Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow has landed in Richmond, Virginia. I don't know if you can hear my heart beating, but to come across a Virginia table, it's a rare thing. Really? Hairy knees and the hairy paws. Have you ever heard that term? Not in reference to furniture. (laughs) (chuckling) That is great. We can't wait to show you more treasures from Richmond right now. Welcome to Antiques Roadshow. Hi, I'm Mark Walberg, in Richmond, Virginia. Since 1969, the tourism slogan "Virginia is for lovers" has brought many travelers to the Commonwealth. Lovers of antiques, art and collectibles have found their way to Richmond today, and our appraisers have fallen for more than a few of their treasures. Check it out. You must be the youngest collector that I've seen. I think so. What kinds of things do you like to collect? I like glass, sterling silver and art. What's the coolest thing you've ever found? I think it's... a big sterling silver tray. Really? Yes. Where do you find this stuff? This junky auction down in my town. Do you like to keep it? I like to sell it online. You like to sell it. So you like buying and selling things? Big time. Have you made a lot of money selling silver, you said? Well, I won the sale in September, so... Okay, because the price fluctuates, so you kind of keep up with when silver is up and when silver's down. Mm-hmm. That's good. So what did you bring today? This piece was found at an auction down in South Jersey. It was so hot there, my dad didn't want to stay to get it, but I wanted to, so we waited an hour or so. We got it for two bucks. Two bucks? I thought it was a watercolor, but we couldn't tell because of the UV glass. You're right, it's a watercolor. And you were showing me earlier that it's signed down here. Do you know what it says? I only know "Albert." Albert is the first part of the name, and this part is Neuhuys. Albert Neuhuys. Neuhuys was one of the Dutch painters. He was born in 1844 and he died in 1914. And I think your watercolor was probably done in the last quarter of the 19th century. He's from Holland, and there are a lot of other good painters from Holland who are working at this time. Bernard Pothast is one, Jozef Israls is one. They did a lot of these scenes with a mother and one child or two children in an interior just like this, showing family life. Okay. You paid two dollars. Yes. What do you think it might be worth today? 150 bucks. 150 bucks? I think it's worth $150. I think it's more than $150. Today, if your Albert Neuhuys watercolor came to an auction, it would probably sell for between $1,000 and $1,500. Whoa... Yeah. (imitates explosion) That's a lot of money. Yeah. Not bad for two bucks. So I think you've got a great career going as an art dealer. I know. You should keep at it. Yeah. I think I'm going to be rich. Well, if you keep buying things like this, I think you got a good chance at being rich. You got a head start. Yeah.

MAN

This was my great-great- great-grandfather's hymnal book that was passed down through the generations. And I purchased it with a bunch of other books on my grandfather's estate sale when he passed away. Where was that? In Grantville, Pennsylvania. Did you know anything about it when you bought it? Nothing more than it was an old book, and then looking at the inside, the printer's name being Benjamin Franklin. We did more research on the book from there. I see. Well, you're quite correct. It is published by Benjamin Franklin in 1732. And I understand that you've done some research on it. What do you know about the book? It was a couple different works by a couple different authors. And what made it rare that the... there's actually two volumes printed together that aren't normally put together and bound in the same volume. A family friend was a curator at the Pennsylvania State Museum. He did some research for us also, and it turns out that there's only a couple other copies in existence of the book as they know at this point in time. Right, so in the bibliographical literature, they've recorded as many of the copies at institutions that exist, and there's only apparently four other copies that have these two printings bound together, one from 1732 and one from 1736. Benjamin Franklin started his Philadelphia printing in 1728, and he began by printing ephemeral pieces, things like currency and receipts and so forth. But he started to take on jobs of larger book form production. This is one that he produced for the Ephrata community, a religious community in Pennsylvania, as a hymn book for their brethren. You have the 1732 printing of Vorspiel der Neuen-Welt, or Prelude to a New World, sort of inspiring the community to think about their afterlife. And then the second book, published in 1736, which he also printed for the community several years later. The interesting thing we've learned from his printing books is that he delivered the sheets to the community, and they had them bound. Because it was printed for a small community and wasn't for commercial nature, there are very, very few copies available. Okay. Early Benjamin Franklin printings from Philadelphia are extraordinarily rare. The most famous, of course, is Poor Richard's Almanac, which he started printing in exactly the same year as this one. Do you remember how much you paid for the book? Probably less than $40, $50. Many of these copies were missing pages, or tears. The almanacs that we see are often damaged. This is in extraordinarily good condition, it's in the original binding. I could tell you that a copy of Poor Richard's Almanac from the same year, which is obviously his most celebrated publication, recently sold for over $500,000. Really? We can't go quite there with this book since it's not the same situation, it's for a religious community. But I would conservatively put it at auction-- if it were to sell-- at $40,000 to $60,000. Oh, my God. If I were to have it insured for the family, if you wanted to keep it, probably at $100,000. No kidding. It's an incredible rarity. There are very few examples in the world. I really appreciate you bringing it in. Thank you. You brought us this 1982 championship signed basketball by the NCAA basketball champions of that year, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. How did you get this? Each year, our school will have a fundraising effort. And Coach Smith and some of the other coaches in the league would give us memorabilia to do it. So Coach Smith came up with the idea. He wanted to donate one to our school. And he said for the second one, "Why don't you get one and keep it for yourself?" How did you know Dean Smith? Well, I was blessed to be a college basketball referee for 32 years. I refereed the ACC, the Big East, the Big 12, Southern Conference, Southeast Conference. But Carolina was included in the ACC. Yes. Back in 1982, this was Dean Smith's first championship. And he had been with the team since 1961. Yes. So when you reffed-- and this was the '80s and '90s-- what were your favorite calls to make? The right one. That's a good answer. I was at school at Carolina when they won the championship in 1982, so this to me brings back tremendous, wonderful memories. You have one of the greatest basketball teams of all time, led by the freshman Michael Jordan, future Hall-of-Famer, James Worthy, future Hall-of-Famer, the great Sam Perkins. And if you remember the championship game, they played Georgetown. I'm assuming you didn't ref that game. I did not referee the game. That's the one where James Worthy intercepted the pass. That's right, and you know, that game was a seesaw game, the championship game between Georgetown and Carolina. Georgetown featured the freshman Patrick Ewing. 15 lead changes, Dean had not won a championship, his 21st season at that point, 1982. Here we are with Michael Jordan, tongue out, trademark, 17 seconds, taking the winning shot. One of the most exciting college basketball games in history, and a great championship for UNC. This basketball that you have is spectacular in that it looks like you just got it yesterday. Well, we've kept it in the case. I don't think I've had that in my hands, maybe once. Well, that's good. And I've had it more today than I've had it in my lifetime. We've got Dean right on here, the great Dean Smith. When he retired in 1997, he was the leading Division A coach. So you've got Dean, and then of course you have Michael Jordan here. This was the seminal moment where the legend of Michael Jordan was born. Yes, it certainly was, because we all remember that he was cut on his high school basketball team. That's right. And then of course he went on to win this, graduate after three years and then won six championships with the Bulls. Valuewise, because of the condition and because of the provenance, I would put an insurance value on this of $10,000.

WOMAN

Oh! My wife just about fainted over there on the side. So you've made this Tar Heel very happy. Well, you have made us extremely happy, and I thank you.

APPRAISER

Where did you find this piece?

MAN

The Morehead Flea Market in North Carolina. I purchased it about 18 years ago. Do you go to flea markets a lot? I spend all weekend on a flea market. What attracted to you about it? Well, I looked at it and it was from North Carolina in 1811, and I like old stuff. What do you know about this piece? I know it's probably in German, and it's... It's what I call a fraktur. Right. They're birth certificates or marriage certificates or something. What'd you pay for it? $40. Now, fraktur is both a style of writing or lettering, but also a style of this art, which you correctly point out are birth and marriage and death certificates. Most of us tend to think in the folk art world of frakturs that were made by the Pennsylvania Dutch. This particular fraktur was not made by the Pennsylvania Dutch. It was made where? North Carolina? Rowan, North Carolina. And you can see that this is the name of the person, Philippina Gaurin. And the lines here, it says she was born in North Carolina in Rowan County in the year 1811, on the 27th of June. And then it goes on to list her parents and people who are witnessing her baptism. So in this particular case, this is probably a birth certificate and a baptismal certificate. North Carolina frakturs are really very, very rare. Okay. When you brought this up to the folk art table, we all were marveling at it because we just don't see Southern frakturs. This one has all sorts of great stuff going for it, starting with these wonderful parrots, but then this pinwheel decoration, the arch, the flowering vines. It's a fabulous piece. It does have some condition problems. You can see here where it's been folded. That's okay. A lot of frakturs were folded. Typically, they were kept in family Bibles. So I would imagine that originally, this was in a Bible and it was folded and unfolded. There are some areas of separation here that make this less desirable than one that was in perfect condition. On the other hand, it's so rare compared to Pennsylvania fraktur that you just never see them. What's it worth today? What do you think? A couple hundred dollars? A number of us discussed what the value of this would be at auction, and all of us agreed that conservatively, an $8,000 to $10,000 estimate. Wow! (chuckles) Wow, what is great. That is great. So that $40 looks cheap now, right? Yeah, that's right. It's a photograph I got from my uncle. He collected old photographs. Since he passed away, we inherited it. All I know is that it's by Diane Arbus from 1963, and it's called Woman in a Rooming House Parlor. This is a photograph by Diane Arbus. She was very interested in photographing people that were a little bit different than the norm, and she sought people who had struggles with their life. Diane Arbus was a very important photographer, considered one of the giants of photography in the 20th century. Oh, really? She had a major show at the Metropolitan Museum a few years ago. Also a show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her books have been in print continuously since the early '70s. And she's probably one of the most famous photographers in the world. Wow. This photograph has a stamp on the back, which tells us quite a bit about it. The title, Lady in a Rooming House, as you said. Albion, New York, 1963. This print was made by Neil Selkirk. It was not made by Diane Arbus. The signature is Diane Arbus's daughter, Doon Arbus. She's the executor of the estate. Okay. Diane Arbus committed suicide at the age of 48 in 1971, and Neil Selkirk printed this photograph after her death. Okay. Do you have any idea what value this has? When we saw what the name was, we looked it up a little bit. We were seeing that people were asking for, like, $10,000, $15,000, $16,000 online. So I mean, I don't know what they're selling for, though. The price of this at auction would be estimated at between $15,000 and $20,000. Wow. A few years ago, the price would have been much higher. During the period of her exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there was tremendous excitement about her photography. It might have been $30,000 or $40,000. What?! I bought it at an auction in 1985 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Okay. And how much did you pay for the lamp at that time? $65. It looked like a lamp I had seen in the movie The Sting with Paul Newman. Okay. And I'd seen that lamp and I liked it. I said, "That's neat." And I saw it, and it sort of looked like a little mushroom, and I said, "I gotta have it." So I bought it. I did read a magazine not long after that that mentioned the maker, and it said lamps can sell up to $1,500. Okay. And that maker, did you see a name? Yeah, Dirk van Erp. Dirk van Erp. Well, that is what you have here. It is a lamp by Dirk van Erp. And we're going to take a look at the bottom, where he signed his work. And we can see on the underside his windmill mark and his name, Dirk van Erp. And one thing to note here is the closed box. That closed box dates this lamp for us to circa 1910 to 1912. All right. Which is a bit earlier, because Dirk van Erp emigrated to America in the late 19th century. He was a Dutch immigrant. who came here and settled in Northern California. Right. And he began working in the Oakland and San Francisco areas and became a pioneer and leading figure in the American Arts and Crafts decorative arts field. And today, he's recognized as one of the premier makers of American Arts and Crafts decorative objects. So the first thing that is a major statement of "Here I am, I'm a great maker of American Arts and Crafts" is these rivets in the copper that are holding the top of the lamp on. And he's used four rivets per strap, and he's showing you the rivets and the strap. He's not hiding them under the corona of the lamp. And then as we move on down the strap, we do see the rivets at the edge of the lampshade as well. So this lampshade is made of copper and mica, and the condition is really good here. So we've got a really early, rare van Erp lamp in good condition, though it is a bit dirty and it could benefit from a bit of a clean-up. But it's in great shape and it's a great thing, and I would expect this at auction to sell for in the region of $20,000 to $25,000. You're kidding me. I am not kidding. Wow. Van Erp lamps have diminished in value a bit recently. Ten years ago, I might have said $40,000 to $50,000. Whoa. My father, he was a land surveyor and he was working on a road somewhere in Richmond. And they were going to demolish this house, and it turns out it was a post office. And this map was in there, and he saved it, basically. And did he have it framed? Yes, he did. Okay, which took a lot of work because of the size, but also the condition. Now, the house that was being destroyed was a post office, and this is in fact the post office map. And you can see down here, there is the insignia of the U.S. Post Office. And this is a map that was a working map for the post office. And because of that, and because the post office delivered to all these small towns, it has everything. It has an amazing amount of detail. And this map shows from up here we have Virginia, and it goes down into the Carolinas. So it's a good regional map of this area. And right here, we have Richmond. And you can see that the railroads come in and out, and the railroads were important for the post office as well. But this has a lot more than that. It has all the routes. And down at the bottom, they have a key that shows you what the different symbols mean. And they show the routes that you went to three times a week, twice a week, once a week. We can see there is a blue route, so that's one that they would do three times a week. The reds were once a week. This map was issued on February 1, 1888. That information is right in the cartouche. But they also would update these maps as they went along. Down here, they had a line where in manuscript they would write when this map was issued. This one was the first edition. This was done in February 1, 1888. What is valuable about maps are the area... This is a good area, having Virginia and the Carolinas, a very popular area. Also the information-- you can't get more information than this-- and the relevance to the time. This shows this area with unparalleled detail in 1888. All of those things give it a huge amount of value. I would say that even with this condition, because of all the good things, in a map shop, they would probably put about $1,800 on this map. Oh, my God. Yeah, so I mean a lot of money, even given the condition. Even in this condition. In perfect condition, you're probably looking at a map that would be worth about $3,000 to $4,000 in perfect shape.

WOMAN

Well, this ring is my inheritance from my parents. And the ring was actually bought at an estate sale back in the '40s or '50s by a couple that I considered surrogate grandparents. And when the wife of that couple died, my parents purchased it for $500 in the mid-'70s. What do you know about the ring? Have you ever had it appraised? My parents had it appraised in the mid-'70s. It was appraised at that time for right around $6,000. At that time, they called the cut of the diamond a mine cut-- old mine cut. And then it was appraised again in the early '80s for around $15,000... Wow. and that appraiser called the diamond cut a European cut. We call these old European cut, this particular stone, because it's round and it's got an open culet. When you look into the center of the stone, you can see through it. But did they talk about the color? No, that the center cut is a yellow diamond. And the other one said something very fancy. Someone gave it a... right. Well, you know, the second appraiser was more accurate in the cut and that he called it a fancy yellow. I would even go one step further and call it a fancy intense because it is a rich, rich yellow. This ring was fashioned around 1900 to 1910, and that's because of the platinum and yellow gold. That's the vintage of these rings, the vintage of the cutting, and also the style. We call this a princess style ring. You have really an antique diamond ring. It's over 100 years. Over 100 years old. And really pure and natural. They didn't really color diamonds back then. I actually don't know exactly where it was made. Difficult because it has no marks on it. Now, what's happened in the diamond market? We are now here in 2013. Today, if you were to get this appraised, the first thing is you'd have to get a certificate to determine, "Is this a natural color?" I am absolutely sure that this is a natural color. However, you'd need to have that certificate. If I were going to give you a value for replacing insurance, you're almost at $60,000 for this diamond. And the diamonds around it, we don't want to just throw them out. They're beautiful old cut stones. They're about 2.5 carats. I think the mounting alone is worth over $5,000. Oh my. So I think insurance replacement in the market today with the certificate would be over $60,000. Oh, that's wonderful. In the market. Without the certificate stating that it is natural, fancy intense, you're at about $30,000. Big difference. Yes. Are you a coffee drinker or a tea drinker? Well, most Americans today would say that coffee is their cup of choice. But back in Colonial times, as subjects of Great Britain, tea was the favorite, and it took a revolution to change America's tastes. Roadshow explored this 18th century battle of the beverages at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with appraiser Reid Dunavant. We have some beautiful examples of hollowware here, and these are the kind of things that you might see on the table of any upper-class family, both in England or the United States in the 18th century. In England, tea had become the beverage of choice by the 1700s and was exceedingly popular both to British culture as well as to the culture of the American colonies. Tea was heavily taxed, especially in the colonies. And the colonies felt they were being unfairly taxed-- taxation without representation. So they revolted in what is known today as a very famous event called the Boston Tea Party. A tea ship full of British taxed tea was anchored in Boston Harbor. A group of American colonists boarded that ship in the middle of the night and dumped all of the tea into the water. It was reported that Paul Revere was among those colonists raiding that ship. And we have an example here of a teapot made by Paul Revere. Teapots are recognizable by their squat, low form. This is a teapot on matching stand, circa 1790. This is a classical design with tassels and swags engraved on it. It has a pineapple finial, which represents hospitality, and the wooden handle, which keeps you from burning your hand. American pieces of silver like this are exceedingly valuable as opposed to their English counterparts. American examples of teapots by Paul Revere have sold for over $120,000. We have a couple of other examples here, which are coffee pots. When did we start to change from tea to coffee, and was that a taste change or was that a political statement? I think it was actually a political statement. It evolved over time, but as a result of the Boston Tea Party and the strong associations of tea with Great Britain, Americans were looking for an alternative. Coffee was easily imported from South America and the West Indies and became a beverage of choice among American patriots. This is an American coffee pot done by the silversmith Myer Myers, who was a Jewish silversmith working in New York. It is a typical pear-shape form with a gadrooned border, as well as some molded shell accents, which were very typical designs of the 18th century. This example is circa 1760 to 1770. And we have an English example as well. Tell me about this one. This example is done by Paul de Lamerie, who was a French Huguenot working in London. Dates from 1738. Paul de Lamerie was very prolific, and quite a few of them survive today. How can we tell the difference between an American coffee pot and an English coffee pot? Really the only way to tell the difference is the way they're marked. The American example is going to be marked generally with just the name or the initials of the maker, and almost always on the bottom. And English examples can be marked on the side or on the bottom, and sometimes within the design that they have a very specific series of hallmarks. Most coffee pots are not as extraordinary as this one by Paul de Lamerie. More ordinary examples bring a few thousand dollars. Other coffee pots by Paul de Lamerie have sold for around $25,000 when they've come for auction. American examples, however, such as examples by Myer Myers, are exceedingly rare. In fact, there are only 14 known examples in existence today. One of those sold at auction not so long ago for over $120,000. There are also very few examples known by Paul Revere of coffee pots-- in fact, fewer than 15 known examples today-- and an example by Paul Revere sold for $700,000. That's something to look for is that Paul Revere mark on the bottom of a coffee pot. Thank you for the history of not only these teapots and the makers, but tea and coffee in America. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. This is a tavern table. It was made in about 1750. It was my mother's. And prior to my mother, it was my Aunt Lucy's. And she lived in a little town on the eastern shore of Virginia called Accomack, Virginia. Okay. My mother and father had it appraised in 1978. '78. And it appraised for $2,800. Prior to my Aunt Lucy, I don't know where it came from. Well, it's what we call a Queen Anne figured walnut one-drawer tavern table. I'd probably say 1740 to '60s. Now the next question I guess we have is, where is it from? I don't know. I just know she lived in Accomack in Virginia. It's funny that you mention that she lives in Virginia because this is actually a Virginia table. I don't know if you can hear my heart beating, but to come across a Virginia table, it's a rare thing. Really? Yeah, and so when we think of Southern furniture, there's not a whole lot of it, and we tend to call it neat and plain. Southerners kind of looked to England for their furniture. We've got this relatively simple baluster turning. It's a double baluster. But there's some little details here that I just absolutely love. If you look at the top of the leg, you see this wonderful molded corner. Now, he actually continues it down on this block, just above the foot. So the turnings, they're unusual. They're indicative of the neat and plain style, think Virginia. But I'm not sold on that yet. So now I've got to take a look and dig a little further. And so if I pull the drawer out... The first thing I see is this very stripy wood, and this is yellow pine. Okay. And that's what you want to see on a Virginia table. This secondary wood says this was made in the South. That's exactly how you want to find it. All right. So then, the primary wood. Walnut-- again, what you want to see in the South. Now if we take a look at the condition, this is what I love when we talk about an old, grungy surface. These rings, these burn marks. You've got some water stains. It's like nobody ever touched it. It's a time capsule. And then if we continue, you look at the front of this. There's great color on the legs. I love this, this is a wooden pin that's just beaming right out, popping out because of expansion and contraction. Great wear on the stretchers. Just how you want to find it. Now can you hear a thump, thump, thump? I'm thumping too. Okay, so then that brings us to the question. You said it was appraised in '78? Yes. And it was $2,800? Yes. So, 2013. You know how the market's been. What do we think the value is nowadays? I did some research online, and what I came up with, it was like $1,500. It went down. That's a tough thing to struggle with. We think antiques automatically, you know, appreciate in value. I would say you're somewhat accurate. For your standard, one-drawer tavern table, $1,500 is probably a pretty accurate price. I could find several of them. But what you can't find is Virginia one-drawer tavern tables. Oh, okay. If this were to come to auction, I would estimate it-- and I think it's conservatively-- at $10,000 to $15,000. You are my best friend. Well, I'm glad I could be. Now I'm going to knock your socks off a little more, I hope. Okay. I've seen other examples sell-- now, it was in a slightly better time-- but for around $30,000 to $35,000. So if you get the wind behind their sails and the right buyers in the room, it's certainly got upside potential. And I am so thrilled you brought it in. So you're going to write me a check, brother? I wish I could, but then I'd be fired. Well, you know what this girl said to me in line? She goes, "You know, I saw you walking in the building with this table." And one of my buddies was carrying this. And she goes, "I can't believe she brought in that piece of crap to be appraised." (laughs) Really? Oh, wonderful. It was my grandfather's. He was a musical director at WJR radio station in Detroit for 20-some years. And it was the violin he used in his orchestra, and it's passed down in the family. And I don't really know anything about it. And you brought in these two fabulous photos. (chuckling): Yeah. I have a lot of pictures of when they were recording at WJR, but they didn't write the names on the back of the pictures, so I don't know who they are. Well, they all look very glamorous and dressed to the hilt. And by the way they're dressed, it looks like maybe the 1930s, early '40s, do you think? Yeah. This is clearly your grandfather. Yes. Paul de Voy? Le Voy. With the violin in both photos. And he's having fun. Yeah, I'd like to hear the story behind that one. So your grandfather was a professional musician. Yes. And he had an orchestra for the radio. Yes, for the WJR radio station. They had their own orchestra. And this was the instrument that he used for his whole career? As far as I know, yeah. Well, I am noticing that there's a very serious crack running right along the whole belly of the instrument. Any idea how that happened? No, I have no idea. There's a label inside the violin, and it says "Jean Laurent Clment." And he was a maker in Paris. Oh, okay. In the early 1800s. So he moved to Paris from the city of Mirecourt, which was a big musical instrument making area in 1810. Wow. And he set up his shop there. It's not thought that he was a violin maker himself, but he employed some of the top makers of the period. Among them was a maker by the name of Georges Chanot, who became very famous and highly regarded. We can't be absolutely certain, but the quality of the work, the quality of the materials, the varnish is absolutely typical of Georges Chanot. And it would have been made about 1820. The wood that the violin is made out of is absolutely typical. It's the same wood that violins were made out of starting back in the 1500s, and that is spruce for the belly, and for the back and the ribs, the neck and the peg box, it'd be maple. It's very beautiful maple. A violin like this in the retail market would sell for at least $30,000 to $40,000. Oh, wow. Wow! And it would be worth more if that crack were fixed. Yeah, okay. So it is fixable? It's very fixable. Okay. It would not be inexpensive to fix this crack, and I suspect there's about $2,000 in repair work. Oh, okay, okay, that's great. I just want to mention this case because it's so fabulous. It's alligator, and the leather has been preserved. It's also just very sharp and very much of the period of these pictures. We've seen these alligator cases from this period sell for at least $350. Oh, okay. So just the case itself I think is significant in the world of cases. Wow. I checked with my colleagues, and they assured me that alligator from this period would be absolutely fine to resell. Alligator is now farmed, so it's not an issue anymore. Yeah, okay. This was a gift to my father in 1957. He was an attorney in a small town in southeastern Wisconsin. He handled people's estates. And he was handling a woman's estate, and she wanted him to have something. She said, "When I die, my daughter is going "to sell everything, so please take something. Take that picture." So he took the buffalo picture off the wall, brought it home and it's hung in my parents' house until they passed away. Okay. So what do you know about it? What kind of research have you done? The only thing is on the computer. We believe it's a Texas artist. He's done some other paintings I think that hang in the state capitol and also in the Texas Museum. I know he was a teacher. In 2007, my brothers had an appraiser come in and she priced it at $7,500. This is by a Texas artist, and his name is right over here. He's signed his signature. It says "R.J. Onderdonk." And that stands for Robert Jenkins Onderdonk. He was born in 1852 in Maryland and studied at several places in the East Coast, including New York City at the Art Students League. He studied under several important artists, including William Merritt Chase. Oh, okay. He decided to move to Texas in about 1878, and he died in 1917. Now I had never heard of or never seen a porcelain plaque painted by Robert Onderdonk. And so I was quite surprised to see this one. One interesting thing about porcelain plaques and American artists is it's not that unheard of for American artists from this period to paint on porcelain, but the marketplace generally prefers their paintings on canvas. Now, I did some calling around to people who are kind of experts on this artist, and I found someone who actually had heard of and seen a couple of these porcelain plaques, and they were all of buffalo. Oh. And apparently, he painted these in St. Louis sometime in the 1870s or 1880s. Despite the fact that they're not a Texas scene, at least it's a western scene, which is good in terms of subject matter. And buffalo are always popular. We've got some canine animals here. They're kind of menacing the buffalo. It's an interesting subject matter. My guess is, in talking with different people, that a retail price, in a gallery specializing in Texas art or western art, it would fall somewhere between $12,000 and $15,000 for a retail price. I mean, this would be an interesting addition to a collector of western art. Great. The closest watch is a commemorative watch that Henry King Burgwyn's mother had commissioned after the war. She was devoted to her son and heartbroken when he was killed. He fought in the Civil War, then? He did. He was commissioned in the Confederate Army and rose to the rank of full colonel at the age of 21. He's affectionately known as the Boy Colonel of the Confederacy. He commanded the 26th regiment that went to battle in Gettysburg. The 26th suffered great, great casualties, including the Boy Colonel. And he fell, leading his men, holding the flag. I will add his men absolutely loved him. As they laid the Colonel down and opened his vest, the watch-- this watch-- was exposed. And I know there's an inscription on the other side. We should take a look at that. And that commemorates his bravery at the Battle of Gettysburg. That's right. These two watches are the sorts of watches that you would see carried during the Civil War, and there is much interest among people to find a watch that was actually used during the Civil War. The first one is English, and it's made by a London maker by the name of Frodsham, who was one of the best makers of watches in England at the time. So it was a very fine watch when it was new. The second watch is not English. But because it has the enamel portrait on it, we know it's Swiss. The Swiss were very, very good at doing enamel painting. It's one of the earliest watches that you would find that you could actually wind without a key. So these watches were state of the art, they were expensive watches when they were new. It's very hard to put a number on these. As an auctioneer, I would estimate the first gold watch is worth perhaps $2,500. The other Swiss watch, it's a beautiful enamel, as an auction presale estimate, it's possibly worth about $3,500. It is a real dilemma to decide how much the story increases the value of the watch. To a person who is interested in the period, the regiment, the Battle of Gettysburg, I would say perhaps it would multiply the value. We might value the first watch at about $10,000 and the other watch at about $15,000. Wow, that's good. My husband and I lived in Springfield, Illinois, and we went to a local auction gallery. We saw this. I liked it a lot. My husband thought it was big and we probably didn't need it. But it was the very last item in the auction. What did you pay for it? $35. And when was this? About nine or ten years ago. Nine or ten years ago. It's probably mid to late 19th century. Okay. It's quintessentially something that's of Chinese taste. It's very, very pretty. It's decorative-- the dragons, the peony flowers. And a fantastic interior to the bowl as well. And it was a fish bowl. Oh, my goodness. And this is the kind of thing the Chinese are looking to get back. Nowadays, a piece like this would probably sell in the neighborhood between $6,000 to $8,000. (gasps) Oh, my... When it was $35 and there was no other bid, he said, "Okay, bid." And so... You wouldn't have gotten it for $35 if I was there. (chuckling) I inherited them. They were either my mother's or my grandmother's. My mother told me they were her mother's. But I lost my mother when I was 12, so you don't really remember the stories clearly. And at 12, you don't pay much attention to things that are in the house-- they're not important. But they've been in a box and I just absolutely adore them. Okay, and where do you have them now? How do you store them? Well, I have to admit, they're stored just in a shoebox. Mostly because I wanted to decorate my daughter's bedroom with them, but she found the grin a little intimidating. And I have to admit that I found it that same way when I was a child, so I understood it. What exactly was her words? "A little freakish." "A little freakish." Your little kittens were made by a German firm called Gebruder Heubach. And they were made around 1910. Oh, grandmother's. So that would fit with your grandmother's time. Yes. They each are around six and a half inches tall. And you do have all three. Their heads are made of bisque, and their bodies are made of papier-mch. They even have on their original little ensembles, a little cotton playsuit. A lot of detail in it. A lot of detail. They're just in really great, vibrant condition. The shoes don't have little nicks on them. When you started unrolling them out of your towel, I almost let out a scream because I never, hardly ever, never see them. I'm so surprised. And then to see three all together was just such a perfect joy. Are they called the three little kittens that lost their mittens? No. My mother always said that's what they were. No, they're just little cats that Heubach made. They also made a little bear. Everything about Heubach, just all the little extra detailing to the facial features just gives them so much personality. In a retail doll shop, the one gray cat would be worth $2,300. And I have seen him before. Oh, no. Really? Yes. The little white cat is also valued at $2,300, and sometimes I think I have seen him go a little bit higher. Oh, my goodness. And then, oh, my goodness, this heartbreaker here. This is the little black one. I've never seen the black one. He does have a little bit of damage to his ear, so I had to keep his value around $2,300 also, even with the damage. So as a set, they're worth about $7,000. I don't know what to say to that. That's amazing. Are they still freakish to you? Well, yes, actually. Maybe they're even a little more freakish since I wasn't expecting that at all. And if this little guy didn't have the little bit of damage, I would probably put him a little bit higher for the set, around $8,000 or even more. Oh, my goodness. You never see him. This chair came to me from my great-great-grandmother. She was one of 21 children. When she got married, she brought with her this chair. It has been assumed that it was possibly one of a set of chairs, possibly dining room chairs. But she continued the tradition of having many children, and she had seven children herself. So some of the other chairs may have been thus dispersed. 21 children? 21 children, 18 of whom survived to adulthood. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. She's pretty renowned in the family. (chuckling) That's amazing. Well, this is an 18th century chair. The date is around 1740. It's George II, and it was made in Ireland. Interesting. We have been fortunate enough to do some appraisal work in some of the old plantation homes-- ones that have some of the original furniture that was there in the 18th century. It's not uncommon to find a set of Irish chairs, or particularly, I remember a pair of Irish settees from almost the very same time period. And in a way, it's interesting because it's such an over-the-top style representation from that time period. The only way I could describe it is it's a gutsy version of what was being done in England and the United States. I started doing research on this and the first thing I noticed was that this back splat-- and this is called a suspended tassel-- that suspended tassel is very characteristic of the way a lot of Irish chairs were made in that time period. The other thing that struck me as being particularly bold was the hairy knees and the hairy paws. Have you ever heard that term? Uh... not in reference to furniture. (chuckling) All right, and the other thing that was a clue for me is the face in the front. That's a heraldic face. Normally, you'll see lion's faces and things like that. Right. But in this particular case, that's a pan or a satyr. This would have been made from the finest mahogany. Some island origin. Lots of times in the 18th century, they used Cuban mahogany. But the guy that made this was a master carver, and he would have been at the top of the shop before they would have ever let him get near this with a chisel or a knife. I feel vey comfortable with telling you that a conservative insurance value would be $15,000. Wow.

MAN

I inherited it from my grandfather. He received it from a university professor in the Dominican Republic. Okay, was he a friend of the family? He became a friend of my grandfather when he was an engineer laying out a railroad for a timber concession in the mountains of the Dominican Republic. The individual who gave it to him was so enthralled with the work-- the trip he took into the mountains-- he decided that it was an appropriate gift for him, given his adventures there. It's from the Dominican Republic, and it's from a culture called Taino. And the Taino culture was all over the Caribbean, from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic. They were a very cohesive group there. And they were the first people that Christopher Columbus came across when he first came to the Americas in 1492. It's made out of basalt, it's a volcanic stone, very hard stone indeed. And it's a pestle used for grinding. Normally, these pestles are quite simple. Sometimes they might have a small head on the top. But this one is really interesting and rather attractive. It's got this human figure on the top, and you'll see that it's very articulated and really nice, which probably means it wasn't just a normal pounder. It probably had shamanistic overtones. There was another culture on the outlying islands called the Caribs, and they were constantly encroaching on the Taino with the help of disease from the Europeans that came there. That probably contributed to their demise. It's difficult to say exactly when the piece was made, but a wonderful sculpture. I think conservatively, a retail price would be between $4,000 and $6,000. That's wonderful.

WOMAN

This is a watercolor that I inherited from my mother, who was raised in Charleston. It's by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith. And she was a good friend of the family's. We have a number of these paintings, but this one's my favorite.

APPRAISER

And do you know who the figure is in the painting? My mother always said that was "Da." Now, whether it was her da or just a da, I don't know. Da was the name that the children in Charleston called their nurses. Their black nurses were referred to as a "da." That's Da fishing in the swamp. Alice Ravenel Smith was born in 1876, and she did take a few classes in painting and drawing at the Carolina Art Association, but she was really pretty much an untrained artist. Yes. And she started out-- her earliest works were things like dance programs and place cards, and from that she graduated into painting street vendors. And then for a while, she painted copies of ancestor portraits, of which there were many in Charleston. But she really decided that what she wanted to do was paint landscapes. And in 1906, she started painting in watercolor, and by 1924, that was the main medium that she used. Okay. Her style of painting is often described as atmospheric and mysterious. She loved painting the low country of South Carolina, and she would go out in nature and make sketches and then she would go back and create the finished painting from memory. So I think that really added to the mystery and the sort of magical quality that you see in her painting. I think this is a wonderful work. It's very unusual to see a figure in her landscape. It's just a terrific example. I think if this were in a retail gallery, the asking price might be $85,000. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh! (laughing) It is a wonderful painting. Oh, my gosh, thank you. I am absolutely floored. Oh, my gosh, thank you.

WALBERG

And now, it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth. This was a painting that we thought was going to make us lots of money and end up being my children's inheritance. But we just got told to put it in a box and put it away because it's scary. I brought this Maria Martinez pot. It's like me. It's old with condition problems. But they said to insure it for $3,000, which is more than I have on myself. My grandfather gave me this liberty ship hatch cover coffee table. I found out it was worth $400, and by my estimation, that's about a dollar a pound. We use this vase to hold our toilet brushes. Not anymore. It's worth $500. When I brought this home from the flea market, I told my husband, "Look at this great, valuable antique I got." And he told me, "It looks like a piece of..." Well, you know. And we brought it down, had it appraised and it turns out it's basically worth... Well, you know. I brought my book that I saw online for about $5,000 up in New York. Brought it here and was told it's only worth pennies because I only have one and not the other 18. I was a poor man when I came to the Roadshow today, and I leave a poor man. But I love antiques, I love the Roadshow, and I love Richmond. So I leave a happy man, a happy poor man. I'm Mark Walberg, thanks for watching. See you next time on Antiques Roadshow. Hi, you guys. Hi. How you doing? Fine. Can I see it? Oh, isn't that pretty?