Antiques Roadshow, anyone? I need an object...

Here's an article from Mashable about AR's most valuable items. I watched the baseball card one. That was amazing. Maybe something in Mashable's list will spur an idea.

I used to watch that show all the time.

It really depends how valuable the item needs to be.

A couple of thousand?

How bout a piece of American art pottery?

A vase made by Newcomb Pottery can go into the ten thousands or more. (Cheaper ones can be very unassuming and small.)

This one is extraordinary.
http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2009/07/post_26.html

The elusive George Ohr (Known as the mad potter of Biloxi) is a good choice because his stuff kind of looks like a student art project gone wrong, but collectors go nuts for it. His pieces start in the thousands and go up from there. They are also pretty rare.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/se...orge-ohr-log-cabin-inkwell-ca-1895--201404W04

The big surprises often came in the form of furniture. The Keno brothers go bonkers if you bring in some kind of furniture that turns out to be made by Duncan Phyfe. I think someone brought in a sewing table in once that turned out to be worth in the hundreds of thousands.

The one that I found most unusual was the Navaho chief's blanket worth half a million (and now worth a million).

The other most odd item that was worth a lot of money was the 19th-Century Folk Art Jug worth 50K (now worth $100K).

Not to be confused with the big mistake when the appraiser mistook a recent high school art jug for an antique.

I've seen some "costume jewelry" that turned out to be pretty substantial real-deal stuff, and a few "meh" vases/ceramics that were highly valuable collector's items... and it's not uncommon to see people show up on AR and similar shows having been told their item was worthless by other dealers/appraisers only to find out differently on the show (and vice-versa.)

I've also seen some stuff that, while valuable, was such a unique or odd sell that it wasn't worth as much monetarily as one might think; one old lady was particularly irked about her fancy showpiece table not being worth more than its very-substantial appraisal, simply because it was such a hard item to find a place for and match to decor that buyers - who ultimately determine prices - wouldn't be likely to pony up more cash for it. And market values also fluctuate, sometimes wildly, depending on collector demand or marketplace supply; dumping a large cache of shipwreck doubloons on the market will drive down prices substantially.

What kind of item are you looking for - something big, like a large painting or piece of furniture, or something portable? What location or era? For instance, if the story was set in an era before the Rookwood pottery, having a valuable Rookwood vase isn't particularly plausible. And you also get lots of stuff handed down -say, a rare item from an Italian jeweler in a region with many second/third-generation Italian immigrant families - so that might affect how this Macguffin got to be in your character's hands.

For shows other than AR to look up when researching what kind of odd and valuable things are sitting in plain sight, maybe take a look at Pawn Stars (which used to be kinda interesting when it was more about what turned up at the shop) or American Pickers (also used to be more interesting when they weren't doing silly things with the pickers.)

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

My parents found an antique Ghoirdes prayer rug -- easy to identify if you're an expert and yes, valuable -- in someone's garage. Think they paid the guy $3 to rescue it. It wouldn't be identifiable on the camera if it were rolled up, but it would if it were displayed. My folks were robbed because they owned a very valuable Kashan carpet (4' x 6' IIRC).

The deal with antiques is that value goes up and down depending on what's in fashion.

Of course, you might have the Rembrandt that was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum, but that might be a different story.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

I remember the Navajo rug episode! Such a plain looking object - you'd think it was common enough - but sometimes it's the history and condition that makes a difference.

A Tiffany lamp might be a good one, depending on what you need, because there are so many 'Tiffany-look' imitations that a casual thief or observer might well have got it wrong, in either direction.

(The ones I feel bad about are the huge, gorgeous pieces of furniture, made of wonderful wood, with masterful workmanship, that are practically unsaleable because most houses are too small for them and styles have changed.)

Rarely watch it, but do remember one from years back about a lovely bracelet - square polished pieces of multicoloured glass mounted so they formed a flexible band (chain between). Turned out the glass was Roman and the bracelet was very valuable. (Tried googling with Antiques Roadshow but you'd have to watch an episode to find it.) It was in its way a bit of a downer as the owner had worn it a lot up to that point and was now wondering if she should.

You've gotten good suggestions for your item. If you want to know the actual process of attending Roadshow, I was just there on Aug 13 in Salt Lake City. I'd be happy to give you a recap of how it works.

MM

I grew up watching antiques roadshow but try as I might I can't remember a single damned one of them, even the ones filmed in the home town where I knew some of the participants, now just mist. Scary.

Ming Dynasty porcelain

There's a lot, it's worth thousands per piece and it's recognizable

http://www.christies.com/features/Chinese-Ceramics-Collecting-Guide-7224-1.aspx

Look around the Christies site in general; items are described, have images and values

My most jaw dropping Antiques Roadshow episode was when a guy brought in a WWI recruitment poster showing a drowning woman underwater after the Luisitania was sunk. The appraiser said "As of 30 minutes ago, there were 19 of these in existence. You own the 20th. A value cannot be placed on this."

In about Feb they post the list of cities and dates on their website. You can then apply for tickets. Tickets are free, handed out by lottery. Only one entry per city per email address or they will discard all your entries for that city. They have about a six week or so window to apply. In early May you will get an email with a link to see if you got tickets. In our case I didn't get selected for Palm Springs CA on Aug 6, but my brother got selected for Salt Lake City on Aug 13. We had decided to do both if we got tickets for both. Your tickets are for a specific time. Tickets are mailed to you about three weeks ahead of your city. They start allowing people in at 9am and go to 5pm. Each person selected gets two tickets. You have to bring at least one item per ticket, but not more than two. A set (teapot with matching cups, 6 pocket watches, etc) counts as one item.

You can get in line about half an hour before your designated time. It only took us about 15 minutes to get to the head of the line. As you are approaching the head of the line volunteers come by and tell you to unwrap your item. At the head of the line are about five tables. You tell the volunteer what you brought and they give you a little bookmark type slip with a category printed on it. I had one for china and one for books and manuscripts. Then another volunteer escorts you over to your first category line.

The china line was fairly short, about 15 minutes. There were cafeteria type tables set up, with three people appraising china items. That process took about 10 minutes, ultimately disappointing value wise, but I learned some things I didn't know before.

Then off to the books and manuscripts line. It was loooong! Took about two hours to get to the front. The appraiser was very nice. Told him what I knew about my book and he hopped on his laptop and started poking around various sites. After about 15 minutes he said he couldn't find anything I didn't already know, and suggested the guys in militaria might be more helpful. Gave me a 'hall pass' so I could go to the front of the militaria line and had a volunteer escort me over there. That guy was able to give me some more info, and a nice appraisal.

Then I was done. Brother was also done. We neither one will be on TV. And we opted to skip the feedback booth.

For those who were chosen to be filmed for the broadcast there was an area set up with a tall display table and a couple of tallish stools and cameras all around.

All in all it was a fun experience, and I'll be applying for tickets again next year, depending on where they are going.

MM

My sibs and I went to the Antique Road Show in 2008. It was held in Wichita. We applied for tickets well in advance--I want to say 5 or 6 months. The tickets were free but later people were scalping them.

We inherited a house full of junk and were wondering what to do with it: -a fur jacket that went to the 1917 Rose Bowl on our great grandmother's shoulders, boxes of old, wooden, hand crank telephones--Like the one June Lockhart used to call the sheriff when Timmy and lassie didn't come home from the blueberry bog. My sister took some garage sale wedge wood that turned out to be the real deal.

It was a blast. We could each bring three items. I chose aring, a marble and a painting that my mom bought from an antique store (Not only was it worthless, it made the art appraiser cringe!) My brother made it onto the blue carpet with a toy Pepsi truck in mint condition. It carried dozens of clear plastic bottles in tiny cartons--144 bottles because Grandma always made us count them and no one left that room until every bottle was in its carton! The truck was still in its box and not one chip in the paint. The family joke was that our grandmother never let us play with our toys so they were like new. This one ended up being fairly valuable. If you watch the Wichita episode you will see my brother being interviewed. I picked out the shirt he is wearing. (You should have seen what he was going to wear!)

My sister had our grandmother's wedding china--Bavarian. The family treasure, carefully wrapped and carried from farm to city in a wagon, from Ellinwood Kansas to Las Animas, Colorado, through a dust storm and in a model T. Then the china went back to Kansas and then to Spring Texas. It was always painstakingly wrapped and kept in a china cabinet. No one ever remembers it being used because of its great value. Turns out it is pretty much worthless--about 10$ a place setting. It would be funny except that when her house in Texas was flooding and my sister had to evacuate, she chose the china over their new Gateway Computer. She still gets spitting mad when she thinks of the computer floating away while she stashed the china in the attic.

I took a ring--5 tiger eye opals --that my aunt and uncle had brought me from Thailand. I got to meet the jewelry guy and we had a nice talk. It appraised exactly as our hometown jeweler had appraised it. The surprise was a marble that I picked out of a drawer just as we were leaving. It had Sandy. Orphan Annie's dog on it. There had been maybe twenty of them in a bag of marbles I inherited from my Dad. Little Orphan Annie, Punjab, Daddy Warbucks--lots of characters in cute line drawings on white marbles. The toy guy was pretty excited. This one marble was worth 75$ and If I could make a whole set of them...! Unfortunately the other 19 or so marbles were scattered in yards and storm drains up and down 26th street in Great Bend, Kansas. And had been for forty years.

If you want a surprising big price object, try old marbles. --s6

On personal experience, I've become my mother's personal antique glass googler, and I've taken to scrounging it up myself at the local thrift stores. She collects a lot of carnival, milk, and blue glass, which often kind of has a really heavy 70s cheap kitsch vibe to it. I'll find something that's priced $7-8, google it right there in the store, and find it's worth much more. I picked up a relish tray for $4 last year, and the cashier apparently knew what was up because she made this face :O at the price tag.

Pottery - especially things like bowls that tend to get overlooked - when people think of expensive pottery they tend to think of vases and not the old dish they throw their keys into every day.

I caught a couple of minutes of a show the other day - not sure what it was called but it was some auction show my dad was watching - and this woman had a picture she was looking to sell and was hoping for a couple of thousand so she could pay the deposit on her new rented flat - and she looked like she was about to shit herself when the guy gave her an estimate of a quarter of a million.

Sometimes it's not even what the object is, but who owned it that can add to it's value.

Here are a few from Antiques Roadshow Uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...treasures-found-on-the-Antiques-Roadshow.html

shakeysix said:

My sister had our grandmother's wedding china--Bavarian. The family treasure, carefully wrapped and carried from farm to city in a wagon, from Ellinwood Kansas to Las Animas, Colorado, through a dust storm and in a model T. Then the china went back to Kansas and then to Spring Texas. It was always painstakingly wrapped and kept in a china cabinet. No one ever remembers it being used because of its great value. Turns out it is pretty much worthless--about 10$ a place setting. It would be funny except that when her house in Texas was flooding and my sister had to evacuate, she chose the china over their new Gateway Computer. She still gets spitting mad when she thinks of the computer floating away while she stashed the china in the attic.

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I always think that there's what something is worth, and then there's what it's worth to YOU.

hi
I don't know anything about Antiques Roadshow . But I have an interest in carpets. Some are so faded and tatty , could easily be thrown in a skip .

10 Most Expensive Carpets in the World