Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

I got it at an estate sale. We were just going through the rooms, and I saw this on the bed in one of the rooms and I asked the lady about it, and she said that it had belonged to a Civil War veteran who had lived there, and I just fell in love with it. I like Indian things, and thought, well, "I've got to have that."

APPRAISER

What did you pay for it?

GUEST

$20.

APPRAISER

Bargain day.

GUEST

Yes, yeah.

APPRAISER

First of all, it's a Navajo weaving. It was done by a Navajo woman in New Mexico or eastern Arizona, probably. It's called a Germantown.

GUEST

Germantown.

APPRAISER

And it's called that because a lot of this yarn was made in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and shipped to the West for the best Navajo weavers. When I look at the warp lines-- and the warp lines are the lines that... the threads that run up and down inside of this-- there's red ones and they're four-ply. And that tells me it was made between 1890 and 1910, roughly.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

The design's great. It's a floor rug, because of the pattern around the edge. It doesn't date back to the Civil War, but you know... The flags...

you don't see those on Germantown weavings much. There's some problems. The problem is the condition.

GUEST

Uh-huh, yes.

APPRAISER

You've got holes, you've got bleeds, all kind of moth damage, ravels on some of the edges. If you were to take this out and sell it right now, it's worth probably $2,500 to $3,000.

GUEST

Really? Oh, well, that's great.

APPRAISER

Which is still pretty good on your $20.

GUEST

Yes, it certainly is.

APPRAISER

Now, if you decide to go and have it restored, that changes the whole picture. It's going to cost you $3,000 or $4,000 potentially.

GUEST

Uh-huh, yes.

APPRAISER

These are fine weavings that take special yarn and a very qualified individual to repair it.

GUEST

Yes, uh-huh.

APPRAISER

At that point, the picture changes. You've got a weaving worth $8,000 to $10,000.

GUEST

Oh, well.

APPRAISER

But it's a great thing.

GUEST

Well, yeah, I think it is.

APPRAISER

It's a beautiful piece. Now you have to decide where you want to go from here with it.

GUEST

Yeah, uh-huh.