♪ ♪ APPRAISER:
What you have here is a
1905 World Series program. Incredibly scarce--
incredibly scarce. WOMAN: Wow. (laughing):
Really? That's amazing! APPRAISER: Yeah! (laughing):
Well, that sure beats $800! I'm loving the cows. I am loving the cows. ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER:
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of "Antiques Roadshow." CORAL PEÑA:
When "Roadshow" visited
San Antonio back in 2007, fans from the Lone Star State
brought in a trove of treasures from both near and far. Can you guess if the values went
up, down, or stayed the same? Let's find out in "Vintage San Antonio,"
hour two. MAN:
I was born in La Jolla
in San Diego, and when I was very young,
Dr. Seuss used to, uh, read books to children at a,
a local bookstore. And that's the first time
I actually got the chance to meet him. I've tried to collect
and find him at any estate sales I go to, and bookstores. And I found these at
an estate sale in Long Beach. The person who I
bought them from said that she had purchased them
from someone in Texas, from a person who had worked
at a lunch box company, and that Seuss did the artwork for
some of the lunch boxes. And that's all I know
about them. What you have here
is some original artwork for the World of Dr. Seuss
lunch box. This lunch box was created by Aladdin in 1970. And what I love about this overview that
you have here, is you have the
original stamps from it. And Dr. Seuss was extremely meticulous about controlling his art. If you've seen it,
the, the lunch box, which sells in great condition
for about $400, you'll know that you have
the back panel. The back panel has Horton and some of the
other wonderful characters. And this is the exact
colors that were used in the back
of the lunch box. The front panel of
the lunch box is actually the Cat in the Hat,
and that's blue. Wow. So there's another panel
that you're missing. Oh, I... You have also
what are the sides. It has
the Sneetches on it and another example
of a side. So we have wonderful
original art done by Dr. Seuss. You are, again, missing
the Cat in the Hat, which is almost
the most iconic figure. Yeah. But nonetheless, I feel that something like this
would easily bring between $10,000
and $15,000 at auction. Oh, my God! Really? Yeah! (laughing):
That's amazing. WOMAN:
My father bought these
in Hong Kong in 1947. He was stationed at
Clark Field in Manila, took the boat over
whenever he could. He was an avid collector
of Oriental art, and he also had his clothes
tailored there, his uniforms. And one day, his tailor
told him about a guy who had some stuff to see. So my father went
to see him, and he fell in love with them,
and he bought them. And we came back
to the States in 1950. And what did he tell you
that these were? They're the four seasons
of planting rice. The way I understood it,
they're teak frames. In Chinese art, you'd often get
the four seasons, flowers of the
four seasons. These are unusual
because the subject matter. It's unusual to have
something that shows the cycle of
the planting of rice. And it starts,
from what I can see, right here at the back,
where they're plowing the field. And here they're sowing,
putting the seeds in. And then here is where
they're harvesting. And then, finally,
there they are, knocking the grain
from the stalks. Mm-hmm. So that, that's
the sequence. Okay. The other thing
that's interesting is, obviously
these are in relief, high relief, because most painted porcelain panels
are not. So in order
to determine the age, there are several things
that we go by that are clues. One of which is
this pink color. Because enamel-decorated
pink colors did not exist until the early
18th century. Okay. Now, one of the other clues
that we have is the design here
at the top. This is called iron red, and it has stylized dragons,
which are drawn from archaic bronze motifs,
Chinese ancient bronzes. You'll notice that
it's sort of uneven. This kind of depiction
one finds in the late 18th century,
early 19th century. But I don't think
you're going to find it with that kind of
uneven quality. It's going to be a lot clearer, crisper,
without the unevenness that you see here. Okay. So I think that we're
looking at something that dates probably
to the early years of the 20th century. Okay. During the early years
of the 20th century, there was a lot of turbulence
in China, because the Qing dynasty
fell in 1911. The craftsmen
who were producing things for the Qing court didn't just disappear. They continued to
make things in Jingdezhen. And, so I think, that these
probably date to the 1920s. The wood is
actually not teak. It's a wood called hongmu. Okay. Which people mistake
for teak. But one of the other
recent changes in the Chinese art market
is the Chinese have developed
a very robust economy. And guess what
they want to collect? Their old stuff. Their old stuff. (laughing) And there's not a lot
of that around. So they're starting to collect
things in the 20th century, and they're starting to focus
on things made during the 1920s and '30s that are just like this. Okay. And I can tell you
that, 15 years ago, these were not worth
very much money. Okay. But at auction, how about $40,000
to $60,000? (chuckling) (voice breaking):
Okay. (laughs) (exhales) Take my breath away.
(laughs) I never would have dreamed. Never ever. I thought maybe
$3,000 or $4,000. Okay, wonderful. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. My father will be... He would be
so, so pleased. (exhales) (chuckles) This is, uh, my inheritance
from my father, who died 25 years ago. He started collecting
pocket watches and clocks in the late '60s, when I was three
to four years old. And he did this in order to pay his way through
graduate school, and some groceries, and, uh, my doctor bills. He thought when he made
five or ten dollars those days on a watch,
it was a pretty good profit. It sure was. Listen, money's money. But you told me
that he then went to the credit union. When I got ready to go
to college, he took these
to the credit union, and borrowed against them for
my first semester's tuition. And he borrowed $10,000
those days. When a collection
like this comes in, you never know
what to expect, but your father had an eye. And we can start with the Vacheron and Constantin
that you have here. In very, very good
condition. This watch alone
is, is $1,000 today. Mm. We go over here
and we look at the Sixty Hour
Bunn Special. N.O.S.-- new old stock. In the box, you have
the original container. Mm-hmm. You have the box,
you have the papers. Bunn Specials today bring $1,500 to $2,000. I mean,
what an eye he had. And then I want to
take us up here, and we go to a rather
obscure thing, a Tremont. Made in Boston. Again, another $3,000
on a good day, at auction. Mm. The only European watch in the batch,
not a great watch, but great-looking-- $500. We come down here to the Veritas,
which was made by Elgin-- at auction,
a solid $3,000 watch. Mm. But what we're gonna do, we're gonna pick out
the best one now-- you ready? This watch is made by
the Columbus Watch Company. Okay, Columbus. They were only
in business for a little more than
a quarter-century. They started around 1874. They were started by
a guy who came in, Gruen, who was also
in the watch business. He was with
another fella, Savage. It's a 25-jewel movement. It has a finish
on the movement that's two-tone. What we call two-tone
damascening finish. This is fantastic
in a railroad watch that was built in
the United States. It also is a
Columbus King model, which is very rare. One thing that's
unusual about it is, you can wind it from the crown,
but it also has another wind that you can
wind with a key... Mm-hmm. ...over here. And on top of that,
it's inside of a very heavy 14-karat yellow gold case. This watch was made
around 1887. You'll also notice it has what we call
a double-sunk dial. In other words,
the dial is made in three pieces,
and it sinks once on the larger portion and then
in the subsidiary seconds. So what do you think
this one's worth? $4,000 or $5,000? That's a great guess, but I got to tell you,
it's more like $6,000 to $8,000. So, if we tie
the whole package up neatly, I think you're looking
at something at auction around $16,000 to $18,000. Wow. Guess I shouldn't leave them
in my car when I go to
the grocery store anymore. (both laughing) All of the armaments
and the emblems are Civil War Union marks. I believe that it was made for
the Grand Army of the Republic, the G.A.R., which was a
veterans' group that formed after the Civil War
and as, as a community of, uh, discharged veterans
that, um, were one of the, America's first
lobbying groups. Oh, wow. That they had gathering places
and meetings and posts, and this was
probably something that was used in
one of their buildings. It's a hall tree. So you'd hang up your hats,
and you put your umbrellas, and you could check the, uh, check your hat
and make sure in the mirror that it was on,
on straight. We just were so interested
in what it even was. No one ever knew. APPRAISER:
Well, when you walked in
with this, I heard a couple of people say,
and the crew right here were saying, "You can get
a lot of tea out of that. It's the biggest
teapot I've ever seen." WOMAN:
Yes, yes. But do you know what it is? No. Because it's not a teapot. Oh, really? No, ma'am. I keep tea bags in it. Well... (laughs) Well, that's as good
as a use of it as any. But can see
what it says here. "Another little drink
won't do us any harm." That's what caught my eye. Well, that's
not talking about tea. It's talking about what this is designed
to serve... Oh. which is punch.
Alcoholic punch. Oh, I see. And when I first saw this,
I thought, "Oh, this is
a great Victorian punch pot." I thought it was
probably made in the 1860s or '70s or something like that. But then if we look at
this verse on the other side... Mm-hmm. It tells us,
"Present to a friend 1925," which is quite unusual. Right. That's very late for this, uh,
type of thing. Mm-hmm. How much did you pay for it
when you got it? I paid $75 at an estate sale
in Fredericksburg. Okay, well, I,
I think you made a nice buy, because in a good quality shop, it would have to be
at least $400 or $500. WOMAN (gasps):
You're kidding! APPRAISER: Oh, yeah. WOMAN:
Oh, well, thank you--
that's exciting. Well, you keep your
tea bags in it. I think that's perfect. (laughs) Well, maybe I'll let 'em
ferment a little. Yeah. MAN:
A friend of mine's father
passed away, and I helped him
clean out the house, and it was one of the items
that he didn't want to keep, so he asked me if I'd like it, and I took it home, and there it sat
for a while. And my wife saw a picture
of one in a magazine, so we sort of knew
it had some value, and we wanted to find out
more about it, and that's why we brought it
to the show here. Great. What you have here is a
very interesting chair. It's made by
a gentleman named Finn Juhl. It's called a 45 Chair. He actually--
kind of interesting, he started designing it in 1941, and didn't really finish it up till 1945, when he
presented it to the world. Finn Juhl is
often considered to be the best Danish designer
of all time. What's really interesting,
and I think very powerful about this chair, is this chair
helped change the entire way the rest of the century
would look. Before the 45 Chair, his furniture was heavy,
and it was clunky. It didn't have the grace or
the charm that this chair did. So when he came out
with this chair, it was almost controversial. It was one of those things
that smacked people really hard,
and, and people had to rethink the way they, they looked
at furniture. He also began the use
of teak, and it became very popular with
Danish furniture makers. The 20th-century movement is on fire. Prices are going up
all the time. Oh, really? Uh, oh, it's unbelievable. And one controversy that's kind of going on, that, that's still evolving-- we haven't worked our way
out of it yet-- is the notion of condition. And your chair obviously has
some condition issues. Now, some people would
immediately refinish this. They would immediately
reupholster this. They'd immediately respring
and refoam this chair. Now, this chair is in
bad enough condition where I think
you could do it without hurting
the value at all. Matter of fact, any money
that you invest in this chair would be well-spent, as far as I'm concerned. I see, very good to know. It's seen a
little bit of wear, but it's still a
really wonderful chair. Is this leather on here
right now the original? No, I don't think so. Oh, okay. No, I think somebody has
redone this. Probably was maybe
a more tobacco color, something a little browner, something a little bit
more natural, in keeping, again,
with the, with the organic nature
of the chair. Yeah, that wouldn't contrast
so much with the wood. Exactly, exactly. I understand. As far as value goes, a chair, a 45 Chair in this condition,
at auction, is probably worth between
$4,000 and $6,000. Wow! (chuckling):
I didn't think so. Yeah, that's,
that's what it is. That's wonderful. If you did
reupholster this chair, it would probably
increase the value to probably $6,000
to $9,000. As far as cost goes, it might cost you $500 or $600
to get it reupholstered. WOMAN: My mother got it,
I think, from her mother. APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. Or, or else she acquired it
somewhere, but I... Somewhere in my mind,
when I was a kid, I think it was my grandmother's. Well, the artist's name is
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta. And he's a Spanish artist. His father was
an artist, as well, and he's very famous for painting in the 19th
century, early 20th century. He lived from 1841 to 1920. Although he's Spanish,
he painted mainly in Paris and New York. He had a studio there. A lot of society people collected his works and were painted by him as a, as a portrait artist. Although,
this is not a portrait; this is a, a, a genre scene. Do you know what's
going on in the scene? I'll let you tell me, 'cause
you know better than I do. (chuckling):
Okay, well, you've lived
with it longer. That's true. Yeah, but it's two ladies
having a, a little conversation over a love letter,
but it's for a missing man. And it's probably
this fellow up here. This is what's known
in the art world as a pentimento. It's an Italian word. It's something that's
not always clearly done. It might be ghostly in the back. It might be painted out
at times. We have this
little fellow looking over
the balcony here. The balcony's
not finished. You see here's the piece
coming along there. And then it's
a little bit faded out at his hand here
and his head up here. And this fellow is looking at
what's going on down here. These, they're having a little
confab down here about this little
love letter. And, and you can almost hear
the, the giggles. Yeah, yeah. Um, one of the things that
Madrazo was most noticed for was his handling of
really fancy dresses and pretty dresses,
and, and you see that here. The lace... These, these, the lace and all
that. He's, he's a fastidious worker
and did fabulous lace. And that was good for the,
the ladies at the time, for their, their portraits. So, added onto that,
you get the flowers and these, these
beautiful peacocks. So it's, it's all
a bonus here. One thing that will
hold it back is it's put on Masonite. It's also a
very dirty painting, but that can all be
restored, be cleaned, and taken off that Masonite. Have you ever had any, uh, valuation on it,
anyone tell you what it might be worth? Nothing. No, mm-mm, no. The big joke
in the family was that was supposed to
educate my kids. Yeah, send them
through college? They got... Yeah, we've all, they've all,
that's already done. (chuckling):
That's done? Okay. Yeah, we got
grandkids in college now. Okay. He's a very popular painter
in the auction rooms. Of this type of painting, these realist,
fancy dress paintings, he's one of
the best practitioners. We've been talking about it
at the table with my colleagues, and I was more conservative because of the condition. If I were to put this
in an auction, I would probably put it at $60,000 to $80,000. My colleagues have said
that it might even be as much as
$70,000 to $90,000. So I think it definitely could, could make that. Probably, uh, not a full four term, you know,
college these days. No, no. But at least a year or two. Wow. Yeah, well, I have
one granddaughter. That'll, that'll be nice.
Now she can go. It's a beautiful painting. Um, I'm glad
you brought it in. This is my mother's favorite,
favorite painting of everything she ever had. WOMAN:
I brought some, uh,
World Series baseball programs that my great-uncle
had collected over the years, and he gave them to me. I was a big baseball fan. In fact, when I was growing up,
I loved baseball. I knew batting averages, pitchers' E.R.As. I, I loved it. APPRAISER:
Oh, that's great. And I used to watch
baseball. That's great. Well, what we have here
is a collection of World Series programs,
as you know, from 1905 to 1954. The late-1920s to mid-1950s
World Series programs at auction could go
for about $800 as, as a collection. Wow. Okay? Oh, as a collection, okay. But what you have here, this 1905 World Series program, they gave these out
at the Polo Grounds, which, of course,
no longer exists. 1903 was the first
World Series. 1904 was canceled. That makes this the
second World Series program. Wow, I didn't even
realize that. Okay? Not only that, but when you open this... See, this is scored, and it's scored in, in pencil
very lightly and neatly. The 1905 World Series
were between the, the New York Giants and the
Philadelphia Athletics. And the scoring tells us here
that Christy Mathewson challenged Chief Bender, both Hall of Fame pitchers. Wow. This, that makes this the game five
World Series program, okay? Incredibly scarce. Wow. Incredibly scarce. It was Philadelphia's
last chance, their last hurrah. They put their best guy
on the mound. Mathewson got
the better of 'em. Four games to one,
New York went home champs. Condition is, is decent--
it's very nice, it's acceptable for, for being, you know,
over 100 years old. At auction,
one recently just went for $12,000. Wow! $12,000? Yes. It's a great item. And I have another one
at home. (both laugh) It's a great item,
it really is. Terrific, that's wonderful. WOMAN:
It belonged to my mom and dad,
and I just, I've inherited it. APPRAISER:
Do you know anything about it? Well, in about
the early '60s, I was teaching
up in New Hampshire, and Mom and Dad came up to
visit me, and went antiquing. And Mom bought this
up in New Hampshire. Northern New Hampshire. I'm not sure if she knew
a whole lot abou-- a lot about glass. She was always learning,
and, and I think she thought it was something
really wonderful. Well, it is
pretty wonderful. It's a piece of Steuben. Ooh. And this was made in Corning, New York. I'm talking about
the period of Steuben glass
that was during the Frederick Carder era. And he was the man
who ran the company starting in the early 1900s. And the, the
first production was art glass, and made all kinds of
different art glass, decorative pieces, that had different kinds
of names. This piece was made in the late 1920s, and it's called
Green Florentia. And the "Green" refers to
the decoration in the middle. And the "Florentia"
is the type of glass or the technique
that was used to make it. What the bowl
is comprised of is a fumed cased glass that has little
glass particles that are encased between
the layers of glass. And that's why you see those
little speckles in it. Yes. Usually contained a design
that looked like a flower. It came in a number of
different colors. Some people would say
that this was more of an the Art Nouveau period,
but when I look at it, it's classical, it's stylized, and it has
more of a geometric feel, like the Art Deco pieces that were being made
at the time. Art glass was really
a luxury item for most people. This wasn't something that
you were serving things in. Mm-hmm. You were actually putting
it out on your table as decoration. And it probably sold for, I'm sure, under $100. Is that right? Um, which still was a very
substantial amount of money. Mm-hmm, oh, yeah. These pieces are
fairly rare. Ooh, good. And we don't see
very many of them. In fact, this is the first time
I've ever seen one at "Antiques Roadshow." Oh. Steuben is a very, very
hot market, and a piece like this, if it were in a dealer's shop,
could sell for anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000. Oh, wow. I'm sure my mom didn't
pay that much, she was... She had an eye for... Oh, I kid. There's no way
she paid that much, no. Not back in the '60s, no. No, not back in the '60s. Wow. Ooh, that's wonderful to hear,
yeah. Well, thanks for bringing it in.
It was a real treat. Well, this is a real symbol
of Japan's desire to copy the best of
Western silversmith techniques. This is a Louis XV-style
five-light candelabra, but with a Japanese twist,
with the use of chrysanthemums here as the dominant motif. And of course,
chrysanthemums are associated with the
imperial household in Japan. And you have
superb workmanship done by a very famous Art Deco
silversmith called Miyamoto in, uh,
Kyobashi in Tokyo. Done in the
late '20s, early '30s. This had to have
been commissioned or owned by a very important,
wealthy family in Japan during
this period. WOMAN:
This was my
great-grandfather's, and he played with it
as a child. He was given the toy in 1875. And then it went
to my grandfather, and to my mother,
and then to me. This is one of
the great optical toys of the late 19th century. In this country, we called it
the Whirligig of Life. In France, they called
it the Praxinoscope. It's a pre-cinema toy. It uses the
same phenomenon called persistence of vision
that makes movies work for us. The different mirrors act
just like a shutter in a movie camera. And when you stare right
at one point on the mirror, as the toy is going around,
you see the action. This is remarkable. (chuckling):
And to see it go through so many children's
grubby hands... (laughing) ...for 125 years
is absolutely astounding. So, I think in today's market,
we're probably looking at between $2,000
and $3,000. Wow, okay. MAN:
I have a quiver with
a bow and arrows purported to be made
by Geronimo, and it is signed
by Geronimo. It was passed down through a dear family friend
whose grandfather, we think, was a Texas Ranger. And it's been in my family
for a number of years. What research
have you done that makes you think
Geronimo made it? 30 years ago, I went to a museum and had them
give me some ideas about it. And they told me I should take it further. I've shown it to
several friends who have researched it and
sent me articles about Geronimo, and that he, in fact, made a few bow
and arrows for sale. And when he discovered
signing them brought more money, that's what he started doing. You know he was here. I understand he was at
the Quadrangle for a short time, in the late 1800s? Right before
the turn of the century? 1880S. Okay. And there are a number
of photographs made of him here in San Antonio. On his way to prison, they stopped at
Fort Sam Houston, they were kept at the Quadrangle
for several weeks, and then taken on to prison in,
of all places, Florida. Then Geronimo was hauled
to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. So it was a big switch
from the serious desert of Arizona,
to the swamps of Florida, and then back to
Western Oklahoma. The bow case and quiver
are made out of deer skin. It's a rawhide,
it's dried out, it's tanned with brains,
and livers, and so forth and staked out in the sun. And the fringe is dyed
with yellow ochre. Overall,
it's a pretty nice piece. The bead work is
mainly thread-stitched, which tells me
it wasn't a piece made during the Indian Wars--
it was made to sell. Okay. He did make things. Maybe one or two. He didn't make this. Geronimo was Chiricahua. He was a
Chiricahua Apache warrior from Arizona. This was made by
Mescalero. Geronimo didn't make
much of anything. He sat around Fort Sill, and you're right,
he autographed things. And, right here,
this is his autograph. And no question about it. He was autographing photos, which now sell for $1,000, $1,500. But anybody who made things, they would bring them
to Geronimo, he would sign them,
they'd split the deal. He would sell 'em. He sold all kind of things. He sold drums, he sold shields, he sold bows, he sold arrows. He had a steady market. If some Mescalero
brought this in and tried to sell it, so what? If it was attached
to Geronimo, it was a hot property. He was a celebrity. And the old song
"Geronimo's Cadillac," he rode around in
a Cadillac at Wild West shows, and gave out his autograph. At a public auction of
American Indian material, $6,000 to $8,000. Is that right? Yeah, it's a nice thing. It is a real
Plains Indian bow. The arrows are real arrows. There's another bow
in this case. Right. It's real. They're worth $300 to $500
easily by themselves. And it's a great
bow case and quiver. Really, really classic
Mescalero piece. Well, all I really know
about it is it used to hang in
my grandmother's house in Corpus Christi. And after she passed away,
it came to our house, and then it hung over the couch
in our house for a long time. And then now it's at my house. APPRAISER:
So it's still hanging up. It's been protected in a box,
but it's in our house, and we're trying to
find a place for it. Okay. And you knew
that it was signed somewhere. I did, I just couldn't
read it because it's so dark. Well, I have to say,
it took me a little while to decipher
the signature today. Uh-huh. It's right down here, in the dark area. Okay. The first thing I was
able to read was "Moran." There's a very
famous American artist named Thomas Moran,
who's known for painting the Grand Canyon... Okay. ...and, and lots of wonderful
Western landscapes. Uh-huh. And his record price is almost $5 million at auction. Okay. However,
this is his younger brother. Well, that's good.
(laughs) He actually had two brothers
who were artists. Uh-huh. He had one brother named Edward,
who painted marine pictures. Uh-huh. And then this
is the youngest brother, Peter, who was born in 1841. And he's known for
his studies of animals. Okay. And we can see here that he has
lovingly depicted these cows in a landscape. Uh-huh. He lived in Philadelphia, and he would often go out into
the Pennsylvania countryside... Uh-huh. ...and paint these
bucolic landscapes. Right. And I think it's just a
wonderful picture into 19th-century life, and I
think it probably would date from the late 19th century. Do you have any idea
what it might be worth? No. Any guess? We, we were guessing
maybe $800-- we didn't know, no clue. Well, one of the thing
that makes it really great, as far as the presentation... Uh-huh. ...is the fact that it has this
original frame... I know, mm-hmm. ...which is so ornate. And what's amazing is
what great condition it's in. Right. And maybe it's because you were
keeping it in a crate. Right. But it is unusual
not to see big hunks missing. It is, it is pretty. I think this might bring about $25,000 if it were sold
in a retail gallery. Oh, my gosh! Well, that sure beats $800! I'm loving the cows! (laughs) I am loving the cows,
that is awesome. I bought it at a little antique
shop in Hamilton, Virginia. We used to live out in
Loudoun County, in Round Hill. I purchased it for $500 about three years ago. Mm. Why did you buy it? I just bought it because
I really liked it. I liked the colors, I, I thought
it was interesting, and... Uh-huh. I just, I liked the fact
that it was Georgetown and, um, you know,
we lived near Georgetown, so... I see. Well, it's oil paint
on plywood. I think it's a very
interesting, wonderful map. Uh, I relate to it because I was born in this area. Oh, really? I was born at, at
Washington Circle. It does indeed show
a lot about Georgetown and Georgetown history, starting with Roosevelt Island. It's called Roosevelt Island because Roosevelt was a
conservationist and they were
conserving this island. But from anybody in Georgetown, what makes your heart beat
is this little vignette here, showing the very
early view of Georgetown when it was the biggest
port on the Potomac River. Now, it's interesting
what they decide to show, because of the historical
interest of such a map. The Oak Hill Cemetery Gatehouse
is still there. And, of course, the major
streets-- 27th, 28th, 29th Street
are shown. Now, another great
and wonderful historic site
that is still in Washington is the Dumbarton Oaks House, which is now part
of Harvard University. There's a museum
and a library there. Right. The United Nations
were planned there. Here's another
view of Georgetown here. And then, of course,
coming through here with this beautiful old
antique-looking compass rose, but then look at this
beautiful view of Georgetown University. Right. You know,
it's just absolutely charming. Here's the entrance to Georgetown University. There is indeed a circle there. And on down to the river
and Key Bridge. Francis Scott Key Bridge. I think that,
at an antique show, even with the,
the flaws in it... Uh-huh. ...because this
is essentially folk art, we, we don't have
to document that much. It's just exuberant. And if it's in too good
a condition, I find folk art collectors
are suspicious. Right. (laughs):
So, there are some nice chips, and bumps, and things like that. And I would, I would offer it at $4,000. Okay. Great!
Well, thank you. WOMAN:
This is a Fraktur
that my parents bought in, uh, Quakertown,
Pennsylvania. I was with them,
I was six years old, in, I won't, in the 1960s,
we'll just leave it at that. And they paid $50 for it at a flea market. They lived in
upper Montgomery County in Pennsylvania
and were very interested in Pennsylvania folk art. And how did you learn
that it's a Fraktur? I probably spent every weekend
of my life at, uh, auctions and estate sales
with my parents. This is a lovely piece. Its roots are in Germany, and Germanic samples
of illustrated manuscript, uh, came over here very early on. And Southeastern Pennsylvania, you ultimately saw
those folks adapting those ideas and making
them very much their own. The medium here
is watercolor, pen, and ink. I think in all likelihood, it was done by a man who made his living... Mm-hmm. ...doing these for families. Uh-huh. These were meant to
be enjoyed in a home. They were
meant to be attractive. Right. Kind of fun, actually. Mm-hmm. They announced, uh,
important family events. In this instance,
this is a Fraktur indicating the birth of a child. Mm-hmm. And in Old German, it talks
about the mum and dad, the name of the child, and
the birth, which was in 1818. The reason that this is so much
nicer than a lot of the Frakturs we see,
it's totally hand-done. The later ones
in the 19th century are, are colored with
watercolor, but printed. Right. This one is
an original composition. The fact that it has a full
standing figure in profile, this man is so interesting, and he's flanked by these
sort of conventionalized tulips
on vines. Some say that
the tulip blossom, which fundamentally
is easy to paint, uh, might even represent
the Trinity. Uh-huh. So there are
some religious overtones, although in this one, that's purely conjecture. Uh, the condition on this piece is good. There is some
slight discoloration. Someone has written a name very early on, on the top--
we'd love to know what that name is all about. Perhaps, through some research,
we could figure it out. Now, the frame on this
piece is not original. I looked at it pretty carefully. The way that it's constructed, along with the fact
that they've used modern nails, indicates
that frame is 20th century. But having said that,
I think it's a good mix. It looks well on this, so I don't think I'd change it. Okay. Any idea what it might be worth
today in the current market? $1,500, I guess, would
be a guess that I would make. Well, I did a little,
little bit of homework, made a couple of calls,
and talked to my friends here. And, uh, we tend to think that it's worth in the area of
$8,000 to $12,000. Wow. Um, it's especially interesting
because of that full-size
profile portrait of a man. It differentiates it
from a lot of the others. My grandfather made it
during World War II. He was on
the U.S.S. Plaice... Mm-hmm. ...which is a submarine, and it's the battle flag
for their submarine. Okay. Exactly-- basically, what
these represent is action or achievements, uh,
war achievement. You've got Japanese flags
for Japanese merchant and military vessels
that the U.S.S. Plaice sunk. Uh, you've got the ship's logo in the middle, and this
kind of has a crossover value, as well, as a Disneyana piece, because it's got
Jiminy Cricket... Right. ...riding a plaice--
you know, a fish. All the U.S. subs were named
after fish. The one I find
the most interesting is the rescued American aviators that the, uh, U.S.S. Plaice
picked up out of the water once they ditched
their planes. MAN:
Well, it was my, uh, dad's. He bought it in 1953, uh, from a pawn shop in Dallas. He, uh, scraped up money and
went, uh, hitchhiked there and bought it at a pawn shop. I know it says 1952
on the neck. On the end of the neck. So you've taken the neck off,
and, and... Yes. Does it have also
some initials? I know it has
TG-825-52 on the neck. We can look down here
to confirm that date of 1952 by the serial number,
which is stamped on the bridge. Also, it has pole pieces on the pickup that are even
across the top instead of at
different heights. And another characteristic of 1952 being sort of a
transitional year, is that you have a mixture
of slotted screws in the top
holding in the pick guard, and two Phillips-style screws on
either end of the control plate. So, transitional year, 1952,
probably late in the year. But I want to talk
a little bit about those initials
that are on the end. TG were the initials
of Tadeo Gomez, who was almost, by now, a legendary neck carver
for Fender. Worked there a long, long time. And, today, instruments that are
made with his necks are the most highly esteemed
from the period. When you plug them in, it's true what
they say about the old ones, that they are real screamers. Have you had any kind
of a, an evaluation done on it? No, we looked on the internet,
it, it was about... We thought it was about
$10,000, uh, five year... Well... Four or five years ago. Okay. I would conservatively
rate this at about $25,000
as a bottom end. Uh-huh. But, probably closer
to $30,000, because it's
so clean, for the year, and just in consideration
that it is Tadeo Gomez. Wow. So a collector would mean
a great deal. (chuckles):
Okay. WOMAN:
She was kept at Captain's Head,
which was a farm in Scotland. She came down through my
grandfather's side, through my mother. There is a reference to her, 1789, in a manuscript. Her name was Bottoms,
which I believe meant "stamina" in Old English,
I'm not 100% certain on that. She never lost a race. Other than that,
and the fact that she's against an Italian
background, I believe,
that's all I know about her. APPRAISER:
It is a wonderful portrait, and as I'm sure you know, uh, British art history has
a great tradition of portraits, and that came to include
their animals, as well-- their dogs, their horses, and other livestock. Unfortunately,
the piece is not signed, but I would
date it to around 1830. And it's in the tradition
of the great animal artists such as George Stubbs, and continuing through artists
such as Gilpin. I don't believe the frame is
original to the piece. I suspect that it would
have been in a much more elegant frame than, than this
later 19th-century frame. In terms of
the value of the piece, even though it's unsigned, I think it's a great example of English
animal portraiture, and I would estimate it
at auction between $12,000
and $18,000. Good heavens--
unbelievable! Yes. She's come up a winner again. Yes, she has indeed,
bless her heart. I got it at an
living estate sale about two or three
years ago. It looked
like it was all original, and the color was, was great. I liked the little drawers
on it. Yeah. And then the way that, that
these things slide out, and that the tabletop
folds down. So this is the
writing surface, right? That's the writing surface. And it had some little cubbies
and some little drawers that were pretty attractive. And what'd you pay for it, may I ask? Uh, it was, I can't remember
exactly. It was, like, $200 to $250,
from what I remember. Okay, do you know where
it was made? I don't know where it was made, but the individual
that I bought it from, she was about 80 years old, and she was
from the New England area. Okay. And she said that she could
remember her dad writing on it, you know,
at night, and things like that when
she was growing up. Well, New England
makes a lot of sense, because this, stylistically,
is a Massachusetts child's desk-on-frame,
and actually, these are extremely
rare. This form
for children's furniture in the 18th century, in the,
in Colonial America, they hardly ever
turn up. Oh, really? They just didn't survive. Yes. And interestingly, we know
that they're coveted so much that, over the years,
we've seen pieces that, where they have
extended the base and raised the height of
a piece as the child gets older. Oh! This upper section, look at that wear. Look at the indentations
and all the marks. Yes. The beautiful patina,
the nail holes coming through from the hinges,
all that's great. Uh-huh. And if we pull out
this drawer, where the young student would,
would have kept their books, you know, in here,
papers, right? Okay, okay. All the, study the alphabet,
right? Look at that color. Yes. Just great oxidized pine,
white pine. White pine? Okay. Which also makes it
New England. Okay, yes. They're very typical
of New England. Yes. As was that shaping
on the interior. And actually,
the brass hardware on this, since I don't see
any holes in the back side, I think it may be original. Oh, original? Which is really great. Uh-huh. The moldings are all typical
Massachusetts. 1760, about. Wow. Now, if we could take
this desk, and you know this is in
two parts, we're going
to lift this up, please. You can put this down. I just want to take that,
and let's look at the base. Okay. Because these are in two parts,
it's always really important to inspect the base, because sometimes, these got
separated from each other. I can't even keep a pair of socks together to match,
so, you know... (laughs) So imagine keeping this
over this period of time. Yes. Let's turn it over. And these little chop marks,
there's lots of them here. You see that? Yes, I see that. And what that is, whenever
we see that on these legs, that's, uh, to induce wear. Someone's taken a piece of wood, and to make it look older... Oh! ...a faker
has actually marked it up and chopped all the same marks. But instead
of 200 years of age... Yes. ...it's, this is done in about
four minutes. Okay. All with the same tool. The person that made this was trying to deceive. Part of the deception here was that he used three pieces
of old wood, and all the rest of this
is fresh, brand-new wood at the time
he made it. And which of the piece is the... Exactly,
the pieces right here. The dark-colored
side rails are from an 18th-century table... Okay. ...made of maple. And look at
all that wear, it's all natural. Then you have the legs
made around it, and even faked the pins
and raised them up to make it look like
they shrunk and popped up. Oh, okay. The other thing is,
for something this old, the feet would be
reduced another half-inch. Just naturally, for a second
half of the 18th century piece, there'd be a lot more wear
in the feet. Okay, okay. Also, this curve from the feet
touching over, over the years,
the little feet, is actually
much too even. It should be very uneven,
it's just perfect. Okay. It was sanded down. And one mistake is on the back, where, look,
feet wouldn't touch it at all. Yeah. He sanded that down
and gave it wear. Okay. Okay? So what we have here is something that's
a period, 18th-century top... And it's a period,
18th-century top, the desk. And the bottom
was made probably in the 1920s or '40s. In the condition this is in,
I'd put an auction estimate on this piece
of about $1,500 to $2,500. Okay. Okay? Which isn't bad,
good profit. That's great, yeah,
that's great. But if this had been all original,
it's such a rare form... Uh-huh. ...it would have been about
$30,000 to $35,000. Wow! Had it had
the original base. With the original base... With the original base, but... it makes that much of a
difference. It, it really does. You've brought in a collection
of photographs by a very important
local photographer named Eugene Omar Goldbeck,
E.O. Goldbeck. Would you like
to tell me a bit about this? We arrived in San Antonio
in 1962. I would say around 1970, my husband started
collecting these, and I really don't know
where he got to meet Mr. Goldbeck the first time. But we went to his home, and he didn't consider
them art. He would just throw
them around. We bought some then,
we were invited to a party somebody gave where he was
selling them, he bought more. And over the years,
we just kept collecting them. What was your husband
paying for the photographs when he first started? Oh, to begin with,
probably ten dollars. Then you have about 25 of them
that you brought in? Oh, somewheres between 25 and
30, it's hard to count them. They're all rolled up,
and you can't... Yes. Well, we see a lot of these
rolled-up photographs which have been flattened
for presentation. Goldbeck was America's unofficial military
photographer. Correct. And this photograph
before us on the table, of the U.S.S. Saratoga
in the Panama Canal, shows the technique
that he used. He worked with a circuit camera, and the circuit camera was
a very special camera developed in the 1920s. Goldbeck used it from the 1920s
through the 1960s, and the camera swiveled
to take in large battleships, groups, and--
do you know this term that's associated
with Goldbeck? He was called a kidnapper? No, I never heard that. Well, apparently he would
steal photographs of groups of people, and then approach the individuals
in the groups individually... (laughs):
...so that he could make a
living selling the photographs. So when we look
at these photographs, one of the important features
about them is the signature that appears
in the lower right corner. Now, you had mentioned... Right. ...that your husband
specifically asked... Yes. ...Goldbeck... Mr. Goldbeck did not sign
the pictures, because he didn't think they
were anything but... just photographs. You know... And he wouldn't
buy them without it. So that signature is really unusual and very vital to establishing
the value of the pictures. Now, one other thing that I want to draw
to your attention is that these are modern prints. So the original negatives
may date in the, some cases,
from the 1920s... 1920s. ...1920s, but the photographs
themselves date from the 1970s. I understand that galleries representing
Goldbeck's work price the images
from $1,000 to $3,000. Depending, of course,
on their size... Size. ...depending on their age, and
depending on their condition. Because the images
are rolled up, sometimes they don't... They don't
look very good. (chuckles) In terms of the four pictures,
in a retail environment, I would say they would be in the
$4,000 to $6,000 price range. If you were to find
a collection of 25 Goldbeck images
in a retail setting, my sense is the value
would be somewhere between $20,000 and
$35,000 for the collection. Wow. This is a fantastic group
of photographs that couldn't
relate more to San Antonio. WOMAN:
They belonged to my mother's
great-aunt, who was from Dallas, and she married my mother's
great-uncle, who was from Corpus Christi, which is
where our family is from. And they had no children, and my grandmother
was the closest to them, and she inherited much of their
jewelry, and this necklace I've had for not that long--
it was my mother's before mine. I've always been told that they
were diamonds and sapphires, but I don't know whether they're
set in platinum or white gold. I have no idea if
the jewelry was inherited by my mother's great-aunt, or if my mother's great-uncle
bought it for her. Well, what we have
here is a lovely set of jewelry. This is from the late 1950s,
early 1960s. And what we have here is a necklace that's composed
of diamonds, multicolored sapphires,
and emeralds. So the blue stones
are sapphires, we have a violet-colored
sapphire, and a yellow sapphire. And these stones also
appear in the earrings, as well. Most of the sapphires
are from India. On the necklace here,
these sapphires are a square step cut, and these
can range in size from anywhere between two carats,
two-and-a-half carats, up to maybe three carats with
the larger stones in the center. When I inspected the piece, I would notice that the item
did bear the telltale signs of having been made
by an American company called Oscar Heyman. Now, the Heyman Company
goes back to 1912, when it was established
here in America, and it's one of the,
probably the last remaining continuous companies
that is manufacturing here in the United States
that's still family-owned. Huh, where are they based? And they're,
they're based out of New York City,
and they are known for this very high-end,
high craftsmanship. They still make all
their own metal, they mix their own alloys,
they make their own wire, and everything is hand-built. Wow. What also is unique about your necklace
is that here, we have the clasp, and there's an additional clasp
on the opposite side. So not only can you wear
this as a necklace, this breaks into two bracelets,
as well, which is a nice added feature. And Oscar Heyman
really pioneered this, what I call rainbow-type effect, using multicolored sapphires,
emeralds, and diamonds. This was sort of a trademark
for their jewelry from this time period. And they would have
been retailed by some of
the higher-end retail jewelers. Heyman did
work for Cartier, as well, because Cartier America didn't
have a complete workshop, so they would subcontract, so they would always go
to the best, and once again, it was Oscar Heyman
who was the best manufacturer. Is it white gold or platinum? This is platinum. Okay. And in terms of
replacement value on this as a set,
I would value this between $60,000
and $70,000. (laughs):
Wow. That's exciting. And you say the replacement
value, but at auction, is that what
it would go for, as well? Auction is a different value. The value at auction
would probably be somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000. Okay. Replacement is higher because
that's what would it cost to go into a store to buy a vintage set like this, from perhaps an antique
or estate jewelry buyer. Wonderful. PEÑA:
You're watching "Antiques
Roadshow: Vintage San Antonio." Can't get enough "Roadshow"? Find us at pbs.org/antiques
and on the PBS Video app. And follow @RoadshowPBS for
exclusive content, updates, and special features. Don't go away, the Feedback
Booth is right after this. PEÑA:
And now it's time for
the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth. My Steiff duck was
a disappointment. It's only, it's worth less than
what we bought it for, but we had fun getting it.
We love it. It's just a beautiful duck. And this is my Barbie doll
collection from 1961 forward. We brought the whole family
today. We have Ken and Barbie, Skipper, Midge, and Allen,
Ken's buddy. And these are the dolls
she never let me play with. (laughs) I came down here with my
Enid Collins collectibles. Turns out they're not very
valuable, but I still love them. They're very jolly!
(laughs) Today I brought, uh, my Mopar
parts catalogue glass collector set, and in standing in line,
waiting for a assessment, I turned the cups
around and realized-- 1995. I've got children older than
that, so not quite the antique. (laughs) The three of
us came to the Roadshow. She got so excited,
she lost her head. But even without her head, she's
worth more than what he brought. (chuckles) And I brought this,
what we thought was a bear claw. My dad got it in Alaska
while panning for gold in 1971. And it turns out that it is a 20,000- to 30,000-year-old
tooth, possibly woolly mammoth or
mastodon, worth $50. We brought in
Linda's grandfather's table. When I walked in the door,
I was a grumpy old man. Now I've discovered this table
is kind of worthless, and I'm a disillusioned
grumpy old man. (laughs) PEÑA:
Thanks for watching. See you next time
on "Antiques Roadshow." ♪ ♪
