Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: It's my grandfather's train.

He used to run it around under the Christmas tree every year, so I know that at one point it worked.

And it's been in the family for probably 100 years.

APPRAISER: So, this is a German-made train.

Actually, if we turn it over and look on the underside, right at the top here... GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: ...it's marked "Made in Germany."

Now, normally, there would also be the company logo, which is an M and a C, from rklin.

Uh, rklin is the maker of the train, circa about 1906, 1907.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: rklin was a producer of children's toys, uh at the turn of last century, and they really made the top, top-quality toys.

Trains was sort of the rise to the top.

They're actually still a company today.

England, France, and the United States were the three markets for exporting their trains.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: And they designed the trains specifically for those export markets.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So in this instance, it's an American beer car.

"Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous."

Schlitz started around the mid-1800s.

In fact, it's actually still a brewery today, owned by Pabst Blue Ribbon.

There's three different variations of the beer cars that rklin made.

There's a Pabst Blue Ribbon and there's also a Budweiser.

They're all very desirable.

The Schlitz car, in this size-- which is a gauge 1 train car size-- in the past 20 years, there's only been a dozen or so that have come up.

So, quite a rare piece.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: What's also very interesting about these toys, they're tinplate, and they're all hand-painted with an enamel paint, which does hold up really well.

And that's why it's still so well-preserved here for being over 100 years old.

Uh, it has opening doors on the sides, with a little hinge, and you can even open the hinge roof to get access to the interior load.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: This would be a refrigerator car, so this one would be refrigerating Schlitz beer.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: As is often the case for all of these toys, condition is king.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: This is in really nice condition.

GUEST: (gasps) Oh, good.

APPRAISER: It is.

It's very sharp, colors are great, all the way around.

There's some wear.

Your grandfather obviously did play with it, but the paint is really well-kept.

It can actually be cleaned up a little bit to really brighten up the color even more.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Now, in valuing the train car, it's a select market.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: This is an American-focused marketplace.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Do you have any idea what the value is on a train like this?

GUEST: No, no.

APPRAISER: You might want to pour a nice cold glass of beer after I tell you this, but this train car should easily fetch $10,000 to $20,000.

GUEST: Dollars?!

Wow.

That's amazing.

That's wonderful.

APPRAISER: Now, with that said, there have been examples of this car that have sold for $30,000 or even $40,000.

GUEDT: (chuckling) Oh, good-- I'm... S... I'm almost speechless.

And you know-- if you know me, that's... (both laugh)