Antiques Roadshow

That's unbelievable.

APPRAISER

For a 69-cent toy. That's fabulous. I don't know whether I should tell you this because I have had a chance to meet your boyfriend. Now, does that worry you at all? A little. Okay. I think I might shock you when I tell you what I would quote on them if they were to be sold at auction. Oh, I'm hanging on. Okay, hang on, here we go.

MARK WALBERG

When Roadshow visited Des Moines in 1999, the U.S. economy was booming. Over the next decade, our roller coaster economy began taking twists and turns, creating a topsy-turvy antiques market. Let's find out which treasures have soared to new heights and which have taken a dip in this fresh look at Des Moines.

WOMAN

This dog was purchased in Switzerland in 1907 by a great-great-aunt of mine. And when she passed on, she gave it to my mother and my mother then has passed it on to me. It is carved out of one piece of wood, and its name is Barry.

APPRAISER

Oh, I'm glad he has a name. And he is supposed to be a replica of the St. Bernard that used to take things to people that were trapped in the Alps. She brought it all the way back from Europe in 1907? Yes, uh-huh. And she didn't think perhaps a smaller dog or another type of animal? It evidently must have attracted her. Yeah, I'm not surprised. It certainly caught my eye. And sometimes people call this type of carving Black Forest carvings. Block Forest? Black Forest, although they're actually from Switzerland and the Black Forest is in, technically, really more in Germany. That's what these types of carvings are called. Most of the time, you'll see things that are actually more with bears, or you've seen rabbits or other things, so a dog is a bit more unusual to see. One of the nice things about the carving, though, is that it's so lifelike. You've even got this nice fluffy tail, and you can see the whirls of the hair, almost expect it to shed. Right. And even to the point of the little pads on the feet, and that's a wonderful sign of the quality of the carving. And the toenails also are another thing, yeah. I know, that's just great. Little tiny toenails and the rope and also the glass eyes. A lot of the Black Forest carved animals will have glass eyes. These are actually quite collectible. At auction, I would expect it to fetch between about $3,000 and $5,000. I appreciate it.

WOMAN

It belonged to my aunt who lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and where she got it from, I don't know. Her husband was English and I figured that maybe his brother, who was quite wealthy, lived in South America, had given it to them. Uh-huh. When she died, then I got it. I knew if we waited long enough, I'd get to appraise something that came from my hometown, which is Trenton, New Jersey. Hi, Mom. You mentioned earlier that you wondered if it was belleek, which is traditionally thought of as coming from Ireland. But belleek is a term for this sort of porcelain ware, this very fine, translucent porcelain that did originate in Europe. Curiously, though, just as people from different countries came to America into our melting pot and all these cultures started to blend, the same thing happened with art. And what happened in Trenton during the 1870s through about the 1890s, it's considered, at least by Trentonians, as being the porcelain capital of the world. Had these tremendous deposits, natural deposits of high-grade kaolin for making porcelain with, and also they had access to the Delaware River-- the one Washington sailed across-- to distribute the ware to the market. So it was really well situated. What you have here is a piece of Willets belleek, one of the major companies to work in Trenton. Around 1879, 1880, they were making art porcelain. Their mark is shown on the bottom. It says "Belleek" and "Willets" on the piece, so even they knew that they were using the same term that the Europeans were using for their fine porcelain. Most of the Willets belleek that we see is left blank, and then it's sold for home decoration by amateurs. You've got a factory-decorated piece, which is interesting. You can tell just by the crispness and the evenness of the color.

I will also mention that this is one of those hybrids

the design could be Irish belleek, it could also be English Staffordshire-style belleek. So just as the artists came from different countries to work in America, the styles startedto merge and made a whole unique style in America. Well, you know Lenox china. This is one of the precursors of Lenox china. Beyond that, we should talk about value. My guess on a bad day is it's worth $1,000, and maybe $1,500. That's interesting. I felt that it was valuable, but I didn't know how much. When I was just a little fellow, we lived in North Springs, Iowa, and my dad worked uptown. And my mother would... After Dad got off work, she would turn me loose and I would run that block down to meet Dad. And Dad would go down to the tavern for a beer. He'd take me along and set me up on the bar and I'd eat pretzels. And this was on a punchboard. Maybe you won something, maybe you didn't. The person that got the last punch on the board was to get Mickey Mouse. And a fellow by the name of Roy Graney ran the tavern there. And he told my dad, "When that punchboard gets down to the end, "I'm just going to throw it away and Jim's going to have that doll." Wow. And I was two, so this was about 1932 that I got him. And I played with him some. Tore his tail off. (laughs) But overall, you were pretty good with him. We'll go through Mickey a little bit here. What I love is that the hat is still intact because this is obviously Cowboy Mickey and it was produced by the Knickerbocker Toy Company. There's also a Cowboy Minnie. They also did Mickey in a variety of outfits. But what I like about this particular one is the Western theme. Now, what's missing is the whiskers. Mickey would have had cloth whiskers. But you also have the bandanna, and I love that you have the guns still intact, because normally, those are the first things that are lost. The chaps-- now, they're a little bit dirty, but that can be cleaned. And the shoes are in really good condition. That also affects its value. I would estimate this at about the $5,000 price range. Oh, man. So that really paid off, going to the bar, huh? I guess it did, even as a little kid.

WOMAN

It was willed to me in my aunt's will. I had two brothers, and she left it to me because I think she felt my brothers would be fighting over it.

APPRAISER

What you have here is a German sterling silver standing knight. There are several things that make this very unusual. Number one is its size. They are normally maybe six to eight inches high. This one is almost 18 inches high, which makes it phenomenal. It has a beautiful carved ivory face with his handlebar mustache. It's very, very fine quality. The work, the detail and the silverwork is magnificent. This knight in a well-advertised auction would carry an estimated value of somewhere between $12,000 and $15,000. I had no idea it'd be that much. Yes, without hesitation. Oh, wonderful.

MAN

My great-grandfather had a private museum in Iowa Falls, Iowa. When he passed away about 1952 or '53, this was one of the pieces that was in that private museum that my family kept. The rest of the items were all sold at auction. When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, this was one of the items in her house that I had always enjoyed seeing and I kept. Let's take a look at the back of this one. It has a little history on it. "This painting came from Cannonball Region, North Dakota, "hand-painted by Indian girl, "sent in the early 1900s, valuable. Ogalala chief, Pineridge Sioux."

Probably the most interesting point about the painting

it comes from a long history of pictographic art by the Plains Indians. Towards the end of the 19th century, they started changing their style a little and they had the Indian actually facing you instead of in profile. It's a beautiful watercolor. It shows all the regalia of an Ogalala chief. And it has the photo of the woman who painted it, and that's the great part about it. Women generally never did pictographs. This is the first one I've ever seen by a woman artist. Is that right? He's clearly an Ogalala with a beautiful blanket strip, a nice horse blanket on the horse. The horse is very classically done in the Plains Indian style. And the photo of "Indian girl," as it said. It's quite a unique, beautiful piece. Thank you. Value-wise, I would probably say $2,500 to $3,500. Oh, wow, that's wonderful. It's been a real treasure in our family and we'll keep it in our family. Well, it's beautiful; I would, too, if it was mine. Thank you.

WOMAN

My mother got this from a neighbor in Burlington, Iowa. This was back in the '60s. And she told my mom at the time that it was Tiffany. And it had a paper label on the bottom of it, and the maid had washed it in hot water and the label had fallen off. What we have here was not made by Louis Comfort Tiffany. It was made by a company called Loetz, which was an Austrian company who made some very, very fine examples of iridized glass. And oftentimes, people have mistaken Loetz for Tiffany. And when Tiffany was becoming very popular in the 1960s and the 1970s, there were some unsavory characters who went out and took a piece of Loetz and put a very nice Tiffany signature on the bottom. Or if they had in their possession some paper labels from the Tiffany Studios, they would affix them to the bottom. Now, this was really easy to do because a lot of times, Loetz is unsigned, as is your piece. And you can see this beautiful, ground pontil right here. The pontil is the area where the piece has been broken off the stick, and there's usually a big piece of glass that has to be taken off in order for the piece to stand properly. And this is... Loetz always did this wonderful, smooth-ground pontil on the bottom of the piece. It was really made almost at the same time as the glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany. In fact, sometimes we're not sure whether Tiffany went to some of these world expositions and saw Loetz, or whether Loetz went to exhibitions and saw things that Tiffany was making. But this is truly a very nice Art Nouveau piece probably made around 1900. You have these wonderful raindrop spots that almost resemble butterfly wings. In fact, that is the term that Loetz used for this type of glass. If this were Loetz or Tiffany, sometimes they're almost the same value. And I would probably put a value of $3,000 to $4,000 on this piece. Oh, my goodness. That's fabulous, that's fabulous. My mother would be so pleased. Well, good. About six years ago, we saw it advertised at an auction in Fort Madison-- that's about 70 miles south of us-- and it said that it was made by Mrs. Barbara Cox of Washington, Iowa. A theater replica.

APPRAISER

And now this Barbara Cox was... My second cousin. Your second cousin. Yes, yes. So I talked my husband into going down to the auction, and I had to have it when we saw it. And did all this documentation come with it? Yes, it did. And until then, you really didn't know... We didn't even know it existed, no. And in 1927, your cousin received a $1,000 prize. Yes, it was a national contest, yes, advertising WOC radio station and Palmer School of Chiropractic. What did you pay for it? Oh, almost $200 with my husband, "Do you really want it?" Well, you had to have it. It's a family heirloom. It's absolutely intriguing. It details how it was made out of cigar boxes and various things, and it's even illuminated. This apparently is an exact model of the railroad station which was owned by this chiropractic. But when you open it up, you see this wonderful little proscenium and theater with the masks. Even here, you have the Iowa corn. Velvet curtains. Velvet curtains... it's spectacular. And I noticed she has all these little paper slides that go in and out, and then when you take one out, you reveal a little background scenery. It's just absolutely fantastic. They had puzzles in the newspapers where they would have these pictures, and you'd put them together to make the various radio station personalities. And then these could be slid in... $1,000 in 1927 was a lot of money. I mean, this was quite a prize. Yes, it was. It's a really oddball thing-- one of a kind. As far as value, it's extremely difficult. But anyone interested in the history of radio... There are people I know who collect anything that depicts a proscenium. It is so finely crafted and so beautifully done, I could easily imagine this priced $1,500 to $2,500. Wow. It's really spectacular. It's a gift from my mother-in-law, who used to stare at it when she was a child in her mother's china cabinet. And she gave it to me as a Christmas gift. Oh, what a lovely gift. This piece was made by Royal Worcester Company in England. It has marked on the bottom with a mark for Royal Worcester. It also has the registration number, which is kind of like a copyright which was used in Britain. It also has a date mark, and based on the date mark as well as the registration number, it dates from about 1897 to right around the turn of the century. Wow. It also says Tiffany and Company on the bottom, which is really interesting. It was not made by Tiffany. That simply means that it was made for Tiffany and when it was new, it was sold at Tiffany and Company. This is most certainly by an artist that worked at the Royal Worcester Factory around the turn of the century. His name was George Owen. And this process of having this reticulated-type design where it's cut through was something that he did in secret, it's said. He worked alone so other people couldn't watch him so they wouldn't know how he did this very delicate, fine process. Some people say that he did all these little holes by hand, and other people say that actually he had some kind of mechanical process, but we really don't know today how he did it, and it would be almost impossible to duplicate. The shape is so elegant and so wonderful. As you imagine, this is incredibly fragile and very few of these things survived. Also it's got some wonderful hand-enameled beading on it, which is a very delicate process as well. When this was new, it would have been very expensive. It was not a cheap gift. Because it is so perfect and so elegant, obviously, it's useless. You couldn't put water in it, you couldn't put flowers in it. It's just for display. It's a work of art, one of a kind. It's worth probably a little more in England than it is here, but of all the lines that Royal Worcester made around the turn of the century, this is the most valuable and desirable for collectors. So depending on how and where it's sold, the price would vary. But I would estimate that this piece should bring between $3,000 and $5,000. And for me, that is a lot of money for a little bitty piece like that. Oh, my goodness. And I've been walking around with this wrapped in a couple of kitchen towels in my bag. Oh, my goodness.

MAN

This is a salvaged part of a propeller that was off an early biplane that Charles Lindbergh flew in the early days, in the early '20s while he was taking his father on a campaign tour. In approximately 1923, he had a mishap near Glencoe, Minnesota. There's a little controversy on whether it was on the landing or the takeoff, but they did put the plane into a drainage ditch and it was disabled for a few weeks. And Lindbergh proceeded to stay at my grandparents' farm for approximately a month or so, and he became friends with my father, who was about 23 years old at the time. And they worked together and with the help of some people from Glencoe and got the plane repaired, and he took off again. And then in 1953, Lindbergh sent this book, The Spirit of St. Louis, to my grandparents and autographed it, wrote a little note in there. It's believed to be a first-copy edition. In 1973, the last time Lindbergh was in Little Falls, my dad took this salvageable part of the prop up there and he had Charles Lindbergh sign it. Okay. And this recently was celebrated at an exhibition in Glencoe. What a venerable surface this piece has, and what it represents in American history and to Charles Lindbergh is incredible in my opinion. The first book, Spirit of St. Louis, is suitably inscribed and dated. His memoirs were rewritten in 1953, so it's not the first edition. It's a rewrite of that. All right. The value on the book is about $2,000. All right. The Boyhood on the Upper Mississippi, again suitably inscribed, is not as valuable as the previous book-- about $700. The whole collection, this being the most important piece in my opinion, it's very difficult to put a price on it. Okay. I feel comfortable that the whole collection is worth somewhere around $7,000 to $10,000. But because of the magnitude of it, I think it could fetch well north of that.

WOMAN

My grandmother recently passed away and my dad just sent them to my brother and I. And don't really know that much about them. They're just some illustrations

he submitted to some magazines

Good Housekeeping, I believe.

APPRAISER

And your great-grandfather was one of the preeminent illustrators in American book and magazine illustration. He was James Montgomery Flagg. And it's interesting that he sold his first illustration when he was only 12 years old to Saint Nicholas magazine. He went on later at the ripe old age of 14 to start as a Life illustrator for the next 20 years. This terrific example of children with their mom and dad is a great pencil drawing

with another magazine that he worked on

Good Housekeeping magazine, with the date and the installation number for the piece. I love this one. (chuckles) It is signed "James Montgomery Flagg" and also tells us a bit about his sense of humor. And then we have these two other images about America circa early 20th century. Perhaps this was something that was used again for Good Housekeeping or Liberty or Cosmopolitan.

And this terrific one

"Oh, I shouldn't have eaten those popovers." (laughs) Perhaps what he's best known for, though, is the tremendous illustrations of Uncle Sam pointing and wanting you. They're icons of American illustration circa World War I. It was in fact one of 45 or, I think, 46 illustrations that he did for the war and also was used in World War II. You brought about ten illustrations of varying size and quality, quite good condition. The paper is toned in certain areas, but lovely, and I would value this group at between $8,000 and $10,000. Wow. That's really nice.

MAN

Well, about three years ago my wife and I went to an estate sale, waited in line all night and fought through the dealers, and I was one of the first ones in. Well, good for you. Your persistence paid off. So what attracted you to this piece? I think, overall, when we first saw it, we just liked the shape and the form, and just to us it looked very beautiful. Well, I agree with you. It's really quite a nice form and it's a very distinctive form. After we bought it, we were told that it was pre-Civil War. We're thinking 1850. A friend of mine that knows antiques a little better in detail thought it was from the 1700s. It's a piece that dates from early in the 18th century. Can't really be exactly precise, but I would say about 1710 to 1750. Wow. Probably made in southeastern Pennsylvania-- Philadelphia or Chester County area. Early furniture of this William and Mary style in Pennsylvania is rare today. It's rarer than, for instance, New England 17th-century furniture. So when an early piece from Pennsylvania comes on the market, it's pretty sought after. And this has a lot of desirable features. It's solid walnut, very nicely dovetailed construction here. And you can see it's a fairly thick construction... That's one of the first things that catches your eye from the front. Typical of Pennsylvania construction, nice and heavy. Two drawers, and you can see some of the secondary woods here. Sides and back are oak, and this is poplar, which is also typical of Pennsylvania region. I suspected that. This nice sort of striped, sort of green color to it. But what's really special about this piece is the feet. The feet are turned and they're pegged into the bottom, and they would often disappear over the years. Sometimes they would be rotted away, sometimes you could take this basic form and maybe later in the 18th, early 19th century, add some bracket feet in order to update the fashion. So it's extra rare to have those turned feet, which are original. So these are the original feet. They are. I would probably put an estimate on it of between $10,000 and $15,000. Fifteen? (chuckles) That's right. Much, much more than we ever expected.

WOMAN

I found it at an antique show. I was attracted to it because I collect willow. I thought it was just a very unique item, it being a toaster, and it is in workable condition. Well, it looks like the day it was made. I'm just going to turn it over so we can see where it was made. It has a mark on the bottom telling us that it was made by the Toastrite Company, made in Cleveland, Ohio. And made, I would think, around the late 1920s, right at the time when the Great Depression hit America. What I particularly like about it, though, is the condition that it's in. I say it almost looks as if it's never been used, and in fact, you have the original cord with it. I'm going to plug it in and we'll watch it get hot. The willow pattern, which you collect, is perhaps the best-known pattern in the decoration of porcelain and pottery certainly over the last 200 years. It was invented in England by taking different images from imported Chinese porcelain and mixing them up into what we call a chinoiserie, or a Western interpretation of Chinese art and design, and produced this pattern, which was extremely popular when it was introduced in the late 18th century, and it has been perennially popular ever since. Because it's in willow pattern, it appeals to people like yourself who collect the willow pattern. Because it's a toaster, I think it appeals to people who collect toasters, and there are such groups. And because it's such a great piece of Americana, I think it has a wider appeal too. Tell me, if you don't mind, how much did you pay the antiques dealer for it when you purchased it? I paid $800 for it. Well, I think you're okay. I feel that it's certainly worth over $1,000 and perhaps as much as $2,000. Well, thank you. Dr. Wilberforce Baldwin was my husband's grandfather and he lived in Florence, Italy. And he was an English-speaking physician. And so most of the American colony, among them the Twains, who were living in Florence at the time, had him as their physician because of the language problem among other things.

APPRAISER

Right. Well, Mark Twain was in Florence because his wife was dying and they had searched all over the world for a healthy spot for her to live in. The letter is dated only Sunday morning. But the postmark shows it as 1892. The content of the letter is absolutely extraordinary to me. I've catalogued many Mark Twain letters. And one of the really beautiful sentences

that I read in the letter

"The life that has learned its sentence is not worth the living." So he's asking the doctor to come and visit Mrs. Clemens, right? But not tell her just how ill that she is. And he says further, "Medicine has its office, "it does its share and does it well, "but without hope back of it, its forces are crippled." I think you have one of the most moving, poignant Mark Twain letters in existence. I would put on this an auction estimate of $8,000 to $10,000 because I am so enthusiastic about it. So I hope that pleases you. Well, indeed, yes. Except it's going to stay put. It's going to stay in the family. I had a suspicion of that.

WOMAN

My parents go to Texas for the winters. They have for the past 15 years, and they brought it back. They got it at a flea market down there.

APPRAISER

Do you know anything about the artist? No, I don't. He's one of the most important painters of Colorado. He was painting there around the turn of the century. The painting's signed and dated, Charles Partridge Adams, 1898. And 1898 is a great year for Adams because in many ways he had reached his full mature part of his career and he's painting these pictures which are quite impressionistic. So there's that wonderful light, that wonderful space, which is important to American painting. He was actually born on the East Coast, in Massachusetts, spent time in Colorado, and then moved west and actually died in Pasadena, California. He did some paintings in California as well, but he's really known as a great Colorado painter. And I think when you look at this painting here you get a great sense of that wonderful Colorado sky with a sense of light and space and here you have these tall, majestic trees looking out to this expansive horizon. A beautiful Rocky Mountain vista. Do you know anything about this little hole down here that I noticed? Not really. We figure somebody probably tried a shot and they missed. Yeah, coming from Texas, you've got a little bullet hole down there. It sounds like a pretty good story that it might be a bullet hole. Unfortunately, that brings the painting's value down a little bit. The value of the painting is quite significant. There's been tremendous interest in Colorado painters. And my sense of the painting's value is in the range of $10,000 to $15,000. Oh, really? Yep, so it's a handsome picture. Thank you. Okay. They were given to my mother as a gift when she was a child and it would have been about 1927. And she was not allowed to play with them. It's amazing how many antique dolls have survived because the children were not allowed to play with them, but yet they are toys intended for children. And then I understand you weren't allowed to play with them either. Exactly. And this is a very sweet grouping. These are Bye-loes. And they were made by Grace Story Putnam, who was an American designer. She actually went to a hospital, modeled after a newborn baby, made her artistic mold, then she sent the molds to Germany to several firms with Kestner being one of the major firms. And they came in many different sizes. But what's so sweet about these is this is just five inches... five inches... about six-and-a-half inch. These are all bisque, which means they're very breakable, but just adorable. These both have sleep eyes, which is amazing, the fact that you can get in there and get those little-bitty eyes to open and close. These are dressed as twins. They do have old costumes-- perhaps original, perhaps not. This one is a little bit larger, but what's so nice about this one is that under here he has his original paper label. And the collectors really like these. It's kind of hard to find the little all-bisque ones. This one is running $800 to $850 and these are about $750 each. Oh, my goodness. So you're talking altogether in the $2,200 to $2,500 range. My gosh, that's amazing.

MAN

I bought it at a yard sale. It was in a very ugly frame that it didn't fit. But I saw it was on wood, and I've never picked up a painting, but because I'd seen on the Antiques Roadshow paintings on wood, I knew it was old. I saw the date on it. And they wanted five dollars for it and I thought, "Well, I'll take a chance and pick it up."

APPRAISER

The artist here is Oliver Dennett Grover. This fellow, Grover, is from the Midwest and that's why you probably found this painting here. He's from Chicago and he studied in Europe. This painting is actually a Venetian scene. This one was done in 1885. It's signed down here and signed "Venice 1885." He was born in 1861 so it was done when he was 24 years old. It's a beautiful little subject, very reminiscent of the work of Sargent or Chase, other great American artists. One of the things I like about it is his sparing use of paint. He just really captures it with just a few brushstrokes. Even so that he just barely covers the board that it's on. You can actually see the grain of the board coming through here. And so he's a very talented artist even at this young age. He's able to capture that light and the colors with just a few brushstrokes. He was a very competent artist. One of the things about this is it's filthy dirty. Yes. If you pull this up, you'll see where the frame was and you can see this color down here where the frame rubbing is below. Most of this courtyard would be that color. Oh, my. So it's very, very dark. And this light here would be almost white that would be cascading in there. I thought that was damage. No, that's probably close to the real color. So I'd recommended getting a nice cleaning on this. The light will come out. It would be a beautiful painting. You paid five dollars for this? Yes. You didn't bargain with the guy at all, did you? No, I didn't. I figured for five dollars it wouldn't hurt me one way or the other. I think you got a pretty good deal. I would say we'd probably get about $3,000 to $5,000 for this painting at auction. Cool, cool.

WOMAN

We bought them last summer from a lady who has a couple spots in an antique shop. We paid $125 each for them.

APPRAISER

That's very good. They were made by the American Encaustic Tiling Company. That was one of the biggest companies at the turn of the century. They were located in Zanesville, Ohio, at a time when really what people were buying in the States were English tiles. So the American Encaustic Tile Company was really one of the first ones to be started in the mid-1870s. A lot of these Victorian tiles-- glazed in majolica, like this-- were done in very sentimental kind of romantic pictures or landscapes, lovely nudes, and they were really prettily done. These are a little bit coarser. The faces are not as gentle or delicate as they could have been. They're still very nice. What's spectacular about these tiles is the depth of the relief here. You can see here, they're very thick. That is quite unusual. They're a lovely pair that would go on each side of a fireplace surround. There is a third piece that goes on top here as well, right? Right, and we didn't get that yet. And hopefully you can get that from that lady. Now these would be worth, were they perfect, without these chips, about $1,250 apiece. This is a fairly large chip and there are smaller chips around and that probably changes the value of these to maybe about $950 apiece. Okay. Thank you. My husband and I went to an auction in 1982. And it was very late in the afternoon and it was raining, and it was cold. And the auctioneer threw it on top of a bunch of blankets. And I started getting real nervous because I saw what it was. And then he said, "I'm going to put this beautiful oriental rug in with it." And it was one of those horrible souvenir things with buffalo on it. And I realized he had no idea that this was the oriental, so then I really got excited. What did it go for? Twelve dollars. But I was approached by the lady bidding against me and she bought the ugly buffaloes and gave me six dollars. So that reduced your cost to six dollars. That's right. The rug that we have here is a late 19th century Kuba. And it's a rug that was woven in the Caucasus, which is a mountainous region in southwestern Russia. And it's a beautiful example of this period. Well, these rugs are a very interesting tradition. They are a village rug and they spring from a design and a weaving tradition that goes back to the 17th century in Caucasian workshops. A couple things I want to point out. First of all, the colors on the back are much brighter than the front. And the pinkish color and the orange color are two synthetic dyes that they used in the late 19th century. And that helps us date it to the late 19th century. And you'll notice that the colors have faded on the front to a much softer pink and a much softer orange. It has some wear here and there, which could be easily restored. I think it's really a very good rug. I would say that after cleaning it-- which it is desperately in need of-- and doing a little bit of minor restoration, it would sell for between $3,000 and $3,500. That's very nice. Thank you.

WOMAN

My husband goes to auctions and he picked it up at a little auction around Iowa.

APPRAISER

And how much did he pay for it? $140. What you have is an early to mid-19th century American watercolor on paper. And it's depicting two black men in a minstrel skit. And this gentleman here has put a board down, which he is tap-dancing on, which is also somewhat related to the Appalachian sort of technique of putting a board down and the flatfooting technique of dancing. And this gentleman on the banjo is playing the rhythm and the melody. The condition is wonderful. The colors are still very vivid, considering the age. There's some little toning and foxing throughout the painting, but that's not a real serious thing. Basically, what you have is a great collectible item on a folk art level and then also a black memorabilia level. I think this would be $3,000 to $5,000 at auction. Oh, that's good. Okay? Yeah, he did well. I was born in 1928 and this was given to me as a gift when I was about seven years old. And it somehow did not get destroyed with other toys that were given to me. This Mickey Mouse toy was made in Japan. It's called "Rambling Mickey" because there's walking action. It's a rather scarce toy in this condition due to the factors it incorporates clockwork mechanism and celluloid. It was made and patented in 1934, although Walt Disney originally put the patent dates for Mickey toys in Germany and in Japan in 1928 and '30. By '34, he was producing quite a bit. Steamboat Willie had come out in 1928. And by 1934, when this toy was made, they were in large productions. A very cheaply made toy at that point in time. Most of your Japanese imports only sold from 39 cents to a dollar. This particular toy sold for 69 cents. This is reflected on the box. Fabulous condition for this toy. Usually it's broken, usually it's faded. This one has the original box, which is very important to the value. And if it was to be sold at auction would go for $6,000 to $8,000. $6,000 to $8,000? $6,000 to $8,000. That's unbelievable. For a 69-cent toy. That's fabulous.

MAN

I had an older brother, Vernon, that did wood carving and I enjoyed helping him, and I knew what work it took to do this. And I had an opportunity to buy this and I bought it. This is such a wonderful piece, the way it's executed. And in the trade, most people refer to carvings like this as Black Forest carvings. And you see other forms much more than you do something as well executed as this. This is a really nice allegorical study. It's a celebration of maidenhood. She is feeding the chickens. I think there's so much activity going on. And I love the detail in her face. The bird is perched on her shoulder. She has the grain in her hand and you've got an anxious goose over here that's actually pulling on her dress. And of course all the little chicks and everything. Well, this is carved out of one piece of wood. That's what I knew when I bought it. Even knowing that it's an anonymous artist, this piece would conservatively be worth $4,000 to $6,000. Well, that's great. (laughing) I thought I could maybe relieve the farm debt, but that's fine. My grandfather always had me run upstairs and get it every time we had company so I could show it off.

APPRAISER

Oh, really? Now, it's actually homespun linen made in two halves. You have a long seam going up the middle and that was because they used narrow looms at that point and it helps date the piece actually. Of course one advantage in this case also is that it is dated. We have down here "1796," which is, in fact, extraordinarily early for a textile and particularly an American textile. I mean, you see a lot of 19th century quilts, a lot of 19th century jacquard coverlets, which are also homespun linen. But this puts it into a whole different category actually. I think it has a lot of charm to it. It has a lot of folky appeal with the two little figures next to the horse. Now, it has some condition problems with the staining and the foxing, a few minor holes, portions of the fringe are missing which hurt, but I think a lot of it could in fact be restored. I think it's probably in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. Ooh. No, I never dreamed that. It just... it meant a lot in our family. Uh-huh.

MAN

I acquired them at an auction in Creston. The city library was remodeling so they auctioned off bookshelves, things like this pottery.

APPRAISER

You have wonderful pots from the northern pueblos of New Mexico. This is from San Ildefonso, the pueblo that's best known for Maria Martinez, the creator of the blackware pots. Do you want to share with us how mu you paid for it? I paid $12 for both of them. This was a jar that was created probably about 1900. It was inspired by two brothers by the name of Golds, who had a trading company. So they kept the art of pottery making very much alive. So this pot has a value of $3,000 to $4,000. The little pitcher is from the Cochiti pueblo. Again it's a really fine little piece from the turn of the century, but it's had water in it. Somewhere along the line someone put water in it and it popped the surface, so its value is somewhat modest. But $12 for both of them was really a great buy. Thank you. Thank you for sharing it with us. Thank you.

WOMAN

The letter was sent by my sister to my grandmother from Paris in 1980 and I inherited it from my grandmother. It may possibly be an American War of Independence letter. It was written to a member of a very well known Philadelphia family and it mentions all the names. It says here, "General Washington has the pleasure to inform Mrs. Powell," the recipient here, and mentions also Benjamin Harrison, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and, at the time, governor of Virginia and also the ancestor of two presidents of the United States. So it all hangs together in these few lines. And you see it's dated Saturday. And I'm just surprised at how it would have emerged in Paris. Did it come from a book dealer, perhaps, or...? It came from an antique dealer, I believe. Well, it certainly is... I think their name was Charvonay or... Charavay, yes, I remember that. I remember that firm very well. They're a well-known firm of autograph dealers in Paris. And it's certainly a wonderful gift to have given your grandmother. Well, the value of this, although not as enormous as some of the long Washington letters we've seen and being in the third person... Right. It's still, I think, quite substantial. I would think it's worth-- because of all its connections-- maybe $5,000 to $7,000. Oh, really?

APPRAISER

You told me you bought these about 25 years ago in an estate auction. How much did you pay for them then? About $800 apiece. Well, I have to tell you you certainly picked out a really terrific pair here. I can't tell you precisely which factory produced these, but I can tell you that they were made around 1880 in what I refer to as the "aesthetic period." This is a time of Middle Eastern and Far Eastern revival throughout Europe. And anything Persian or Egyptian or Japanese or Chinese was very trendy at that particular time. The porcelain looks very much like enamelwork. And it's really beautifully hand-painted. If we look at some of these panels here, you've got leaves, you've got leaf-shape panels in the most wonderful colors. And they've even got little figural subjects creeping in here, in boats, on meadows, and this then heightened with this fantastic gilding. And that's just the ceramic alone before we get to the gilt bronze. The gilt bronze mount's also extremely finely tooled and then finished off incorporating this onyx pad into the base. These are definitely French. But I think I might shock you when I tell you what I would quote on them if they were to be sold at auction. Oh, I'm hanging on. Okay, if these were to come up for auction on the East Coast, I could quite easily see them with an estimate of between $8,000 and $12,000. Oh, that sounds good. So you did really well. Okay. Thank you very much. Would that be for the pair? That would be for the pair. Very important, always keep them together as a pair. Yes, I will.

MAN

I remember it from the early 1920s hanging in my grandfather's living room. And then when he passed on, it was in my father's living room and when he passed on it went to me.

APPRAISER

And there's an incredible story about this being found in Boston, right? After a visit by Lafayette. Yes, for a parade. This was hanging in a floral arch for Lafayette's visit in 1824 to Boston. And after the parade was over, there was like an old-fashioned homecoming celebration. Everybody shook the daylights out of the stuff. The next day it was found by the cleanup crew. This carving of George Washington was probably made by Samuel McIntire of Salem, Massachusetts. Yes. And Salem at that time was a very wealthy community with a big shipping industry. And Samuel McIntire was really one of the finest architects during the Federal period in America. He designed over 20 mansions in Salem-- some of the largest and most elaborate houses in the country at the time. And he carved baskets over the overmantels, swags, drapes and tassels in these houses, which... some of them still exist today. He also made amazing furniture. George Washington was obviously an icon and a major figure. So these medallions were probably made to be placed outdoors. There were actually eight of these listed in Samuel McIntire's inventory when he passed away. And this possibly may be one of those eight medallions of George Washington that are listed. One of the things that I love about this are the carved elements that relate to furniture. This tied ribbon you will see on McIntire's fireplace bellows-- the same carved ribbons identical to that, which are documented to McIntire. This carving here on the shoulder, you'll see that on the sheaves of wheat of furniture-- the identical sort of serrated carving. This has survived also with its original paint, which is just amazing. So your family's kept great care of it. Well, I remembered it as being just black. Really? And I took my life in my hands one day... And you cleaned it?...with some mild detergent and a soft sponge. When I started seeing color, I said, "Oop, don't go any farther." There's only a handful of these known and most of those are in museums in New England. So this is one of the only ones in private hands. This is probably worth somewhere in the range of between $70,000 and probably about $90,000. Well, that's very interesting. my grandmother and my grandfather's. During the late '60s they lived in Nigeria for a few years and my grandfather bought them from a peddler. He probably paid approximately five dollars in American cash for them. The peddler told them that they were fairly old, but he never really was quite sure what to believe. Now, I don't know whether I should tell you this because I have had a chance to meet your boyfriend, but they believe in Ghana that these are fertility pieces and if you touch them, you will become pregnant, and hopefully, then, your children will be as beautiful as the dolls. Now, does that worry you at all? (giggling): A little. Okay, well, we'll move right along from there. These objects are from Ghana. They're called akuabas. Okay. And they are dolls that are rubbed by the women and carried around and they're stuck in the waist. Now, one of the things that we need to look at is surface. Now, you can see how the surface is consistent on these. This means that probably they didn't have a great deal of rubbing. The head is a little elongated, which is, again, a bit atypical. Now, these are late, having been collected in the '60s. Probably a collector would want them to be a little bit earlier, okay? Maybe the '20s or the '30s and to have a little bit more surface. But stylistically they're very close to the authentic pieces. And, as such, I think that they're fun for you to have. As fairly late akuabas these are worth about $100 to $150 apiece. Okay, great. So you now have a fertility doll... (laughs) that you can keep and use however you feel is appropriate. Well, thank you very much. Well, thank you. Appreciate it.