Antiques Roadshow

CORAL PEA: "Antiques Roadshow" is back in Iowa, the Hawkeye State, at Living History Farms.

You know corn.

Yes.

Like I know posters.

(chuckles) You-you know corn.

Right.

Holy cow!

I think I lost my ability of speech right now.

PEA: At Living History Farms, visitors step back in time to Iowa's agrarian past.

Two of the farm sites here represent agricultural life within a span of 50 years.

The rustic 1850 Pioneer Farm, and the 1900 Farm Site, an example of farm life several decades after the railroad came to Iowa, which directly impacted economic growth and development in the region.

How will new insights about their treasures impact our guests?

Take a look.

Thinking it was probably French or... or I-I have no idea.

No idea.

She's good, you know she's good, right?

She's good, she's good, she's good.

I hear you..

So it is French.

Oh, it is!

Okay!

Okay, great, great.

GUEST: These skates belonged to Elizabeth DuBois.

She was a very accomplished speed skater, recognized, uh, nationally.

In 1927, she won the Silver Skates competition.

And she then went to the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in 1932.

Mm-hmm.

Speed skating was a demonstration sport then, and she won the, uh, Olympics in the 1,000 meters.

Okay, yeah, so she competed in three different events in the 1932 Winter Olympics.

Yes.

And so because it was a demonstration sport, she doesn't get a medal.

Doesn't get a medal.

Uh, she gets a lot of publicity, but no medal.

A lot of publicity, and then she has these from 1927.

They're so historical, being that she was part of that first generation of women skaters.

Right.

This represents one of probably very few awards she was actually given.

I'd say at auction, these would sell for $3,000 to $4,000.

(chuckling): Is that right?

Mm-hmm.

That'd be great, wow, I appreciate that.

Huh, I had no idea.

GUEST: This is a left-handed corn shucker.

That the men would come to the field and they would come right to the ear on the stock, and they'd rip open that husk so they could grab it with the ear, snap it off and throw it in the wagon.

In order to do that, they had to plant that seed a long time ago.

And this was, uh, unique when you didn't even have to bend over.

Put the planter in the ground, and you push it and plant the corn.

GUEST: It belonged to my grandmother, my father's mother, and she was a violin teacher in the Chicago area for many years.

I think that my grandmother got it from her first husband who immigrated from Czechoslovakia in the '30s.

But other than that, I have no idea.

And have you played it?

Yes, I am a violinist as well.

And, uh, because I came to it in my 30s, I didn't play it as much as I was not in any symphonies at the time.

But it is a beautiful sounding instrument.

You can tell it's very, very old.

Well what struck me when I saw it is the beautiful choice of wood.

So if you look at the back, it's a maple back, but it has a beautiful figure in it.

Almost what we call a bird's eye maple.

And you can see that maple also on the ribs.

And then, of course, the belly is spruce.

And it's what all violin makers want to find for their violins, really straight grained spruce.

So it's made by a maker who knew his materials.

It's in beautiful condition.

There's no visible cracks, the string heights look correct.

It's lovely.

So you've probably seen the label.

Yes.

It says "F.R.

Herclik," and then the next word is in Czech, and it means violin maker, "houslar."

Okay.

And then it says the city that he worked in, "Mlad Boleslav."

That's a mouthful.

(laughs) I don't speak Czech, so you're gonna have to pardon me.

And then it says 1925.

And then it says, "Copy of a David Techler.

Rome, 1690."

Frantisek Herclik was an interesting maker.

He was the first maker in his family.

And then his two sons also became violin makers.

And so he was the beginning of a dynasty.

Wow.

And they're in the books, they're important makers.

He was born in 1866, died in 1948.

This violin was made in 1925.

In the world of violin makers, he was in his prime.

Sure, yeah.

And so he copied the work of David Techler.

Oh.

There were a number of German makers from the area of Fssen in Germany who came to Rome in the late 1600s, and Techler was among the best.

Interesting.

Okay.

So how did Frantisek Herclik come to copy a David Techler violin?

Right.

He must have seen one.

There must have been one in his community, because it's a really rare violin that he copied, and a very successful violin.

Techlers these days are, like, $500,000 to $750,000.

(chuckles) You know, they're-- it's an important violin.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

So your violin is not of that category.

Right.

Even though it was copied after that work.

Sure.

In today's marketplace, in a retail setting, your violin would be in the $10,000 to $12,000 price range.

Whoo!

Phew.

That's a lot!

For something, uh... yeah.

Wow, that's amazing.

Are you surprised a little bit?

Um, yes, I am surprised.

We took bets on how much I thought it would be, and I guessed $2,000 to $3,000.

Oh!

(laughs) Almost five times that.

That's amazing.

I brought in the family land deed.

Apparently, a great-great grandfather of mine purchased the land.

We do not currently have the land.

We've hung onto it because it is signed by Abraham Lincoln.

Today, I want to find out if it's actually his signature, kind of the history behind it.

GUEST: These are figurines that came out of a high end drugstore in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

They were drugstores built in 1880s.

And the last owner, he pulled everything out of that drugstore, and then there was a rummage sale.

And these are one things they didn't want to sell.

But I talked him into selling them.

I paid $175.

And then when I talked to one of the family members, he said, "You bought those?"

He said, "I offered $200 for them, and he wouldn't sell 'em to me."

(laughs) You got... you got to know how to talk to your family.

(chuckles) GUEST: Well, I'm a long-term journalist, and I've been in newspaper work for about 40 years.

And for ten years, I was executive editor in Dixon, Illinois, Ronald Reagan's hometown.

When he went out of office, we did a 66-page special section.

This was the original artwork.

We sent him two copies of it.

And he sent me this incredible letter just saying how much he enjoyed it, how much he meant-- it meant to him.

And he said, "I've cut a clipping or two in my day, but this might be the best I've ever seen."

It's February 17, 1989, so it's just a couple of weeks that he's out of office.

And he must have been incredibly busy.

Even though he wasn't still president, I'm sure there were tremendous demands on his time.

And the signature is very important.

Ronald Reagan, when he would send something to his hometown in Dixon, he liked to put the name Dutch there, too, because that was his nickname.

When his father saw him for the first time and held him, he said, "What a fat little Dutchman we have here!"

And the word "Dutch" just stuck all these years.

So right away, I knew that he personally wrote it.

He had been an announcer on W.H.O.

Radio in Des Moines in his early career.

So I wrote the President and I said, I know that you covered W.H.O.

Radio Iowa football games.

I'm just curious if you ever met Nile Kinnick, Iowa's only Heisman Trophy winner, who lost his life in World War II, very heroic, uh, story.

And he wrote me nine handwritten lines.

"P.S.

I've just realized "I didn't respond to your lines about Nile Kinnick.

"I, too, am an admirer of him.

"He came along at Iowa after I'd gone to California, "and was no longer broadcasting Iowa games.

"My brother had begun doing the games, "and he made me aware of Nile "with stories of his great accomplishments.

"I won't write them to you here, "as I know you probably know all of them.

"The fact that the University of Iowa renamed the stadium after him says it all."

That he would take the time to write nine handwritten lines, I mean, it just touched me immensely.

I love this letter partly because it connects together Ronald Reagan, his hometown, Dixon, Iowa, the presidency, politics and then sports.

Nile Kinnick and his appreciation of the press.

It's a fabulous, wonderful letter.

He thanks you in every single paragraph in this.

"Yes, everyone has a place to come back to.

And for me that place is Dixon.

God bless you all."

What a wonderful way to end the letter and to someone who was editing the paper in Dixon at the time.

He was the kind of person who just really cared about his roots and cared about people.

A retail value on this, I think, at least $6,000 to $8,000.

Wow, that's-that's wonderful to know.

You've probably just made it, uh, the fight between my children a lot higher level now.

(chuckles) Not really, they love each other.

GUEST: So this is a Gorham sterling silver water pitcher.

It is dated 1893 on the bottom, November 8, I believe.

I got this at a thrift store up the road, on a day that I just went to garage sales and didn't have any luck.

So I went up to the thrift store and that was in the housewares section.

And so how much did you pay for it?

I paid seven bucks for it.

So you are right, it's made by Gorham Silver Company.

Okay.

Gorham was founded in 1831 in Providence, Rhode island, and they are still in business today.

What's really pretty about this is the form.

It's got this wonderful swollen base, and then al-also this wonderful scrolling floral repouss decoration.

We have some marks on the bottom, we're gonna take a look at.

In the center we have "November 8, 1893."

And I don't believe there's any major historical significance.

It's likely the date of a wedding, or some type of celebration.

Then we have the mark of Gorham beneath, and right below that is "C.S.

Raymond," which is likely a local retailer who would have purchased it from Gorham to then sell it.

It's marked "sterling."

And then we have the model number, which is 1226.

But then over here, which is sort of interesting, this tiny mark is actually the Gorham date letter, and it dates to 1891.

Hm...

Which is kind of interesting.

So it would have been made in 1891, acquired by a local retailer, and then inscribed for this special date in 1893.

It's a lovely example.

If I were to see this in a retail environment in today's market, I'd expect to see a price of around about $1,250.

It's really good.

It's a good purchase.

(chuckles) PEA: One lasting symbol of westward expansion across the country is the iconic covered wagon.

SEDREL: The wagon behind me is a replica of a prairie schooner.

It was built in 1976 for the bicentennial celebration of the United States.

All 50 states sent wagons in a procession to Philadelphia for the occasion.

This wagon represented Iowa and then was donated to us here at Living History Farms.

I got it from my grandmother's, um, closet when she died.

Mm-hmm.

It would have been 50 years ago this year.

Never had seen it before.

I just think it's really pretty.

Mm-hmm.

Right now, I have it hanging above my bed because I like it.

(chuckling): And it can't be stuck in a closet for another 50 years, so... That's fantastic.

That-that brings joy to my heart to hear you say... (chuckles) ...it can't be stuck in a closet, because it's absolutely something that should be out and be seen.

Believe it or not, it's from the Greek islands.

Whoa, I would not have thought that.

Uh, late 18th, early 19th century.

But in spirit and feeling, it feels very Ottoman Turkish.

But the connection between the Greek islands and Ottoman... the Ottoman Empire in Turkey is that the Ottoman Empire controlled Greece and the Greek islands, um, up until Greek independence, about 1821.

But it's just exquisitely done.

This is all silk embroidery... Oh, okay.

...with some metal thread.

The-the silvery bronze looking threads here are actually metal thread.

Okay.

Uh, and it's all done on a linen ground and just exquisitely done and really in pristine condition.

It just seems such fine embroidery.

Mm-hmm.

You know, I really, when I've looked at it, it's like...

...I can't even imagine, I've-I've tried embroidery.

(chuckles) I can't even imagine!

Right.

This is coming from a culture, both the Ottoman culture and then the Greek island culture, as a, as a result was very, very textile driven.

This is something that young girls were learned to do as part of their education; it's similar to American samplers in that they start doing this.

This piece, because it's so exquisitely done, it's so well-balanced.

It's really complete composition.

I would guess that it was done in a professional workshop as opposed to a domestic embroidery.

Oh.

And it's not a bedspread.

Okay, it's a tablecloth.

Oh, not a tablecloth.

Okay?

It was really made, when you have textile-rich cultures like this, they make textiles for the sake of textiles.

Oh.

It shows their wealth.

It was probably made and purchased for a girl's dowry.

It would have maybe served some function in, say, as a covering for a ceremonial dinner or something like that.

But it was really, it exists just because it's a beautiful object and they wanted to make and create and own beautiful objects.

It's definitely that.

(chuckles) Yeah.

Any sense of value?

I mean, obviously, you didn't pay-- No, I mean, obviously, they let me have it when I was 16.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, 16?

(chuckling): So, yeah.

So you were attracted to this when you were 16?

16, yeah.

That's... That's phenomenal.

I think in today's market, a retail value for this piece is in the $7,000 to $8,000 range, um... Wow.

(chuckles) Wow.

And an auction value, conservative auction value, would be in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.

Wow.

I, I never expected that, that's for sure.

Mm.

I mean, I wanted to take good care of it.

Mm-hmm.

And... and, um, and... and I want it to be out, but I didn't expect that it would be that much, so.

Yeah.

Well, thank you, that's... Yeah.

Uh, yeah, Ottoman, wow.

Greek.

Yeah.

GUEST: I actually found it at an estate sale, uh, for $300.

Didn't know much about it.

It's just a really cool clock, so I figured I'd take a chance on it.

This actually is a, uh, a clock that has a French movement; Very good quality.

And it's made in the Chinese style.

Okay.

Uh, what's really unusual from my perspective is that it's not a metal case, it's actually made out of wood.

And if we turn this figure upside down here, you'll notice you can see the hand chisel lines where they actually did the carving.

Now, the movement helps us date the clock, uh, somewhere in the 1830s, 1850 range.

Your investment of rolling the dice, I think, marketed correctly, you probably could certainly be in the $2,000 to $3,000 price range.

Really?

Wow, awesome, thank you so much.

GUEST: I bought it at an auction.

It was something I spied right away, and I waited until the very end of the auction when they said, "Bring up whatever you want."

And I brought it up and bought it for five dollars.

So you know who made this chair?

Warren McArthur Company.

Mm-hmm.

Warren McArthur is one of my personal favorites.

I love Warren McArthur.

Matter of fact, when I saw you pull up with this in the back of your wagon, I was just ecstatic.

I don't believe we've ever had a piece of Warren McArthur on the "Antiques Roadshow" ever.

Wow!

You are the very first.

Wow.

McArthur really takes on this minimalist form, which I think this piece really, really demonstrates.

One of the few excesses he ever did were-were, were these pieces.

And again, that's why when you brought this up in the back of your wagon, I thought, Warren McArthur.

I can't believe it.

This piece has a label that clearly shows "Warren McArthur".

He and his brother did a lot of design work.

His brother designed the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

Warren makes tables, chairs, sofas, settees, love seats, all that type of stuff.

He makes them for the Biltmore.

And it's almost all made out of aluminum, so it's very light to pick up.

Mm-hmm.

Probably, this was part of a set.

It was probably a dining room set.

There might have been six of them or eight of them.

His furniture was one of the very first things to become really actively collected in the modern period.

Oh.

So Eames and Nelson... Mm-hmm.

...and Knoll furniture sometimes, but Warren McArthur was right there with them.

It's not easily found either.

I love mid-century modern.

Mm-hmm.

And I love Deco.

Yeah.

So it just kind of grabbed me.

Well, it's sort of a, an odd amalgamation of the two, right?

Yeah.

This was probably made in 1930s, it's a cool piece.

The modern market is very forgiving about replacing parts.

For instance, this being reupholstered.

It doesn't make any difference at all as far as the price is concerned.

At auction, this chair probably bring between $1,200 and $1,800.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, so you did okay.

Yeah, yeah.

You did really well.

There you go.

It's great.

GUEST: My dad was at the game back in '67.

His high school friend, Norm, invited him to the game in Green Bay.

They were at the first seat up from the ten yard line.

Norm took three of his daughters and they, uh, it was so cold, they spent most of the time in the bathroom.

(laughs) That's funny.

So like you said, you have a ticket here from the 1967 Ice Bowl.

One of the reasons why this is so significant is it's the beginning of the Super Bowl era.

The Packers had already won the first Super Bowl that same year, '67.

And this game was going to determine who went to the Super Bowl II, which was going to take place in January of the following year.

So after the Packers defeated the Cowboys, 21-17, they went on to play the Oakland Raiders in the, in Super Bowl II, which they also won.

What made this game so special is, like you said, how cold it was.

To date, it is still the coldest game ever played in NFL history.

With a windchill, it could be as low as -48 degrees.

In addition to that, the on-field turf system was malfunctioning.

Yeah.

It was frozen.

Yeah.

So-- it was frozen.

The ground was frozen.

So that actually made the conditions much worse.

In addition to that, the referees on the field couldn't even blow their whistles.

Yeah.

(chuckles) It was so cold, the head referee, Norm Schachter, tried to blow his whistle and his lips stuck to the lip of the actual whistle.

Stuck to the lip.

(chuckles) It was such a disaster.

There were frostbite injuries in the stands.

Mm.

People had to be evacuated.

Mm.

A lot of the Packers players couldn't even start their cars (chuckling): when they had to go.

Yeah, it was cold.

Yeah.

The ticket was not torn.

In a lot of the entry points of the game, since at a certain point it got so cold, they actually stopped tearing ticket stubs.

Yeah.

They did?

Yeah.

Oh, I didn't know that.

There are some minor creases on the top left and bottom here, as well as on the bottom corner.

However, that might not matter in terms of the value.

In total, there have only been about 48 graded examples of these.

48?

Really?

Yes.

In PSA's registry.

Oh, wow.

Of which only three have been autographed.

Really?

Yes.

Ooh, that's why.

And I mention that because when we turn it over, we do have a signature on the back.

Right.

My brother got the autograph at a home and garden show in Escanaba, Michigan about 20 years ago.

Carroll Dale was one of the two primary ends for the Green Bay Packers.

He was a good player.

He had three receptions.

Yeah.

So he played a pivotal role in this game in allowing the Packers to win 21-17.

So as far as a value, I mentioned previously, there's only 48 graded examples of this, of which three have been autographed.

Mm-hmm.

Do you have any idea where that might land?

I'd say it's probably worth at least $12.

That's what the ticket cost.

(chuckling): The price of entry, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, at auction, a ticket like this routinely sells in the $4,000 to $5,000 range.

Oh, really?

Yes.

With the signature, I could theoretically see a bump, maybe even $5,500 range.

Oh, that sounds good, yeah.

Yeah.

For a piece of paper, we didn't know anything about.

For a piece of paper.

Yeah!

PEA: This quilt may be proof that creativity was a trait passed down in the family of Grant Wood, an American artist best known for his painting "American Gothic," and a native Iowan.

The colorful sunburst pattern quilt was made by Lydia Wood, Grant's aunt, around 1860.

GUEST: It's been handed down through my husband's side of the family since the 1800s.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

When a relative went over to China for three months to do shopping for antiques, with the purpose to come back and open an antique shop.

Mm-hmm.

And this piece, I don't know if it just never made it to the antique shop, or they liked it so much, they just always kept it on the fireplace mantle.

Now, antique dealers have a history or a habit of keeping one of two objects.

Oh.

Ob-objects that are either very good, the best they've bought, or their mistake.

Oh!

What-what they thought was real, which is actually incorrect.

You're making me nervous.

I'm sorry.

Do you know the material it's made from?

I guessed it was brass.

It's bronze.

Oh.

And it's a gilded bronze figure.

And then there's some polychrome.

They're colored highlights.

Do you happen to know who the figure is-is modeled after?

Not at all.

Mm.

Well, they've always called it in our family, the ancestor.

That's often what these are referred to.

They're either immortal figures, ancestral figures.

Mm.

This may represent a figure known as the Jade Emperor.

And the Jade Emperor is a Daoist figure that rules the celestial realm, or heaven realm.

This is from the Daoist religion or spiritual philosophy.

It's an earth-based philosophy on moral conduct and ethics.

It's in harmony with the natural world.

And these figures really reached an apex of production or appreciation or devotion, during the late Ming Period.

So about 1615, 1620.

Wow.

These seated immortal devotional figures on the bracket base.

This is a very typical form, really nice example.

It's robust, the proportions are good.

The work on the robe is really good work.

These celestial clouds are really beautifully incised.

And this beaded edge, one thing you'll notice with Chinese bronzes, the beaded edges, the higher the beading, the crisper the beading, the more work done to the beading, the better the object is.

The gilding, the remnants of the gilding.

It's softened with age and is worn in the right spots.

There's a little firing crack here.

That's not a big deal, but it is an imperfection.

It's a weakness in the original firing.

And then as you notice, there's a plug implant here in the shoulder.

During the firing process, this split, not a big deal, common.

They cut a plug, put a plug in, fortified the instability, and then it's been fine for 350 years.

400 years.

That's amazing.

Now I'm just going to tip it so we can have a look at the interior, which is the telltale sign of it being old.

This is a really lovely patina for a casting.

This polychrome counter is often in the recesses of Ming bronzes.

It's a heavy, well-cast figure.

These are faked, these are reproduced.

This is not a fake, this is not a reproduction.

Great provenance, it's 100 years old.

The reproductions have really only started in the last 30, 40 years and they're prolific now.

Okay.

Clearly your antique dealer relative kept this because it's one of the better objects he owned.

Mm.

In a retail setting, it would demand a value of $20,000.

(chuckling): I brought it in a roller cooler today with snacks on top of it.

(laughs) Oh, my goodness... Go ahead and keep talking, Robert, because I think I lost my ability of speech right now.

I had no idea.

None.

That's amazing.

(chuckles) Wow!

That's, how-- I cannot believe it.

It's a great object.

Oh, thank you so much.

GUEST: This was originally, um, a part of a law firm and now I own that law firm.

The painting came included with it.

Do you want to tell us who this is?

Who-who did this?

I believe it's Burt Procter?

Burt Procter, that's correct.

And he was another of these artists who originally lived in the East Coast, but was totally smitten with the idea of the West and cowboys and horse riding.

He was a very avid horse rider himself.

When he was about eight years old, his-his family moved to Illinois.

He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Oh.

He went to L.A. and was a mining engineer.

And then he came back to New York and he studied illustration with people like Harvey Dunn.

So he's known as an illustrator, too.

But his real passion, as I say, was the West and eventually moved out there to California.

And he did, this is very typical painting by him.

Procter's not known necessarily for dating his paintings, but I would think this one is probably painted circa 1960 or so.

And, of course, it's-it's oil paint on canvas.

I wanted to check with my colleagues-- this is the great thing about the Roadshow, you can go to other specialists, they're right here.

Uh, so I went to see them and ask about this to find out whether it was a specific tribe.

And they tell me that this is most likely a scene done in Mexico.

Okay.

Given by the lady in question, the colors, the-the fan.

At auction, I've seen ones similar, selling for $6,000 to $10,000.

Oh, wow.

And I think if you're insuring it, you probably shouldn't insure it for anything less than about $15,000.

Oh, wow, that's pretty good.

My wife picked this up in an estate sale, and I think she got this one just for a couple of dollars.

It's not marked, we're coming to the "Antiques Roadshow" to see what it is.

GUEST: This is a folk art piece.

My great-grandmother made it.

She was born in 1896.

She was a home economics contributor for the University of Nebraska.

She also did some, like, oil paintings that we have, uh, kind of scattered throughout the family.

But this is the only piece of art like this, (chuckling): with the, with the, with the yarn.

GUEST: My parents owned variety stores, and these are store display cases that helped promote the Hot Wheels in the early years when they first came out.

So these were actually in your parents' store on display?

Yeah, in fact, if you look right here in the corner, there's the sticker.

And this whole set was on sale for $14.95, never sold.

Wow!

That's wild.

They even put their store display for sale in this because these weren't intended to be sold.

That's correct.

I'm old enough now that I started with Matchboxes, and then when Hot Wheels came out, they sort of trumped Matchboxes pretty quickly.

Contrary to what Hot Wheels had done here, Matchbox was very plain Jane.

They were making cars standard to what you would see on the road.

They were just production vehicles.

They were being modeled; miniature scales of cars you would see every day.

Yeah.

But boom-- 1968, Mattel comes up with Hot Wheels.

Elliot Handler, husband of Ruth Handler, very famously known for Barbie, for girls' toys.

Oh, okay.

And for boys, you had Hot Wheels, introduced by Ruth's husband, Elliot, in 1968.

The whole Hot Wheels craze was based on Southern California car culture.

Cars, yup.

Hot rods, cool pinstriping, metallic colors.

Fast.

Yes, fast!

Mattel saw this going on, and they said, "We have to capitalize on this," because what little boy is not going to want to play with a bunch of awesome hot rods?

Exactly.

And outside of the toys themselves being very collectible, store displays like you brought here, are extremely difficult to find.

Miraculously, every display here is intact, with all the cars as they would have been received from Mattel.

So the three cases you have here, '68, 1969 and 1970.

The 1970 and 1969 displays, they are relatively more common to the '68, but it's still very hard to find.

For 1970, this was the one display you would have received.

In 1969, that is one of three displays that would have potentially been sent to stores.

Yeah.

That one you have there is the Daytona-themed race set display.

There was also, like, this European Grand P-Prix kind of, like, Monaco-themed display.

Yup.

And then the third was, like, a valley and tunnels display.

And going back to that color element of Hot Wheels and the design, it's so important to collectors today, because it's not like they just made one of every car.

There is a whole list of so many different color variations... Variations.

...that have been introduced.

Some a lot rarer than others, some very hard to find.

Some exclusive to displays, which when we dissect your '68 "Sweet Sixteen" display, you have two of the best cars... Oh!

...that you could possibly have.

The first one is the Fastback Mustang in watermelon pink.

We go two cars over and you have the '68 Camaro... Camaro.

...in chocolate brown with a white interior.

Yeah.

Now, these two cars are exceedingly rare just to have the little car, let alone sealed in the display.

Oh.

Condition wise, unfortunately, this plastic window in the front here has seen some better days.

Looks like it took a hard hit, maybe falling off the shelf, if you remember.

Or maybe being played with or moved around, yeah.

Yeah.

But I love it, because look at the dust.

To me, it's kind of like a miniature barn find, right?

Sure.

You gotta go find a '68 Camaro in a barn covered with dust, untouched survivor.

I'm looking at this as a survivor of Hot Wheels store displays.

I like that.

To give a breakdown of values of what we have, the 1970 and the 1969 display, easily $5,000 to $10,000 each.

(chuckles) I didn't expect that.

Now, let's go to the '68.

Condition, yes-- bad, right?

Busted in the front, it does hurt it.

But you do have that watermelon pink Mustang, and you have the chocolate brown Camaro in there.

Even in this shape as it sits, '68 display is easily going to be $20,000 to $30,000 at auction.

Wow... not bad for a 50-cent car, huh?

(chuckling): That's a lot of money for some diecast cars!

That's incredible.

My-my parents took the long view by keeping these around.

I have a poster of corn cross.

When you take one hybrid and cross it with another hybrid, this is what you get.

And-and professionally, what do you do?

I'm a farmer, raise corn and soybeans.

You know corn; like I know posters, Yes.

You-you know corn.

(chuckles) Right.

So where did this come from?

My wife bought it in an antique shop in 1990.

Do you have any idea how much she paid?

She paid around $50 for it.

Published by the New York Scientific Supply Company in 1941.

This probably would have been used in agriculture schools.

Yes.

At auction, I wouldn't be surprised to see it selling for between $500 and $750.

Perfect.

Thank you.

I like that.

GUEST: My late husband purchased several items of silver jewelry for me over the years.

Okay.

And this particular one, he got for our wedding anniversary.

In fact, that's the only time I ever wore the earrings, because they're screw-ons and I was always afraid I'd lose one.

This one in particular is from Taxco, Mexico, and it's a Margot.

If that means anything, it is in the stamp inside.

It is-- Margot de Taxco's full name was Margot Van Voorhies Carr.

Margot de Taxco was from San Francisco.

She had sadly had quite a bit of misfortune by the time she was 41.

And decided to take a vacation to Mexico, where she met Don Antonio Castillo, who brought her to Taxco, Mexico.

Don Antonio Castillo was working with William Spratling at the time.

This particular bracelet is by William Spratling.

William Spratling moves to Taxco, Mexico in 1931, and he really made Taxco sort of a hotbed for bon vivants and artists alike.

William Spratling worked largely in the pre-Columbian style and became, as an American, really the father of Mexican silver.

The marking on the inside is his first iteration of maker's mark between the years of 1933 and 1941.

This is one of his most iconic works, called the River of Life bracelet.

Margot de Taxco, of course, was tangentially working in the same sort of brain space as William Spratling in Taxco.

She did go on to divorce Castillo after ten years of working together.

And she set up her own firm, and really was a woman before her time.

What I loved when I saw these two pieces together, is that in my mind, it's really sort of the mother and the father of Mexican silver in the 1930s in Taxco, Mexico.

They're beautiful pieces and I-- and-and very collectible.

And in an auction situation, the group is somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 to $5,000.

All right, that's good to know.

Yeah.

(both chuckle) That's more than I thought it might be.

GUEST: When I was little, my great-uncle had a showroom out of his home... Uh-huh.

...that he sold silver and glassware out of.

Oh, okay.

And every year, we were able to pick a piece that we liked.

And so for seven years, I picked one of each of these in the set.

I think you had a very good eye for such a young lad.

Oh.

They are quite beautiful, and they are sterling silver.

Now, they all look very, very similar, and this is because they were made around the same time.

They range in date from 1800 to about 1819.

Wow.

So it's the late Georgian period into the Regency period.

Right.

And the way we know that-that they are from this very specific time frame is through the marks and through the stylistic decoration on them.

They're all hallmark London.

Now, this looks like a set, but it's not an exact set.

It's a collection; they all follow a similar pattern.

You've got a goblet on a circular foot, and they all have this leaf tip and acanthus decoration on them.

And the acanthus leaf is an ancient motif that you'd find in ancient Roman ruins, for example.

It's a feature of the Corinthian capital, and it was revived in the Renaissance period and in the Georgian period as well.

So it's a, it harks back to antiquity.

The one here in front of me has very nice marks on it.

The quality of the strike is a good indication of the desirability of the piece because people sometimes collect silver just for the quality of the hallmarks.

A good strike is a better thing to have on a piece of silver.

I think the pair in the middle is, to me, probably the most finely executed.

Oh.

At auction, individually, they would probably be worth somewhere in the range of $500 to $800 each.

Okay.

As a group, though, even though they're not an exact set, they do form an instant collection.

So I think as a group, they're worth more than the sum of their parts.

So the whole collection at auction would probably be worth $8,000 or $9,000.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's... (chuckles) ...that's surprising, I... okay.

And for insurance, you should ask a bit more.

Okay, yeah.

You know.

Yeah, uh, maybe, I would say probably $12,000, probably for insurance.

Wow.

Yeah.

And they've just been sitting in a plastic box for a long time.

Well, it might be nice to take them out once in a while and use them.

Sure.

PEA: The Advocate Print Shop contains several antique printing presses, including one called a challenge proof press.

Developed in the 1860s, the machine was designed to make one copy at a time for purposes of proofreading the typesetting.

The price of the press in 1876 was around $50 to $75.

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."

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... Wow.

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

My colleagues and I had a blast looking at this.

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

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

Wow, that's wonderful.

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

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

GUEST: I brought today a pendant watch that my father gave my mother after they were divorced.

It's kind of an apology item because they had had a rough several years, like probably 40-plus years, where they couldn't find any area to communicate on.

And they started communicating later in life, probably in their late 60s, early 70s.

And they started calling each other and visiting, and they'd go out to coffee, things like that.

They went on trips together.

And my mom turned to me during that time and she said, "Your dad's my best friend."

Well, he gave it to her kind of as a way to say he was sorry for things that had happened over the years.

When I look at this, I think it's all about forgiveness.

And my mom gave it to me because she knew I loved it.

When my dad passed away, I think that at that point my mom got it insured and she did have somebody look at it.

And I want to say that it was worth $600, is what they said.

But personally, I doubt that at this point, I don't think it's worth that much.

How many years ago was that?

Oh, probably, at least ten.

We've got a ladies pendant watch that's worn around the neck.

You've got a nice 18-inch chain.

The chain is all platinum and it's set with diamonds.

The watch is platinum.

The watch is set with diamonds.

We have a little sapphire crown there.

We have a little sapphire crown on the other side.

It's a very high-grade movement.

In the watch business, we call high-grade referring to watch movements that are made by the best companies.

Okay.

This one is Blancpain.

Blancpain is a Swiss watchmaking company... Mm-hmm.

...founded in 1735.

Blancpain is the oldest watch maker in recorded history.

This dates from 1920 to 1925, it really is true Art Deco.

I'm going to flip it over and on the other side, incredible, screams Art Deco.

Mm-hmm.

This is all enameling.

That's all done by hand.

You have a wonderful figure in there, surrounded by platinum work and little diamonds.

Retail on this, it would bring about $5,000 to $6,000.

(laughs) Holy smokes.

(laughs) That's a lot more than I thought.

It's a little treasure.

It was sitting in a box and now I'm going to wear it.

I love it.

It belonged to my great-grandfather, I think.

I know my-my grandma always had it at her house.

What was always interesting to us is it only has four strings, so I don't know the significance of that.

But we're-we're here to find out some information about it.

GUEST: I had the good fortune to live in Texas when Nolan Ryan was pitching for the Rangers.

And even more fortunate to be there when he threw his 5,000th strikeout, uh, against the Athletics.

The stadium put out the certificate.

And then for my 40th birthday, I got to be in the Texas Rangers baseball fantasy camp, and Mr. Ryan was there.

So I had my picture with him, and was kind enough then to autograph the ticket stub from the 5,000 strikeout game.

GUEST: I found it in an antique shop right here in West Des Moines.

The lady had just unwrapped it.

I thought, "Wow."

And then I purchased it at that time.

That's been about 25 years ago, maybe 30.

And what'd you pay for it?

I think around $100, $125, something like, something like that.

I went over to the State of Iowa Historical Library.

I looked up the "Ottumwa Courier," and I found the date, that date of it, and the headlines of the paper: "State Democratic Convention..." ...Was held that day.

Yeah.

It's clearly an oversized piece of what might be called utilitarian pottery.

And then what might have been an ordinary piece of what we call spongeware, gets turned into a piece of folk art.

A piece of political collectible, because of what it says.

And right on the top, "Ottumwa."

And we have a date, "July 27, 1910."

And it says, "welcome" with a wonderful horseshoe.

Now, when we turn it around, that's the reveal.

(chuckles) There's a donkey.

There's the donkey.

The Democratic seal.

So we now know that this was a commemorative piece made for the Democratic State Convention in 1910.

State Convention, right.

The way that this would have been made, would have been a piece of earthenware, and they would have spattered the decoration, the blue on there.

But the stencil would have been put on to protect all the white sections from getting decorated.

And we have this wonderful ground for the donkey to stand on.

And that was applied with a brush.

And then again... ...on the horseshoe, to give the horseshoe some more detail.

And I always get very nervous when a piece like this has a handle, and the natural inclination is to pick it up by the handle, but if you take a look right here, and then right in here, are hairline cracks.

And you never want to pick a heavy piece of stoneware up by the handle.

Right.

If there was no decoration on here, and this was just a utilitarian pitcher, probably $200, $250.

But with the history and the decoration, and it's beautifully done, beautifully crafted, I would say, no problem, $3,000 to $4,000 retail.

(chuckles) Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that's good.

My wife, she's-she's in the Democratic Party.

I'm a Republican, so... (laughs) Okay!

So where does it sit in the house?

It-it sits in the living room.

(chuckles) Okay.

And she says, "You're not selling that!"

(laughs) This is, as I understand, an incense burner.

The cap comes on, put it in there, and light it up.

This was my grandmother's.

So, uh, it's got to be probably between 100 and 150 years old, so.

It was presented to my family probably in the '60s as a gift.

My family was one of four contractors involved in the erection of-of the Coulee Dam.

These are remnants, this is the cording that was used from the base of the Coulee Dam.

And these are some pieces that were used from the actual equipment.

And the Coulee Dam was finished in 1942.

GUEST: I, uh, seen it sitting on the floor at a garage sale.

They had $25 on it, so.

Of course, I want to talk them down.

I hollered at them and then I asked them if they'd take $20 bucks for it, and they said yes.

Well, that's quite a buy.

So the artist is Robert Riggs.

It's initialed with an R. He is known for his depictions of prize fighting and circus scenes.

He was born in 1896 in Decatur, Illinois, and as a child, he ran away from home and joined the circus.

So that kind of tells you a little something about his upbringing and his affinities.

This painting was a-an illustration for the "Saturday Evening Post."

The title is "The Fall Guy," and that's on a label on the back.

And it illustrated a story by W.C. Heinz, "The Fixed Fight."

This was a fictional story, and it was a snippet from Heinz's novel titled "The Professional."

He received some formal art training.

He went to the Art Students League, and then had to go and join the army in World War I.

He stayed in Europe for a little while, and went to the Acadmie Julian.

And then after a few years, returned to Philadelphia, where he stayed on as an advertising illustrator.

He was a very successful artist... Mm-hm.

...as an illustrator.

The medium is tempera on panel, but this this particular scene is like an explosion.

Yeah.

I mean, you look at this and everything is flying.

You've got hats and newspapers and cigarettes and cups, and you've got the hot dog, the police officers, and the chairs about to smash on someone's head.

It's something else, wow.

I mean, all of these elements are fantastic, full of energy, and that's what Riggs was known for.

So the highest price at auction paid for a Robert Riggs painting, one of Joe Louis, the "Brown Bomber..." Yeah.

...is $277,000.

Wow.

So this is a fictional character.

Mm-hmm.

So unfortunately, it doesn't have Joe Louis...

Right.

...or someone notable as its subject matter.

Mm-hmm.

But at auction, I feel easily, this could bring between $70,000 and $90,000.

Holy cow!

Yeah.

(chuckling): Wow!

(chuckling): I never dreamed of that!

Yeah, I know.

Wow.

So... That's amazing.

I know, I know, it-it really is something.

You got such, you made such a find.

And this is the best find that I've ever witnessed.

Phew.

I'm so happy that you brought it in.

And you did say that your wife got you tickets to "Roadshow."

Right.

Yeah.

And you have a picture of her.

I have it here.

She just recently passed.

So I wasn't going to come, but my son talked me into coming because my wife got the tickets for me, so.

Well, it's so wonderful that she did that.

Yes, it is.

And it's so wonderful that you're honoring her with the picture, and she would probably love the fact that this all happened today.

Oh, yeah.

That's great.

Great news.

Yeah.

I can't believe it.

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

We had a little bit of a competition today.

Uh, I did bring the bigger painting...

But I brought the more valuable painting, uh, estimated at $300 to $400 at auction.

(chuckles) This is my poster, Ingrid.

We've had a great time bringing joy to everybody here at "Antiques Roadshow."

Here's looking at you, kid.

And I brought this print that my mom insisted was going to be very valuable, but it turns out, uh, it's worth about $40, the print-- the frame is more valuable.

And for the first time in my whole life, my mom was wrong.

(soft chuckle) We brought a pin and ball game, and we found out it's from the '40s.

And also, what I thought was a Japanese tablecloth is actually wrapping paper that's kind of reusable, and you wrap it up.

I brought my grandfather's Gibson banjo mandolin, which I learned is worthless because nobody plays these anymore.

(chuckles) And I brought a painting that I got at an estate sale for a quarter.

And it might be worth $50, but, um, a bunch of people have been telling me that they like it and they think it's cool.

So, you know, it's a win for me.

(chuckles) For four score and seven years, we have deeply loved "Antiques Roadshow."

So we brought my family portrait of Abraham Lincoln, uh, who's worth $400 to $800.

And we're-we're celebrating as the Babe-raham Lincolns.

PEA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."