Antiques Roadshow

What does New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, have to show Antiques Roadshow?

MAN

They were lying there in the mud, and I picked this one up, and asked my girlfriend, "Do you want the other one?" She said, "Eww, no." Oh, that's cool, my grandmother would be really happy. Where's a chair? (laughs) That's not all we found in Albuquerque. Stay tuned. Welcome to Antiques Roadshow. Hi, I'm Mark Walberg, this week we're in sunny Albuquerque, New Mexico. This part of the country attracts balloonists from near and far. In fact, Albuquerque is known as the hot air ballooning capital of the world. We'll visit the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum later on, but now, we've got a down to earth treasure to show you. Take a look. Could you tell me the story of how you got these items from Woodstock? The jacket I picked up after everything was over on Monday morning. They were lying there in the mud, and I picked this one up, and asked my girlfriend, "Do you want the other one?" She said, "Eww, no." And the program, there was a huge pile of them that was probably ten feet high. They never delivered them, they couldn't get them onto the grounds, and they got 'em there on Monday morning and I guess they just dumped them there. But I picked up a whole handful, I still got the one. It was called the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, and they had asked a bunch of kids from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe to come and be a part of it. They flew everybody in, so we were guests of management. It was really great because all these guys were coming up and asking, "Where you guys from?" And they were all excited to see "Indians." When we first arrived there, we were given two tipis, and so when it rained, we were fine. And with our passes, we could go to the performer pavilion, get a case of beer if we wanted, and sit there, draw and drink, and had a good time. Well, you had probably a very different experience at Woodstock than your average person who went because you had passes from management. What you're discussing, bringing in the people from the Institute of American Indian Arts out of Santa Fe... Uh-huh. Is a really well documented story, and obviously you were among those people who were lucky enough to go. Right, that's how it worked out, yeah. And while you were there, my question is, did you watch any of the acts? Oh yeah, yeah. Who did you see? Well, I guess probably the most, what you might call the important thing, was Jimi Hendrix at the end. I remember waking up, it was still dark, and I heard them introducing him, so I woke up my partner and said, "Let's go down and catch this," and she was a big, huge fan. We were ten, 15 feet away from him while he was playing, and then he started playing "The Star-Spangled Banner," that was something that I had never imagined, it was incredible. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. Well, these are priceless memories that you have. We do see these come up for auction from time to time. There were different colors. Right. This is... carries the original logo that was on the poster, designed by a man named Arnold Skolnick. You don't have to say Woodstock when you look at this jacket, you see this and everybody knows this is from Woodstock. Yeah. But to have one of the original jackets worn by management, and as you said there are other colors of jackets, there's red and green... Yeah, red was for security. Yep. And then the green was for stage crew. When these do come up for sale at auction, they traditionally sell anywhere between $2,000 and $2,500. Mm-hmm. And then you also mentioned the program, because they were never officially kind of distributed there, there were kind of stacks of them that, same with the tickets, they just stopped taking tickets 'cause people crashed the gates. These are rare, the value on the programs is completely dependent upon condition. So in the condition that you have here, I would expect this one to sell anywhere in the $500 to $600 range at auction. They have sold for as much as $1,200, but that was a near-mint fine copy, and that's the difference condition will make on something like this. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. So, so altogether, it's a really great group of objects here, and like I said, the memories that you have from the event are worth more than anything I could put a dollar figure on. Yeah, and I remember most of it, you know. They belonged to my husband, and his father was a jeweler. Okay. And he did a lot of work in New York, that's where we think he acquired 'em. And do you use them for any specific purpose? They just sit on my dining room table for pretty. Well that's, I think, exactly what they're for. They're a real statement piece, aren't they? Yeah... They're absolutely gorgeous looking. They're actually made in London. Oh, wow. Yeah, and they have a set of English hallmarks on them. Oh, wow. So the hallmarks in London in 1912, 1913, which is the beginning of George V's reign, it's about 100 years ago, very different time to now. They're made by the Pairpoint Brothers, who were actually very well known for making pieces like this, which are in a revival style. This is a Renaissance design that has been reproduced in the early 20th century, and I think they are so wonderful. I mean, look at the attributes that we have here. On the top, there is a merman, as you see, blowing on the large shell here. You see his wonderful scaly sort of legs coming out the back here, and he's sitting on these large scallop shells, supported on these four dolphin supports. Now, this type of sea beast was used very much in the 16th century as indicative of an animal that came from the deep, right? Yes. So you would get them on antiquarian maps a lot, they were very common motif of the Renaissance period. You see that they merge, or they're sort of lying on these wonderful waves here, beautifully arranged around them. They are sterling silver. Wow. And what's interesting also about the placement of these marks, is that they're right at the front. Yes. So they're on show. When hallmarking was first introduced in London, which would be hundreds and hundreds of years ago, 700 years ago, the hallmark would have been hidden on the bottom. By this time, and particularly with this type of object, which is such a showy object, they want to advertise the fact that they're silver right front and center and that's what they've done. They probably weigh around 50 ounces, which in 2014 is around $20 an ounce, about maybe $1,000 or over, just over $1,000 each. But if these were to come up for auction, I would estimate them now at between $4,000 to $7,000. Wow... So quite a lot more than I think the sort of $2,000 that we would have imagined if they were melted down. My grandmother was born in 1890 and she had a half sister quite older than her, and she married a Frenchman, and was living in Paris. And when my grandmother was about five, she sent her this doll directly from Paris. What year would that have been? 1895. Okay. Did you think it was a French doll since it came...? I assumed so, yes. Okay. She played with it, you can tell that. Yeah. She must have played with it very gently, because this doll is in absolutely perfect condition. I know I didn't play with it and my daughter didn't either. I've kept it in my cedar chest since I've had it. It's made by one of the most prominent makers of dolls in France. Very good. Jumeau. They started making dolls in 1842. These examples were made anywhere between 1890 and 1900. Okay. It's really in good condition-- original wig, original clothes. You can see the silk is molting. Yeah. Just a little bit, but it's just a part of the aging of it all. Well, just age, yes. And if we take the wig off... We can see the marking on the back. Oh, okay, I never did look, I guess. You can see that it's marked, "Dpos Tte Jumeau." And you also, you see, number eight, which is a size number, this one is about 20 inches. Yeah. You can see what "1x". Yeah, I saw that... That was the artist's mark that painted the dolls. And if you look at her closely, not only is her head marked, but her shoes are marked also. Oh, okay. Yeah. It also has the original earrings. Oh, I know, yes. The painting on the face, the quality of the bisque is good. Even the quality of the clothes. At auction today, this doll would bring between $4,500 and $7,000. Very good. The parasol I'll value separately. It's of the same time period as your doll, but the scale was a little bit larger than what the doll would have. The parasol would bring between $250 and $400 at auction. Very good. I'll bet... I have a granddaughter it'll be passed down to. Today I've brought this antique lamp that I think was either, like, bought in 1908 or 1909. Okay, and why do you think that? Well because my great-great-grandfather was getting married, and his mother, my great-great-great-grandmother, bought him this lamp, and his bride, as a wedding gift. Then, he passed it down to me, and I think it was... We don't quite remember the year that the wedding was in, but we do know that they had a son, their first child, a year after in 1910, so we assumed that it was either 1908 or 1909. Do you know what it is? Well my grandmother said that she saw a poster and she thought that it was the Tiffany lamp and it was the pineapple one. Okay. Well, you're close, but not quite right. It was made by the Duffner and Kimberly company, which was making lamps at the same time that Louis Comfort Tiffany was making his lamps. In fact, this lamp was made in 1906, and the original store catalog that Duffner and Kimberly produced from 1906 shows this lamp with this shade and this base. The name of it is the Greek lamp, and it's model number 505. Oh. Is it the 505th product or type of lamp? It's probably not, it's just in that line, it's number 505. So tell me what you like about this lamp. Um, I like that when it's lit, how it's kind of pink. I also like that its color, it's like it was mixed or blended and not quite like mixed fully and it still has a little bit of white or something in it. Yeah, we call that slag glass. So, it's a leaded glass lamp shade with a bronze base. The finial kind of of looks like a pineapple, but really it's probably a bud, and the finial is the top piece on the very top. Uh-huh. It's called the Greek lamp because it has all these Greek decorations on there. Oh! Yeah, so you have the paw feet, and then you have the palmette. And then here on the base you have the egg and dart frieze. And that's very typical that you would find on buildings... In like Greek. In ancient Greece, yeah, so that's why they called it the Greek lamp. Huh. It's in good condition, your family has kept it up really well. Where do you have it in the house? Well, we keep it in my mother's bedroom out on, like, this nightstand, and sometimes we use it like at night when we turn off the lights, but we use that for like reading light. Do have any idea of what value it could be? Maybe around $5,000? Maybe around $5,000? Yeah, maybe only... that would be pretty high, actually. You think so? I think that this lamp, if it came to auction in 2014, it would sell somewhere between $6,000 and $8,000. Wow, that's cool! My grandmother would be really happy.

WOMAN

This is a depiction of the prologue of The Canterbury Tales, which was supposedly the first great masterpiece of English literature. It came through my maternal grandmother. She got it as a wedding gift around 1910. She was born in 1896, so... 1910, wait, that would make her 14, say 1914 perhaps. Okay, let me tell you about what this is. Yes, please. Okay, so you thought this may have been English because of the subject matter. It's actually... it was made in Zanesville, Ohio by the Weller Pottery company, and it's decorated by Cecil B. Upjohn. Oh, get out. And done in 1900. It's an example of Weller Dickensware II line. It's marked underneath-- it's heavy. It says, "sgraffito," which is a style of decoration, and it's marked Weller as for the Weller Pottery company. Ah! So, it wouldn't need the mark, it's a distinctive form and a distinctive technique. In terms of value, there's a crack in the top, you should be very careful picking it up this way, always pick it up by the throat, but... I, without a doubt, on today's market, a retail figure would be $25,000, even with the crack. Wow. It's a real masterpiece of Zanesville, Ohio, pottery at the peak of their creative powers. Oh wow, I hope my greedy sister isn't watching. (laughs)

MAN

I don't know anything about the document. I found it in a suitcase at the dump. These are the old school dumps, back when they used to just have a big hole...

APPRAISER

Right. And you back up to it and throw all your stuff in it. Okay. And then they come along at some point with a bulldozer, and fill it up. I was taking things to the dump, and, you know, saw the suitcase. How many years ago did you find it at the dump? You know, I'm thinking it could have been over 30 years. 30 years ago, wow. You own a Sussel-Washington baptismal document, by the Sussel-Washington artist. The Sussel-Washington artist is probably the most famous 18th century fraktur maker-- documents of marriage, birth, baptismal documents-- in 18th century America in Pennsylvania. Out there, Sussel was a great collector, and he had a great collection. It included Lady Washington and George Washington in it. They call this artist, we don't know his name, but we call him the Sussel-Washington artist. So, when I actually saw this and I called Lisa Minardi, who's the curator at Winterthur Museum, she is writing the last word, a massive tome, on frakturs, when I sent her photos of this, she couldn't contain herself. She said this is the Sussel-Washington artist. Really? Right here, we have Johann Christian Lore, it says, "November 21, 1777." At the end here, this says Bethel Township, written in old German, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Right here, this says, "taufzeugen," and right here it says, "taufzeugen." And these two are the godparents. You've got everything. I mean, it's just everything you'd want. First of all, full human figures are rare in frakturs. Typical of this artist's work are these-- look at these little eyebrows, okay, these little kind of dots for eyebrows, the almond-shaped football eyes. He actually used a lot of cross-hatching, do you see on the pants right here? This is one of the most exciting things in terms of Pennsylvania works of art, 18th century works of art, that I've seen on the Roadshow here, and it adds tremendously to our knowledge. There are only about 24 works by the Sussel-Washington artist known in the world. 24, you know, roughly; you made it 25 right here. Oh. So that's been in a dump and hidden away in your place. About half of those 24 are in museums. They come up very, very rarely, but one sold within the last year. A conservative auction estimate on this would be $25,000... What?...to $35,000. Whoa. (chuckles) Yeah. That's amazing.

MAN

I know they're vintage concho belts, which means they're Navajo. They came to me through a friend before he died, he gave them to me. I suspect that this one's older, but I don't know any more than that.

APPRAISER

Why do you think this one's older? Because it's plainer. Just looking at some of the tool marks where the leather goes through, I mean, those almost look like they were cut with a cold chisel. Right. And I look at this one and the stamps are a lot more complicated, and these... It just looks simpler. There's a reason it looks like it was cut with a cold chisel-- it was. Here's how these things evolved. Originally, this would have been a Spanish bridle concho. And so when the Spanish, they were here by the late 1500s, they were here in quantity, there was a lot of people from Spain here in the 1600s, and in the 1700s, this was New Spain. And these caballeros had bridle conchos on the cheeks that would have been round. And the Navajo copied the bridles and made their own versions, and they also used the conchos to decorate other things. When they became belts, they became oval, because the original bridle conchos were round. And they looked basically like this, just round, and the bridle was threaded through a slot. And you're right, this one's older. And it probably dates to about 1880. 1880? Some time in the 1880s. On the buckle down there, that's a silver buckle. Sometimes you see 'em with an iron harness buckle. The top one is a more advanced belt, you're right. It was a Platero, a major silversmith who knew how to raise the metal, he knew how to stamp it, how to chisel it and cut it to make those beautiful designs. The buckle is an entirely different level of workmanship than the buckle over here. Yeah. The top one probably dates to between 1900 and 1910. So it's that early, too? Yeah. The tradition of silversmithing and the way it's done does go straight back to Spain, and it was in Bosque Redondo when they were in the internment camps down south of here, that you begin to see a lot more silversmithing as opposed to just Spanish gear. The bottom one, if it came up for sale at a good auction these days, I think it would bring somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000. So, a significant amount of money. Because of the quality of the top one, if it came up at a public auction, I would think it would bring $6,000 to $8,000. Because the workmanship is just superb and it's great to see Navajo silverwork of this quality come in in Albuquerque. Well, I've got a grandson that's gonna be born in two weeks. Wow. So, he gets those. That's a bigger deal than the belts. Yeah, it is. Congratulations. We're pretty excited.

MAN

My grandfather's second wife was coming from East Germany to West Germany, and she brought a lot of possessions including this violin. He was actually, I guess, he was in the army, and apparently met her right at the crossing and that's how that started. I've shown it to a few people in Santa Fe and they've said it's a nice violin. Nobody's said it's awesome or a Stradivarius, and they gave me a couple of numbers.

APPRAISER

What were those numbers? Somebody said five to seven. Now was that based on the name inside it? Some of it was the name, but then somebody said a lot of those names were kind of put in there? Okay. As opposed to being original? Okay, well that's partly true. If we look on the inside of it, it has the label of Romeo Antoniazzi. Now the heyday of this shop was right around 1900. And Romeo Antoniazzi's instruments are highly regarded. This particular violin was actually not made by Romeo, but it was sold through his shop. They probably had a lot of makers that would supply them with instruments, and they would put their own label in it to maybe enhance the value, or to even claim that it was made in their shop, which was done all the time in Italy. I can recognize the actual maker of this violin. Oh really, how? By certain attributes of its design that do not match the style in which Antoniazzi worked, but match exactly the style which Claudio Gamberini of Bologna worked. Interesting. This violin is probably from around 1920. If we look at this violin, we see a couple of things that are kind of uniquely Gamberini. This edge is a very raised edge, they call that a beaded edge, so that you see how rounded off it is, and how it's thicker than the rest of the plate. If we turn the violin around... this type of wood is called opio, and it is particularly native to northern Italy. Which would include Bologna, which was where Gamberini worked. All right. So, the characteristics of opio are extremely fine figure, very tight curl, we call it on maple, which, actually, in these violins, is acoustically very, very good. These makers were quite successful with this type of wood. Gamberini also used a varnish that was laid on quite thin, and then the most revealing part about his work, is this very elongated peg box. Mm-hmm. And where it terminates in what we call the eye, the eye of that scroll is very, very big. So all of these are recognizable traits of Gamberini's work. Well, the price of a Gamberini violin at auction, in 2005, was $21,000. Wow. That was almost ten years ago. Nowadays, I'd place it in the auction category at about $28,000 to $35,000. Wow. If it was sold privately or in a violin shop, at retail level, it would probably be closer to $35,000. That's really interesting. Really interesting, that's fabulous.

WALBERG

For several decades now, ballooning has been a favorite activity in New Mexico. Especially here in Albuquerque, where an annual international balloon festival draws hundreds of thousands of people every year. Roadshow was fired up to check out the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, the perfect place to take a look at some vintage airship toys with appraiser Noel Barrett. Well, here we are, we're in a balloon museum. And, of course, balloons are also airships, but they're non-rigid. The first rigid airships really came to the fore as weapons of war during World War I. This toy sort of bridges the gap between warship and passenger travel, and what we see here is an airship circling, getting ready perhaps to bomb this town, and we see the gun emplacement trying to shoot it down. And it still works, huh? It has great little action, let's see, put it to work here. (wind up chattering) This was made in the late '20s and into the '30s. And who made it? Louis Marx who was one of the great tin toy makers of the 20th century. So it's an American-made toy. American-made. In today's world, at auction, a toy in this condition, with this condition box, which is pretty good, I would expect it to bring $1,000 to $1,200. Let's take a look at this next toy, tell me about this. Well, this is a toy version of the Graf Zeppelin, which was the most successful passenger airship of all time. This was made by Ferdinand Strauss, an American toy maker. It's made out of aluminum. You wound it up, you hung it from the ceiling and it spun around in a circle. What year was it made? Late '20s, early '30s, and into the '30s. In this condition, I would say in the $400 to $600 range. Now finally, I'm dying to find out about this big toy here. Tell me about this one. Well, this was made by the Erector Company, and I'm sure you've heard of Erector sets. Sure, I remember Erector sets. They were the best and most popular metal construction toys of all time, perfect thing to make a zeppelin out of. And then after it's all constructed, you put this cloth bag on it. And they're quite rare, of course, obviously because cloth wasn't a very sturdy material. I think in 1929 when this first came out. One like this example, built up, without the box, would sell for around $600 to $800. And if we were to find one not put together, all the pieces intact in the box, what would that value be? Well, a few years ago, I know one sold for $5,500. Now, today's market is a little softer, and I would say in the range of $3,500. But curiously, when they're sold, they're sold constructed with the box, because you don't wanna... you don't wanna try and build it yourself. I see, so the market has come back down to earth a little bit in recent years. A little bit. Thanks so much for sharing this, these great toys. My pleasure.

WOMAN

It was my father's mother. She was from Philadelphia. She came to New Mexico around 1918, and when I first saw this platter, it was always in her house in Santa Fe. Huge library, and it was high up behind her. As she sat in her settee, holding court, she'd be talking and I'd be looking at the platter. I fell in love with it then, and after she died, my parents let me have it.

APPRAISER

So when she came to Santa Fe, did you think she brought it with her, or did she get it later? No, no, I'm sure she brought it with her. I'm pretty sure it was a family piece. Santa Fe was a very small place back that long ago. I bet she knew a lot of interesting people. Oh! She entertained Igor Stravinsky, he played on her piano. She knew all the writers, all of the artists, and she knew everybody. I know it's blue, it has horses, there's a country house or plantation in the background, and I love it. This platter actually dates probably around 1810, 1820. Cool! And it was made in England, in the Staffordshire region. It was not expensive. It was exported probably to the United States and probably purchased new here. Philadelphia was a big port of entry for these types of wares. Oh, really? Staffordshire transferware like this is always made of pottery, which was a less expensive material than porcelain. It was never intended to be an antique, a family heirloom. It was just very good-looking, very attractive, everyday dishes. On here, we have several little spots, and here's one here, little white spots. There's four of them in the four corners. And those are stilt marks from when it was made in the kiln. In high-quality porcelains, they would hide those or they would not be there, but cheaply made ones would have that. If we turn it over on the back, we also see... Look at these big, blue spots right here. Oh! See those? And all these little... it's called peppering, little speckles on the back, that's a sign that it wasn't really great quality, it was just mass-produced for people to use every day. Now also on the back here, we do see a mark. And it's really hard to read, but it says, "Warranted Staffordshire Adams." Adams is the manufacturer. It's William Adams and Sons, and they were in the Staffordshire region, and they used this mark from about 1804 to about 1840. Oh, really? So it helps date it. And the largest percentage of their products that they made were made specifically to ship to America, because at that point, there were virtually no manufacturers of this type of thing in America. We see a lot of Staffordshire blue and white wares. It comes in different shades of blue, and a lot of collectors really love the really dark colors. But subject matter is very important, and the horses really make the value. People love horses. So because of the decorative appeal, this platter would have a retail value between $1,000 and $1,500. Wow. So it's a really great example of Staffordshire. That's cool. Really? Yeah. It's a good example? Sure. That's really far out, okay.

WOMAN

We got it in, like, the '70s, young kids in Mexico City at a flea market, actually. It was on the ground, and I think we paid about $22 for it.

APPRAISER

$22? Yeah, it was pesos, but it worked out to about $22. I know when I was younger, if I was on vacation, that would be an awfully big thing to bring back. It was a huge thing. I think I had to leave things because I had to find room in the suitcase. But I love books, and I saw it and I thought it needed to be rescued. Didn't think too much about it except one day, I went to another antique store here in Albuquerque, and there were some prints, and I went, "Ah! I have those prints in that book, that Mexico book!" Well, it's pretty obvious that the title is "Mexico", it's by a man named John Phillips, it's 1848, which is actually a fairly important time in the Mexican history. I mean, it was just after the war with the United States... Yes. The text in there, and I'm not gonna open the book because it's fragile enough as it is, is in English and in Spanish. But the main thing about what he was doing was more books of scenery. He did some of the illustrations, he gathered some together, but he was an artist, book illustrator. The complete book has about 28 prints in it. We just have one out here displayed. All of these prints are this type, they're sort of a sepia tone, and they show scenes all around Mexico. They show cathedrals, Mexico City, and you'll also notice that some of them have military affairs in here. But there are a few condition issues. You think? (laughing) We can see fairly clearly that there's some staining on the books, some of the pages are a little bit loose. I know we didn't go through in detail, you said that you thought maybe... I think there's a couple that are missing. If you look at the edges, you'll see that there's a little bit of water staining. Yes. It came out in two different formats. They were all this size, but if you had more money at the time, you could have the same prints, but they were hand-colored. Ah. Which of course is a little bit more expensive at the time, a little bit more expensive now, but they are absolutely gorgeous prints. Even with all of the problems this book has, as is, as you have it now, retail, it's probably about a $4,000 to $6,000 book. You're kidding?! No, not at all. That's with all of these problems. Ah. Now, some of these prints could be cleaned up. Many dealers, what they might do, since we already know there might be one or two missing, might clean them up and you could sell individually. They can sell for $500, $1,000, a few even go more. If the book had been complete, if you weren't missing that one or two prints, I would have said $10,000 to $15,000. The color copy goes for about $25,000. Wow. Probably for your purposes and what you like it for, I wouldn't do anything. If you ever did part with it, let the person who buys it, who can do it professionally and so on... Do it themselves. You're never gonna get that money back, and then it won't be the same book also that you found on the ground. Found it on the ground. When I was 11 years old, in 1956, my mother and I were at the auction, and there was a trunk with clothes, and I used to like to play dress-up, so my mother bid on the trunk for me. And when we got it home and we took the things out of the trunk, this was in the bottom of the trunk. So it was a little too fancy to play in, so we just left it in the trunk, and I've kept it all these years and I've always wondered about it. The garment is beautiful. It actually is made of silk satin. That's why the fabric is so luscious and so beautiful. The time period is 1870s, and there are several details that we know that make it that. First, the square neckline. That particular look was very popular in the 1870s. Also, where those little threads are, there probably was lace or rosettes or something like that sewn as well, maybe some of the silk organza pleating that we see at the collar. Over the years, that just tends to deteriorate because of the fragile nature of this fabric. The other fabric has really lasted very well. It's quite beautiful, and it's actually, if you were this small, you could wear it today. No, I've never been that small. Well, the waist of this mannequin is 18 inches. Basically, women of this size corseted, so underneath this garment, you would have actually put on your split bloomers, your chemise, then you would have been laced into a corset, which would have made your waist between three to four or five inches smaller, depending on how tightly you laced. And then on top of that, you would put a slip, you would have put a large bustle pad or cage that actually was collapsible so when you sat down, it would actually fold up. And then you would have put another slip or two just to give all of the shape you see in this garment. And you still had to walk like a lady and act like a lady. But you couldn't run very fast, I'm sure. No. I also notice that there's... Like, there should have been a lace of some kind here. That wasn't with the dress when we got it and I wondered what that might have been. Actually, the front was laced across, and that would have emphasized her waist even more. It was like another extra layer of corseting. The dress was actually custom-made. There's no label in it, so we do not know who created the dress. But we do know that it was American made. How much did you pay for the trunk? Well, I was 11, so I really don't remember how much, but I can't imagine it would have been more than $30. Wedding gowns of this quality are quite collectible for historical value-- museums want them, collectors want them, but young women are also wearing historical garments like this to get married in, and this one's sturdy enough, with a few alterations, it could be worn. In today's market, this gown should retail between $1,500 and $2,000. Well, it's very beautiful, and thank you. I've never seen it on a mannequin, so it really has come alive in a way I've never experienced.

MAN

It's an old family piece that came in, I believe, from my great-grandfather. This is a first for Antiques Roadshow, I think. This is a piece of French 18th century furniture that's signed, which is really great to see on Roadshow. It was made in the reign of Louis XV, right around 1750, and we know this because stylistically, it is a classic Rococo form, with these cabriole legs and the sort of curved outline, as well as the marquetry inlay, which is made of tulipwood and kingwood on the front. And the gilt bronze mounted handles, which have actually been re-gilded and most likely are not period to the piece. It has the original marble top with a rough cut back edge, which is great to see on a piece of furniture that's over 250 years old. And it's also signed, as I'd mentioned, and it's signed on this top right corner, right here. We see the "Freizell," which is the maker, but then there's also a very small stamp that says "J.M.E." Right. Which is the jurande des menuisiers bniste. And it's basically the guild that they were accepted into. And they were held to a very, very high standard with the furniture that they made. And the J.M.E. guild was created in 1743 and it was disbanded in 1791, so we know immediately it's made in that period. And then we look stylistically at it, and it's classic Rococo form, Louis XV, so we're able to date it to 1750, maybe 1755. One of the things when we're identifying European furniture in the 18th and 19th century, you look at the legs. If they're straight, it's late. If they're curly, it's early. (laughing) And on this, the legs are curly, they're curved, so we know it's early. Okay. I talked about the mounts. They have been replaced. There has been some other restoration, a little bit of in-painting, and right here along the drawer front, you can see there was some veneer loss, and what restorers do is they infill it, and instead of replacing it with veneer, they paint it, so it's sort of grain painted in these small patches to give you the sense of the veneer. It was easier to do than to find a piece of veneer that matched the grain of the piece. Mm-hmm. Great marquetry, veneer which we call sommes travers, because they veneer it right across the drawer front as if the drawers weren't there, it's just a single rosette. So a real treat to see. Any idea of the value? It was appraised in the estate of my parents and was quite expensive. Do you recall what it was appraised for? I believe it was '97 in my mother's estate, they came up with a $22,000 figure. Okay. That's a strong number for something like this, but it's certainly not out of the ordinary, and it's certainly in line with an insurance value in today's market. The market really has this big, big curve tied to the economy, and pieces like this, while the mounting affects it a little bit, if I were to see this come up for auction today, I would expect it to sell for between about $7,000 and $10,000. Okay. If it were being insured, I would expect an insurance value of closer to about $20,000 for it. I gotcha. I brought a bound edition of three different books that were printed in the 18th century. How did you acquire them? I inherited them from my father in 1984. Shortly after that, I contacted an auction house in New York, and they told me that it was worth about $400. And that was 30 years ago. Well here's our first pamphlet, the Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and they're all bound together. They were bound in the 19th century at some point, which has kept them in remarkable condition. And here's the Mackintosh, Defence of the French Revolution, also 1792. And lastly, we have the famous Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, printed in Baltimore in 1791, the first American edition of this famous pamphlet. I would estimate, at retail, the three pamphlets today would be worth between $8,000 to $10,000. Whoa, $8,000 to...? $8,000 to $10,000. Wow, great!

WOMAN

I actually inherited it for my birthday last year from my Aunt Libby, and she got it from her Aunt Libby. And she's from Leesburg, and she's had it in her family for a long time. And ever since I saw this piece of jewelry, I just thought it was the most beautiful thing. And since my Aunt Libby doesn't have kids, for my birthday, she gave it to me, so I was really excited. When it was my Great-Aunt Libby's piece of jewelry, my mother used to hate... Like, comment on how much she hated it, because she thinks it's ugly. The brown lines in it, she thinks it makes it look horrible, and I'm like, "But it's character! I think it's character." It's interesting. It is opal, the center stone. Opal comes in many forms, it comes from many places. Sometimes it's more milky. Then you have black opal, which is like this very dark with this fire in it. And then out west, especially out here, you see what they call boulder opal, and this is very reminiscent of boulder opal. That tends to have more of these matrix lines in it. Mm-hmm. Which is what you're seeing there. A long time ago, you had an appraisal on this, correct? Yeah, it was done in 1978 by my Great-Aunt Libby, and it was for $2,500. It is signed. Oh, it is? I did not know that. And right over here... It says, "Marcus & Co." Now, Herman Marcus came to this country from Germany in 1850. He was a very talented jeweler. When he started here, he worked for multiple firms, but most notably, he worked for Tiffany & Company. He left Tiffany and then worked for another big company called Theodore Starr, and it became Starr and Marcus. That dissolved, guess where he went? He went back to Tiffany. (laughs) After that, he started working with his sons. Oh, really? And the firm then became Marcus & Co. Oh, okay. He made this beautiful Art Nouveau-style jewelry. That's the design you see. Now, he was very meticulous about his metal work. It's accented by old mine diamonds. Oh, wow. And then you see he had this use of this bright enamel in the background, that's green enamel. The enamellers that worked for him, a lot of them trained at Lalique, who was also known for making great enamel. Oh, wow. The ring up here, you wear it like this. Mm-hmm. With that ring on top. Technically, it was designed to be worn like that. Really? Something hanged down, something like a fresh water pearl. You have a piece that, if you had to rewrite that insurance appraisal today, you would have to re-write it for $12,000. Oh my goodness... Wow. It's an important piece, and Marcus jewelry, while it's always been good, more people are recognizing his genius. Wow. And I will save it for whoever's named Elizabeth in my next generation. (laughing) In 1959, my parents and I were going down old highway 66, and along the road there, there were several motels. And there was one with an office light on, and there was a woman sitting in the office. And as we passed by, my dad and I both at the same time said, "Did you see that statue?" We went back and talked to the woman there, and we all fell in love with it, my mother and father and myself. So he said, "Would you be interested in selling that?" And she said, "Oh no, "it's been in my first husband's family and this is all I have left of his estate." So he said, "Well, I'm gonna leave my phone number, and please call me if you change your mind." About a week later, he got a phone call and she said, "You know, I'd like to talk to you about that." He said, "Great, I'll be out, and you just think about a price, name your price." And what did he pay for it? I really don't know, but it couldn't have been that much. He said, "What changed your mind?" And she said, "Well, I have a granddaughter "who I want to help go to college, "and this would go a long way towards getting her into college." What's really interesting about this piece is it's actually by two different sculptors. It's signed here by mile Guillemin, and over here, it's signed by the artist Alfred Barye. Alfred Barye is the one who sculpted the horse. Okay. And Guillemin did the figure. Oh! So they worked in collaboration. That's fascinating. Because Barye was one of the leading sculptors of the 19th century who did animal sculptures. Yes. He was called an animalier, and his father was the most famous animal sculptor. His name was Antoine-Louis Barye. For many years, Alfred Barye would just sign "A. Barye"... Okay....hoping that people might confuse the two of them. All right. Both of these artists, Barye and Guillemin, are French, and they were working in the later part of the 19th century. This piece was probably done around 1880. The piece was cast in France. It does have a title, "Return from the Hunt." This is probably the most famous bronze that these two artists worked on. Oh my goodness! You have this Arab horseman all totally decked out with his wonderful costume, with the game that he's captured here, and he has this great pose, which I think is really impressive. He's really handsome, and he looks so arrogant, doesn't he? (laughter) What's actually interesting about this piece is it's not made out of bronze. Okay. If you look in certain areas, especially here, where it's rubbed down, you see a grayish color. All right. And we call that gray metal spelter. It's sometimes called pot metal. Spelter... It's sometimes called white metal. Okay. And this was a cheaper way to make sculpture in the 19th century. There are quite a number of these, they almost never appear in bronze. We've always thought maybe this base was made for this piece. I don't think so. It is a 19th century base, it's probably late 1890s, 1900, but it doesn't quite fit. And in the 19th century, when they made bases for these, they would have fit exactly, and the top might actually have been shaped to match the bottom of the piece. In terms of the value, a retail price would probably be about $7,000 to $8,000. Oh! That's wonderful, that's fabulous. The base is probably worth about $1,000 by itself. In, golly, I guess it was 1963, I did my junior year in Madrid, Spain. And I lived right... close to the Joaqun Sorolla Museum in Madrid. Later, I moved to Cambridge with my first husband, who I met in Spain. It was about 1965, 1966. And we found some of Jane Peterson's work. And he purchased several of the harbor scenes, and I just fell in love with this because it reminded me of Joaqun Sorolla. Oh, how wonderful. You know, the light and Spain, and so I just fell in love with her, and I've lived with her for, golly, almost 50 years! Oh my goodness. It's fascinating that you talk about Sorolla because, actually, Peterson went to Spain and studied with Sorolla, and they became great friends. He also introduced her to Louis Comfort Tiffany, and she painted Tiffany's gardens on Long Island, and she and Tiffany traveled around together. So she was quite a colorful artist. She came from more modest beginnings and from Elgin, Illinois, and studied in New York, and then, of course, like most artists who wanted to advance or to study more, she would go abroad. So other than Spain, she'd have went to Paris. And she lived around the corner from Gertrude and Leo Stein. Oh, yeah. And they in turn introduced her to Picasso and Czanne and Matisse. She started out painting in more somber tones and more impressionistically, but once she got to know them, she became much bolder in color and was painting in a more Expressionist mode. And she was quite, quite something. She was a single woman tromping through the Middle East and Italy and France and all over, so she was very much ahead of her time. There is a label that indicates that this was exhibited with the Allied Artists of America in New York, and the exhibition was held in 1929. Oh! So this obviously was painted... Before? Around that time or at least prior to. And, of course, the label on the back also tells us the title, and it's called "The Answer." And it's very mysterious. I guess she's perhaps writing an answer to someone. It almost looks like her beads have broken. They do, it looks like the chain is broken. I was wondering if she was so pensive, maybe she was writing a "Dear John" letter or maybe she had received a "Dear..." whoever her name is. Exactly, exactly, I know. I love the title and it's very mysterious. It's really in very nice condition, it's oil on canvas, and it's not lined, which we like to see. You said you purchased it unframed, did you not? Yes. And I had it framed shortly thereafter in Boston, but as I recall, I paid $150 for it. $150. Her work is very popular. It's also a very period piece, and it's very colorful and brilliant, and so for all those reasons, I think it's very desirable in the marketplace. And I think that a gallery in New York would be asking $300,000. Where's a chair? (both laughing) Now I need that chair! Oh, I'm so excited! Well, I just have always loved it. I mean, it really spoke to me. And now, it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth. We brought our family heirloom to see what it appraised for. It appraised for $50!

BOTH

Thanks, Mom! And I brought my little, uh, Japanese foo dog, and I came to find out that this is a male foo dog and it came with a female partner. So any female foo dogs out there looking for a partner, please get in touch. Found out my rocking chairs are not worth a lot, but they're still be, "Ah, don't sit in those chairs!" chairs. All right, well we traveled here to the Antiques Roadshow all the way from the North Pole. By railroad. And no matter where you're from... "Everyone's a Lobo, Woof Woof Woof!" And in 2011, we got to do Roadshow in El Paso and became the first couple on Antiques Roadshow to get engaged when I swapped her grandmother's antique ring with my engagement ring. And that was very exciting, and now we're back in Albuquerque three years later, married and with a little baby. And our stuff still isn't worth very much, but we love Roadshow and we've been having a great time. We're Jordan. And Gordon. The "Ordons." From Colorado Springs. We drove down to see Antiques Roadshow. I was rubbing my lamp the entire time. Found out it was a Turkish coffee pot, not worth a whole lot. However... My painting's worth $1,500. Jackpot! Thanks, Antiques Roadshow! I'm Mark Walberg, thanks for watching. See you next time on Antiques Roadshow. How we doing, folks? Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org