if we pull out this drawer, where the young student would, would have kept their books, you know, in here, papers, right?

Okay, okay.

All the, study the alphabet, right?

Look at that color.

Yes.

Just great oxidized pine, white pine.

White pine?

Okay.

Which also makes it New England.

Okay, yes.

They're very typical of New England.

Yes.

As was that shaping on the interior.

And actually, the brass hardware on this, since I don't see any holes on the back side, I think it may be original.

Oh, original?

Which is really great.

Uh-huh.

The moldings are all typical Massachusetts.

1760, about.

Wow.

Now, if we could take this desk, and you know this is in two parts, we're going to lift this up, please.

You can put this down.

I just want to take that, and let's look at the base.

Okay.

Because these are in two parts, it's always really important to inspect the base, because sometimes, these got separated from each other.

I can't even keep a pair of socks together to match, so, you know... (laughs) So imagine keeping this over this period of time.

Yes.

Let's turn it over.

And these little chop marks, there's lots of them here.

You see that?

Yes, I see that.

And what that is, whenever we see that on these legs, that's, uh, to induce wear.

Someone's taken a piece of wood, and to make it look older... Oh!

...a faker has actually marked it up and chopped all the same marks.

But instead of 200 years of age...

Yes.

...it's, this is done in about four minutes.

Okay.

All with the same tool.

The person that made this was trying to deceive.

Part of the deception here was that he used three pieces of old wood, and all the rest of this is fresh, brand-new wood at the time he made it.

And which of the piece is the...

Exactly, the pieces right here.

The dark-colored side rails are from an 18th-century table...

Okay.

...made of maple.

And look at all that wear, it's all natural.

Then you have the legs made around it, and even faked the pins and raised them up to make it look like they've shrunk and popped up.

Oh, okay.

The other thing is, for something this old, the feet would be reduced another half-inch.

Just naturally, for a second half of the 18th century piece, there'd be a lot more wear in the feet.

Okay, okay.

Also, this curve from the feet touching over, over the years, the little feet, is actually much too even.

It should be very uneven, it's just perfect.

Okay.

It was sanded down.

And one mistake is on the back, where, look, feet wouldn't touch it at all.

Yeah.

He sanded that down and gave it wear.

Okay.

Okay?

So what we have here is something that's a period, 18th-century top... And it's a period, 18th-century top.

The desk and the bottom was made probably in the 1920s or '40s.

In the condition this is in, I'd put an auction estimate on this piece of about $1,500 to $2,500.

Okay.

Okay?

Which isn't bad, good profit.

That's great, yeah, that's great.

But if this had been all original, it's such a rare form... Uh-huh.

...it would have been about $30,000 to $35,000.

Wow!

Had it had the original base.

With the original base, it makes... With the original base, but... Makes that much of a difference.

It, it really does.

You've brought in a collection of photographs by a very important local photographer named Eugene Omar Goldbeck, E.O.

Goldbeck.

Would you like to tell me a bit about this?

We arrived in San Antonio in 1962.

I would say around 1970, my husband started collecting these, and I really don't know where he got to meet Mr. Goldbeck the first time.

But we went to his home, and he didn't consider them art.

He would just throw them around.

We bought some then, we were invited to a party somebody gave where he was selling them, he bought more.

And over the years, we just kept collecting them.

What was your husband paying for the photographs when he first started?

Oh, to begin with, probably ten dollars.

Then you have about 25 of them that you brought in?

Oh, somewheres between 25 and 30, it's hard to count them.

They're all rolled up, and you can't...

Yes.

Well, we see a lot of these rolled-up photographs which have been flattened for presentation.

Goldbeck was America's unofficial military photographer.

Correct.

And this photograph before us on the table, of the U.S.S.

Saratoga in the Panama Canal, shows the technique that he used.

He worked with a circuit camera, and the circuit camera was a very special camera developed in the 1920s.

Goldbeck used it from the 1920s through the 1960s, and the camera swiveled to take in large battleships, groups, and-- do you know this term that's associated with Goldbeck?

He was called a kidnapper?

No, I never heard that.

Well, apparently he would steal photographs of groups of people and then approach the individuals in the groups individually... (laughs): ...so that he could make a living selling the photographs.

So when we look at these photographs, one of the important features about them is the signature that appears in the lower right corner.

Now, you had mentioned...

Right.

...that your husband specifically asked...

Yes.

...Goldbeck... Mr. Goldbeck did not sign the pictures, because he didn't think they were anything but... Just photographs.

You know... And he wouldn't buy them without it.

So that signature is really unusual and very vital to establishing the value of the pictures.

Now, one other thing that I want to draw to your attention is that these are modern prints.

So the original negatives may date in the, some cases, from the 1920s... 1920s.

...1920s, but the photographs themselves date from the 1970s.

I understand that galleries representing Goldbeck's work price the images from $1,000 to $3,000.

Depending, of course, on their size... On their size.

...depending on their age, and depending on their condition.

Because the images are rolled up, sometimes they don't...

They don't look very good.

(chuckles) In terms of the four pictures, in a retail environment, I would say they would be in the $4,000 to $6,000 price range.

If you were to find a collection of 25 Goldbeck images in a retail setting, my sense is the value would be somewhere between $20,000 and $35,000 for the collection.

Wow.

This is a fantastic group of photographs that couldn't relate more to San Antonio.

WOMAN: They belonged to my mother's great-aunt, who was from Dallas, and she married my mother's great-uncle, who was from Corpus Christi, which is where our family is from.

And they had no children, and my grandmother was the closest to them, and she inherited much of their jewelry, and this necklace I've had for not that long-- it was my mother's before mine.

I've always been told that they were diamonds and sapphires, but I don't know whether they're set in platinum or white gold.

I have no idea if the jewelry was inherited by my mother's great-aunt, or if my mother's great-uncle bought it for her.

Well, what we have here is a lovely set of jewelry.

This is from the late 1950s, early 1960s.

And what we have here is a necklace that's composed of diamonds, multicolored sapphires, and emeralds.

So the blue stones are sapphires, we have a violet-colored sapphire, and a yellow sapphire.

And these stones also appear in the earrings, as well.

Most of the sapphires are from India.

On the necklace here, these sapphires are a square step-cut, and these can range in size from anywhere between two carats, two-and-a-half carats, up to maybe three carats with the larger stones in the center.

When I inspected the piece, I would notice that the item did bear the telltale signs of having been made by an American company called Oscar Heyman.

Now, the Heyman Company goes back to 1912, when it was established here in America, and it's one of the, probably the last remaining continuous companies that is manufacturing here in the United States that's still family-owned.

Huh, where are they based?

And they're, they're based out of New York City, and they are known for this very high-end, high craftsmanship.

They still make all their own metal, they mix their own alloys, they make their own wire, and everything is hand-built.

Wow.

What also is unique about your necklace is that here, we have the clasp, and there's an additional clasp on the opposite side.

So not only can you wear this as a necklace, this breaks into two bracelets, as well, which is a nice added feature.

And Oscar Heyman really pioneered this what I call rainbow-type effect, using multicolored sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds.

This was sort of a trademark for their jewelry from this time period.

And they would have been retailed by some of the higher-end retail jewelers.

Heyman did work for Cartier, as well, because Cartier America didn't have a complete workshop, so they would subcontract, so they would always go to the best, and once again, it was Oscar Heyman who was the best manufacturer.

Is it white gold or platinum?

This is platinum.

Okay.

And in terms of replacement value on this as a set, I would value this between $60,000 and $70,000.

(laughs): Wow.

That's exciting.

And you say the replacement value, but at auction, is that what it would go for, as well?

Auction is a different value.

The value at auction would probably be somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000.

Okay.

Replacement is higher because that's what would it cost to go into a store to buy a vintage set like this, from perhaps an antique or estate jewelry buyer.

Wonderful.

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

My Steiff duck was a disappointment.

It's only, it's worth less than what we bought it for, but we had fun getting it.

We love it, it's just a beautiful duck.

And this is my Barbie doll collection from 1961 forward.

We brought the whole family today.

We have Ken and Barbie, Skipper, Midge, and Allen, Ken's buddy.

And these are the dolls she never let me play with.

(laughs) I came down here with my Enid Collins collectibles.

Turns out they're not very valuable, but I still love them.

They're very jolly!

(laughs) Today I brought, uh, my Mopar parts catalogue glass collector set, and in standing in line, waiting for a assessment, I turned the cups around and realized-- 1995.

I've got children older than that, so not quite the antique.

(laughs) The three of us came to the Roadshow.

She got so excited, she lost her head.

But even without her head, she's worth more than what he brought.

(chuckles) And I brought this what we thought was a bear claw.

My dad got it in Alaska while panning for gold in 1971.

And it turns out that it is a 20,000- to 30,000-year-old tooth, possibly woolly mammoth or mastodon, worth $50.

We brought in Linda's grandfather's table.

When I walked in the door, I was a grumpy old man.

Now I've discovered this table is kind of worthless, and I'm a disillusioned grumpy old man.

(laughs) PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."