Antiques Roadshow

CORAL PEA: "Antiques Roadshow" is on a path to great finds at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

APPRAISER: Your father-in-law thought he was a bum because he was a pop star?

Right.

APPRAISER: Are you wearing it?

(laughing): I guess I would have to have a very special occasion.

PEA: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, is a naturally beautiful and lush backdrop for our cameras today.

A soggy start with rain in the morning hasn't dampened the spirits of our experts...

I love stuff like this.

It's a beautiful, beautiful piece.

PEA: ...or our guests.

Hello, "Antiques Roadshow!"

(chuckles) PEA: There's much to see as the sun comes out.

And "Roadshow" is finding treasures that shine.

GUEST: I think it's a mechanical calculator.

It was my stepfather's and he was an appraiser for the government.

Like a land appraiser.

Oh, really?

And apparently this is what he used in his work.

(chuckling): Oh, that's great.

Yeah.

This piece, it's a Curta calculator.

Okay.

Okay.

And it was Curt Herzstark who actually created this.

Ah.

And I'm gonna open this up.

And here we can pull the piece out to reveal the whole calculator.

Mm.

Hm.

What I like about it is on the bottom.

We can turn this over and you can see that it is marked, "Made in Liechtenstein."

Mm-hmm.

Curt was actually in a concentration camp in World War II.

(gasps) No!

And that's when he came to design this calculator.

Okay.

The way that you use this is that you would set these levers, as well as the ones on the top...

Okay.

...and you would crank this.

That gave this particular calculator the nickname the "pepper mill" or the "pepper grinder" calculator.

It does look like one.

Uh-huh.

These were popular because it's easy to do the calculations.

Uh-huh.

And at auction, this could bring anywhere between $800 and $1,500.

So it's not a pepper mill, okay.

(laughs) That'd be some expensive pepper, wouldn't it?

(laughs) Yeah, it would be.

It would be.

Well, that's wonderful.

My grandfather, Neal Walters, started a circus poster printing company in Eureka Springs in the late '30s, '40s maybe.

And they printed circus posters there until they moved to Bentonville in like '62 or '63.

And then they continued on printing them from Bentonville.

These three are hand-carved plates that my uncle carved.

There was 11 total kids that helped run the printing presses and do the carving of all the plates.

Like, these faces are faces of my aunts and uncles and family members.

Come on, like who?

This is my Aunt Peggy and my Aunt Sally.

Kind of a combination of them, even the gap.

(chuckles) And this is one of my uncles, and this one is an uncle.

And this one, I think, is just somebody who ran the presses.

That's the information I've been given about it.

I inherited them when my mother passed away in 2006.

The company printed mostly for circuses that were on the smaller end, so, so Birnam Brothers, nobody's heard of them, but everybody knows Ringling Brothers.

And all of the posters they did were woodblock prints.

Yes.

And what these are, are progressive colors.

They would have been printed on top of each other... Mm-hmm.

...to make an image like the one you have... Mm-hmm.

...with red, yellow and blue ink.

So these three images combined to make a single clown's face.

Mm-hmm.

And so then I went online and I found it.

It was done for a wild animal exposition.

(gasps) And the poster that I found was for "Tex Carson's Wild Animal Circus."

And it was a poster that was printed in Eureka Springs.

(chuckling): Oh my gosh.

Wow.

It's in one institution.

And online they say that that circus only operated between 1951 and 1956.

Oh.

So that's a five-year window that we can definitively date these have being used to, which is wonderful.

Cool.

So the poster that's next to you, which is imprinted with the Bentonville imprint... Mm-hmm.

...would be from at least 1963, so sometime in the '60s.

Yes.

What your grandfather's company did was basically create images with blank text boxes on top so different circuses could buy the image and fill in their own name.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So it's very possible you would see this image advertising a different circus.

Oh, yes.

Uh, they're called stock posters.

So now the question, What are they worth?

Yeah.

Let's start with the poster next to you.

They're not particularly valuable.

They're not for famous circuses.

So I found that poster online for the Birnam Brothers selling for about $150.

Okay.

It's a great poster, if you like clowns.

Yeah.

But there really is no record of these kind of wood block prints of a clown face coming up for sale.

Were these to come up at auction, as a set, just the wood blocks, not the poster.

Mm-hmm.

They'd sell for between $6,000 and $9,000.

Wow.

That's amazing.

And I'm not clowning around.

That's amazing.

(laughs) When I got it, it was painted blue, and it had been stored for years in a barn.

My brother, who is 95, gave it to me.

He was a World War II veteran and he will not tell me anything about it.

I said, "Will you tell me about the clock?"

He says, "No."

Well, my uncle used to be a manager of a race car team in the '80s.

And he went around and got all these signatures on one of the helmets-- these are the older guys.

You got A.J.

Foyt on here, you got Lyn St. James, one of the first female driver at the Indianapolis.

And you got Danny Sullivan.

So you've got kind of a one of a kind deal here.

So thank you, Uncle Danny.

GUEST: These photographs that we brought today are some photographs that we inherited.

Our great uncle, he had these photos made of his daughters, Iola and Picola.

We knew who the-- found out who the photographer was from a newspaper article that was located with the pictures that said that his name was Mike Disfarmer and it had a copy of that photo.

Of this one?

So we knew-- of the first one there-- of them in their prom dresses.

And so we received other photos along with the same packet.

And we were just wondering if any of the other photos were Mike Disfarmer's photos also.

Mike Disfarmer was actually born in Indiana.

And he never really felt like he was part of his family.

They were farmers.

He didn't want anything to do with that profession.

He just always felt like he was an outsider.

When he was able to, he moved to Heber Springs, Arkansas, and he wanted to start a photo studio there.

People understood him to be very eccentric and someone who was very standoffish and just had a weird demeanor about him.

Mm-hmm.

In addition to that, when he died, he had no will.

So all of those negatives from his studio were left to just rot.

And it wasn't until several decades later that those negatives were purchased.

And people began to find out about who this photographer was, this mysterious photographer who just appeared in this small town... Mm-hmm.

...and created over 3,000 glass plate negatives of the inhabitants.

What happened was that people were making posthumous prints from his glass plate negatives.

So there are photographs that exist, that show up on the market, that are actually later prints.

But what's much less seen... ...are these vintage prints.

This one here is one of my top ten of his images.

I think it is so charming, and this is one that you can actually buy later prints from.

Mm-hmm.

But I have never seen a vintage print of it.

Great.

Who is this here in this photo?

Now, both of those, I believe, are younger photos of the girls.

I definitely think this is one of his photographs, mostly because it has this very strong black stripe behind her.

And that is very telltale for his studio.

And then the child in the center.

The reason why I know it's by Mike Disfarmer is what's on the back.

It's the Meyer Studio.

He changed his name.

Oh.

He was born Mike Meyer.

Uh-huh.

And he wanted to really distance himself from his family after his mother died in 1930.

So he changed his name from Mike Meyer to Mike Disfarmer, which he thought literally meant "not a farmer."

In auction, I'd be mostly thinking about the value of this print, which is the most well-known image, and I would put an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000 on the group.

Wow!

(chuckles) Super-- $8,000 to $12,000?

$8,000 to $12,000.

Wow, that's astounding.

(both laugh) For something-- Much more than you thought?

Yes, and something that was just passed down.

Somebody should have been taping her.

I was looking at my sister's face when she said $8,000 to $12,000, and I go... (gasps, laughs) PEA: Crystal Bridges is the realized vision of Alice Walton, whose father, Sam Walton, built the multinational retail corporation Walmart.

Crystal Bridges opened in 2011, the first art museum of its kind in the region.

Well, I wanted to tell the story of America.

To really focus on all five centuries and to try to tell the numerous complicated stories of who we are in an honest fashion.

GUEST: I brought a watch which we believe is an Omega watch.

I found it, um, on the side of a road in a free box.

And my husband was complaining that we were stopping at a free box and we'd been yard sale-ing.

And I kind of threw it at him jokingly, like, "Here's a watch."

Thinking it would be a, you know, a fake watch, because I couldn't fathom anybody putting out a watch, um, on the side of the road.

Yeah, and we've had it since, it's been about a year-and-a-half, and my husband believes it's real, and we're here to find out what it is.

It's an Omega Seamaster 300.

"300" is for 300 meters, which is indicated right there on the dial.

That's 980 feet.

And this one dates early 1960s to mid-1960s.

It was marketed and sold as a diver's watch.

It's a little bit larger than what you think most wristwatches would be, because it would have to fit over a wetsuit.

So originally it would have come with a metal bracelet.

Perhaps it came with some kind of a nylon or rubber strap that could be adjusted for size, because the wetsuits can get quite big.

It's a 552 caliber automatic winding movement, which means with the movement of your wrist, it winds itself, it keeps running perpetually.

Okay.

You don't have to sit and wind it up.

You notice the large black rotating bezel?

That rotates because the divers have to know exactly how much time they have underwater.

Oh.

So this is a very important instrument and tool of diving.

Omega refined the diving watch.

They were one of the best because this could save your life.

You'll notice the face is a nice matte black finish with luminous numerals and hands.

Glow in the dark underwater.

In the world of collecting right now, in the world of value, this watch, you don't want to clean it, you don't want to touch it.

In terms of desirability, this is way up on the list.

Watch collecting world, right now, would fight for this, they're very coveted.

Retail, this watch right now will bring $8,000 to $10,000.

Okay.

All right.

(laughing): That's amazing.

(chuckling): Not bad for picking it up on the side of the street, I think.

It is the Ascot trophy, which was a gift of Her Majesty, which I'm assuming was Queen Victoria, from 1857.

It's been in my family for four generations.

Okay.

How we got it, I don't really know, because nobody's living anymore.

And do you know who made the trophy?

Yes, it's, uh, from Garrard's.

Garrard was the most important London silversmith, bar none.

From 1843 to 2007... Mm-hmm.

...they were the jewelers to The Crown.

Mm-hmm.

This trophy is known as the Queen's Cup.

It was given by Queen Victoria to the winner... Mm-hmm.

...of the 1857 race at Ascot... Mm-hmm.

...for three-year-olds.

Yes.

We have the royal coat of arms here, ascot down here.

And it's just a magnificent piece of silver.

By the way, it's hallmarked by Garrard here... Mm-hmm.

...and on the hinges of the handle.

And then, of course, it's marked on the bottom.

This was designed by one of their great designers, Edmund Cotterill.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know how many pounds of sterling silver this is, but... 22.

22 pounds of sterling silver?

(chuckling): Yes.

A lot of this is hand-chased.

It's a masterpiece of the silversmith's art.

I know we're in Arkansas, and you're enamored of saying... (chuckling) ...that's a Arkansas razorback, but really, we have two hounds attacking a European boar.

This particular trophy was illustrated in the June 13, 1857 edition of the "London Illustrated Times."

I did find a woodcut engraving Wow!

Of two women gazing at this trophy, along with the Gold Cup that was awarded at Ascot, too.

Mm-hmm.

So it's a well-known piece.

Wow.

In the '90s... Mm-hmm.

...this trophy was on exhibit, correct?

Yes, uh-huh.

At...?

The Carnegie Museum.

In Pittsburgh.

Mm-hmm.

My father didn't want to keep this at the house anymore, so he loaned it to the Carnegie Museum for safekeeping.

If I told you that in 2021, Sotheby's in London offered a Queen's Cup for sale... Mm-hmm.

...and it was estimated at �20,000 to �30,000... Mm-hmm.

...what would you say?

I would say this is much more than that.

(laughs) Good for you!

Good for you!

In fact, I-- I'm not impressed.

In fact, in fact, I agree with you.

Mm-hmm.

The one that was brought up for auction in 2021... Mm-hmm.

...failed to sell.

It had two prancing horses on it.

Uh-huh.

Not this amazing hunt scene.

Oh.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

Every year, the trophy was different.

An auction estimate for this... Mm-hmm.

...would be $40,000 to $60,000.

Does that surprise you?

Yes, it does.

Low or high?

Low.

But then when you're an owner of something, it's priceless.

I would probably insure it for at least $75,000.

Mm-hmm, okay.

I know it's a poster.

I came with my papa, so I don't know much about it, but... it looks cool.

(chuckles) PRODUCER: Are you a skier?

No, but I do like snow sledding.

PRODUCER: I didn't know there was skiing in Arkansas.

(giggles) Neither did I.

Well, my mother inherited this from her great aunt.

Um, she and her husband didn't have children, so they traveled a lot.

And she inherited a ton of really cool jewelry.

And I brought this when you guys were in Little Rock, and they said, bring it back if you ever come, so I did.

GUEST: It's been in the family since World War II.

And, uh, my father, when he was 14 here in Arkansas, ran away from home because his father was in Europe fighting.

And my dad wanted to join the army, too.

But at 14, the marines said no, the army said no.

So he thought he would head toward Canada and join the Canadian forces and deploy from there.

Well, he didn't make it to Canada because his uncle found him before he crossed the border.

But he did... his uncle did take him to a military store, a large one, Bannerman's in New York, where he saw this helmet and bought it.

Do you know how much he paid for it?

Well, I think probably a 14-year-old boy from Arkansas in 1943 probably didn't have a lot of money, and, uh, so I'm sure it was just a matter of pennies or a few dollars back then.

This is a Japanese russet iron helmet, a kabuto, called a southern barbarian helmet or Namban helmet.

Mm-hmm.

Made in Japan in the late 18th or early 19th century.

It's actually fashioned on a Portuguese... Mm.

...or a Spanish late 16th century helmet.

There would have been a multi-tiered, what they call shikoro... Mm-hmm.

...or neck guard.

And the inside would have been fitted with a leather interior for comfort and also to position it properly on the wearer's head.

This is actually the Buddha of Infinite Light... Mm.

...who represents the Pure Land sect of Mahayana Buddhism.

And he is standing on a cloud here.

Mm-hmm.

And he is actually in what they call the position of Amida raigo.

And the symbolism is the Buddha descending to welcome the believer into the western paradise.

This would have been worn... Mm-hmm.

...in battle by a samurai warrior.

Wow.

This would have been a battle helmet, and it is actually etched and embellished with gold and silver in the decoration of the clouds and the Buddha.

It's a wonderful piece.

Do you have any idea what you think it's worth?

Oh, absolutely no idea.

I'd say just guessing between $2,000 and $3,000, I would probably say.

Well, at auction, you're a little conservative.

I would say at the auction block, somewhere between $6,000 and $10,000.

Oh, wow, I won't put it on my head then.

Never have.

(laughs) PEA: A gem in the collection at Crystal Bridges is this quintessential Hudson River School landscape, "Kindred Spirits."

Painted in 1849 by Asher B. Durand, the painting depicts two good friends, poet William Cullen Bryant and painter Thomas Cole, standing in the natural splendor of the Catskill Mountains.

It is one of the most iconic images of a wonderful landscape that just draws you in with the detail.

It kind of looks like the Ozarks, but it's really a New York landscape referencing all sorts of experiences that the artist had.

PEA: In 2005, several years before Crystal Bridges opened, the art world was rocked when the museum's founder, Alice Walton, purchased the work for $35 million at auction, a record for an American artist at the time.

My father-in-law served in the army.

He was an officer, he was a tank commander, and when he was stationed in Germany at the same time that Elvis Presley was, uh, Elvis was actually his jeep driver for a period of time.

And so it's funny because we have letters, uh, from my mother-in-law to her sister talking about the whole experience of Elvis.

So I did take a look at the letter, and it's written a long time ago, so it's not a distant memory, which is important.

Correct.

Sometimes when these letters are written many, many years later... Mm-hmm.

...the stories tend to become slightly embellished.

Right, right.

But I read through this letter, and um, your father-in-law initially thought he was a bum because he was a pop star.

(laughing): Right.

Yes.

But then he gets to know him and he sees that he's there and he's very personable.

And the letter even mentions that, um, initially, Pete asked him, "Why did you do this?"

"Why put yourself through this?"

Do you remember what he said?

He said he wanted to prove to everyone that he could do it.

People didn't think that he would be able to do a, a good job, and he wanted to be taken seriously.

He wanted to prove it to himself and to everyone else that he could do it.

And the hoopla surrounding him made it very difficult for him to do that, I think, which was probably very frustrating to him.

Correct, yeah.

We see pictures like this come up at auction.

Mm-hmm.

Um, yours, much like many of the ones that we see, you have the original negatives.

Yes.

You also have the signature... Mm-hmm.

...that was obtained directly from him.

Um, but when we see these come up, they-they do really well, because they're pictures of Elvis, and everyone loves Elvis.

And these happen to be taken very close.

There were other soldiers there who took pictures of him.

Some are more distant.

Some are very much more personal, like this, taken up close.

Sure.

We don't know who the gentleman is in the one closest to you?

No, we do not.

But it... it doesn't matter.

They're all such extraordinary photos of him, and they're very clear and well shot.

Mm-hmm.

At auction, if-if these were to come up on their own, this would probably be a $3,000 to $5,000 grouping.

Nice.

But because we have all the content that your letter provides and all this background information and all these extra stories, if you were to put the letter with this for the provenance and everything else that goes with it, I think we're looking at more like a $5,000 to $7,000.

Wow, that's incredible.

That's absolutely incredible.

I was... always wondered what the value would be; I'll never sell it.

Well, certainly.

If you were to insure them, I'd probably say it would be safe to put $10,000 on the grouping.

$10,000.

Incredible.

Thank you very much.

Well, this was my grandmother's from Chicago, and that's all I know about it.

It's, uh, it's beautiful when it's cleaned up, so.

See what they say about it.

PRODUCER: Are you a beer fan?

I am, yes, very big into beer.

I got started with German beer, so that started my German beer stein collection.

I wasn't able to find any dates or anything on them, so I don't know anything about them.

One of them says West Germany, the other ones just say Germany.

So I'm not sure where they came from or how old they are, so.

So this is my father-in-law's toy Buddy L truck, and he was born in 1921, and so he probably got it when he was maybe five.

And it's kind of been in the family, sitting on shelves.

And now it's... we're blessed with it.

And today, after the show, I'm going to pass it down to my son.

This is a Winchester W. Shell board.

My great-grandfather received it from a family friend, and it hung in a pool hall and, uh, sporting goods store.

And then it slowly made its way into the family home.

So my grandmother had it in her house probably until 20, 30 years ago.

It survived a house fire, and then I wound up with it about ten years ago.

Well, you're right on the money.

It is a Winchester cartridge board, Winchester Repeating Arms, founded by Oliver Winchester in 1866.

He would go on to lead the company through 1880.

When he died, his son had been the intended heir to take over the company.

He unfortunately passed away three months later from tuberculosis.

The most notable name to come into the picture after that would be John Browning, who wasn't direct operator of the company, but essentially he was providing all these new amazing models to Winchester that really continued the namesake of Winchester for putting out the best of the best.

So I think what this represents is the golden age of advertising for American firearms.

And this was a time when they were in extremely high competition with Remington and, and other firms.

And they made pieces like this, so when you walked into your local hardware store, you were impressed.

It features over 160 individual pieces I count in total.

It does have a few missing pieces.

I don't think that hurts it too much.

It does still retain the most prominent shell of importance, which is the .70-150 there cartridge right at the top center, which had originally been intended for the 1873 Winchester shotgun.

However, it was never actually used in a Winchester firearm.

It went on to be used for three firearms, none of them being Winchesters.

So a piece that is-is truly rare.

And you've got pieces here that range all the way from BB caps to primers, all the way up to this massive 4 gauge shotgun shell.

And just an im-impressive abundance.

The sign is made on a thick piece of board with a lithograph image.

And so you see a Native American guide there on the left.

Both of the hunters there adorned in Hudson's Bay blanket Company's blankets as they shoot over a log at whatever target they're aiming at.

The image on the right is almost Frederic Remington-inspired, of a soldier, presumably, leaning over his dead horse in combat, shooting over that, and then these lovely ducks there in the center, so you've kind of got representations of big game hunting, um, combat and then waterfowling, which really ties the piece together.

This is the original frame, but this inner frame here would have originally been an aluminum color, more so, and somebody came along and repainted that at some point.

We don't know exactly how many of these currently exist, but it can't be more than a couple dozen at best.

Uh-huh.

This particular piece dates to 1890, and we can tell that because there was a later version that dates closer to 1895 that would have had additional smokeless powder variants that came out in 1893.

If this piece came up for auction in today's market, um, I would assign what I believe is a conservative presale estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

Wow.

And I would place an insurance value on it of $25,000.

Wow.

That's pretty awesome.

(chuckles) So I think it's gonna stay in the family.

(chuckles) If it was one of those slightly later versions, those are the ones that you likely see, they're a little bit pricier.

Right.

There's only, you know, four or five known in existence, and they've soared to as much as $45,000.

APPRAISER: Tell me a little bit about them.

Tell me what you know about them, how you acquired them.

GUEST: Well, I know they're from approximately the second and third century A.D., Roman glass.

I found them on the border between Syria and Israel back in the late '60s.

I was on an amateur dig with some Bedouin.

And I noticed that some of them, like this example here, has some staining on the back, as does the larger example there.

So tell me what you know about that.

Okay.

They were found lying down... in the mud, and so you had to bring them up very carefully, because sometimes when you bring them up, they shatter.

And this one here, we notice, has... an extra little part in there.

Yes.

It was filled with kohl, K-O-H-L, which is eye makeup.

And this is what they applied the kohl with.

These are probably for table use.

They're probably to contain oils, uh, or cosmetics.

I would date them all pretty much to the second, third century A.D.

This one here is particularly unusual because it was found with the applicator.

Oh, really?

Most times the applicators and the pieces are separated.

And you're absolutely right.

It is a kohl container.

It's an unguentarium.

Kohl was an eye makeup that was used throughout the ancient world.

The condition on them is excellent.

There's no damage other than the encrustations that we see on them.

There's a little bit of iridescence on here.

Yes.

And that is actually a deterioration of the glass.

These are three absolutely authentic examples.

In 1970, the UNESCO convention was drafted which prohibited the exportation of illegally pilfered items and illicit pieces.

It was signed into law in 1972.

But being that these were found and exported in the 1960s, these can be legally sold on the market.

I would say at auction, we're talking about, for the three of them, in the vicinity of about $1,800 to $2,500, for the three of them.

They're not going anywhere.

(chuckles) I would insure them for a little bit more than that.

I would say maybe $3,000 for the entire group.

Um, it's just a bronze piece that I found at an estate sale in Memphis.

I think I paid $15 for it.

It does have an artist's name.

He's an Austrian artist.

So, I'm looking forward to seeing if they can tell me a little bit more about it.

GUEST: So we actually got it at an auction and it was, like, really low at first.

And I was like, "Sweet, I'm going to get this awesome turkey for ten dollars."

(laughs) And then it kind of went up at the last minute.

But I was like, "I'm getting that turkey."

He's cute.

He's cute.

Or she, we're not sure.

(laughs) It was $100, and it was right before Thanksgiving.

So I was really excited because I was like, "Hey, turkey for Thanksgiving."

Yeah.

We purchased a property outside of Osage, Arkansas, back in 2000.

And amongst a lot of items left there, this was there.

It is "Andrew Jackson, President."

This is a proclamation, and this is at a fairly important point in American history.

During the Jackson's administration, there were some very heavy tariffs, and the Southerners, particularly South Carolina, was like, "Whoa, we don't like these."

"So we're going to pass our own law that says, 'Hey, we don't recognize that.'"

Well, that was a big deal.

How do you get that word out if you're Jackson, if you're sort of thinking, "Well, people have to know that this is not what I believe in."

So you can't post it on social media.

Mm-mm.

What are you going to do?

You're going to make a big document.

And this big proclamation basically says, "Hey, South Carolina, we've got your number."

(laughs) "Treasonous activity, and we're going to shut you down.

"We're going to send in the federal troops if you don't obey this law."

Mm... Tariffs also get renegotiated, and there is peace.

But more than... more than anything else, what it does tell people is that the Union is going to stay together.

And this was a big shot across the bow for any state that was going to go against the United States.

And really, it was a harbinger, obviously, of 28 years later, of the beginning of the Civil War.

Mmm.

But this is Andrew Jackson standing up for the United States.

So this proclamation was actually printed in 1832.

The original paper proclamation was printed in Washington.

So the really interesting thing about this printing is that it's not on paper.

It's on silk... Mmm.

...which is why it has that sort of wavy appearance to it.

This was printed by E. Conrad, and it was printed in New York.

Then this information is sent out to all the other states.

As a president, like him or hate him, he was an ardent Unionist.

And if I were to place an insurance estimate on this, I would say you need to insure this for $7,000.

(gasps) Mmm... That's really nice.

Oh.

Hmm... (clicks teeth) That is... great.

I brought this, uh, LeCoultre, uh, mantel Clock that I found in my grandparents' back porch after they passed away.

And, uh, found out that it's made in the '60s or '70s.

Uh, said they made a lot of them, and it's, uh, was fairly common for the time, so.

Pretty good find.

I bought her at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago, and she came with a little card that said she was a rare, 31-inch, poured wax...

Okay.

...blue glass-eyed doll.

I don't know what that means.

(laughs) (chuckles) Okay.

And what did you pay for her?

$100.

Well, your doll was made in Germany.

Oh.

And she's a wax doll.

And what's really special about her is usually wax dolls have glass eyes... Uh-huh.

...that just stare at you.

But these actually sleep.

Yes.

They look brown to me.

But the card said they were blue, and I wondered if they'd turned color.

(laughs) No.

So, you know what?

When you get a card with a doll, it doesn't necessarily mean it went with the doll.

Oh.

And she also came with-with this?

Right.

This separate dress.

It was just in a plastic bag with her.

Right.

So this was probably the dress that she wore originally.

Oh, really?

And then someone added this baby dress later... Oh.

...which is very sweet.

And...

Here I thought the other way around.

(chuckles) And one thing I really wanted to note about this doll is I see a lot of German wax dolls... Mm-hmm.

...and let me tell you, and I'm sorry, I don't want to offend the other wax dolls out in the world, (laughs) but they're usually not very pretty.

They're just kind of... homely.

(laughs) But look at this child.

I mean... She is pretty.

...she is pretty.

And big.

I-- she's like a small child, really.

She is, she's child size.

(laughs) Yes.

She-- trust me, I'm holding her.

She's child weight.

(laughing): I know she is.

(both laugh) Just this costume by itself... Uh-huh.

...would sell for $300 or $400.

Really?

Even with all the moth holes?

(giggling) Even with the moth holes.

On "Roadshow," we like the moth holes.

That means it's not been messed with.

Retail on your doll, we'd be looking at $750 to $950.

Not counting the dress!

I'm-- and how much did you say the dress was?

$300 to $400.

$300 to $400?

I'm shocked.

(laughs) I am shocked.

Are you still going to give this doll to your sister?

Mmm... (laughs) Maybe in a year or so.

BAILLY: The Crystal Bridges collection features works from the canon of American art, as well as those overlooked and understudied works that really help enrich our understanding of American art and culture.

We're very fortunate to have a beautiful marble sculpture by Edmonia Lewis, who is the child of a Haitian man and an Ojibwe mother.

She attended Oberlin College, the first college in the United States to admit African Americans, Native Americans and women.

She modeled this sculpture called the "Old Arrow Maker".

It shows Minnehaha and her father, the arrow maker.

And it's a beautiful, idealized, not stereotyped view of these Native figures.

And it was carved in Rome in 1872.

So usually when we hear the name Ludwig Bemelmans, one name springs to mind...

Right.

...and that would be Madeline, the little Parisian girl.

But there's no Madeline in this picture.

So, what can you tell us about it?

How did you come by it?

Well, my uncle, who lived in Chicago, and my aunt, were friends with Ludwig Bemelmans.

And my uncle was in advertising, and he met Mr. Bemelmans through some programs they worked on.

There was a whiskey, and there was a dog food (laughs) and things like that.

And so he corresponded with my uncle and aunt, and he sent several things, and they would meet.

But this is one piece that hung in my aunt's house.

And when she died, it came to me, partially because nobody else wanted it, because it wasn't Madeline.

(both laugh) And people said, "It's too dark.

It's too dark."

And my son has been teasing me for years, saying, "Get rid of the frame."

And I said, "Well, it's the frame it was in.

"If it comes to you, or when it comes to you, you change the frame."

(laughs) But the picture's intact, and I'll keep it.

So, given their closeness and their friendship, do you think this was given as a gift?

I believe it was.

He was a fascinating character, Mr. Bemelmans.

He seemed to have so many different vocations.

He was a restaurateur, he was a hotelier.

He was a screenwriter... Oh, yes.

...he was an illustrator, of course, and he was a writer.

So he did a bit of everything.

And he said his-his greatest inspiration was, uh, a low bank account.

(laughs) So... do you know what the subject is?

I'm not sure.

I thought it was somewhere in South America, where there's a jungle.

Okay.

But I'm not positive.

Well, I think the clue is here, actually.

I don't know if you've noticed this before, but written down here is "Rio"... Ah!

Rio.

...and dated "'58."

I didn't-- And I think it's safe to assume that this is the famous statue of "Christ the Redeemer."

Well, I thought it was, but I didn't know where it was.

(laughs) He's telling us here.

So it's real...

Yes.

...and it's a wonderful evocation of the-the foliage.

I love the... the verve and the gusto of the painting, and particularly the underdrawing that's going on here.

Mmm.

It's really quite frenetic and really energetic.

I love that.

And I actually love the colors no matter what anybody...

The colors are great.

Yeah, the colors have actually held up.

I wasn't too sure at first.

I thought it was a little faded, but I was talking with one of my colleagues, and when you look at areas like this, the-the color really pops.

It's really vivid and exciting, and it gives that tropical feel to it.

So, it's-it's a very attractive piece.

Okay.

Now, is it something you've ever considered the value of it?

Um, well, I thought, should I be insuring it?

I mean, when I first got it, it was in the backseat of my car on a long car trip... wrapped with a blanket over it.

And I didn't know if I'd have an accident, if it would kill me.

(laughs) (both laugh) I hope not.

Killed by Bemelmans.

That's... what a way to go.

It didn't.

Well, as I mentioned at the beginning, "Madeline" is obviously the name that's most associated with Bemelmans.

And there's a-a certain price point for that.

This is not a "Madeline" work, however, it still has good value.

And at auction, I would suggest an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

Mmm.

That's good.

And if-if you were to insure it, which you'd mentioned, I think $20,000 would be... $20,000.

...fair.

I-I don't think it should be anything less than that.

Now, of course, if Madeline was walking around in the jungle here, that would make a big difference to it.

(laughs) Yes.

But I really like this one, and I'm glad you like it, too.

I think it's beautiful.

It's called a GuitOrgan.

It's made by MCI out of Waco, Texas.

You can play it like a guitar.

It'll sound like a guitar.

You can switch it.

It sounds like a Hammond organ.

My late husband had a lot of things that I didn't know we owned.

GUEST: This is a plaster statue of a Mountie sitting on a Drewrys bottle.

It's, uh, advertising.

My dad, when he was a young man, used to bartend, and he, I think, snagged one of these for his man cave.

GUEST: I found this in an antique store in Santa Cruz, New Mexico.

And it was right at the pandemic.

And I make ceramics myself, and I teach ceramics.

So I knew at the time that it was very hard (chuckles) and took a lot of time to make something like this.

And then when I saw a-after looking closer, that it was probably all handmade and then wasn't signed, I became really intrigued, because, usually I know a lot about these things and I had no idea where this came from.

What did you pay for it?

Do you remember?

(sighs) It was under $20.

On "Antiques Roadshow," we see a lot... of what we refer to as China painting.

So China painting goes like this.

Around the late 1880s until about the 1920s, people would often purchase porcelain blanks, mostly coming from France or Germany... Mm-hmm.

...and either as amateur decorators, which most of the works that we see here were done by... Mm-hmm.

...or sometimes as professional artists.

We see the work that is done and it's often signed by the artist.

Mm-hmm.

So this is a covered box done in a technique called American satsuma.

It is satsuma, like the Japanese, but it was done in this country on Japanese porcelain blanks that would have been procured from Japan at a time when it was impossible to get them from Germany... Mm-hmm.

...during the First World War and possibly from France.

Okay.

The type of decoration... is usually very elaborate.

It is, unfortunately not signed by the decorator, which is too bad, because it is such a fine example of this technique.

This is very strong Art Nouveau, and very much in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Okay.

It is an enamel painting.

The way this is painted, all those black lines would have most likely been delineated with a mix of wax... and manganese.

Okay.

Wow.

And in the firing, the wax will burn off... and just leave that black line.

I would think that the initials in the medallion are most likely for the-the person who would be receiving this, as opposed to the artist.

It's, it would be so very elaborate.

So you paid... (places lid back) little for this lovely piece.

And I was discussing this with my colleagues at the pottery and porcelain table, and we were agreeing that at auction, probably at $400 to $600.

Okay.

Okay.

So you did well.

Thank you.

(chuckles) I just wish the artist who made it could get the credit, because I'm always in awe of it.

(chuckles) It's just kind of amazing.

GUEST: My grandfather got this for me.

I was 12 years old when he gave it to me.

Uh, but he gave me this for my birthday.

You know, when you're 12 years old, you're kind of looking... for a bicycle or something like that, and I got this.

At the time, I didn't realize really what I had, but now I do.

And so, it was a great gift that he gave to me.

He paid $12 for it, at an auction.

This book occurred at a remarkable moment in American history.

These are albumen photographs.

They were derived from a glass negative.

They were developed in 1873... by a photographer named W.G.

Chamberlain.

Born in 1815... died in, uh, 1910.

He was, uh, very active during the Civil War.

He then emigrated out to Denver, where he really settled in.

He took pictures of Yellowstone, but he focused on Native Americans.

And in this particular album, there are 25 mounts, double-sided.

There are 50 photos here.

90% of them are of the Ute tribe.

This gentleman is wearing a Western shirt gotten from a trader or a military individual.

Around his waist, he's wearing a Navajo blanket, and across his shoulders he's got a baldric, or a bandolier bag, made undoubtedly by the Ute people.

He's wearing a top hat that he would have gotten in trade, which he clearly would have valued very, very highly, because he would have seen non-Native folks, traders, military individuals wearing top hats.

This gentleman... in his headdress, he's got a crescent right above his forehead.

It's called the naja.

He's wearing trade bead necklaces.

This picture... has a Ute warrior, but notice he's got a top hat on.

Yeah.

He couldn't have those feathers in the top hat unless he had earned the right to have an eagle feather in his hat.

This means he's an accomplished warrior.

But what's totally remarkable, in the hatband, on his top hat... are three or four photographs, tucked into that headband.

To have a photograph is a little bit threatening, particularly back in the day.

These folks sometimes referred to photographers as shadow catchers, and they were a little bit nervous about someone having their image in their hand.

Here he's showing them off in his hatband.

It's just a remarkable photograph.

We know, because of the... first page that in 1873, Eliza W. Lyon put this album together.

She clearly is the same individual that did all of the inscriptions under the images.

It's the same handwriting.

On a retail basis...

I would value this at about $25,000.

Well, that's better than 12.

(chuckles) Wow.

Yeah, that's, uh... that's pretty good.

You'd be very comfortable at $35,000 insurance value.

It was my grandmother's painting.

Her mother got it in World War II.

She used to send coffee to their family in Germany, and they sent her this after the war as a thank you gift.

We don't know anything about it, but hoping to find out more today.

We know it's from Berlin, but that's about it.

GUEST: Well, a good friend of my mother's gave it to her, and it's just a delicate... And it's got all kinds of hallmarks on it that we can't figure out, so I'm hoping someone here will tell us about it.

It's got to be at least 100 years old, if not more.

I'm... making that up.

I have no idea.

(laughs) Or golf tees.

Yeah, that's really what I should put in 'em.

GUEST: It was my grandmother's ring that she bought in 1935.

Her diary...

I have an entry that she purchased it in... Bangkok, Siam, which is now... Thailand.

Thailand.

But I don't know if that was the stone or the setting that she purchased then, because I also have some family lore that she maybe got it in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka.

That part is one of my question marks, as is the actual setting, which I know is platinum.

I'd heard it might have been a Tiffany's setting from London or Paris Tiffany's at that time, but I couldn't find it in her journal to confirm that.

I just always heard that from my father.

Yeah.

So what year did it actually come into your possession?

I think I've had it about ten years.

Do you wear it?

(soft chuckle) I would love to wear it.

I tried to get it sized up to be able to wear it, but the very respected local jeweler said he wouldn't even touch it until I had an appraisal.

I have a little note that said it was appraised in 1951, but I don't have the appraisal.

I don't know what.

But I do have a-a verification from a lab that it's a natural sapphire.

Well, that's very important in today's world.

Everyone wants natural color.

Yes.

And you have a very early cert from the G.I.A., 1969.

That is one of the earliest colored stone certs (laughs) in America, (laughs) and I have never seen one from the G.I.A, from that period.

So that, to me, is very, very interesting.

And they give a dimension.

They don't give a weight.

Yeah.

I measured it, and I'm coming up with around 15 plus carats.

Oh, wow.

So... That's wonderful.

...it's a big boy.

(both laugh) And it's a beautiful stone.

What's interesting about a sapphire is usually, they are not emerald-cut.

It's very hard to get a brilliant emerald-cut.

This is a classic American Art Deco mounting.

It looks like... the Chrysler Building.

So it's pure period American Art Deco from the mid-1930s.

So the mounting, as you know, is all platinum.

It's marked platinum, but the shoulders are all engraved platinum.

There's no other diamond in it.

This stone can stand by itself.

Now, of course, values change by country of origin.

Without a country of origin certificate... Mmm.

...I cannot tell you really what country it came from.

But I'm going to-- let's just say it's Ceylon.

Okay.

Uh, if it's a Ceylon, it's worth at least $10,000 a carat.

If it's a Burma, it's worth $20,000 a carat.

Now, if you hit the jackpot and it's a Kashmir, you're looking at $50,000 a carat.

So this ring, the lowest value at auction is $150,000 to $250,000.

(laughing): Oh, my gosh.

If it's a Burma, you're at $300,000.

If it's a Kashmir, you're at $750,000.

(laughs) So are you wearing it?

(laughing): I mean... uh...

I guess I would have to have a very special occasion to put that on.

Yeah.

But, uh, wow.

Yeah.

And once we can determine the country of origin, then you would, could have it insured.

Yeah.

And then worn, or not.

Gotcha.

(laughs) Well, I think you're a lucky gal.

Wow.

This is a fabulous ring, a fabulous stone.

PEA: And now it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

Well, we-we're hoping since we're about to send him to college, that we might get a little help here.

But, uh, you're going to have to take out some loans.

Yep.

A lot of loans.

(chuckles) Yeah.

I thought it was Ming dynasty, worth a million, but... it's Qin.

It's still 100 years old.

Yeah, it's old, but not valuable.

My family was fighting over this doll 'cause my grandmother called it "the million dollar doll."

(laughs) They probably thought it was worth a million, it's $50.

(laughs) Well, I learned that my pot that I thought was fake is real.

And it's worth $300 to $500.

It's 800 to 1000 A.D.

So it's real, just like the real good time I had here at "Antiques Roadshow."

(both laugh) It's, uh, kind of an heirloom that's been passed around through my family.

And we found out it's pretty much worth nothing.

But it's rich in personality.

(chuckling) So I always pictured her as a fortune teller when I saw her on my grandmother's wall.

So I was hoping she'd be a fortune.

Not quite, but worth more than I thought.

I brought this really, really old book, and they told me, "Yeah, it's really, really old, and it's worth nothing."

(both laugh) My name's Sarah.

This is... Julian.

...and we're here from Louisville, Kentucky.

We brought our folk art duck that we found out was not worth much more than what we paid for.

But we had a great time at the "Roadshow."

Thanks!

PEA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."