Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: It belonged to a family friend of ours, and he worked in visual display work at department stores for over 40 years.

And he just collected some unique pieces.

He had 'em all over his apartment then put 'em out on display.

My son is the one that really liked this piece.

So when it became mine, when he gave it to me, my son said, "You should take this to 'Antiques Roadshow,' because it's so neat."

APPRAISER: Well, I'm really glad you brought it in, because it's just a fascinating piece of advertising display.

It was made just after World War II, about 1947, 1948, and it's a display for Jewelite hairbrushes by the Pro-Phy-Lac-Tic Company out of Massachusetts.

And for being 80 years old, it is in astonishing condition.

And that is primarily due to the materials that it's made out of, which is Lucite, which is a type of acrylic plastic.

Lucite was developed in 1931 by the DuPont Company and primarily used in the aviation industry, especially during World War II, to make portals and windscreens and things for aircraft.

Because it was light, strong, resisted yellowing, resisted damage and it was easy to mold.

So you've got an acrylic cover, but the brushes are actually made of cast colored acrylic with nylon bristles.

Like most displays, it's really meant to catch the eye.

You've got all these brightly-colored hair brushes, but there's another little thing to it.

It lights up.

Now it's a fluorescent bulb.

And the fluorescent bulb's had better days.

It's slightly on the burned outside, but in a darkened room, it makes everything glow and look really, really cool and futuristic.

That little ring that has a price of each brush on it, an ordinary brush would be, uh, 30 cents to 50 cents.

And these are going to be luxury items.

Jewelite brushes are very collectible in their own right.

In general, you can find even the smaller brushes sell for $30 to $50.

The larger brushes can be up to $100 each...

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: ...if they're in good condition, and these are mint.

My colleagues and I had a blast looking at this.

GUEST: (chuckles) APPRAISER: It's just a fun, fun piece.

And we give an easy auction estimate of $2,500 to $3,500.

GUEST: Wow, that's wonderful.

(chuckles) I've always thought it was neat, so!

(chuckles) APPRAISER: It's got a good, modern design to it that's frankly, kind of, timeless.