Antiques Roadshow

CORAL PEA: Coming right up, what treasures are being unearthed by "Antiques Roadshow" at this Empire State mansion?

It was acquired under the dark of night.

As I... (laughs) I like it already, Wow.

For something sitting in a coffee can for 40 years.

PEA: The Sands Point Preserve is the scenic spot for "Antiques Roadshow's" event today.

We've set up at Hempstead House, an impressive architectural survivor from Long Island's Gold Coast era.

From 1917 to 1930, Hempstead House was the summer residence of industry titan Daniel Guggenheim and his wife, the philanthropist Florence Shloss Guggenheim.

The Tudor-style castle was designed by architects Hunt and Hunt.

Some of its features?

An exterior of granite and Indiana limestone; 50,000 square feet of living space, with three floors; and 40 rooms, including a 60-foot-tall entry foyer.

That leaves plenty of room for our cameras to film our experts and owners with their treasures-- take a look.

MAN: My great-aunt Los gave this painting to my wife and I on the day of our wedding, and we've loved it ever since we had it.

It's very evocative of Paris and the type of painting that Los loved to do.

She was full of color.

And so you are Los Jones's, the artist's, great-nephew, is that right?

Great-nephew, correct, yes, yes.

Yes.

And the, the wedding took place, as I understand it, uh, was 1977, is that... 1977, yeah.

The title of this lovely watercolor is "Quartier Saint-Hilaire," and it's a Paris scene.

Mm-hmm.

And it's signed Los M. Jones, and it says Paris, and it says '47, so it was done in 1947.

Correct.

So you got it almost exactly 30 years after she created it.

Correct.

And I should also point out it's inscribed very nicely on the back.

Yes, it is.

And she's telling you that it's a wedding present to you and your wife, which is fantastic.

Right, right.

But what's also interesting is, on the back, she's even put the value at $1,500.

(chuckles): Yes, in 1947.

Well, I'm assuming it was put there in, in 1977, when she gave it to you.

Oh, it could be, yup, yup, yup.

So yeah, obviously, that's not a current value.

Right.

But it's just interesting as a, kind of a point of reference.

Absolutely.

So, I'm probably gonna tell you what you already know.

But Los Jones was born in 1905, and one of the amazing things about that for me is that that's just 40 years after the end of the Civil War... Mm-hmm.

...and the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

Correct.

And, you know, here she was in her, probably late 50s, early 60s, the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Mm-hmm.

And the Civil Rights Act was passed and so forth.

Correct.

So I only bring that up because, for two reasons: one is... She spoke about, often, that she had to submit her paintings anonymously.

Correct.

Because of the racial barrier.

Did she ever talk to you about stuff like that?

Yeah, she, she talked about that time, and, and the "situation," that's what she called it.

Um, oftentimes in Boston, she had to have a white friend submit the painting, and she would go to the exhibit to see people talking about her painting, not knowing that she had done it.

And, um, get high accolades and, and, you know, praise for her painting, but never could show her face.

And that, that didn't stop her-- she had that kind of spirit.

"I want to be an artist of consequence."

And being a female, and an African American female, in those days was, was tough.

She started out doing the design on the textiles for a department store in Boston...

Right.

...where she was born, and she saw the textiles being exhibited, but it didn't have her name.

She said, "Well, this is "the last time I'm going to do a painting, and it doesn't have my name prominently on the painting."

So that's why she would always sign very big, let people know, "This is me."

Sure.

Oh, and the second reason I bring it up is because Paris, as I understand it, 1937 was the first time she went there.

Correct.

But she just raved about the experience of being somewhere where race wasn't an issue.

Very important to her.

It gave her the freedom to be who she was.

Like many African American artists who had to go to Paris to really have the atmosphere, and to be able to paint, or create, or do music, or write.

So she met a lot of artists over there, white and Black-- Picasso, Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker.

Did she ever speak to you about that?

Well, she, she mentioned it, I mean, I, you know, when she talked about it, I was ten, you know, nine or ten years old.

Right.

And I was just a kid, so the names passed through, but I didn't really know who they were until I became older and realized the scope of her achievements.

Yes, some scholars actually point to that point in time that kind of transitioned her as an artist.

Correct.

Her painting style changed, and this was a...

Correct.

...big, pivotal point in her career, in Paris.

Absolutely.

And we should also point out she was one of the early art instructors at Howard University, the historically Black college... Ab... That's correct, that's correct.

...in Washington, D.C. Has a distinguished career as an educator, as well.

Mm-hmm.

So have you had this, uh, painting appraised?

Do you have any sense of how much it's worth?

No, no, it's, it was a gift.

We're not going to, you know, sell it.

Of course.

This is insurable value, mostly.

Oh, sure.

Of course, of course.

Yeah, yeah.

It's very impressive, her use of color, and her sense of design and composition.

I would say this painting is probably worth around $25,000 retail, so I would insure it for that amount, if I were you.

Okay, good, good.

Yeah, I think that she thought enough of it to select it as a wedding present for you, I think, is really kind of a nice, uh, additional point to it, so...

Thank you.

That's where I would, that's where I would place it.

Thank you.

Los would be pleased.

Oh, excellent, excellent.

(both chuckle) WOMAN: They were designed for the New York State World's Fair in 1939.

Do you know what company made them?

Libbey, I believe.

That is correct.

This is the quintessential American Art Deco tableware.

In a retail venue... Mm-hmm.

...they would sell between $250 and $350 per goblet.

Thank you so much, that's so neat, so interesting.

My husband and I collect World War I posters, and this is our most prized one, I would say.

Do you remember how much you paid for it?

$700.

Uncle Sam was based on a meatpacker from Troy, New York, whose name was Sam Wilson, who was packing meat for the government forces during the War of 1812.

And on the side, he'd stamp "U.S." for the United States Army, and soldiers began to familiarly and happily refer to the meat as coming from Uncle Sam.

In 1917, this poster was created.

This poster was designed by James Montgomery Flagg.

Uncle Sam is really one of the most famous American iconographic figures and images that this country has produced.

And if this piece were to come up at auction today, I would estimate it between $7,000 and $10,000.

Good investment.

For $700, it's a great investment indeed.

MAN: I brought in a portion of my Keith Haring Pop Shop collection.

Started when I was a kid, and Keith Haring was on "Sesame Street," and by the time I was old enough to ask, I asked to go to the Pop Shop in Manhattan.

We were from Queens, so it was just a trip over the bridge to Manhattan.

And I got to see the store, and, uh, I, I've always just been in love with his work.

Keith Haring as an artist, I don't even know where to begin.

I mean, the man was so prolific in his career.

He's one of the most important, what we would say, forefather, founder, godfather of the street, urban art movement, but the crazy thing is, he actually was not from New York.

He grew up in rural Pennsylvania, had a quick job in Pittsburgh, working at the arts center there, and then he finally came to New York in 1978, where he studied at the School of Visual Arts.

And really he started back in the day just going into the subway stations, and they used to have these blank black, where advertising space was blank, and he used to take out his chalk, draw his iconic characters, and he really did have a cast-- I mean, when you look here on the tank top, that's the "Radiant Baby."

It's one of the most iconic characters in Keith Haring's ensemble.

Pop Shop stuff today is so hot because Keith Haring's art is just so unobtainable for a lot of people, that this is what they really dive into, want to collect.

So that's what, you loved his art.

And then you said, "I want to go put it in the Pop Shop," and... And I really liked the accessibility of all the objects.

They were commercial objects.

You could buy a pin for a dollar.

(stammers) That's all I remember from the actual shop.

(laughs) Everything else I bought at garage sales and, and here and there, but I, I try not to pay a lot for it, 'cause I like that idea of not paying too much, and ha... and taking a piece of art home with you.

And that tank top back in the day, you would have gone to the Pop Shop, however much it would have been, $15, $20, $25.

But that tank top alone is a $200 to $300 tank top today.

I mean, the retro t-shirt market is so hot, it's ridiculous.

Oh, wow.

People would kill, oh, yeah.

I mean, I want to wear that right now.

That is an awesome tank top.

You transition here to the little vinyl blow-up pillow.

It has his iconic dancing characters on it, and you just see that radiating energy with the lines.

Today's market, a small vinyl pillow like that is in the $250 to $350 range.

I know, your eyes are flooding!

We're not even getting to the big stuff yet.

Oh, wow-- okay.

(laughs) Moving down the line here, we have a Keith Haring radio, again, iconic character, the three-eyed monster.

In the box, it has some moderate wear, but it presents overall very well.

The radio on its own, at auction today, is a $500 to $800 item.

Wow.

Now the poster, 1983 exhibition at Fun Gallery, and this is a really early exhibition in the terms of his career as a fine art artist.

There's some minor creasing and wear around the edges, but overall it presents very well.

And so in the world of auction today, the Fun Gallery exhibition poster's in the $800 to $1,200 range.

Wow.

So I would definitely throw that in a frame, for sure.

I, I think it deserves it.

And finally, to the book, this is a really cool piece, the "Art in Transit."

He had a photographer follow him along and document his journeys through the New York subway system doing these chalk drawings, and the really great part when you look at this, when we flip to the iconic centerfold of him being taken out by the police, you'll notice here we have a signature with an artist's remarque.

Learning point of the day for me, I did not know a remarque was actually when an artist does a small little sketch or doodle along with their signature.

So here we have the Keith Haring, dated '84, to which is the year the book was published, and we also have the nice crawling baby.

This book alone is tied with the poster that, at auction, would be in the $800 to $1,200 range.

Wow.

Now, there is a caveat to this, because Keith Haring's artwork, as it's so popular, uh, is very hard to authenticate, and actually, the Keith Haring Foundation doesn't authenticate anymore.

So do you, any idea of how this, uh, sketch and, uh, artist's remarque was obtained?

I, I literally picked it up at a bookstore.

Okay!

And it...

I didn't even know the signature was in there until I got home.

I spoke with our colleagues here today and they said yes, that signature, that drawing looks 100% on as being authentic.

Conservatively, at auction for the group we have on the table, you'd be in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

Wow.

(laughs) Wow, that, that's something else, because I don't think I spent more than $150 on everything.

Yes, so you got a winner there, buddy.

That's awesome.

That, that's amazing.

PEA: The Palm Court at Hempstead House once contained 150 species of plants and trees, including a collection of rare orchids, all curated by Florence Guggenheim, who was an accomplished horticulturalist.

MAN: My wife's grandmother lived next door to an elderly couple in Romania, and they received these as a wedding gift.

And then unfortunately, during the communist times-- of course, she had a two-bedroom apartment-- they actually took the apartment from her, and she had to sell off all her goods.

And she gave this to my wife's grandmother, who then gave it to my wife's mom, and when they came to America in 1990, she brought it with her.

And then once we got married, she gave it to us.

We really don't know much about it.

Actually, the bowl, we used to use as our key bowl in my apartment in Brooklyn.

(laughs): So we used to throw our keys in the bowl.

So I don't think we should be throwing our keys in it, so...

Right, right!

We're here now.

(laughs) Okay.

I don't think you will, all right.

Okay.

So, these were made by a company, a pottery called Zsolnay.

Zsolnay became a very important pottery, and a very important company in Hungary.

Hm.

Like many other potteries around the world, you start with the industrial stuff, and then you can develop into a branch of art wares.

Okay, okay-- okay.

The owner was really fascinated by the beauty of some art wares... Yeah.

...that were happening in Vienna, in Paris.

Hm.

And so he worked very hard-- Mr. Zsolnay, Vilmos, worked very hard in developing many different looks and many different glazes.

This particular iridescent glaze... Hm.

...they refer to as Eosin, after the goddess Eos.

She was the goddess of dawn.

It's a reduction glaze.

There's a whole chemistry that goes around it, and it's hard to do.

1893 is really when they started working very much in this style, and he presented this to the world at the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Uh-huh.

And after that, they really hit their stride with their Art Nouveau ware.

These apples and the apple trees, to me, that is very English.

This pattern here is something that Tiffany used a lot.

I think Tiffany probably got it from Japanese ceramics.

This really tight wave, and this whole finish, this whole look of Eosin glaze, was really an homage, in a way, to what Tiffany was doing.

They were trying to make ceramics look like glass.

It's a gorgeous, gorgeous piece.

Hmm.

And it's completely decorated on the inside.

Mm-hmm.

The shape of flowers in here.

This crescent is a little Ottoman Turkish.

If I can show you the marks here.

Mm-hmm.

This is an 1890s mark.

And then this one, done perhaps a little bit later, maybe 1900 or so...

Okay.

...has this lovely bird here, and then... Mm-hmm.

This is a very rare one, by the way.

Mm-hmm.

Not the shape so much, but the decoration.

Hm.

And you have pine trees... Yeah.

...which look very either Chinese... Mm-hmm.

...or Japanese.

Super-bright, bright, bright stripes here.

Yeah.

Very striking.

And this one has a different mark, which is a raised medallion and it's called a five churches mark.

Mm-hmm.

And that dates it to roughly 1900.

Oh, okay, very interesting.

A bowl like this was sold at auction within the last five years... Mm-hmm.

...for $16,000.

Okay.

Probably plus premium.

So at auction today, probably $12,000 to $16,000.

Something like that.

Okay.

So no keys here.

No, definitely...

Unless you put a liner!

No, there's no keys.

Okay, okay.

(laughs) This piece here has had some damage.

So we have some cracks, we have restoration, and there's quite a bit of it.

In this condition, still, at auction, most likely $10,000 to $15,000.

Wow.

Perfect condition, maybe $20,000.

Okay.

Because it is very large... Yeah.

...and super-rare.

Okay, well, that's unbelievable.

I'm impressed, and shocked.

(laughs) That's awesome, thank you.

I bought it a couple of years ago at a bookstore in Rhode Island that I used to frequent.

I saw "foot ball," I said, "Well, it looks old."

I paid $50 for it.

And what have you learned since about the book?

I know that the two clubs that are mentioned are in Cincinnati.

It's some sort of old football rule book.

What we have here is the rules of play adapted by Hughes and Woodward.

Hughes and Woodward are high schools in Cincinnati that still battle in their rivalry.

They've been rivals since 1878.

This is the rule book from 1880.

If you go back to the 1820s, both Princeton and Harvard had basically unsanctioned football games.

Okay.

They called it mob rules.

Princeton called theirs ball own.

Harvard called theirs Bloody Monday.

(chuckles) And these were basically big scrums, where with one ball, people would just fight to get from one side of the field to the other.

Eventually, in 1860, both schools had to ban these mob matches, because there were too many injuries.

Not surprising, yeah.

(chuckles) So then it took until the late 1860s when the colleges and high school programs around the country did start forming again.

1869, they had the first NCAA football game.

That was Princeton versus Rutgers.

Up until that point, just about every program put out their own rule book, whether it be high school or college programs.

And they were making these rules up as they went.

If it was at your school, they played under your rules.

In the case of Harvard, they were playing rugby-style foot, American football.

Most of the schools were playing soccer-style football.

So soccer-style football, like in this rule book, you couldn't throw the ball or run with it.

It was kicking only.

Harvard gets the credit for playing, in 1874, a game that looked most like American football does now.

This is the only one in existence that I could find for, for this particular issue.

There are very few football rule books I've even seen come up for auction ever.

This one I would say, at auction, $6,000 to $8,000.

Wow.

(laughs) That's, uh, wow, that is fantastic news.

For insurance value, I would place a value of $15,000.

Oh, my goodness.

(chuckles) You said $15,000?

$15,000 you'd want to insure this for.

Oh, my goodness, so I should not just keep it on the bookshelf with the other books, is what you're saying.

No.

Okay.

(laughs): Noted, noted.

Thank you so much.

APPRAISER: In Asian culture, primarily Chinese culture, one of the things that is celebrated, just like we do in the West, is the birth of a child.

Early in a baby's life, they want to try to figure out what are the interest that that child may have in life?

One of the things that they do is to detect an affinity toward one of the different kinds of musical instruments.

They bring them out, like we have these arrayed here, and whatever the hand grasp is going to be given a little bit more emphasis.

It's fascinating.

Insurance purposes, we're probably in the neighborhood of about $1,500.

Okay.

That's a lot of explanation, because I really had no idea what these were about.

So I'm glad we had this little talk.

It was acquired under the dark of night, as I... (laughs) I like it already, okay.

I was the technical director of a theater in Brooklyn, and at about 2004, 2005, it was brought in for a production, and it wasn't being used in the production.

And we had a very strict no leftovers policy, because we had a very small studio theater.

So I made them take it with them when the show ended, and I came outside, and there it was, leaning up on a pile of garbage bags on the middle of the street... (laughs): Okay.

...in Downtown Brooklyn, and I said, "I can't let that go."

Oh.

That's coming home with me.

And do you know anything about the artist?

I know his name is Gregorio Prestopino, and I know that he was born in Little Italy, but that's all I know about him.

Mm-hmm, I read, when he was 14, that he had to decide if he was going to be a gangster or an artist.

(chuckles) In his mind, that was his options, that was 1921.

So he started his art career very early.

From there, he was at the National Academy of Design for seven years, so at 22, he was, for all intents and purposes, a professional artist.

(chuckles) But then he struggled, like many artists do, for a long time, and his work evolved tremendously over the years.

You can see early work and late work, and compare them, and you wouldn't even think they're the same artist.

About the only through line is the figure.

The figure comes through all the way into the '80s in his late work.

This work, oil on canvas, signed upper left, Prestopino, is not dated.

Stylistically, this is going to be in the late '50s, early '60s.

The title is "Morning Nude #1," and it depicts, I believe, a, sort of a variation on a classic subject, the woman at her toilette.

We think conservatively, at auction, you're probably looking at about $6,000 to $8,000.

Whoa!

(laughs) That was well more than I would've ever expected!

I have to call my insurance company when I get home.

(laughs) MAN: I inherited it from my uncle.

My uncle probably got it in the mid-1960s in New York City.

He lived to 2015, and then he passed away at 89, and was an antique dealer, collector for about 55 years.

Harriet Frishmuth was born in 1880, I believe, and died in 1980.

Famous American sculptor, and her works are beautiful.

You're right, it's by a very important American sculptor, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth.

She did have a very long lifespan, almost 100 years.

Born in Pennsylvania, most recognized as working, uh, as a New York sculptor.

She really had opportunities that many women didn't have in the time-- she studied in Paris with Auguste Rodin, she studied in New York with Gutzon Borglum, who's known for Mount Rushmore, and had a very active and prolific career.

The bronze is titled "Curiosity."

This is a particularly rare copy.

There were only three ever cast, and it was cast by the Ideal Foundry in Providence, which is unusual in that they only cast works for her twice, in 1921 and 1922.

It's signed "Harriet W. Frishmuth," it's dated 1921, and it has a foundry mark for the Ideal Company, Providence, Rhode Island.

One of the most appealing elements of Harriet Frishmuth's bronzes are just these lovely figures.

They're very athletic, and full of life and vitality, often modeled after dancers.

I think the model for both of these figures was, uh, Desha, who was one of her frequent models and muses, and it's great how they are standing on this very naturalistic rock work and earth base.

Each of them are sort of glancing down at this little frog here, beautifully cast into the edge.

It has a purpose.

Do you know what that might be?

No, no idea.

It's a flower holder.

Ah... And the flowers go in the middle.

The flowers go in the middle, and they rest in these little holes on the bottom.

So I saw, there's a marking underneath it.

It's a little label and put an annotat...

He labeled all of his collectibles.

So what is the letter code equivalent of?

$50.

It's not unusual for dealers to use a code so that when they're looking at a piece, they know what they paid for it without having to check their log books.

Harriet Frishmuth comes up on the marketplace very frequently.

I'd say in today's market, at auction, conservatively, would estimate it between $20,000 and $25,000.

Very nice, very nice.

And insurance value?

I would think, for insurance, you're probably looking at around $50,000.

Oh, geez, very nice.

(chuckles) My uncle had a keen eye for antiques.

PEA: This house, called Mille Fleurs, meaning "1,000 flowers" in French, was built by Florence Guggenheim after the death of her husband, Daniel, in 1930.

The house stayed in the Guggenheim family until 1971, when Harry Guggenheim deeded it to Nassau County.

WOMAN: Grandma was a maid in New York City.

She worked for a wealthy family, and this was something that they gifted her.

I don't know why they gifted it to her.

She in turn gave it to my dad, and he in turn gave it to me in a coffee can.

It's been in the coffee can for, I'd say, maybe 40 years.

These were souvenirs that people bought when they traveled Europe in the, in the l... 19th century.

Oh, wow.

That's pretty cool!

(chuckles) It's very cool.

Often they were scenes of antiquity, or historical places that they visited, scenes in mythology, famous rulers... Oh, wow.

...primarily of the continent.

And it was something that was pretty commonplace as what's called the Grand Tour.

And that was part of a educational process that any person of certain means was expected to fill as part of their education in the classics, beginning in the late 1600s and really going through the 19th century.

And often these would have been seen in albums, and they would have had a legend, which, you still have the legend, and a couple of them that I separated out, if you look at this one, this is, uh, number 15, we go over here to the list and let's see what number 15 is.

Oh, okay, yes.

"Alexander's Triumph."

Oh.

And then you have, uh, the Last Supper, which is number 74, and that is right up here.

And that is "The Lord's Supper With the Apostles" by Leonardo da Vinci.

Wow.

It also says, shows that it was in Milan at the time.

So that's when they saw it.

They saw it in Milan.

They saw it when it was in Milan.

So your examples are made of plaster, but in addition to plaster, which is the most common medium that you see these made of, you do see them made out of molded marble dust, sometimes wax that has been colored, and occasionally, on more expensive examples, you see them made of carved wood or carved stone.

Wow.

How many of these do you have?

I think there are 79.

79?

I'm pretty sure it's 79.

So there's 102 listed on your inventory there, so clearly some of them were removed at some point.

Maybe broken or something?

Well, they could have gotten broken, but they could've also gotten framed and hung up as decorative wall plaques.

Oh, wow.

I would say a group of 79, as you have, would probably sell at auction in the $2,000 to $4,000 range.

Wow!

(chuckles) For something sitting in a coffee can for 40 years.

You might think about getting them out and having them framed.

Wow.

Yeah, that's, that's, that's so cool.

Will they return to the coffee can or do you have any plans?

(laughs): For now, they might return to the coffee can.

WOMAN: Neal Ball is my great-uncle.

And on July 19 in, uh, 1909, he made the first unassisted triple play in the history of Major League Baseball in the top of the second inning against the Red Sox.

He was playing shortstop, and the first guy hits a single, gets on first base, and that was Heinie Wagner.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

And then Jake Stahl came up next.

He bunted and got safely to first, and of course, Heinie went over to second.

And then we have Amby McConnell coming up in the third position, a high, rising belt, right over second base.

Line drive!

It's a line drive, and it keeps on rising, according to my Uncle Neal, when he told the story.

(both laughing) He said, "I just stuck my arm in the air, and, and it stuck in my glove," steps on second.

Now there are two outs.

And then he turns, and he sees the big guy coming from first.

Jake Stahl.

Jake Stahl, and he supposedly just, you know, "I just waited for him to come."

(chuckles) He was just, "He couldn't, he couldn't stop," and he was, "Hit my, hit my glove."

But actually, someone said, "No, no, he a...

The guy backpedaled," and my uncle had to run a little ways and get it, and that's three outs.

But then nobody recognized the triple play.

It was the first one ever in the Major Leagues.

My uncle throws his glove down, and starts to walk off the field.

The pitcher turns around and says, "Where are you going, Neal?"

And Neal says, "Well, Cy..." Cy Young.

Cy Young-- "That's three outs!"

In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been more than 700 assisted triple plays, but there have only been 15 unassisted triple plays.

So what you just told us, those are remembrances from your uncle.

Well, yes.

I was only, uh, 12 when he died.

Mm-hmm.

And we visited, my mother and I.

And I'd sit at his feet and listen to him talk.

He had a twinkle in his eye, and a big smile always on his face, and he had lots of stories to tell.

Tell me about this trophy that he got.

I only know that the Cleveland "Plain Dealer," the newspaper, awarded it to him on the 20th of 1909.

So it, so it was really the next day.

My husband polished it up, bless his soul.

(chuckles) It was really nice of him.

It looks, it looks like it was brand new, but look, it's over a century old here, and I love that, "To commemorate the first unassisted triple play "by Neal Ball at League Park in Cleveland, July 19th, 1909, from the Cleveland press."

And then you also have this great cartoon which shows how the triple play happened.

Yeah.

We have the portrait of your, of your uncle right here in a Cleveland uniform, who looks great, and then of course we have him here, and with the three Boston players that were involved, Amby McConnell...

Yes.

...Heinie Wagner, and Jake Stahl.

Yes.

He played for Boston and such, Cleveland.

These were all American League teams.

Teams, right.

Why did he not get a life pass to the American League?

That was the one thing he said that was the worst part about his career, was, why didn't the American League give him a lifetime pass?

That is kind of odd.

Yeah.

But it is exciting, I mean, considering that your Uncle Neal was really a utility player and made it to the Hall of Fame.

He played from 1907 to 1912.

He had a very good career.

Yes.

But this is why he's in the Hall of Fame.

It is.

Is for the first unassisted triple play.

So in looking at all of this, when we look at value, here you have what we call a milestone piece.

There'll never be another first.

The bulk of the value here is in the loving cup.

Is that right?

It is in the trophy for what it represents.

Yeah.

If I was going to put an auction estimate on this group...

Yes.

...I would probably put $12,000 to $15,000.

Thousand?!

Mm-hmm.

You say thousand dollars?!

Mm-hmm.

(gasping): Just... (laughing): I never would have expected that.

Oh, gosh.

(laughing) And if I were going to insure it, I'd insure it probably for at least $30,000.

(whispers): $30,000!?

For Uncle Neal?

(laughing): That's so sweet.

Well, I've, I've missed him ever since, because I was just a girl, yes, but he meant a lot to our family.

My parents picked it up probably in the '70s from an estate sale here on Long Island.

I have no idea what it is.

It's just weird.

(laughs) It's from Iran or Persia.

It's a mace and it's sort of a later copy of an earlier mace which they would have used in battle in the 18th century.

It's made out of steel.

It's from the Qajar period in Iran, so it'll be 19th century.

I'd be quite comfortable in using a retail value of about $1,500 to $2,000.

Really?

Yes.

Good.

Awesome.

That's great.

APPRAISER: She was made in 1970 by My-Toy Company for the "H.R.

Pufnstuf Show" by Krofft, and she's made of vinyl and she's got her original costume on.

And what I really love is that she does still have the original hang tag and she has the keys.

The keys are almost always gone.

Her auction value is between $500 and $700.

Are you serious?

It's very hard to find.

Oh, I didn't even...

Yes.

I had no idea.

This is the first one I've seen in years.

Wow, it's incredible.

WOMAN: These are two illustrations by my great-uncle John Vassos.

There were so many images that he created.

It's, um, unbelievable to think what he accomplished in his life, and this is just one part of his life.

He was also an industrial designer and he worked for RCA.

Mm-hmm.

He was born in Romania to Greek parents.

He did fight in World War I and then he emigrated to America.

He was known as a Deco artist.

Why Deco?

Mm.

Because of the hard lines.

Because of this gradation of blacks and grays and whites.

This one over here is from one of the books that he co-wrote with his wife.

His wife wrote the text and he did the illustrations.

It was called "Ultimo."

This is about what happened in the book when everyone had to go live underground because of climate change, because of an ice age.

This one is titled "Island of the Dead."

What's interesting, though, is where they're ferrying the body to looks in some ways a lot better than where it's coming from.

This is the 1930s.

This is a time where there's a lot of uncertainty in the world.

There is death and destruction.

Fascism growing in Europe.

He was very politically conscious... Mm.

...and didn't shy away from imbuing his, his own fine art with that consciousness.

After this period, he turned his efforts towards industrial design.

Not many people may know his name...

Exactly.

...but they know exactly what he created.

One of things he created, which I personally love, is the New York City Subway turnstiles.

The old ones.

That's right.

He is known within the collecting community... Gotcha.

Yes.

...especially for collectors of the 1920s and 1930s.

These gray-tone gouaches are the ones that are most popular in terms of the market.

At auction, this smaller one from "Ultimo" would probably have an estimate of about $6,000 to $8,000.

Mm.

And I think that's conservative.

Mm.

This one, even though it's not published, is, is larger and it has a little bit more going on.

I would easily put this at $8,000 to $12,000.

Okay.

MAN: The clock belonged to my great-uncle.

He had it near the front door in his house on Long Island.

When we were children, my sister and I used to go visit and we used to look at the clock all the time, and we were fascinated by it.

And I can remember sitting around and waiting for it to gong.

When he passed, my dad got the job of cleaning out his place.

As soon as I walked in, I saw the clock.

No one wanted it, I just took it.

That was, uh, 1995.

Right.

It's been sitting in my living room.

My dad found the bill of sale, which was dated 1936.

It says "Grandfather clock, Thomas Wildbahn, Reading, Pennsylvania."

The price was $100.

And what year was that?

1936.

That was a lot of money.

It's a beautiful Pennsylvania case.

The case is made of walnut with this contrasting light wood inlay.

This is about as expressive as a Pennsylvania Federal clock gets, with these sunbursts and all of this inlay.

It's fantastic.

It is definitely a, a Pennsylvania clock case, made in Berks County, uh, and Wildbahn worked there, but I don't agree with, uh, the attribution to him as the clock maker.

The movement and dial, the works for the clock, didn't start out with this case.

Mm-hmm.

And the way that I can tell that is that the door has been altered to fit a larger face than what was originally in here.

So you see the width of this door, it would have been a similar width across, all the way across the top.

And you can see it's been cut down and reduced to a much smaller element there.

Same down here.

The miter joint comes up here.

That would have gone straight across.

That's been opened up to accommodate a larger dial than what was in there originally.

Wow.

And if we open the door, it's r..., it's really obvious in the dial mat.

You can see the joint, and that board used to go straight across.

So it's what we call a marriage.

The case dates to about 1795 to 1800.

But the dial and the movement post-date that by a number of years, probably about 1820, maybe even a little bit later.

And I think the movement and dial were made in Scotland.

And as a matter of fact, the pendulum bob that, that came with it, this is very typical of English and Scottish clocks from the 1820s or so.

Wow.

If this clock were sold at auction today, I think it would be bought by a collector who would change it back to what it was, and put a local Pennsylvania or Berks County movement in there.

And at auction, it would probably sell in the vicinity of $6,000 to $7,000 today.

It's good to know.

(chuckles) Good to know.

If it were not altered, if this were a signed Berks County movement in, in this case, maybe cleaned up a little bit, it would easily be a $25,000 or $30,000 clock, based on how expressive this case is.

It's really fantastic.

Nice.

PEA: The allure of architecture favored by aristocratic Europeans was strong for families like the Guggenheims.

At Hempstead House, the walnut-paneled library was based on a room from the 17th-century Old Palace at Bromley-by-Bow in England, and the carved oak woodwork in the Billiard Room came from an actual 17th-century Spanish palace.

I've been antiquing since I was seven years old... That's great.

...and I have a particular love of New York City.

So I was in a small antique shop about five, six years ago, and I saw this map on the wall, and it more or less spoke to me and said, "Take me home."

(chuckles) And I didn't have the money to pay for it at the time.

I had to pay for it over three installments.

It was about $600 or so.

It is in fact a map of what they call Novi Belgii, or New Netherlands.

It's showing the region of the Northeast at a time when it was settled by the Dutch.

In many ways, this is a Dutch propaganda map, because what they've done, the cartographer has compressed New England to be this tiny little area, and stretched out the Northeast to be this giant inviting space of opportunity.

The Dutch, like the English, like the French, were looking for the Northwest Passage.

They're looking for Asia.

But what they find is this region.

It wasn't a colonial endeavor for the Dutch.

It was more of a monetizing effort.

They were hunting beaver.

The beavers in Europe were almost extinct at that time.

And what they found was, through Indigenous trading connections and alliances, that the beavers were plentiful and the pelt itself was thicker than the European beavers, and they were used primarily for top hats.

It was very lucrative.

So what this map shows is how the beaver became the impetus for mapping the area, and they had to rely on Indigenous knowledge.

So what you have is an incredible amount of Indigenous geography.

Here you've got longhouses.

So Indigenous architecture.

Long Island was called Matouwacs, which is an Indigenous term for, uh, "land of the shells."

Perhaps the most beloved aspect of this map is one of the earliest views of New Amsterdam, what we now know as New York.

They had settled Lower Manhattan and they were hoping to keep it as an outpost.

Of course, the rest is history, but this map shows a window in time when this area was being settled by Dutch people.

You've got what we think to be Lenape Indigenous people looking in on the scene.

Oh... To me, they're sensitively depicted, as, often in 17th-century maps, there'll be scenes of violence that were not necessarily true.

We don't really know the author of the view.

We don't really know who compiled the actual geography.

Yes, it's attributed to Visscher because he was a publisher, but there's been questions about whether Visscher was the actual author of the map.

Maybe, perhaps, it was Indigenous... Yeah.

...who really did the mapping.

Who did the work.

Which is what I like about including so much Indigenous information, and that's sort of forgotten over time.

And when the British start mapping the area, a lot of the names are, are anglified.

The original map was printed in 1650, '51.

This map was so popular and so beloved that there were many, many, many issues printed.

Mm-hmm.

So the question remains, which issue do you have?

Right.

We can see it says "Nicholas Visscher," and below that, "nunc apud Peter Schenk."

Peter Schenk purchased the plates.

It means it was printed about 1729, maybe 1730.

It's the last issue of the map.

Mm-hmm.

I would put a retail value on it between $5,000 and $6,000.

(laughs) (laughing): That's very nice.

Totally unexpected.

Thank you.

I love New York.

(laughs) Me, too.

There it is.

In all its glory.

It's bronze.

So we know straightaway that this is a very high-quality chandelier.

All of the shades are done in hand-blown glass.

The cap is signed B&H.

And that stands for the Bradley and Hubbard Company.

It's not Tiffany.

Yup.

But it's the next best thing.

Yeah.

I would say it's probably in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.

Wow.

Yes, beautiful.

Yeah.

Are you going to hang it back up?

Of course, and it's not coming down unless I move.

(both laugh) MAN: I got this set a couple of years ago in Wichita, Kansas, from the estate of a man that apparently worked at the Hong Kong Consulate Office about late '70s, early '80s, as told to me by the relatives.

I've got one, I believe, jade Chinese seal and three soapstone Chinese seals.

And do you mind me asking how much you might have paid?

About $700 for the set.

There's a long history of seals being used both in Asia and in the, the Near East and Far East and elsewhere.

In relation to seals and the use in China, seals had an origin in being a imperial mark of authority.

Later, in the 18th and 19th century, as literacy rose, so did the popularity of seals in China.

As I turn this over, you'll see the residue of the cinnabar resin paste.

You put the paste on the document and then impress the paste with the seal.

How much do you think these may be worth?

$701?

$701.

Let's hope so.

(laughing) Profit's a profit.

This is dated 1909.

So people have the confidence in buying an antique.

The seal is well-carved.

The animals are charming.

I would think that alone would probably be $1,000 to $1,500.

Okay.

The agate seal with the charming little rats or mice is carved in a cameo effect, which, two colors in contrast... MAN: Okay.

That would probably be around $1,500 to $2,000, as well.

That's good.

Oh, wow.

This is probably the least interesting.

Although I think the cicadas are wonderful.

I think it's probably worth about $400 to $600, $500 to $800 at auction.

Okay.

And lastly, the jade seal would be around $1,000 to $1,500.

Okay.

Okay... (murmurs) So, a really nice object, but I think probably into a contemporary period, 1909, 1920s.

MAN: Mm-hmm.

Okay.

A nice seal, a nice collection overall.

I appreciate it.

PEA: Like his father, Daniel, Harry Guggenheim was fascinated with the growing field of aviation.

Harry first met Charles Lindbergh in 1927 before Charles's historic flight to Paris, and the aviation industry certainly benefited from the connection.

Privately, the men's friendship endured for decades, despite strained relations caused by Charles's isolationist and anti-Semitic public statements leading up to World War II.

MAN: I live in a 300-year-old whaler's cottage in Sag Harbor, and I went antiquing years ago, and I spotted these two paintings in a curio shop in Amagansett, and I fell in love with them immediately.

I bought them and they've been hanging in my living room ever since.

Yeah.

So what year approximately did you buy these?

Uh, around 2001.

Stylistically, these were painted somewhere in the late 18th, early 19th century.

Okay.

The clothing style dictates that.

Mm-hmm.

There weren't that many artists circulating throughout America at that point in time.

And when you do the research of these late 18th-century paintings, you come upon a family called the Peales.

Very famous family, very accomplished, well-known for their dozens of portraits of George Washington.

Oh, wow.

And with a little further research, voil, these very portraits pop up as being painted by Charles Peale Polk.

He was a nephew.

These are portraits of Captain Thomas Kell... Oh!

...and his wife and daughter.

So you have a problem.

It's...

Okay.

Because they're well-known portraits that were sold by a very prominent gallery in Philadelphia...

Okay.

...about 1995.

You then start to examine them forensically.

They are oil on canvases, they are original artworks.

When you turn them over, what you see is an attempt to fake age.

You have a canvas that has been stained or dyed to look old.

Mm...

They were put on a stretcher.

Old wood.

Late 18th-century wood?

No.

But to a naive eye walking into a shop, they were meant to fool.

Now, what did you pay for them back in the day?

For the pair, $6,000.

The originals in the mid-'90s sold for around $150,000.

Oh, wow.

(laughs) Yeah.

I think we're gonna have to put a retail value on them for the pair of $1,300.

Okay.

You led with passion.

You have a, a period house.

I do.

I'm sure they look absolutely beautiful.

They look spectacular there.

WOMAN: Well, we have here a ring that was originally purchased by my dad's boss for his first wife in the 1950s.

Unfortunately, she passed away, and he gave it to his second wife.

She chose to sell it and she offered my parents the ring.

My dad misunderstood the price.

And so when she came to deliver the ring and pick up the check, my mother had already written the check.

And the lady said, "Well, you know, I'll go ahead and take that."

So, your mom, you've told me, was very strong... Mm-hmm.

...independent...

Yes.

...businesswoman.

Yes.

And she wrote that check for how much?

$15,000.

Oh, a lot of money.

Yes.

Now, you said in the late '70s.

It was supposed to be for $50,000.

(laughs) Wow.

Yeah.

Wow.

Now, why is the diamond yellow?

When it's being formed, high pressure and high heat by nature, nitrogen is incorporated into the crystalline structure.

So it's the introduction of nitrogen which makes it yellow.

Now, when we look at yellow diamonds, there's all different variations of yellow.

Diamonds are in that grading zone when they're white from D to Z.

Okay.

So after Z, you get into what could be a faint yellow.

And then it goes right down.

It goes into fancy color, fancy light color.

And the more saturated the color is, it could be fancy intense, it could be fancy vivid.

To find that out, it needs eventually... Mm-hmm.

...to come out of the mounting and it needs to go to a lab to have it graded.

Right.

That's what we were told.

We just didn't want to get it out of the original setting.

It's a hard concept to, to embrace for sure.

(laughing): Yes.

The best I can tell in the mounting is, I would call it right now fancy yellow.

Oh, I like that.

(chuckles) You like that.

I even suspect the diamond may be actually more yellow than we realize when you take it out.

And another thing is, these stones normally are not round.

So to find one that's round is a little more unusual.

We graded the clarity.

It's at least VS2.

There's a good chance it may be VS1.

We hit it with the U.V.

light, there's no fluorescence, which is also a good thing.

I took a gauge, and I measured the diameter of the diamond.

Okay.

Which is 12.8 millimeters.

And then I measured the depth.

Okay.

Which is 7.8 millimeters.

It comes up to 7.85 carats.

Wow.

But there is a good possibility that it's eight carats.

The ring is made out of 14-karat yellow gold on the bottom and platinum on top.

It was most likely manufactured in the 1950s.

With the base being 14 karat, I would say that it was manufactured in the United States.

Any thoughts of what you think it may be worth today?

I know that the lady had mentioned at the time that she sold it to my mother, she was told it was worth about $80,000.

That would have been a big retail price.

Yes.

If it's just under eight carats, this stone today is, easy, $80,000.

Okay.

I would say, at auction, $80,000 to $120,000.

Wow.

Of just the stone itself?

Just the stone.

Okay.

Now, if it's over eight carats, all bets are off and the ring could be $100,000 to $150,000.

Wow.

And that's at auction.

Wow.

Do the diamonds around it add in to the value of it?

Well, there's another carat of diamonds there.

Mm-hmm.

The, the fact of the matter is, there's probably about $1,000 in the mounting.

Okay.

It's all about the diamond right now.

Right, okay.

(laughs) Wow, okay.

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

We found out that we have one valuable antique.

So one out of three ain't bad.

Today I was surprised by just how pricey some of these things are.

Uh, I, I don't pay a lot for these items, and it's my personal collection, but to learn the, the value to be in the thousands is just astounding.

I was surprised to find out that these little things-- there's 79 of them, different shapes, sizes, pictures-- they're postcards from the 1800s.

We just want to thank my wife...

Thank-- okay.

...for letting me come to "Antiques Roadshow" and allowing me to collect what I collect.

Occasional whining, but she'll still let me do my thing.

So, thank you, and thanks to "Antiques Roadshow."

What surprised me today was learning about the early history of football and just how convoluted the rules were, which is why the rule books are so rare, because people would just throw them away, uh, 'cause they changed so much.

I was excited, I didn't realize it was worth that much, and I'm not going to sell it.

It will remain in my home, where it has been hanging for 30 years.

And also, Nicho told us today that yesterday was Uncle Sam Day.

Who knew that there was a national Uncle Sam Day?

I love this painting, I've always loved this painting, and now I love this painting even more.

(chuckles) The value is far beyond what I thought it would ever have been.

I was hoping we could buy a lake house with the proceeds, but I guess that's not going to happen.

We'll just hang it up and be happy with it.

We can have the driveway done.

Well, yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe a couple of kayaks.

(laughs) PEA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."