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00:00Smokes, that's amazing.
00:03We return 15 years later to gamble on which treasures have held high or gone low in Monopoly City.
00:10Let the games begin.
00:12Well, it's a watch that has been handed down through my family from an ancestor named William Cooper.
00:17He became the Supreme Grand Commander of the Sovereign Grand Council of the ancient and accepted rights of the Scotts Freemasonry,
00:25the Prince Hall Division of New Jersey.
00:28It eventually went down to, passed down to my great-great-uncle right here, William Davis.
00:34And I think that's the watch fob right there that you can see.
00:37And he eventually willed it to my father.
00:40So has it just been sitting in the bank, not really being used?
00:43It's been sitting in a safe for a long time, but every once in a while we pull it out to enjoy it.
00:48He was born in 1828, and this is from your family Bible.
00:53That's correct.
00:54The book is done on the 100th anniversary of this Masonic order.
00:59Inside, in the first couple pages, it talks about all the original officers in the commandery.
01:06Your ancestor was one of the first African-American 33rd degree Freemasons in the commandery.
01:14He was given the watch as a presentation by the other members in December 11, 1876.
01:20The watch was made by the American Waltham Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts,
01:25and it was made in 1871.
01:27It has an engraving which is dated 1876 that he was presented by other members of the commandery.
01:35There's an amazing engraving which has a crest of the 33rd degree of Freemasonry.
01:42The watch is made out of 18-karat gold.
01:46It's literally in unused condition after 140-some years.
01:52It's a lever set, which means to set the time, there's a little lever on the dial,
01:59and that lever pulls out.
02:02You then adjust the time on the crown, and you push the lever back in.
02:07This is an amazing piece of Americana.
02:10It appeals to a lot of different collectors.
02:13It appeals to watch collectors.
02:15There's a lot of Masonic collectors in the country.
02:18It also appeals to African-American collectors.
02:21A solid gold watch from the mid-19th century presented to a 33rd degree African-American Freemason
02:28is a very, very rare find.
02:31It also comes with a beautiful gold chain, a gold fob, and a retractable gold pencil from the 19th century.
02:40It would easily sell in the $6,000 to $7,000 price range at auction.
02:46Although, since obviously it's been in your family for many, many generations,
02:52you would want to have an insurance appraisal at least in the $10,000 price range.
02:57This is just an unbelievably gorgeous watch with an unbelievably fabulous provenance.
03:02That's fantastic.
03:10I bought it at a country auction 25 years ago.
03:14And where was that?
03:15In Ireland.
03:16In Ireland.
03:17Well, it's from quite a far distance from Ireland.
03:21It's actually Tibetan.
03:23Oh.
03:24It's carved iron, and it's carved and pierced with a motif of dragons, foliage, and flames.
03:30Okay.
03:31And then on it, on certain places, you could see, for example,
03:35Well, originally, that entire box was gilt.
03:38It was all covered with gold.
03:40I see.
03:41It had been fire gilt.
03:42And the box is also quite old.
03:44It's 16th century.
03:46Oh, my God.
03:47And originally had a level lining.
03:49Okay.
03:50And it contained probably either a porcelain or a jade bowl that was inside of it.
03:55Okay.
03:56These kind of things were very high-density.
04:00Oh.
04:01That was inside of it.
04:02Okay.
04:03These kind of things were very high-status objects,
04:05because you also figure an object like this wasn't something that you just churned out in an afternoon.
04:10It was a major production.
04:11I see.
04:12And being a major production, it was something that could only be afforded by the wealthiest people,
04:16the nobility or Tibetan Buddhist clergy.
04:19Wow.
04:20What did you pay for it?
04:21Seventy-five pounds.
04:22Seventy-five pounds.
04:24Well, that turned into a good deal.
04:26This material comes from a place called Derge in eastern Tibet.
04:30Okay.
04:31And from about the 15th century on, they did this kind of work.
04:36So when you say it's carved, was it a forged piece and then?
04:41Forged and then carved with a chisel and a hammer.
04:44My God.
04:45And do you think it was used for something else afterwards?
04:48Because I always thought it was a cooker of some sort.
04:50No, it was probably always used to contain a bowl.
04:52Okay.
04:53And would have had leather straps holding it together.
04:55Did you have any idea about the value?
04:58No, sir.
04:59I just bought it because it intrigued me.
05:01And basically, it sat on my fireplace for the past 15 years.
05:06And actually, it was an afterthought bringing it here.
05:09And I've always wondered what it was.
05:12I thought it might have been Chinese.
05:14But Tibetan, that's amazing.
05:16The quality of the workmanship is really, really fine, though it's quite worn.
05:20But that's kind of to be expected with the age.
05:23But I would expect at auction for this box to sell for about $10,000.
05:29Oh, my God.
05:31Holy smokes.
05:32That's amazing.
05:33It's very rare material.
05:35Oh, thank you so much.
05:36There's very little of it around.
05:37Thanks very much.
05:52Well, I brought in a rifle that I'm pretty sure is from the Civil War era.
05:57I've been confused about it for a long time.
05:59I know Sharps is the manufacturer.
06:02And I took it to an antique dealer that was a friend of the family.
06:08And I used to cut his lawn for him.
06:10And I said to him, what have I got here?
06:12And he said, well, I'm not quite sure.
06:15It doesn't seem to be what the rest of them are.
06:18And I kind of thought, oh, all right.
06:19Always thought maybe if I went to Gettysburg, I'd drag it along with me.
06:23And I haven't yet.
06:24And so here I am.
06:26They're made by Christian Sharps in Hartford, Connecticut.
06:29Okay.
06:30They've made over 100,000 Sharps carbines.
06:33But this one is a special one.
06:35They only made about 263 of these.
06:39Wow.
06:40They're made in 1856.
06:41They're known as a Sharps slanting breech naval rifle.
06:47They're a rare gun.
06:4854 caliber.
06:50And they're just an odd gun.
06:53Did you ever notice what's on the underside of the barrel down by you?
06:57I did.
06:58The guy that was speaking to me said maybe for a bayonet.
07:01But then he said, on the other hand, it's too short.
07:04So did they cut the barrel down and then reattach the bayonet?
07:09And I said, doesn't look like that much of a botched job to me.
07:13And it came from the factory that way.
07:14Okay.
07:15That is for a bayonet.
07:16It had a big, massive saber bayonet that could be used as a saber
07:20or you could attach it to the end of the gun and be used as a bayonet.
07:23But when you put it on there, the weight of it would almost tilt you over.
07:27That's one of the neat characteristics of this gun.
07:29Another, did you ever notice this door?
07:32Yes.
07:33And I tried to pry at it, and it didn't happen real well.
07:36And I thought, well, I know enough to leave well enough alone.
07:39Well, I'm glad you left it alone because most of the time those doors are missing.
07:43And this is what those are for.
07:45We cock the hammer back, we lower the door, and it has an open space.
07:50Yeah.
07:51These guns generally run on a percussion cap.
07:53Right.
07:54You put it individually each time on the nipple every time you want to fire it.
07:58They made a system developed by Edward Maynard that worked with like a little cap gun roll.
08:04And it would feed the roll of caps underneath the hammer every time you cocked it back.
08:10And watch this.
08:12It still works.
08:14And it is a Navy rifle.
08:15On the top of the barrel, we even have a little naval anchor.
08:20I never noticed it.
08:21It's so small.
08:22I love the flavor.
08:23I'm so proud you never cleaned this up.
08:25It's got a knee-deep patina.
08:27It's just beautiful.
08:29If you're going to insure it, I would say that we would need to insure it for at least $7,500.
08:35All right.
08:36Well, I guess I better get on that right away.
08:39This was my grandmother's chair.
08:41It was in her apartment as long as I can remember.
08:44There's a tag on the back that said it's Ames and Zenith.
08:48You're absolutely right.
08:49It's an Ames chair.
08:50This chair was made probably about 1950, 1951.
08:54As far as value goes, it's probably worth about $50,000.
08:58It's an Ames chair.
08:59It's an Ames chair.
09:00It's an Ames chair.
09:01It's an Ames chair.
09:02It's an Ames chair.
09:03It's an Ames chair.
09:05As far as value goes, it's probably worth about $1,500 to $2,000 in today's market.
09:11Fantastic chair.
09:12I think it really captures the spirit of the times.
09:17I was the first person at a yard sale.
09:19It was $25, and I didn't even argue.
09:21I just bought it.
09:22And the woman said it was inexpensive because she didn't have the shade for it.
09:26And I thought it was from the 30s because of the cord.
09:29And I thought maybe the glass was like a fluorine glass, which I know Tiffany.
09:34So I was hoping it was a Tiffany or a Handel, but I couldn't find any marks on it.
09:38Well, fortunately, you allowed me to take this apart earlier.
09:42You were very kind about it.
09:44And the reason I wanted to take it apart is because I suspected that it was Tiffany.
09:48And lo and behold, yes, it is a Tiffany.
09:51Oh, my gosh.
09:52It's called an Arrowhead, and it's a bronze and a mosaic base.
09:56And this was a very early piece.
09:58It was originally intended to be used as an oil lamp.
10:02And at some point, maybe in the 30s, I don't know, someone put on this base on the bottom
10:07and put this very strange socket on.
10:12It didn't do the best job.
10:13Ordinarily, when somebody would rewire something like this,
10:16they would actually put the wire up through the top so that you wouldn't drill it.
10:19And by drilling it, that's not such a great thing.
10:21We don't have the shade.
10:23But despite all that, I would put a value of this at $50,000.
10:27What?
10:28Yes.
10:29What?
10:30Yes.
10:31Oh, my God.
10:32You're kidding.
10:33Oh, my God.
10:34I'm definitely not kidding.
10:35Oh, my God.
10:37Oh, my God.
10:38Oh, my God.
10:39You're a good shopper.
10:40Oh, my God.
10:56I inherited it when my mother died.
10:58But as a child, I used it to put my important things in it.
11:01And I put them in there, and I pretended it was money.
11:04What you have is an 18th century, circa 1740 to 1770, walnut, Queen Anne, chest.
11:15And it was called, really, a valuables chest.
11:19Let me just pull out a drawer and just show you what you have here.
11:23This is actually cedar, which would keep away insects.
11:27And on the side, this is poplar.
11:29You see that green wood?
11:31Those two woods were used in Philadelphia, Chester County, all those areas near Philadelphia,
11:36in the Queen Anne period, on furniture.
11:39See those wonderful dovetails?
11:41Yes.
11:42And look at the back of the drawer.
11:43Here are the original post and nut.
11:46So you have the original Chippendale brasses on this.
11:49And then you have this overhanging cornice, wonderful molded drawers, three over two,
11:54over a graduated set of three.
11:56Now, if I take this top off and we look at the bottom of this chest right here,
12:01you can see that from the witness mark, the light poplar,
12:05it shows that this is exposed to air and this is not oxidized.
12:10That means this always had a base like this on there.
12:14It didn't have bracket feet at one time.
12:16That's important.
12:17It always had a base.
12:18The base would have looked exactly like this, but this is not an old enough base.
12:26I'm sorry to say that.
12:28It was done 100 years ago.
12:29Okay.
12:30Okay, so there's nothing you did or your parents.
12:32It was something lovingly done.
12:34Right here on the back, if you look at the tool marks, you see these chatter marks right here?
12:38Yeah.
12:39That's from a machine tool that wasn't invented in the 18th century.
12:44Also, if you look on the backside of this, all the edges are so sharp you can cut yourself.
12:50Feel the edges of that now.
12:51Run your hand on that.
12:53See how all that's beat up?
12:55That's from 200 years of use.
12:58That's why we don't refinish pieces.
13:00We don't clean them away, and that's why this is such a treasure.
13:04I was so excited.
13:05You made my day, okay?
13:07You made mine.
13:08It's a wonderful piece.
13:10It has a replaced base.
13:12It is worth, at auction, probably $5,000 to $8,000, in that range.
13:17Now, if this had its original base, it would be worth in the range of $60,000 to $80,000.
13:31It was the day after Picasso died, and we spied these two things, and my husband said,
13:36if we're going to buy Picasso, now's the time to do it.
13:39You're kidding me.
13:40So you got them the day after he died?
13:41Day after he died.
13:42Now, typically, after an artist dies, particularly one as prominent as Picasso, their prices go up.
13:49So when you went to this gallery, had they marked the prices up on these?
13:52Maybe they didn't know.
13:53Did you know?
13:54Maybe he didn't know that they were his dead.
13:56They hadn't figured that out yet.
13:57So you were ahead of the curve on those, huh?
13:58Exactly, exactly.
13:59Very good.
14:00It is, indeed, a hand-signed lithograph by Picasso, but a lot of people might not know
14:04that he also made ceramics.
14:05I didn't until then.
14:07This is after he's already a famous artist, well into his career, but he never slowed down.
14:12Let that be a lesson to us all.
14:14Never slow down.
14:15So to put the two together, I think you see similarities in style and workmanship,
14:19but, of course, two completely different media.
14:22Right.
14:23At auction, you have about $23,000 worth of Picassos here.
14:26That's very favorable.
14:27Better than the stock market, I'll take that.
14:30So I would take very good care of them.
14:32Even better than I have been.
14:34Good.
14:35Thank you very much for bringing them in.
14:41When my husband's parents bought their new home, this chandelier was left by the previous owners.
14:48And after the sale was closed, I think they had regret that they had left it
14:53and asked my in-laws if they would return it to them.
14:56But my mother-in-law had a beautiful antique chandelier of her own,
15:00so she turned them down and gave it to us as a gift.
15:03Ah.
15:04Well, once the sale is made, the sale is made.
15:06Yes.
15:07When my mother-in-law gave it to us,
15:09the height of the piece was taller than the room would accommodate.
15:14And she took it to a business that dealt with antique lighting,
15:19and when they removed the piece that we needed to fit the height,
15:23they told her it was an antique Limoges chandelier.
15:27And they also told her, based on the wiring on the exterior of the arms of the chandelier,
15:33that they thought it was a gas chandelier converted to electric.
15:38Here's the spacer that you remarked on,
15:41and there is a mark on the base that says simply Limoges, France.
15:46And that helps you date it?
15:48It does help us date it, but the mark is not really what we need to date it.
15:53We can do it in other ways.
15:55It must have been quite a production to bring it here today.
15:57Was it hanging up?
15:59It's in our dining room, and the electrician that we had hired didn't show up.
16:04So my husband said, we can manage this.
16:07And an hour later, all four members of my family, my daughter held the flashlight,
16:13my husband ended up having to use a hacksaw because one of the screws was stripped.
16:18My son and I are under the chandelier sort of, you know,
16:21because it's fragile and we were worried about it.
16:24So it was quite the ordeal to get it down,
16:27and my son, who's 15, said, Mom, if you're not on TV, we're disowning you.
16:33Well, don't worry about being disowned.
16:35It's made of two materials, porcelain and then gilded metal.
16:39It's not, I'm afraid, hand-painted.
16:41All of the decoration in the panels is transfer printed,
16:46which is already an evidence that maybe it's not quite as valuable or old,
16:51as important as you might think.
16:53This concept of the wires being attached to the arms
16:57is sometimes evidence of rewiring a gas fixture,
17:01and gas fixtures tend to be at least 100 years old or more.
17:05This is not.
17:06It's also done on fixtures that are inexpensive.
17:10This is not a good sign in this case.
17:13Limoges is a prestigious name.
17:15Limoges has been a center of porcelain manufacturing for 150 years or more,
17:20and they made some great things there.
17:22But they use the name today often more as a prestige term than anything else,
17:27and the quality of the porcelain is really not very strong,
17:31as indeed generally the quality of the entire piece.
17:34I'm afraid in this case, despite all the expectations you may have had
17:39and all the trouble your family went through to bring it here,
17:42if it came up at auction, I would be very surprised
17:45if it sold for more than a few hundred dollars.
17:48That's interesting.
17:49I thought between $300 and $500 would be the correct estimate at auction.
17:56Well, that helps explain why they might leave it,
17:59that it didn't have great value, but it was free to us,
18:02so that's, I'm glad to know.
18:16I've actually had it for a number of years.
18:18It was originally my grandmother's, and I remember as a kid growing up,
18:21I would always see it sitting in the den.
18:23As I got older, I actually grew to appreciate it more,
18:25and then when she had passed away, she had left me a couple of paintings,
18:28and this was one of them.
18:29Have you done some research on it?
18:31I've done a little bit.
18:32I assume that the artist is Alberto Pacini,
18:34and I knew he was an Italian painter who kind of roamed around
18:37and did a lot of, I guess, daily life pictures.
18:40I think by general consensus, he's probably the leading Italian artist
18:43to work in the Orientalist manner.
18:45Really?
18:46I mean, using subject matter from the East, from North Africa,
18:50and he traveled there extensively.
18:52He was from Italy, originally, and studied in Parma,
18:56and then moved to France, where he knew artists such as Fromentin,
19:00he knew Jules Dupre, Theodore Rousseau,
19:02he was associated with the Barbican School,
19:04and he learned from all of them, but in the middle of the 1850s,
19:07when he would have been, I think, in his 30s,
19:09he had some financial problems, apparently,
19:11and he decided to go off with a French expedition to the Near East,
19:16and he traveled to places like Saudi Arabia, Yemen,
19:19he was in Turkey, he traveled around pretty extensively
19:23and really fell in love with what he saw there,
19:26and that became his subject.
19:28He loved the area so much that he lived in Tehran for two years,
19:31in what was then Persia,
19:33and was even commissioned by the Shah to do paintings.
19:35Really?
19:36And this painting here, it's hard to determine where exactly it might be.
19:39He did do a lot of work in Constantinople,
19:41so it's possible that it's of Turkish origin.
19:43I couldn't really say.
19:45But it really is an exquisite little piece.
19:48It shows his mastery of draftsmanship.
19:51He's a really wonderful, subtle colourist.
19:54The green going around here,
19:56and then picking out the red and the little red fezzes here.
20:00It just sets him off beautifully, and that's fairly typical of his work.
20:03A little muted ochre, and then there's a sensitive scumbling in there,
20:07and some of the oil paint, which is what it is,
20:09has almost been applied in thin washes like watercolour.
20:12For many people, it may not be as commercial as some of his other works.
20:15They might want a little bit of blue sky in the top, or a bit more light.
20:19But I actually think it's just a great, subtle, understated little painting.
20:24And I would think at auction,
20:26I would feel very comfortable with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.
20:30Really?
20:31Yeah.
20:32Wow!
20:33Yeah.
20:34I had no idea.
20:35I don't think you would want to insure it for much less than $70,000.
20:38Really?
20:39Yeah.
20:40Wow!
20:48About ten years ago, we had a really fierce storm, a nor'easter.
20:54And the following morning, I went out on the beach,
20:57and I found this floating in the surf, and I pulled it out.
21:02And I've been trying to find out ever since what it is.
21:07Well, I'll tell you, it is my honour to answer that question for you.
21:12This is what is called a Hadley's Quadrant.
21:16The name of the maker is Radford in London.
21:19This instrument dates from around 1710 to 1722.
21:23Oh my gosh!
21:25And what a find!
21:27Yes, yes.
21:28Now, value-wise, you're probably looking at around $1,000.
21:31Oh my goodness!
21:32But believe it or not, its value is based as much on the story
21:36as it is who made it and its condition.
21:40Well, I got the doll back in, I'd say, the early 60s.
21:44My grandmother was moving, and it was up in her attic.
21:47And she said that if I wanted to have anything, I could take it.
21:51It says on it that it's 160 years old from Cape Cod, and it's made by a sailor.
21:56It's an interesting piece to us.
21:58We love it as folk art.
22:00It's one of the best carvings we've seen here in a long time.
22:03We love its spare quality, the dry paint, the hair.
22:06What we love in folk art is to see original condition.
22:10Do you have any idea of value?
22:12None.
22:13Well, as a doll, as a sea captain's doll in the 19th century,
22:17it would be worth $2,000 to $3,000.
22:20As a piece of folk art, it's a bit different.
22:24We think of it as sculpture, as something you look at,
22:26not something you would dress up.
22:28And it would be worth probably $8,000 to $12,000.
22:31Oh, my God.
22:34It's a great piece.
22:48Back in 1950, my father was the eastern regional representative
22:52from Williamsport for Little League,
22:54and we used to go to the World Series every year.
22:57I was 9 years old in 1950,
23:00and Carl Stotz, who founded Little League,
23:02introduced me to Cy Young.
23:04And from that point on, I had a relationship with him.
23:08He and I would sit in the lobby of the Lycoming Hotel
23:11for the next 5 years and talk.
23:14In 1955, I was up there for the World Series,
23:18and I had just gotten a Brownie Box camera.
23:21So I asked Cy if I could take his picture.
23:24He said, well, not now.
23:25He said, come up to my room in about a half hour.
23:28So I went up to his room,
23:30and he had gotten potato chips and pretzels and Coke
23:34and sat in the chair, and I took the picture.
23:38And he signed the baseball, he signed the book,
23:41and he signed 2 3x5 Little League cards.
23:45And it's probably the last picture of him taken alive
23:49because in November of that year, he died.
23:52And he just was a gentleman.
23:54That is just so wonderful.
23:56Of course, he was a pitcher from 1890 to 1911,
24:00the greatest pitcher by wins, also had the most losses.
24:04And he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937,
24:07the second class of the Hall of Fame.
24:09He passed away in 1955.
24:11In 1956, baseball created the Cy Young Award,
24:14which is granted annually to the best pitcher,
24:17first in all baseball,
24:19and then several years later in both leagues.
24:21And we have some wonderful items here
24:23that he signed for you and that, of course, you treasure.
24:25We have a signed baseball,
24:27which you also got a couple other signatures on there,
24:30including Robin Roberts, Hall of Famer.
24:32But Cy Young really stands out on that baseball.
24:35He had a beautiful old-time signature
24:37that you just don't see very often.
24:39He loved kids, and he loved doing things for them,
24:42the Little League connection,
24:44and he loved signing autographs.
24:46That's why his autograph is out there.
24:48It's not particularly rare, but it's incredibly desirable.
24:52You have a lovely book here, a Little League book,
24:54which he also signed for you.
24:56And, of course, your photograph of him,
24:58which shows the distinguished gentleman himself,
25:01and the 3x5 card which he signed.
25:04They're wonderful pieces.
25:06As a collection, I would insure it
25:09for somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 to $7,000.
25:13And it's the type of thing that'll never go down in value
25:17because Cy Young is a name that everyone knows and will know.
25:20Yes.
25:21As long as there's baseball, there's going to be Cy Young.
25:36It's a statue that was given to my husband.
25:39He was a contractor, and it was given to him
25:42from someone that he works with.
25:44Have you done any research to try to figure out anything about it?
25:47I know that it was like early 1900, and that's all.
25:51Okay. It is signed, and it's J.L. Jerome, a French artist.
25:55He was born in 1824 in France,
25:58and really has spent most of his career
26:00as a very well-regarded and prominent French painter and engraver.
26:04And it wasn't until he was about 50 that he really became a sculptor.
26:08He exhibited sculpture for the first time
26:11at the Paris International Exposition in 1878,
26:14and this is just a really great example of his work.
26:17As with his paintings, he was very interested in Orientalism and the exotic,
26:21and you can really see that in this figure.
26:23She does have a title, Woman with a Veil.
26:26And you can see from her costume,
26:28she's got this sort of elaborate decoration on the fabric
26:31and these jeweled belts and this great coloration of her skirt.
26:34Do you know what it's made out of?
26:35Marble?
26:36Well, it's made out of marble. It's also made out of bronze.
26:38The majority of the sculpture is bronze,
26:40and the feet are marble, and they've been painted,
26:42which is not something that you typically find.
26:44The face, again, is marble and painted,
26:47and she's missing her left hand.
26:49What's interesting about it, really, is it is an experimentation.
26:52There's a combination of materials.
26:54The marble is painted.
26:55The bronze is patinated in different colors.
26:57It probably dates from the late 1880s, 1890.
27:00Wow.
27:01So a little bit earlier than you thought.
27:02Yeah.
27:03This model was produced in three different sizes,
27:05and this is the largest.
27:06Oh.
27:07So do you have any idea of what the missing hand, how that impacts value?
27:10No, but I could imagine, right?
27:12Obviously, the best scenario would be if it were to suddenly miraculously appear
27:16and could be reattached.
27:17Okay.
27:18If that isn't the case, an option would be to have a professional
27:21carve one out of marble to reattach.
27:24An example sold recently at auction with an entirely replaced arm,
27:28and that sold for just under $75,000.
27:31Yeah.
27:32Hello.
27:33Okay.
27:34Oh, wow.
27:35So with the hand obviously missing,
27:37an auction estimate would be between $60,000 and $80,000 in that range.
27:41Okay.
27:42It's really, in the scheme of things, a minor conditional issue,
27:45believe it or not.
27:46Wow.
27:47Wow.
28:00Well, these are books that were my mother and father's, all Robert Frost.
28:05Two first editions.
28:06My mother and father were both students.
28:08One at Wesley and one at Mount Holyoke,
28:10and they went together to a reading right when this book was published,
28:14and they got these two copies.
28:16And that was 1930?
28:181930.
28:19And there, they both had Robert Frost sign them, Amherst, 1930.
28:25The copy owned by your father differs a little bit.
28:29If we open it up, it's the opening line of one of his most beloved poems.
28:34Oh, it's the first line from Mending Wall.
28:37Yep.
28:38The one that ends, good fences make good neighbors.
28:40Right.
28:41It's got a lot of memorable lines from it.
28:43This is the dust jacket for your father's copy.
28:46Your mother did more typically what people did in those days,
28:49which was to discard it and would read the book and hold on to the book.
28:52Right.
28:53The book here, In the Clearing, was published in 1962.
28:57Right.
28:58And that was the one that includes his poem for JFK's inauguration.
29:04And here, it's signed by Frost.
29:07It doesn't have the date, it doesn't have the place,
29:09and it certainly doesn't have a line from the poem.
29:12It's simply signed on what we call the limitation page,
29:16and it says here it has been limited to 1,500 numbered copies
29:21signed by the author.
29:23So his signature, it's numbered below, number 253.
29:27The hierarchy, it's a different book title,
29:29so it makes comparison slightly difficult,
29:33but what's important to note is when books are being signed,
29:36it's often for different reasons.
29:38This would be something more mechanically done,
29:40where he was sitting there literally signing them,
29:42probably not in front of them.
29:44This one shows up because it was 1,500 copies.
29:46In the range of values at auction,
29:49that one would be in the $400 to $600 range.
29:52The first one, your mother had it signed,
29:54it was simply signed with a date.
29:56That's good.
29:57To get a line from one of his more famous poems,
29:59that's better yet,
30:01and ideally if you could have had him write out the entire...
30:04The entire poem, all 30 lines or whatever.
30:06All 30 lines, that would have been even better.
30:08I would put your mom's book without the jacket,
30:11with the simpler inscription,
30:13I would value that one at about $8,000 to $1,200.
30:16This one with the line,
30:18I would put an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000 on it.
30:22So it's a nice jump in value, as you can see.
30:24So altogether, I mean, you're looking at about
30:26$3,000 to $4,000 for the group.
30:28If everything else was equal, the dust jacket would add...
30:31No, it wouldn't.
30:32The thing is, when a book is inscribed,
30:34that overrides a thing like a dust jacket.
30:41This is from my great-uncle,
30:43handed down to me from my mother,
30:46and this is about my uncle, Charlie Trinkard,
30:50who was killed as a pilot in 1917
30:54as part of the Lafayette Escadrille.
30:56What do you know about his service?
30:58He started, I believe, in 1915.
31:01He was with a bunch of friends in New York City,
31:05and they decided that they would go over
31:07and enlist in the French Air Corps
31:09to help the French against the Germans.
31:12He went over and decided that he wanted to become a pilot,
31:15and he was accepted to become a pilot,
31:18but it didn't last too long, maybe for about 6 months.
31:22And this is something that happened
31:23with a lot of young guys here in the United States.
31:25They were very enthusiastic about what was going on in Europe,
31:28wanted to help do their part.
31:29Of course, the United States is neutral at the time.
31:32Some of them went to Canada to enlist,
31:34some of them went to England to enlist,
31:36and the history of his service
31:37goes a little bit beyond the Lafayette Escadrille.
31:40Mr. Trinkard joined the French Foreign Legion,
31:43which is a very exciting thing.
31:45Not too many people serve in the French Foreign Legion.
31:47Mr. Trinkard was over there in the trenches
31:49in the winter of 1914, 1915,
31:51and then in 1917 applied for flight training,
31:55was accepted as a sergeant,
31:56and ended up being posted to the Lafayette Escadrille.
31:59One of the most interesting pieces that you brought
32:02is this trench art shell.
32:03Trench art, of course, is an art form in the time
32:06where people are making decorations on military shells,
32:10canteens, little bullets,
32:12all those other kind of things as souvenirs.
32:15This particular piece here is interesting
32:17because you can see on the front
32:19he has the French Foreign Legion affiliation with it.
32:23If you turn it, it shows the man in uniform,
32:28and if you turn it again,
32:30we have Champagne where he was wounded,
32:321914, 15, and 16 when he was in the service
32:35with the Foreign Legion,
32:36and then his Cors de Guerre medal with a star on it
32:39which indicates that he was sighted in regimental orders.
32:42This is his French identification bracelet.
32:46This was given to the family after his death.
32:50Did you find out how he passed?
32:52Yes, he was apparently coming back with two other pilots
32:56all flying their own aircraft,
32:58and I don't know how to put this,
33:00but apparently when they flew back to the town
33:03where the base was,
33:04they were playing around and showing off,
33:07and somehow his plane broke up,
33:10and he went in.
33:11That's the same as the account that I found.
33:13He was doing stunts over the aerodrome at Toul,
33:16and he perished in a crash there.
33:18The items have an intrinsic value on their own.
33:21Without any connection to the Lafayette Escadrille,
33:24you have a French flight helmet that's about a $500 item.
33:28You have a trench art shell,
33:29which because of its French Foreign Legion connection,
33:32takes a $85 trench art shell
33:35and turns it into a $600 or $700 trench art shell.
33:38You have the Lafayette Escadrille medal
33:40that was presented to people
33:42if they passed in service to the Escadrille,
33:44and that's about a $700 item.
33:46So with the other bits and pieces and the photographs
33:49and the paperwork that you showed me,
33:51you have somewhere in the neighborhood
33:53of $1,800 to $2,100 worth of stuff
33:57if the items were to be sold separately.
34:00But as a group,
34:01a collector would expect to see a retail price on this
34:04somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000 to $5,000.
34:08Very interesting.
34:21They've been in my mother's family
34:23for as long as I can remember.
34:25I don't have any idea how old they are.
34:27They could have been a wedding present to my parents,
34:30and they could have been a wedding present to my grandparents.
34:33We've never used them since my wife and I have had them.
34:36My mother used to use them at different cocktail parties
34:39and whatnot.
34:40We showed them to a fellow one time
34:42at an antique store, antique dealer,
34:44and he didn't have a lot to say about them,
34:47and he offered us, I think, $300 for the set.
34:50The most striking thing about these particular oyster plates
34:53is the decoration.
34:54There's this wonderful array of sea life all over them,
34:57all kinds of different shells,
34:59fishes, seahorses, starfish.
35:01I just love all the different array of designs on them.
35:05These decorations look hand-painted
35:07when you look at them, but actually they are not.
35:10They're all decals and transfers.
35:12Now, oyster plates became very popular
35:14in the late 19th century,
35:16and there's one really interesting reason that they did
35:19is because of railways and refrigeration.
35:22They were able to ice fresh oysters
35:24and ship them across the country
35:26to wherever someone lived,
35:28and therefore oyster plates became very popular.
35:31Now let's take a look at the marks on these.
35:34These have two marks.
35:35There's a green underglaze mark, which says H-N-C-O-L,
35:40and that means that it was made by
35:42Haviland & Company in Limoges, France.
35:44It means they made the plate.
35:46The second mark is overglazed, and it's red.
35:48It says Haviland & Company, Limoges,
35:50and that means it was also decorated
35:53at the Haviland factory.
35:55Haviland factory made a lot of china, plain white,
35:57and sold it plain white,
35:59and those pieces would have not had the red mark.
36:02Now because these do not include the word France,
36:05they may have been made as early as the 1880s,
36:08but somewhere 1880s, 1890s,
36:10which is at the height of the oyster fad.
36:14If these were Haviland and they were plain white,
36:17they'd be okay, but they might only sell for $50, $75.
36:22If they just had gold trim like these
36:24and some pretty flowers, they'd be a little better.
36:27They might be $100, $150.
36:30But because these have all this wonderful sea life
36:32all over them, and because they're in great condition,
36:35if they were being sold in a retail situation
36:38to a specialized collector of oyster plates,
36:40they might pay somewhere between $300 and $400 each
36:44because of the great decoration.
36:46Now someone might say, well, if you had the complete set,
36:49it would be worth more money, but this is one case.
36:51A set is not more valuable.
36:53Most oyster plate collectors, they don't want sets.
36:55They want singles.
36:57They want one of each plate to display in their collection.
37:01So the set is no more valuable because really they would be
37:04easier to sell individually to a collector
37:06than as a complete set.
37:08Thanks for bringing them in. It's really a great set.
37:10I enjoyed seeing it.
37:11I appreciate it very much.
37:14Hello.
37:20It's been in my family.
37:22I'm the third generation to have it.
37:24And my grandfather gave it to my grandmother
37:27on her becoming a grandmother when I was born.
37:30Okay, and do you wear it very often?
37:33Not very often.
37:35Okay, well, you know it's a big diamond in the center.
37:37That's a baguette-cut diamond right there,
37:39and it's very unusual.
37:41Because it's so large and long.
37:43Have you ever had it appraised before?
37:45No.
37:46Well, I gauged it at the table,
37:48and it's coming out to be at least 3 carats.
37:50Oh, my goodness.
37:52And the side stones on it are probably about a carat each,
37:55so you have a total weight of about 5 carats in this ring.
37:59Do you have any idea of its value?
38:01No, I really don't.
38:03All right, well, a quick auction estimate
38:05is right around $15,000 to $20,000.
38:07Oh, thank you.
38:09Yeah, wear it in good health.
38:11I will, thank you.
38:13You're welcome.
38:15It was passed down to my family from Chester, Pennsylvania.
38:18This is one of several pieces that would come from my family,
38:21and we think it's, we don't see any obvious marks on it.
38:25We think it was made right there on the farm,
38:27and that's about all we know.
38:29Well, I can tell you,
38:31it was made by a great American cabinetmaker.
38:33This is a classic Pennsylvania piece
38:36with two ball turnings,
38:38with a nice baluster in the middle.
38:40The surface is incredible.
38:42This is the original surface
38:44that we like to see on American furniture,
38:46and it is absolutely perfection,
38:49balance, restraint,
38:51and I especially like the rounded knees
38:54and the way they join the pillar.
38:57This is craftsmanship
38:59where someone cared about a simple form,
39:01and in my mind,
39:03that makes this candle stand
39:05worth so much more than your average stand.
39:07It's probably worth about $8,000 to $12,000.
39:11All right.
39:13Can I lean on it for just a moment?
39:15Absolutely.
39:25My mom had it hanging in our living room when I was young.
39:29I really always liked the painting,
39:31and so she gave it to me, you know, several years ago.
39:35I've done a little bit of research online
39:38about the painting,
39:40and it seems to be of the period of a Renaissance landscape.
39:44I, you know, was never able to determine the artist.
39:48There doesn't appear to be a signature on it.
39:51What you have is an old master painting,
39:53not necessarily a Renaissance painting,
39:55but something we call an old master painting
39:57that's done before 1800.
39:59It was painted around the 1600s,
40:01a little after the Italian Renaissance.
40:03Okay.
40:05So it might be a Renaissance painting,
40:07but it's a little later than that.
40:09Okay.
40:11Now, with old master paintings, there are a lot of unknowns,
40:13but let's go through those things we do know about it.
40:15The subject matter is Orpheus,
40:17and Orpheus is a famous figure in Greek mythology
40:19who was known for his music and his poetry,
40:21and he was so good that he was known
40:23to charm the animals out of the forest.
40:25Ah.
40:27And he would buy these dogs and cats,
40:29and then what it does is it gives the artist
40:31the opportunity to really go off on a tangent
40:33and really show some exotic animals.
40:35Uh-huh.
40:37So we see over here this pair of leopards,
40:39which you wouldn't find in Europe,
40:41and then you also see swans and ducks and geese, horses.
40:43Uh-huh.
40:45And finally over here you can see what they thought were camels.
40:47They didn't see many camels these days,
40:49but that's their impression of a camel.
40:51Right.
40:53You mentioned that she had it refurbished.
40:55Yes, it is on panel, and wood tends to crack and curve.
40:57Mm-hmm.
40:59And over the years it has done that.
41:01You see these cracks, and they were restored,
41:03and the painting was flattened out,
41:05but the cracks and the restoration
41:07have turned color a little bit
41:09and need to be redone.
41:11It'll help increase the value.
41:13Also it'll help preserve the painting
41:15from any further damage to it.
41:17Mm-hmm.
41:19Now, one of the things about old masters
41:21is you aren't always sure who did them.
41:23I mean, we all know who did them.
41:25The history is there.
41:27But with old masters, the history sometimes gets lost,
41:29and sometimes we don't know,
41:31and so we say words like attributed to
41:33or manner of or school of.
41:35Mm-hmm.
41:37Well, this painting here,
41:39we think it's in the school of Jan Bruegel the Younger,
41:41who was known for doing these types of animals.
41:43Okay.
41:45Now, a surprise came up.
41:47Down in here we found initials of FVO,
41:49and it's dated 1646.
41:51And FVO, we aren't sure who it is.
41:53We could probably find out,
41:55and that would add to the value of the painting.
41:57With those unknowns in the air,
41:59as an auctioneer, we'd probably put it in,
42:01like, say, school of Jan Bruegel the Younger
42:03and have an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.
42:05Okay, terrific.
42:07If we were able to find out more about that
42:09and find the artist, have time to find some documentary evidence
42:11and who might have really painted it,
42:13it could be worth more,
42:15maybe about $60,000 to $80,000.
42:17Okay, terrific.
42:19♪
42:31We bought in 1896
42:33Queen Anne Victorian in Vermont,
42:35and when we were remodeling the kitchen,
42:37we found these stuffed throughout the walls and in the ceilings.
42:39Do you know who owned the house beforehand
42:41or how these came to get into the house?
42:43The initial owner was the person
42:45who ran the train station in Rutland.
42:47Okay.
42:49He had the house built back in 1896,
42:51and these are from that time period,
42:53so I'm assuming they're his.
42:55It's a terrific collection.
42:57It's a wonderful example of artwork
42:59with the women on the bicycles.
43:01This one, you have the men and women on the bicycles.
43:03The other thing that I really want to point out
43:05is these are American companies,
43:07so there's a lot of appeal in a lot of different ways.
43:09It's going to appeal to people who like just the look of them
43:11and the feel of this late 19th century artwork and paper
43:13and then to bicycle collectors
43:15who collect bicycles seriously,
43:17loves to get the catalogs to match up to their bike.
43:19Inside each of these,
43:21they're loaded with illustrations
43:23and prices for the bikes, the bike parts.
43:25There's some condition issues.
43:27If you see on this Lovell Diamond Cycles,
43:291897, there's some water damage,
43:31but overall, it's just a remarkable,
43:33remarkable find.
43:35Dollar value for auction purposes
43:37will vary based on the amount of illustrations
43:39by the covers and by the maker.
43:41That's the most important thing, by the maker.
43:43If I were to estimate an individual price at auction,
43:45I would probably estimate each piece
43:47anywhere from $200 to $400 per catalog.
43:49You have about 25 of them.
43:51An overall estimate for auction purposes
43:53would probably be somewhere around $5,000 to $8,000.
43:55That's great.
43:57It's a nice little find.
43:59Less expensive than fiberglass insulation.
44:01Absolutely.
44:09My mother had found it
44:11at a garage sale 10 years ago.
44:13Did I say 10 years ago?
44:15I meant 40 years ago.
44:1740?
44:19Yes.
44:21She bought it for about $10.
44:23I had been to a museum,
44:25and I had seen squash blossom necklaces.
44:27Mine was nicer than anything that I had seen,
44:29so that's why I'm here.
44:31I know possibly it's Navajo,
44:33but that's all I know.
44:35The squash blossom is the most commonly known
44:37piece of Navajo jewelry.
44:39Since the 1860s,
44:41the inspiration for the components of the piece
44:43come from the Moors
44:45and the Spanish tradition.
44:47Spain came here,
44:49they influenced the Mexicans,
44:51and the Mexicans taught the Navajo
44:53how to make silver.
44:55The components of the necklace,
44:57the thing that's referred to as the naja,
44:59is a talisman
45:01the Moors and the Spaniards
45:03used to ward off evil.
45:05The Spanish pomegranate flower
45:07was the inspiration for these flowers,
45:09which the Navajo when pressed
45:11said that they're squash blossom flowers.
45:13But the name actually in Navajo
45:15means the bead that expands.
45:17We see a hundred of these a day
45:19here in the roadshow.
45:21I'm not exaggerating.
45:23This is an extraordinary example
45:25made in the 1900s, 1920s,
45:27that just is the best of the best.
45:29It is coin silver.
45:31The stone was made
45:33in the 19th century.
45:35Coin silver.
45:37The stone was an adaptation
45:39from a necklace.
45:41You can see a little drill mark in the stone.
45:43It's a natural piece of turquoise
45:45probably pulled off a very old necklace.
45:47The file marking on it,
45:49the weight,
45:51it is just a classic piece.
45:53Navajo jewelry at the early days
45:55had a very subtle beauty to it.
45:57This exudes it.
45:59I just love the piece.
46:01It just gave me a thrill to see it.
46:03When I saw your face, I said, uh-oh.
46:05It's special.
46:07It must be special.
46:09What do you think it's worth based on what you did?
46:11I don't know.
46:13$2,000.
46:15I don't really know.
46:17This one on an auction market
46:19will sell for $4,000 to $6,000.
46:21That's great.
46:23It's very special.
46:25I'm glad it survived the ages.
46:27Me too.
46:33My father's great-aunt
46:35was Emma Bellows.
46:37She was the wife of George Bellows.
46:39When my father was a young boy,
46:41he used to visit Emma in upstate New York
46:43at her home there.
46:45He used to go and see the paintings in the house,
46:47and apparently there was tons of them,
46:49and he was the only boy that used to be interested
46:51in these paintings.
46:53Emma was so intrigued that this young boy
46:55loved the art so much
46:57that she actually gifted this painting
46:59to George Bellows.
47:01Oh, that's wonderful.
47:03I also enjoyed the painting,
47:05and it's going to be passed down through the family
47:07hopefully for a long time.
47:09It's a painting by George Bellows,
47:11who of course is one of the most important
47:13American artists in the course of art history.
47:15He ranks right along with
47:17Eakins, Homer, Sargent, and Edward Hopper.
47:19He was born in Columbus, Ohio,
47:21and he actually was truly
47:23enchanted with art because he gave up
47:25a professional baseball career
47:27in order to follow his art career.
47:29He went to Ohio State
47:31and then went on to the New York School
47:33in New York,
47:35studying with Robert Henri,
47:37another important American artist.
47:39That's where he met Emma,
47:41who was also a student,
47:43and they got married around 1909.
47:45By 1920, they moved to Woodstock, New York,
47:47which I guess is where your father was.
47:49Bellows was born in 1882,
47:51and he died very young,
47:53at the age of 42,
47:55of appendicitis in 1925.
47:57So his career was very short.
47:59Now, the painting that you have here,
48:01do you have any idea
48:03where the subject is?
48:05It's been a tale in the family,
48:07I'm not sure if it's true,
48:09that it's the Catskill Mountains
48:11up by Woodstock.
48:13It was from his house there,
48:15and it was supposed to be after a storm
48:17that had gone through the mountain range.
48:19He painted it.
48:21I don't have any tangible information
48:23that that's exactly what it is,
48:25but is it viewable from his home in Woodstock?
48:27This painting is unsigned.
48:29The provenance is so impeccable
48:31that, obviously,
48:33the authenticity of this painting is intact.
48:35There is a catalog resume project
48:37which is organized,
48:39and I think at some point
48:41you should submit the painting to that group,
48:43just more for information purposes
48:45as opposed to anything else.
48:47This painting may have been exhibited also,
48:49I think, at the Detroit Institute in 1913,
48:51and I do think the painting
48:53is from 1913,
48:55given the style,
48:57given the wonderful heavy impasto,
48:59the palette, this dark bluish-gray,
49:01and then this bright green.
49:03It also has a rather dramatic sky,
49:05and Bellows was doing a lot of that
49:07in 1913,
49:09and primarily in Maine.
49:11So this particular subject,
49:13being in the Catskills,
49:15is very, very unusual for him.
49:17He did paint in Woodstock,
49:19but not scenes of the mountains like this.
49:21This is a panel,
49:23and it has a rather heavy varnish
49:25which could be toned down
49:27and also cleaned because up here
49:29you've got some coagulated varnish,
49:31and that's just on the surface,
49:33and so you could clean this very easily
49:35and it would brighten up tremendously.
49:37His work, in terms of prices
49:39or values, is all over the map.
49:41A painting like this,
49:43given the size, the date, and the subject matter,
49:45a gallery in New York
49:47would probably sell it for $150,000.
49:49Oh, my gosh. Really?
49:51Yes, yes. Oh, that's fantastic.
49:53Yeah, it's really exciting.
49:55Oh, wow.
49:57Thank you. Oh, you're welcome.
49:59It's fantastic.
50:01I can't believe it. I just can't believe it.