Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: My grandmother gave her to me as part of a doll collection.

She got her in 1947.

She used to take in ironing and she paid $15 a week to get this doll and she paid $75 for it when she got it.

I now she's a Bru, which is a French doll.

I know she's probably the best doll in my doll collection.

When I was a child, it was a doll I was not allowed to play with.

APPRAISER: We know it's a Bru-- it's a very, very beautiful Bru, made in France in the late 1880s.

She has a closed mouth, as you see, nice brown paperweight eyes.

Her original wig, which you were sort of worried about that a little bit?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Don't change the wig.

Even though it's a little bit worn, leave her wig alone.

Completely original clothes, which are wonderful-- her hat, her dress, her shoes.

Shoes are not marked Bru; they're unmarked, but they're period shoes from the same time.

She has a leather body with wooden lower legs.

Bisque head.

Bisque shoulder plate, which swivels, pierced ears, solid glass eyes, and just a lovely...

The face people want to see.

Little hint of a tongue there, which the collectors love.

The quality of the bisque is very good.

And did you have any idea maybe of the value of the doll at all?

GUEST: Well, I thought maybe around $5,000.

APPRAISER: That's quite a lot of money.

Do you want to hear the good part or the bad part?

GUEST: Let's hear the bad part first.

APPRAISER: Okay.

Well, the bad part is, she's got something replaced on her.

Do you know what that is?

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: It's her arms.

GUEST: Oh, all right.

APPRAISER: Her arms are actually German bisque arms.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Her hands must have broken years and years ago.

She probably went to a doll hospital and they put the German hands on.

They could have been broken in the 19th century, early 20th century.

That hurts her value.

But she's still worth a little more than $5,000.

So, with the replaced arms, her value on today's market at a doll show or a good auction would be around $15,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: If you could find the original arms-- which are very hard to find, but-ch they are out there somewhere-- expect to pay as much as $2,000 for a pair of those arms.

But it increases her value to $20,000 to $25,000.

So it's worth looking for.

GUEST: Okay.