If you were going on “Antiques Roadshow,” what item would you bring with you? What unusual or potentially valuable possession do you prize the most?
I would bring a framed picture that my mother gave me. It’s one of a set (my great-aunt has the other one) that was given to my Great-Grandmother as a wedding present. It’s a scene of a german castle painted on a mirror. Heavy gold frame. It’s pretty neat, but I have no idea of its history or worth.
My girl and I are renting an apartment from an older gentleman, and it contains many pieces of furniture and other items that have come down through his family, including a few antique pistols, a sword, and some pretty neat little knick-knacks. I don’t know any specific history attached to any of the pieces, but it might be fun to take them to see what they’re worth. Of course, we couldn’t get that excited little gleam in our eyes when the guy tells us that one just like it sold at auction for ten grand, since none of it is ours to begin with.
The oldest thing I personally own probably can’t be older than 10 years or so. I tend to throw stuff away if I haven’t used it in a while.
I have a paper towel daw-daw… and a stick.
Voted Best Sport
And narrowly averted the despised moniker Smiley Master
Forward deployed until 18AUG00
Chief - I don’t know what a “daw-daw” is, but it doesn’t sound very manly…
I have an old flip top desk, so old that there were no nails used in the construction. It’s all dovetail joints and wooden pegs. 'Course, we had it refinished, which makes it basically worth crap to a collector. But it looks good!
I also have a flintlock rifle that belonged to my great-grandfather. It looks to be in good working order, but I’m not going to be the one to test fire it!
First offer of USD 1 million gets the lot, including Chief’s “daw-daws”. What the heck , for a million I’ll include the Chief.
Sig! Sig a Sog! Sig it loud! Sig it Strog! – Karen Carpenter with a head cold
I’ve been living the life of a flea lately—E-mail’s down, I’m overworked over-committed and ready to crack.
But I had to quickly jump into this one! My Mom and I call each other after Antiques Roadshow every week to go, “wasn’t that vase hideous?” and “I’m so glad to see the twins back!”
Stuff I’d schlep in—
• A bronze calling-card receiver, c1918, very Art Nouveau. I think it was my grandparents’ wedding gift. I use it to keep my hairpins in, looks great on my 1920s vanity.
• Two very antique Chinese vases in bronze and silver (which my fthter turned into lamps in the 1940s and I delamped when I inherited them).
• A huge, heavy Kuan Yin statue that I hope is another Maltese Falcon and is stuffed with gems.
• My next-door neighbor, who’s got to be 110 years old if she’s a day.
I have a little wood statue of a boy sitting on the back of an animal. I’m no expert on anything, but it looks Chinese, it looks hand-carved, and it looks like it was once covered in gold but the gold has since been scraped off leaving just little flecks imbedded in the wood. My father ran a second hand shop and, also no expert, he figured it looked like “the real thing.” He wanted $150 for it. One neighbor who was knowledgable on art and antiques insisted it wasn’t worth $150, but was willing to pay $75. My dad figured if that guy was willing to pay that much, it must be worth more and wouldn’t part with it.
Of course, none of that really means much. Just a few weeks ago, someone on the Antiques Roadshow brought in a wall-hanging that a supposedly knowledgable friend had offered to pay $15,000 for. Turns out it was a cheap thing from the 1920’s not worth more than $25. So knowledgable friends aren’t always so knowledgable as they like to think.
Still, I’d like to find out when and where it was made, if it’s “the real thing” or just some art project with glitter stuck on it. And, I admit, if it is “the real thing,” I would like to know how much it’s worth. I’d like to know if $75 would have been a fair price after all or if it should have been closer to $750 or $7500 
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I have a set of three authentic Chinese name stamps which I scored at an antique show. I’ve got a good idea of their value (roughly $600), but I’d take them just for fun anyway.
– Sylence
If a bird doesn’t sing, I’ll wait until it sings.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu
There was a guy here who posted that he went to the Roadshow & it was horrid. So I don’t plan to
I have a ticket to an Illinois vs. Michigan game, circa 1920. It’s the one where Red Grange scored a couple dozen touchdowns against them. Wouldn’tcha know it, it’s also autogrpahed by Red Grange (Red & GreatGrandpaRasta were fraternity brothers at the University of Illinois).
I’m guessing it’s worth half a million. :rolleyes:
A circa 1860’s Story and Clark Pump Organ
( NO…that’s not a sex toy of yesteryear, you pervs.)
Nothing that would set the antiques world a-twitter (I don’t think) but 2 neat things:
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a doggie doorknob; found it in the attic, mounted on the original big front doors. Some philistine can slopped paint all over it, but underneath…ah!
A doorknob with an ornate edging and recessed in the middle is the head and 2 front paws of a dog. (The builders of the house were dog lovers; kismet!) It looks like the pooch is peering from the center of the knob.
Failing to find matching doorknobs at antiques stores, etc. we contacted the company that made it. (Obviously they are still in business.) Turns out the pooch doorknob is a collector’s item; they offered $5K for it over the phone.
I wouldn’t sell it for the world. -
a Rookwood vase from the early 20’s; soft blue, taupe and cream; sorta misty looking. I gave it to my sister last year; it had belonged to our great-aunt.
One thing I do wonder about (sorry, this is getting long…): a parlor set found in a small town antique store; loveseat and 4 chairs. The upholstery is relatively new and yucky, but the lines and wood are gorgeous. On the back of each piece is small wooden medallion with a musical instrument painted on.
Oh, yeah…and another “prowling-around” found chair. Yucky upholstery, but a woman’s face is carved on the top. I call it the “Louisa May Alcott” chair because the face is Victorian stern. (Actually her prominent nose catches you square between the shoulder blades is you lean back. But ladies weren’t supposed to slump anyway…)
{blush} Sorry, that really rambled. As you can see, I haven’t the faintest clue as to value, and buy by decidedly eccentric tastes.
Going away now,
Veb
Like Dr. Jackson, we probably “ruined” our only antique by refinishing it – but the finish was just too dark.
It’s an oak library table. There’s a carved lion’s head (kinda sphinx-like) at the top of each leg, curved legs, claw feet, one drawer. Picked it up at an estate auction. We’ve never seen another like it, but then, we live in Iowa.
Sorry, minor hijack here…
Reading Dr. J’s and Auntie Pam’s posts, what say you all about “resale value” and “living value”?
The scale of age was brought home to me when showing a Confederate cemetery to an Israeli friend. She happily snapped photos and said, “I can’t wait to show them to my family back in Jerusalem!” Reality check time.
Face it, us New World folks just don’t have all that damned much that’s that old. Some things are no-brainers, like the Ex’s great-great whatever hope chest with rosemaling (sp?).
But the stuff, guff and everyday stuff is hard to guess. And I’m not talking Batman lunchboxes or Spring Bride Barbies here.
True story: all of the assorted crap in the house, the one thing that’s lubed antique dealers’ glands is my gg-mother’s punched tin pie safe. The thing is a family joke. My mom stored motor oil and gardening supplies in it. We hauled it out to the curb at least 3 times and no one would take it.
I hauled it back for sentimental reasons, had the archeaological layers of paint stripped off, and finished it off w/ hot tung oil. Now the “antique freaks” lather over it. But it’s just common, functional family stuff that still in usage.
If we’re fighting igorance here, where does the line get drawn between “market value” and everyday (future market?) evaluations of commonplace stuff?
Veb
I have some really old rocks. That’s about it. I never inherited anything in my life, and everything I saved from childhood was destroyed in a flood.
I do have a really old neighbor, I could bring in for the show.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
An old bible, printed in what looks like German by some guy named Guttenberg. I doubt it is worth much because some guy named Martin Luther has scribbled all over it.
Let’s see - a sterling silver telephone dialer with a Tiffany mark. A 19th century US cavelry sabre. A small stone lamp salvaged from a modern (20th c) trash midden in northern Italy, a ‘knowledgable friend’ thinks its Etruscan. A 19th century English sword cane (broken). An 18th c. lock for a musket with gunflint - but not the gun they were once attached to (worn). And more 19th and early 20th c. ceramics than I know what to do with.
All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.
I was kind of thinking about this myself. If I had saved every little toy and trinket that I ever had since I was a wee lad and kept them all in pristine condition, might I be able to sell them all and retire rich in another forty years?
Is that an obscure <I> Breakfast at Tiffany’s </I> reference, or are you being serious?
The two oldest things I own are:
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A case from what was originally an 80386.
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My daily driver 1967 VW Beetle. Pretty good condition and getting much better now that I own it.