Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: I brought in a coin silver ladle, punch ladle.

It was sort of an accidental find at a thrift store.

And I did research the maker's mark on the back a little bit...

GUEST: ...and it is, uh, Kentucky coin silver.

And the maker was deceased in 1823, so it obviously has to be that old or older, yes.

APPRAISER: Great.

And how much did you pay for it?

GUEST: It was $1.50.

APPRAISER: It is a coin silver ladle, and the maker is Samuel Ayres.

Samuel Ayres was born in 1767 and died in 1824.

He immigrated to Kentucky in 1784.

And then by 1790, he, he was listed as a jeweler and a silversmith.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The monogram is in period script, and it appears to read "APF," which is most likely the owner's monogram.

The mark on the back reads, "S. Ayres, Lex K." in a banner, and that's his later mark when he was working in Danville.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So it's Southern coin silver, uh, Kentucky specifically.

There are... people collect that specifically.

Southern silver is pretty rare in the market.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: These don't come up that often.

GUEST: Correct.

APPRAISER: For an auction estimate, I would probably put $1,500 to $2,500 on it, conservatively.

GUEST: Oh.

(chuckling): APPRAISER: Which is a thousand times what he paid for it, um...

GUEST: Yes, yes, good purchase.

APPRAISER: Yes, and then in a strange coincidence, his son was also a silversmith...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...and he ended up in Iowa, which is where we are now.

GUEST: Oh, yeah.