Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: When my sister and I were packing up our mother's house when she moved to Madison, we found it with some things that had come down through our paternal grandfather.

We do know that he had a career in banking.

The plaque on the side says that it was given by Prince Albert to a magician named Professor Anderson, who performed at Prince Albert's birthday celebration, I believe in 1849.

Both he and his son, who followed him, toured in the United States and England.

And they periodically had business reversals.

So perhaps he left it as collateral for a loan at some point.

But, other than that, I have no idea how it got here.

I'm not even sure whether it's authentic.

APPRAISER: It is a presentational horn.

And based upon what I've seen today, I'm confident that it is authentic.

It's actually a Scottish Highland cattle horn.

It has been heated and pressed flat.

As you can see, there's a shield-shaped plaque which is applied here, which says, "Presented by Prince Albert to Professor Anderson "in testimony of the prince's approval "of the classical arrangements of the Grand Fte "in conjunction with Professor Anderson's own extraordinary performances on the occasion of Prince Albert's birthday."

And then, it's dated "28th of September, 1849."

Interestingly enough, Prince Albert's birthday was actually August 26.

So that may have been the date that he performed, and then it was presented at a later date.

In 1849, John Anderson, also known as "Professor Anderson the Magician"-- he was a Scottish magician-- did perform for Prince Albert and Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

You've got this stone here.

It's a natural clear quartz, which has been foil-backed to give it a little bit of a shine.

There's a small chip to it, at the base which doesn't affect the value too much.

And then, if we spin it one more time, you can also see again, we have a small quartz jewel that's been inset.

I suspect that it's either a pewter or a base white metal, I would put an auction estimate of $3,000 to $5,000 on it.

GUEST: Wow, very good.