Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

We have a black fedora here and signed Michael Jackson photo. Tell me where you got these.

GUEST

I bought from a Channel 9 Auction in '94, public broadcasting.

APPRAISER

So it was a charity auction for PBS.

GUEST

Charity auction, right, right.

APPRAISER

Great, so it's close to home here with us on PBS.

GUEST

Yeah, bring it back home. (chuckles) The piece was up for auction, and I said, "Well, let me see if I can bid on it." It said... valued at $3,000, so I picked it up for about $800.

APPRAISER

First, it's not just the fedora. If I turn it around here-

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

We can see that it's actually signed.

GUEST

Signed, yeah.

APPRAISER

Which is great, he signs it, "All my love, Michael Jackson." With the little flourishes at the bottom, he did that a lot.

GUEST

Right, hmm.

APPRAISER

And we also have the gold name inside the hat band, which is something you want to see on a Michael Jackson fedora. He was a generous guy when it came to giving things to charity auctions. He did this a lot. If anyone called his management company, MJJ Productions, and said, "We're having this auction, could you send something for charity?" He would send a fedora. What a lot of people don't know, and I've spoken to a couple people in his camp who were the ones who did it, there were also a lot of people who did it for him.

GUEST

Mmm-hmm.

APPRAISER

So oftentimes, they would sign the hat.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

And they would sign something and send it. And so, while this is a pretty new collector market, we're getting to know all the secretarial signatures that are out there. But what I can tell you is that yours are actually him.

GUEST

Okay, I appreciate that. Yeah, that's what I paid for. (both laugh)

APPRAISER

That's good news. Because a lot of them that have come on the market since he passed away are actually secretarial, and they're being sold as things signed by him, and it's not because people are necessarily trying to be dishonest, they're just not familiar enough yet with some of the other signatures that are out there. So you not only have the signed hat, you have the signed photograph. At the time, in 1994, when they sold it, it was probably a little bit aggressive for them to say it was worth $3,000. You paid $800 for it, which is great. Today, at auction, it's probably, with the photograph and the hat, worth between $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

So it's now worth about what they said.

GUEST

Oh, so now it's about $3,000. (laughing) Oh. I appreciate it.

APPRAISER

This is really interesting to me, the fedoras. I've actually done some statistical studies on fedoras in the Michael Jackson market, because I worked on a sale of his that was canceled right before he passed away. I've worked on the estate appraisal after he passed away, and so I've seen hundreds of them. And when he first passed away in 2009, some auctions were happening in 2010, 2011, 2012, the prices for these were off the charts.

GUEST

Mmm-hmm.

APPRAISER

People didn't realize how many were out there yet. And when the first few started to come onto the market, the record for a fedora was $75,000.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And then another one sold for $37,000.

GUEST

Oh.

APPRAISER

And then they sold for $35,000. At least 200 to 300 have come on the market since he passed away.

GUEST

About how many original signatures are... fakes are out there?

APPRAISER

I'd say probably 70% of the ones that have come onto the market are him, and probably a good 30% are not him.