On the road...to the Antiques Roadshow

I've mentioned ad nauseum that I scored tickets to the Antiques Roadshow in Atlantic City. And now I'm (finally!) back to tell you how the day went.

Once the (free!) tickets arrived in the mail, the pressure was on. Did I even HAVE anything worthy of the appraisers' keen eyeballs? I certainly didn't want to embarrass myself. Considering I buy most of my "treasures" from yard sales and the like, I wasn't expecting a windfall. Though I'd be lying if I didn't say that the retired teacher with the Secaucus, NJ, $25 yard sale table that made the Keno brothers almost vomit with excitement wasn't in the back of my mind. (If you're not a Roadshow Stalker like me, her "moldy" -- her words -- table was appraised by Keno Squared for $200,000 to $300,000.)



I mentioned I would likely bring my Napoleon picture from The Napoleon Room (click here for that post)...

...and I did.

Mom carefully loaded up her grandmother's china into her roller bag.


And it was time to take our show (and our stuff) on the road(show)!

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when we arrived to a line that looked like this:

But I was, a little. Note how it snakes back and forth, back and forth....the whole circumference of the convention center. For ONCE I wore sensible shoes. Phew!

The good news is, those Roadshow folks are incredibly organized. You have a time on your ticket (ours was 3:00 p.m.) and were strongly discouraged from arriving more than 30 minutes prior to your assigned time. The room was divided into hourly sections so you didn't get to jump the line if you got there hours in advance.

The wait on line was only a bit over an hour, and I have to say it was just about the most entertaining hour of my life. The crap stuff people brought! You also had to carry in whatever your brought, so there were a lot of huge pieces on some interestingly jury-rigged devices (little red wagons linked together with boat rope, for example).

There were lots and lots of rocking chairs, like this one:

And this doll would have creeped me out as-is; the fact that she was seat belted into a doll's stroller...well, I'm just grateful there weren't nightmares starring Dolly.

I really liked this horse, and the woman to whom it belonged:

She had great stories of antiquing expeditions in New Hope, PA. I was sorry I lost track of her inside...I was curious to see how much the horse was worth. She bought it for $200, which at the time was a "whole lot of money" for her. She'd since been told never to sell it for less than $5,000 and she wasn't sure whether that was a load of horse poop or not.

Could this be the next $300,000 table?

And look...Napoleon found a mate:

The owner wasn't sure of the origin or context (in French, mais oui) of the letter, and I couldn't seem to make out a signature. It seemed to be some sort of formal accolade "to" Napoleon, but I'm not sure it was actually to the little big man himself. But she was hopeful like the rest of us.

Each person was allowed to bring two things, so I also brought my grandma's wedding jewelry. It had never been appraised and I was curious more than anything. Isn't it pretty? It's not very old, only from the early 1940s, but very sparkly.

I also took along my great-grandmother's bracelet. I figured this to be Art Deco, and always thought it was pretty and unique. I just wanted to know a bit about the history. "But Laura, that's three items." Shh! Don't tell. I'd "group" it. Or something.

Once you got to the head of the line, you were briefly assessed and given tickets for the categories that most matched your items. Separate and much shorter lines formed inside on the TV set, and we decided to head to "Jewelry" first.

Virginia Salem got out her loupe and other fancy tools of the trade. She told me the main diamond was about .7 carats, and "good" (note lack of enthusiasm. At least I did.). That's when Ginny "Knock-the-wind-from-your-sails" Salem let me have it. "...probably $800 at auction." WHAT? For diamonds mounted in platinum? Was she kidding? She was, right? (Note to the ladies out there: Getting engaged? Buy your rings at auction! Save a LOT of money.). She told me due to the current value of platinum, I could pop the diamond out and get around $200-$250 for the mount alone. The wedding band is simply an "accent ring" and that would be about $125, again mostly for the platinum. She also said the insurance value for the set is significantly higher, about $1800. At least I think that's what she said. "Big difference, right?" Whatever.

Not that I'm ever planning on selling the rings, but I guess -- given what I know sort-of run-of-the-mill rings to cost -- I thought it would be quite a bit more. Did I mention it sparkles?!

She told me the bracelet was something that was produced in New York City in the 1920s, which makes total sense (my great-grandmother was living in Brooklyn in the 20s). They were quite common at the time, and designed to look like platinum but made with white gold to create the look for less. She pegged that at around $350, which didn't seem so bad to me. Again, they're not for sale but now I know. TO SHOP AT AUCTIONS!

Anyway...next stop: "The Pottery and Porcelain" line with mom.

The Limoges fruit set was a wedding gift her grandmother received (my great-grandma, whose bracelet I brought), and perhaps never even used. It is in pristine condition and missing no pieces.

Appraiser Christopher Lane immediately dated them to the 1890s, but despite that we could tell from his tone that things were about to head south. He spoke of how transferware was a popular technique at the time and "unfortunately, that's what we see a lot of here." Ouch. Basically, the images are applied -- transferred -- to the pieces, then passed through another factory (which is why you often see china that is double, triple, etc. stamped on the back) where someone applies some quick and basic hand painted brush strokes to it. Just enough to warrant the "hand painted" seal on the back of the pieces. At auction: 60 bucks. WHAT? OK, I've been to auctions and have seen crappier slightly inferior looking sets go for more.

Almost reluctantly, mom pulled out a little bowl (which I forgot to take pictures of). It's got some chipping, and is quite small (about 4 inches diameter) but she's always been fascinated by the images on it -- one side has what is clearly an old airplane, the other an auto. Her uncle was a huge collector and had held on to this piece. My mom told Christopher she was more curious than anything about what the pictures represented. "Now THIS is an interesting piece!" He went on (and on) about how it was a Dutch piece (uncle was Dutch, and his friend Reinhardt used to bring back bits and bobs for him from Holland), and the mark that was fading off read "Bleriot." Louis Bleriot was an aviator who invented the monoplane, and was the first to fly across a large body of water (the English Channel). The bowl was some kind of commemorative piece, and Christopher wasn't sure what the automobile represented and suggested I look it up (I Googled, to no avail). He said even in its condition, it would fetch $80 to $120 at auction, and higher if it were the right audience. Considering my mom was going to sell it at a yard sale for 50 cents, I'd say that's good.

We weren't allowed to take photos inside since the TV cameras were rolling, but I did manage to sneak a shot or two. I call this one "Stalking the Keno Bros."

There was a lot going on there on the main floor. I did get to see a man find out his very bizarre and intricate life-size wood carving with serpent heads (I couldn't possibly describe this object well. You'll have to watch the show in 2010 to see for yourself) was worth $30,000 to $50,000. That was actually pretty fun to watch, and the appraiser was even more excited than the owner (he posed for his own personal photos with it). And we were told someone had brought a painting earlier that was worth $300,000. You would have had to scrape me off the floor.

Next it was finally time for Napoleon, who at this point in the day had his photo taken by several people. He was a bit of a star, and I think he'd be happy to know the ladies really seemed to dig him.

Appraiser Nicholas Dawes seemed to dig him, too. He said he'd never seen a Napoleon engraving exactly like this one. (I asked, "Do you mean that in a good way?" He smiled and said, "it's a nice piece.") He said the small images that surround Napoleon are called reliefs, and while not uncommon there were more than is typical on mine. He dated it to the 40s ("Oh," I said. "The 1840s," he quickly added. "OH!" That's better.). Since it's framed he wasn't able to see any marks to indicate where it came from. He put the price at about $400 which I think is quite good for an engraving. And much more than I paid for it.

But a day at the Antiques Roadshow with mom: Priceless.