MARK WALBERG: "Antiques Roadshow" is thrilled to be finding tons of treasures in Portland, Oregon.
She has a little squeaker.
(doll squeaks) I didn't even know.
Oh, my heavens.
That is stunning.
♪ ♪ WALBERG: In the heart of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, "Roadshow" discovered the Lan Su Chinese Garden.
A tranquil escape from the bustling city outside its walls, the Ming Dynasty-style garden is one of about seven Chinese gardens in the country.
It was built by artisans from Suzhou, China.
This waterfall is cascading over Taihu stones, a highly prized limestone.
Back at the Roadshow, we'll see objects made from another type of valuable stone later in the show.
But right now, you may want to sit down for the news about this mid-century settee.
I got this piece from the Hefner Mansion in Chicago when the contents were sold to the faculty at the School of the Art Institute.
And I was faculty at the School of the Art Institute at the time, so we got first crack at the contents of the Hefner Mansion when it was being sold, and was able to get this piece and the matching chair and ottoman.
How much did you pay for all of it?
If I remember correctly, at the time, all three pieces were $1,000.
And what year was that?
I want to say it was 1990 or 1991.
So this was designed by Eero Saarinen.
One of his most famous works is the St. Louis Gateway Arch.
And also, many people who have traveled have gone through Dulles International Airport and the TWA Terminal at JFK.
He's primarily known today as an architect, but because he grew up on the campus of Cranbrook that his father ran, he had architecture and design in his blood.
Eero Saarinen is one of the few architects or designers of the 20th century that was a son or daughter of a famous designer that actually eclipsed their father's success.
Eero, who died very young in 1961, had already accomplished so much in a very short period of time to become one of the best-known architects in America working at that period.
This is what's known as the Womb Settee or the Womb Sofa.
It was meant to associate you with this comfortable, enclosed, maternal sort of enveloping.
It's based on a design that was first released by Knoll in 1948 called the Womb Chair.
The settee is basically a stretch version.
The settee is meant for two people.
And now I've got all these images of two people at the Playboy Mansion sitting in this, and you can imagine bunnies and businessmen and Hef and his cohorts cavorting... You can imagine, indeed.
(laugh) Hefner was very interested in interior design.
And in his magazine, he actually did a double-page spread, a centerfold, if you will, of designers such as Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, Jens Risom, and others that gathered together at the Playboy Studios.
Fabulous.
And it's a double-page centerfold spread in "Playboy" about furniture and design.
Because these were made for a long period, collectors tend to want ones that are the rarest, meaning the ones from the earliest period.
And we know that this is pretty much the middle period for a number of reasons.
Number one, it has a label.
This is a Knoll Associates label, with a New York address.
and we think that this label was used between about 1950 and late 1970s.
Also, we've got hand-stitching around this edge, because to get this curve just right was very difficult and almost impossible for machining.
Another element that sticks out as middle-period is these self-leveling floor glides.
Originally, this leg would terminate in a flat welded disc.
This is how they make them today.
We know that this piece was made sometime after 1950.
The design of the sofa was actually intentionally casual.
It was meant for someone to sit on so that you could change positions regularly, so you would be more comfortable.
I'll demonstrate.
Many times, chairs were designed to sit straight up.
but he actually designed this, with these arms and this back, so that you could be a little bit more casual and put a leg over the side.
Was it in this condition when you bought it?
More or less.
It's been part of my home for all that time since.
It's endured kids and cats and the daily wear of just being part of the family.
So if we didn't know anything about the provenance, in this condition, I would say it was worth about $1,800.
I think with the provenance, at a well-publicized auction, just this piece alone I would say would easily sell between $4,000 and $6,000.
And for a "Playboy" collector, or if we could find some really great images of this in the mansion, I think you could see this maybe going up to the low $10,000 figure.
Wow, wow.
This painting is by Iberê Camargo.
He was a great friend of mine.
Many, many, many years I was friends with the family.
And when he painted this, I was having a cup of coffee with his wife.
He was painting a huge thing, and I didn't realize he was doing something on the side, which was me.
And so when it was ready, he brought it over and he said, "I painted you, here it is."
I had no words, of course.
I said, "Well, leave it here in his studio to dry it up."
And his wife said, "No, no, no, "you take it right now, because tomorrow "it's going to be totally different.
He'll change it overnight."
And it was fun.
He was a great person.
Incredible person.
So that's how "Zoila" appeared.
So you mentioned the name of the painting.
Yes.
I'm going to flip this over so we can take a look at the back here.
Okay.
And maybe I could get you to provide for us some instant translation here.
(laughs): It says, "Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre."
It's a city down south of Brazil.
"7 August 1982."
"To Zoila, with love," his signature, and the date.
The painting is oil on canvas.
And unlike some of things here on the "Roadshow," it's very clear who it's of, when it was done, who did it.
He's a fascinating artist, as you know.
Arguably the most important Brazilian Expressionist painter.
Right.
Someone who has a national and international following.
Like many artists of the period, in 1948, he did travel to Europe to study the Great Masters.
And I think some of that influence is visible here in the portrait.
De Chirico, specifically, was a large influence, as was the Italian painter Carlo Petrucci and André Lhote.
This painting is not typical of works done in this period.
Right.
So clearly something that you inspired that day.
At auction, we think, conservatively, the value is in the realm of $12,000 to $18,000.
That's more than I expected.
That's very nice.
When you look at the other works that he's doing at the same time, like the large works, we're seeing prices for pictures like that north of $300,000.
Wow-- I'm so happy for him.
I mean, he's gone, but he still lives in our hearts.
This was going to be the RFK sign.
And because he died before the convention, they converted it to a McCarthy, and it was signed by Ethel Kennedy.
Oh, my goodness!
We have a lot of things-- his mother was a delegate.
That's great.
APPRAISER: It kept accurate time upright, but they also had to make sure that it kept accurate time in all these different positions, so that gravity didn't change time.
The gold-filled watches are very tough in the secondary market.
However, when you have a railroad-grade model like this, the collectors now like it because of that fine-quality movement.
APPRAISER: A lot of the metalwork artists that were making sword fittings during the Edo Period who were disenfranchised because they couldn't make swords anymore come the Meiji period, they were retooled to be artisans, who would then make things like this for the West.
So you're looking at, like, $200 to $300.
Okay.
Great, thank you-- I'm happy to know what it is.
WOMAN: I purchased it at a yard sale.
And I have a few Indian baskets, so I saw this and I loved it.
And it was $50.
Well, the basket is from the Aleutian Islands, and it is from one of the big islands, Atka.
Each of the islands had a different style of weaving, and this, because of the beach grass, woven a little different.
It is from the island of Atka.
This basket is circa 1900 to 1920.
Wow.
It is very unusual to have all those figures on the basket.
You have the birds, and then you have the men in the boats.
Yes, yes.
Just delightful.
And very, very little moth damage.
Oh, okay.
Because that does hurt the basket.
I personally have never seen anything in this good of condition for what it is.
Oh!
A basket like this, the insurance value would be $6,500.
Wow.
Yes.
Wow.
It is wonderful.
Wow.
So you're the matriarch of a family here in Oregon who really likes their sports.
We do, I am.
I'm representing my husband.
He didn't want to stand in line, so that's why I'm here with his treasures.
And these are carvings representing the Pacific Coast Conference Mascots.
And your husband played college football-- he played for Oregon State.
He played.
The Beaver mascot was awarded at a football banquet, but the rest of them represent each one of the teams that they played while he was playing.
And you attended college, you attended Oregon State, as well?
I did not-- I was working while he went to college.
Okay, so you were supporting him.
Yes, I did.
And to commemorate his playing days, you purchased all of these, with the exception of the beaver front and center.
Right.
How much did these cost when you originally purchased them?
I really can't remember what I paid, but it had to be very minimal, because we had no money.
And so here we have carvings from Carter Hoffman, who was a Los Angeles-based craftsman famous for his carvings of mascots from collegiate football teams.
So you've got eight nice examples from the Pacific Coast Conference.
Today they're the Pac-12.
It went from the Pacific Coast Conference to the Pac-10 to the Pac-12.
We've got Washington State Cougars, we got the USC Trojan, we've got the University of Washington... Huskies.
...Huskies.
We've got the UCLA Bruins, the Oregon Ducks.
There's your Beavers, your Oregon State Beavers.
The Idaho Vandals.
Idaho Vandals, and the...
The Stanford...
It was the Stanford Indians.
Today they are the Cardinals.
The eight of these you procured between 1949 and 1952?
It had to be between the timeframe of 1949 and '52, because those were the years he played.
They've been kept in pretty good shape.
The color is beautiful.
They're in immaculate condition.
You've done a really nice job taking care of these over the years.
And at auction, we think they're valued between $300 and $500.
Okay.
All together, you've got $2,400 or $4,000 total.
Okay.
Okay?
Okay.
But again... Well, that's great, but they're priceless to us and our family, so.... Of course, of course.
And I bet your husband is proud that you've got his Beaver here front and center.
He is.
We're proud of him.
MAN: I inherited it from my mom when she passed away in 2006.
APPRAISER: Okay.
MAN: She inherited it from her father.
We're not too sure how he got it.
It's a lithograph by Pablo Picasso.
You can see printed in the lithographic stone, it's dated from July-- that's "juillet"-- 1950.
Yeah, yeah.
And the Roman numeral is a first version of this.
The title of the print is the "Colombe en Vol" in the black background.
So it's the dove in flight, dark background.
He was nearly 70 years old.
Wow.
And it's not surprising that he moved to a subject and a theme like this, the dove of peace.
Right, that's right.
He had lived through, like many in his generation, two world wars, the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, and at this point, we're at the outset of the Korean War.
Right.
And he's sending this out to the world as a famous artist as a symbol of peace.
It is a limited edition, as most of his lithographs were.
Right.
And you can see down here in the lower left corner, it's pencil-numbered 7/50.
It's in great shape.
I would put a replacement value or insurance value on this at $40,000.
Oh, my gosh!
Oh, my gosh.
Wow.
So my husband and I were doing some shopping up in Spokane, Washington, and decided to pop into a thrift store.
And this map, it was kind of tucked away in the back of the store, and it immediately caught my eye because I had never seen California depicted as an island before.
Right, and we can see that right here.
California is shown as a separate island.
Yes.
And so I just liked the uniqueness of it, I liked the vibrant colors, so I bought it on a whim for $13.
My husband thought I was a little crazy at the time, because he did not think it was a legitimate piece.
So we brought it home, popped it out of the frame, and when we saw it was at least printed on real paper, went back and bought its mates.
Now, what do you mean, you saw that it was printed on real paper?
Well, it just seemed to have the fine texture and the grains that we would expect, and not just a print.
Assuming they're originals...
Assuming.
Or if they are originals, what do you know about them?
So the one of the Americas, I believe the cartographer is Schagen, if I'm saying that correctly, and I believe he worked in Amsterdam.
And so if this is legitimate, I believe it came from an atlas that dates back to 1671.
This one I know less about.
I think the cartographer is Ortelius, and that it might pre-date the one of the Americas.
I recognize the images.
They're actually fairly famous maps.
So what do you look at?
You look at paper, but they're framed, okay, so that's hard.
So what do you look at?
You look at a couple of things.
One is, you look at plate marks.
There is a plate mark around each image, and that's a very close little edge right around the image, and that's from the copper plate.
Okay.
And one other thing is, on original maps is, the plate mark is very close to the image, because they didn't waste metal.
On reproductions, the plate mark is usually further away, so that's a clue.
Okay.
These had the close plate mark-- that's good.
Then you look at the centerfold, because they should've been issued in atlases.
You look here, and you can kind of see a centerfold.
The problem is that if you have a reproduction, you take a picture of a map with a centerfold, they're going to print the image of the centerfold.
So let's look at it.
And we'll just slide it right out here.
And then we'll put it back up.
Now, what you looked at was the texture of the paper.
and unfortunately, it's been taped all around.
Yes.
So you can't lift it up and hold it up to light, which is what you really want to do.
But you're right-- you can see there's kind of a texture to it.
Also, if you look at it closely, you can really see that is a centerfold.
It's an original.
That's fantastic.
So this is an original.
And you were right-- it's from 1671.
That was when they first came out.
They issued them over a number, a period of years.
The color, which you like, is later.
Okay.
This is not original color-- it's just not appropriate.
I know that.
Okay.
Very good map.
Do you have any idea on value?
When I saw a black-and-white copy, I believe it went for $1,300 at an auction house.
Even if the color's not original, it does add value.
Fantastic.
You're probably looking at a map, if you remove the tape and fix it up, that's going to be worth about $1,600.
Wow.
In a retail environment, this map, in this condition, which does have problems, is probably worth about $1,200.
Okay.
Now, the Ortelius.
Yes.
That is also probably added color-- it's not appropriate.
Okay.
Ortelius, it is earlier.
It was originally issued in 1570, but the earlier editions have a bump on South America.
This particular one would be 16th-century.
If you look at the back and you look at the text of the language, you could pick the exact date, but it's going to be between 1589 and 1590.
You can also see along the top, it's got a little more paper exposed.
You can see the chain lines, which indicates it is 16th-century paper.
Abraham Ortelius, father of modern cartography, one of the great mapmakers.
That's one of his great maps.
And assuming it's in that same condition, it's probably worth about maybe $5,500 to $6,000.
Wow.
If you fix it up, it's going to be worth maybe $7,500.
Fantastic-- thank you.
And you paid how much for it?
$26 total.
For the two of them?
For the two.
That is just fantastic news.
So glad we decided to go shopping that day.
APPRAISER: I don't think it's a great value.
I think it's $300, $500.
Oh, yeah, that's the least of my...
But I love it.
It makes me happy.
Oh, it's marvelous.
Isn't it fun?
1840, 1850.
Oh, wow.
So it's got some age to it.
It's all dovetail construction, so the person who built this knew what they were doing.
It's not a terribly usable piece of furniture today, so you need to take that into consideration.
I would say on it, maybe $800 to $1,200.
Oh, okay, thank you.
It's not an original Norman Rockwell.
Okay, okay.
It's a photographic reproduction of one of his famous paintings.
Oh, okay.
If we could get the magnifying glass right onto the print, you'd be able to see the little photographic pixels.
As a reproduction, it's probably worth about $40, $60, in that range.
But a really, really sweet image.
Okay-- I like it.
Yeah, I can see why.
WOMAN: I bought it at an estate sale from a prominent family a couple of years ago in Portland.
APPRAISER: And how much did you pay for it?
I paid what I thought was quite a bit of money-- about $1,200.
$1,200.
It's an American silver picture frame made by Tiffany and Company.
Tiffany and Company is the epitome of quality, craftsmanship, artistic expression.
And it's got a very Art Nouveau flavor.
I don't think it was a commercial production.
I think they made this one, and that was it, because it's so big and so heavy and so robust.
I particularly love the Art Nouveau influence of the strapwork along the borders.
You can see the quality is so amazing.
It's even decorated on the sides.
They put a little bit of a bevel on the bottom so that it stood upright correctly.
And the back is remarkable.
I mean, they just don't miss a detail.
When Tiffany made a high-quality item, they didn't spare.
It's got a signature on the bottom, and because of that signature, I can date it to maybe about between 1892 and 1904.
The auction value today would probably be somewhere in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
Okay-- oh, my goodness.
I'm very happy to hear that, thank you.
WOMAN: This is an early American cooking vessel, probably used by the early colonists, and it comes from Virginia.
I went to a sale of a lady's estate.
She ran a small shop in Multnomah Village.
When she passed away, I went to her estate sale, and I purchased it from the estate.
And that's right around here in Portland?
Yes, Multnomah Village is part of Portland, and it's right here in our community.
And what did you pay for it?
I was called up after the sale was over, because I didn't take it home with me on either day of the sale.
I put a bid on it, and I was called, and I paid $75 for it.
How long ago did you go to this estate sale and acquire this?
I probably bought this about ten to 12 years ago.
And where do you have this?
Do you have this in a fireplace?
I have it sitting next to my fireplace.
From the side view, it looks like somewhat of an ordinary cooking vessel on three legs that's cast in bronze.
We see a name, Taylor Richmond.
And then I'm going to swing it around, and you see Virginia.
This is all cast into the piece.
All original, all, as you said, very, very early.
This pot dates to about 1790, and it's made by John Taylor.
John Taylor had a foundry in Richmond, Virginia, and he was very early on.
Pots like this typically were made in Northern cities-- Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Newport, Rhode Island.
It's rare to find a Southern-made piece like this.
He did tea kettles, mortars and pestles, anything that he could cast in metal.
And these pots, they were called "posnets," P-O-S-N-E-T.
It's an early English term for a small pot.
My immediate reaction to why this back leg may be longer, because if you're using it for a small amount, it would tip it forward so that it would accumulate in the front end.
I think you're right.
If you're only making a small batch.
Right.
You would put this in the fireplace, and you would melt butter and make sauces.
And during the Colonial Revolutionary War, they would actually melt lead to make the bullets.
Do you have any sense of today's value?
Not really, I don't.
But I know that because of its heritage and where it came from, Virginia, that it must be worth something.
This would be coveted by so many different types of collectors.
I would put a retail value, and feel very safe in doing it, of in the neighborhood between $10,000 and $15,000.
Oh, my goodness, wow.
Well, that's very exciting.
I hadn't any idea that it would be worth that much.
WOMAN: This is a doll that was owned by my grandmother.
She collected dolls for many years, and we sadly had to sell her doll collection.
But before we did, I kept one doll representative of her.
And this is she-- she's Alice in Wonderland.
She's got her ribbon in her hair, her hair is pulled back.
She is referred to as an Alice-style doll, and she has got a china head, so glazed porcelain, and she's a very early piece.
She dates from the 1850s into the 1860s.
Wow.
And so she is quite early, and in wonderful condition.
Oh, good.
It is not your typical body at all, and it's absolutely correct.
She has got a flanged head, flanged neck, so her head will move, and it sits down inside a papier-mâché shoulder plate.
She has china hands, china feet, and wonderful little bare feet.
You rarely see a china doll with bare feet.
In fact, you don't see many dolls at all with bare feet...
I thought she lost her shoes.
Well, she may have.
Alice is going to go run through the fields in her bare feet, and I really love that.
It's an Alice-style hairdo.
Okay.
I know that when they were first made, that they probably were not called an Alice in Wonderland.
In fact, Lewis Carroll wrote his book in 1865.
Okay.
We do refer to the body as a Motschmann style, or a Taufling style is the more common term now.
There are various makers that made china heads.
She has absolutely no marks on her.
So we know she's German.
We do not necessarily know who made her.
What's really fun about this body is that aside from the fact that she has her china arms and her china feet, she has a little squeaker.
(doll squeaks) I didn't even know.
It still works.
Oh, my goodness.
This doll is that old, and she still has a little squeaker in the middle of her body that works.
I had no idea that that happened.
There are not a lot of these particular dolls with this body.
They could have a kid body, they could have a cloth body.
They would be worth quite a bit less if they had that type of body.
Mm-hmm.
With this particular body, conservatively, at an antique doll and toy show, she would retail for around $2,500 to $3,000.
Wow.
I actually did see her listed on a very good retail site at $6,400.
Wow!
But I would feel very comfortable at that $2,500 to $3,000 mark.
That's wonderful.
Oh, my God!
(doll squeaks) The original little squeaky toy!
I swear, I didn't know that happened.
Oh, my goodness.
WOMAN: We received it in the 1960s from a dear family friend who worked at the Portland Police Station.
They were putting it all on microfiche and throwing them away, so I don't know how many remain out there, but there's one.
And it's from April of 1902 to November 1903.
So it is a crime album, or what we call a mugshot album.
Correct.
And what appealed to you about this album?
Well, one, that we've had it in our family since I was a small child, and all my sisters and I have enjoyed it.
I just think it's cool.
And it's about Portland's history.
You can see when the riverfront was really active and the Shanghai Tunnels.
There's river pirates and all kinds of things they'd been arrested for.
So it's kind of cool.
Can you explain to me what the Shanghai Tunnels were?
We have tunnels underneath the older parts of the city that people could travel underneath.
And maybe there were a lot of opium dens, prostitution, people would live down there.
Okay, so Portland has a very colorful history.
Yes.
And what we see in this album are very detailed stories about the men and women who were picked up by the police.
So they're identified by name.
If we look over here, their alias is also identified, where they lived, their age, their weight, occupation, their crime.
These images have a relationship to photography that's part of a new genre of photography called vernacular photography.
Really?
The photography of the everyday, the photography that's a record, that's a document, that has a historic truth.
But the neat thing about these images is, they also are very collectible as fine art photographs-- institutions, private collectors-- because when we look at these pictures, they tell us something about people that speaks a universal truth.
So if I turn the page, we see some more of the pictures, and most of the pages have as many as eight images.
We didn't do a count of the number of photographs in the album.
No.
Some of the pages are complete, and many of them are incomplete.
Yeah, there's a few that aren't.
Okay.
So I'm going to say there are about 1,500 photographs in this crime album.
Were this to come to public auction, an estimate would be in the $6,000 to $9,000 range.
Wow.
That's... wow.
We'll all be surprised over that, yes!
And what do we have?
It's just an original game schedule from 1970 for the Oregon Ducks.
Oh, very cool.
APPRAISER: They're not really Folk Art.
This is painted by somebody who was trying to be an academic painter.
They have a decorator value of a couple of hundred for these each, and maybe $300 or $350 each for these.
Shocking.
You think of pearls being Japanese and cultured, but they're all what we call natural pearls.
What they're looking for is pearls that are really, really kind of round.
But you can see, they've got a lot of ridges and lines, more like a potato, almost a little bit, so ones like this are probably $300, $400, $500 each.
Okay.
MAN: My great-grandfather came to Oregon in the early 1900s, and in 1920, he plowed this up on his farm.
And it was given then to my great-aunt.
It hung in her basement for many, many years.
I remember many Thanksgivings down there, seeing it hanging from a nail on the post.
And then when she died, it came to me.
This is a club, but it's not exactly a club that would be used for warfare.
It would break, it would crack in half.
So it's a ceremonial club.
And presumably it's meant to show someone's warrior prowess, maybe a chief, or a warrior who's done something remarkable.
And this becomes almost a badge of honor.
He would've held it, presumably, like this.
It's gigantic.
It's really, it's...
I measured it roughly.
It's about 22 and a half inches.
These occur from time to time.
They're rare, but these do occur from time to time.
But this is fully one-third longer than any one that I've ever seen, and it may be a couple of thousand years old.
Wow.
This is long before non-native people ever hit this shore.
That's so cool.
On a retail basis, I think we are talking in the neighborhood of $7,500 to $8,500.
Oh, my goodness.
It's spectacular.
I shudder to think of it hanging on a nail in my aunt's basement.
(laugh) My grandfather was a title artist at Paramount Studios from the '50s to the '70s.
And this is just an item that he did for the movies.
This is how they used to do titles, I guess.
(laughs) And, I know, it seems kind of funny, but this has been in a storage garage in our family, and my husband was sorting through some things, and we came across it and got it out.
We've got a lot of things that he did, but we had never seen this before, and so we unrolled it on the dining room table, and this is what we have.
Wow.
So do you remember your grandfather growing up?
Oh, yeah.
I was probably in my 20s when he died, or maybe... No, maybe my early 30s.
So, yeah, I knew him well.
Did you knew that he did this kind of work?
Oh, yeah, when I was a small child, he was still working there at Paramount.
He painted and he did lots of different things.
So he was quite a talented guy.
Very talented.
This is all hand-done.
It's interesting-- you mention you have some other things, too, related to his work.
What other kind of things do you have?
We have quite a few titles done on glass cells that are about 24 by 36.
Right.
From the movie "True Grit," from "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean."
Sure.
Some of those we actually have framed and hanging in our house as a series that are really neat.
But this piece, because it's so long, as you can see, it's really hard to know how to display it, and so it really just stays rolled up in a tube.
We're trying to figure out how to display it.
It's tricky.
Without cutting it or damaging it or doing anything like that.
It's tricky-- I love it.
It's interesting you have some other glass slides at home, because that really was more the typical thing you would see in a movie.
You would see these glass cutouts or these actual printed transparent images they would use for titles.
And it was really up to the art director.
The art director drove the concept.
So in this particular instance, we've got this movie, "Heller in Pink Tights," takes place out in the West.
Anthony Quinn, he's got...
The leader of this kooky, theatrical troupe, and he's running from his creditors and runs into a gunfighter.
There's a gunfight, and at the end, there's this big, wonderful opera.
So it's kind of a campy film.
And Sophia Loren, obviously, is the female lead.
They probably wanted to capture this Western appeal, this kind of old stage appeal, and they said, "Let's do a scroll."
And so we have this hand-painted scroll.
This would be a gouache, which is an opaque kind of type of watercolor.
There maybe actually be some watercolor in here, too-- it's gouache and watercolor.
And this would have been, at the time, 1960, when the film was produced, it likely would have been a mechanical machine that would've held the scroll at either end and moved it at a very even pace.
So it was all driven by the art director.
Your grandfather would have been at his direction, how to do the typeface and how to do the look, but clearly, a lot of your grandfather's creativity is embedded in this piece.
Not only do you have the two top stars, you've got Steve Forrest.
You remember who Steve Forrest is, from the TV show "SWAT"?
Mm-hmm.
And then what's neat, too, is, Edith Head did the costumes.
She's a celebrity in her own right.
Now, I had some ideas about display.
Cutting it, in my opinion, would be a tragedy.
But what you could do is mount it almost the way that it was used.
You could have a carpenter or an engineer or somebody build you two scrolls that you could actually crank yourself.
Sounds like a good idea.
There have been some recent auctions of titles, especially the glass cells that you're talking about.
And it really depends on the film, and the stars, et cetera.
So here we have Sophia Loren really is the top bill.
She's still a big deal.
They might be conservative on it, but I could easily see this selling at auction between $6,000 and $8,000.
Wow.
I didn't imagine it had any commercial value.
It's really sentimental, but that's kind of fun.
WOMAN: It belonged to my mother-in-law and father-in-law.
My father-in-law was the first consul general for the new country of the Republic of Korea in New York City.
I don't know how it came into their possession, but they gave it to my husband.
And when he died, it came to me.
APPRAISER: And what do you understand this to be?
My best guess is, it's a small white jade rice bowl and plate or saucer.
These two objects, which is a bowl, cover-- which is one object-- and this dish are unrelated.
Oh, really?
So long as I've had them, they've always been together.
I'm going to take this down and actually put it here and hold this up.
But they're completely different colors.
They are different colors, I knew that.
And it's also clear, if you notice this dish, there's nothing here in the center to indicate that this was a stand for the bowl and cover.
Ah, huh.
If you put the cup and cover on this, it's going to move around, and that's not how these were made.
So one of the other features about this which is really interesting-- the dish-- is the shape of the wall, the edge here.
You notice it's got a very wide center section that's flat and then it curves up.
This shape is a distinctive Chinese shape.
When I first saw this, my supposition was that it may have well been something from the 18th century, because this particular shape was something that was... a shape that was favored in the 18th century in China, and into the early 19th century.
When I took it down and I looked at it, the sides are very thin, which I think is indicative of a slightly later period of time.
And I looked at the underside, and you can see this kind of low foot on the edge.
And there's not a mark here.
And often on the 18th-century ones, you'll find a mark.
And the very white color of this is indicative of a type of quality that would have been only available for the very wealthiest of people.
That's what helps us to understand a timeframe when this was made.
Mm-hmm.
And the same sort of process I used for the bowl.
So you can see here, it's a little bowl with a cover.
And this shape is also a shape you find from the late 18th century and forward.
So I suspect that this one actually is 20th century, also.
Want to venture a guess about the value?
Maybe $1,000?
Well, I think it's worth a bit more than that.
I believe that the two objects together are worth $15,000 to $25,000 at auction.
Oh, my heavens.
Oh, my heavens!
That is stunning.
WOMAN: This was my grandmother's jewelry.
She and my grandfather came to America in 1939.
They left Italy.
They were Italian Jews, and they left from the persecution of the Jews from Mussolini.
And my grandmother was pregnant with my mom, and she wore a fur coat and lined the fur coat with the jewelry in their travels.
They didn't have travelers' checks then, so... (laughs): They just had jewels in fur coats.
Yes, yes.
And do you remember her wearing this at all?
I think that one of the rings was her wedding ring.
I believe that was her wedding ring.
And the other ones, no, I don't recall.
Okay.
Well, this is a great collection of jewelry from the 1920s, so it's a great collection of Art Deco jewelry.
None of it's marked, but it was probably manufactured in Europe, maybe in Italy.
I'll just go through the pieces briefly, one by one.
The first is this brooch, which is what we call a bar pin.
And in the center is a beautiful step-cut, emerald-cut diamond.
It's a beautiful diamond.
By formula, it's about three carats.
And then on either side are what we call old European cut diamonds, and those are about two carats each.
And then under it is that beautiful necklace with the five drops.
And this is all set with old European cut diamonds.
And I loved... these very, very thin drops are called knife-edge, which is very typical of Art Deco jewelry, and it's wonderful to see an intact necklace.
A lot of times, they're cut apart to make earrings, so it's great to have.
It has a little bit of a condition problem here, where it's a little bit loose, and that needs to be fixed, but that should be a pretty quick fix.
So these are two platinum and diamond rings.
This ring is an old European cut diamond, and it's about two carats.
And this ring is an old European cut diamond, about one carat.
And then finally, there are the diamond earrings, which are each about a carat, and they might be a little earlier than the rest of the jewelry.
Those might be maybe from the teens, or the very early '20s.
If this came up for auction today, I would expect that the whole group would bring at least $30,000.
Oh, my goodness.
(laughs) Yeah, that's extraordinary-- I hadn't expected that.
This is the benefit of being a furniture expert.
They're really working hard out there right now.
WOMAN: The underside is signed "Spencer".
And they had an appraiser from California tell them it was Stanley Spencer, and I say, "No way, Jose."
Stanley's a British artist who was early 20th century.
Right, right.
This is a commercial fashion artist, maybe mid-20th century.
It doesn't have the age that it would need to have to be by Stanley Spencer.
I would say decorative value, it's probably under $500.
This is a very typical form of a Dutch brass chandelier, and the style is from the 18th century, but was vastly and very commonly reproduced throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
WOMAN: Really?
And one way we can tell this isn't 18th century is by the quality of the casting.
We don't have a lot of details.
This has age.
It just doesn't have 18th century age.
I see.
They're difficult to sell if they're not in sets, and without a hand, that's almost impossible.
Okay, very cool.
I will try to find the rest of them.
(laughter) Good hunting.
MAN: A fellow gave this to me.
I can't even really remember the amount of years.
It's been at least 20 years.
I just set it on the shelf in a corner.
APPRAISER: It is Chinese.
This is actually made out of a type of earthenware that's called Yixing ware.
Now, Yixing comes from a place called Yixing, China.
It has a very special quality.
Beautiful dark red color.
It can be a light brown.
But it's perfect for making tea.
And so this was an individual's teapot.
There are a few marks.
There's a small mark on the inside of the cover, there's a mark on the underside, with the maker's mark, Yuan Zhu Ming, and a mark underneath the handle, right there.
Most of these marks are just kind of clever sayings and kind wishes as you enjoy your tea.
I think this is quite early.
This probably dates to around the 1830s or 1840s.
Really?
Yeah.
There is some damage on the top, which unfortunately takes away some of the value.
These are very collectible, though.
I think, at auction, this might bring between $500 to $700.
Oh, marvelous.
I thought it would bring maybe $20, $30.
Been sitting on a shelf up there in the corner for years.
MAN: This is a piece that has been in my family that I can remember ever since I was a young boy.
Grew up in the Netherlands.
And it hung in my mom and dad's house for a long time.
The artist is a family friend, was a family friend, and gave this piece to my mom and dad when we were living in the same town, so we were virtually neighbors, actually.
My brother and I would often go over there to play with his children and to just enjoy their company.
So, your family was friends with the artist.
Yes.
Do you have a particular memory that you remember from... Well, I was fairly young at the time, but one of the things that fascinated me as a kid is going into his home, had one of those typical Dutch homes where the downstairs was where they were living, and his studio was upstairs.
And there were just a tremendous amount of geometric forms that were hanging.
I think he did some casting, and he worked in some different media as well, and there were all these triangles, these squares... Stuff that's been translated into pieces like this.
Yeah, and that's why this piece is so interesting to me, because it evokes those times.
Those things you remember.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a piece by Ad Dekkers.
He's a Dutch artist, primarily known in Holland, born in '38.
Went to the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam.
Oh, interesting.
And was trained as a traditional painter, which he sort of became disillusioned with in the early 1960s.
Minimalism was emerging as an art form, as a philosophy during that time.
There was a lot of exciting art happening when you look at artists like Yves Klein, who was working with not only minimalism in terms of color, also playing with texture on the canvas.
Donald Judd is a famous American who was doing minimalism in the sculptural form.
And so he started experimenting with these forms as well, and he didn't do a lot of work on canvas.
They're mainly architectural, and have a very architectural feel when you look at the overall structure of them.
On the back, it's labeled as polyester.
This is a polyester resin.
Now, this one's titled on the back.
Do you happen to remember what the title is?
Well, it... obviously, it's in... it's in Dutch.
It says, "vierkant opgebouwd au driehoeken."
It translates to "a square built up with triangles."
Okay.
So it literally is a description of the piece that we're looking at.
Yes, yes it is.
And it's actually interesting that you say that it's an architectural... it evokes, you know, the architectural forms.
My father was an architect.
And I think he was very drawn to this piece, and I believe that's probably why the artist ended up giving it to him.
Sure.
So this was done in '66.
He died young, he died in '74, so there's really a limited quantity of works out there.
The art market has moved towards contemporary and taken all this kind of contemporary art with it.
A lot of the smaller ones have come onto the market.
Those are in a $7,000 to $10,000 price range.
For something this size, I think we're looking at a $20,000 to maybe $30,000 price range at auction.
Oh, my goodness.
Wow.
It's a really phenomenal piece, really good example of Minimalism.
Well, thank you.
It's a photograph of Abraham Lincoln that's been in my family since 1862.
It was given to my great-great-grandfather who had campaigned for Lincoln in Ohio.
He was from Ohio, and I believe he lived in Cleveland at this particular time.
In 1862, my great-great-grandfather and grandmother moved to California, and they went to California by sea.
The long way.
And on the way, the story... the family story is is that they stopped at the White House by invitation, had dinner with Lincoln and his family.
And my great-great- grandfather was asked if there was anything President Lincoln could do for him, and the story is that he offered him a job.
But because they were in the midst of moving to the West Coast, he asked only for this autographed photograph.
We see photographs of Lincoln.
The carte de visite, the small cards, come up quite a bit.
But a photograph of this size... these are an oversize format.
Albumen salt prints, they're called.
And they're typically much more for presentation and special occasions or persons to be given to.
You can see he's the unbearded Lincoln, not the $5 bill Lincoln as we know.
This was taken in '59, '60, before he came to Washington, because by the time he came to Washington, he had his signature beard.
C.S.-- Christian German was the photographer, not a very well known Springfield photographer at the time.
He photographed Lincoln without the beard and then later before he did leave to come to D.C., he photographed him again with his beard.
So it's fabulous that it's the early photograph of Lincoln from when he had been debating, the Lincoln-Douglas debate period, without the beard.
You came in with this letter, and I looked at the letter, I said, "Oh, that's earlyish handwriting."
It's not as early as the picture, the photograph, but it's from 1948.
You gave me the basic history of it, which tells the story about having dinner, sitting down with the Lincolns, and just those little anecdotal details that bring this story and the background to life.
If we didn't have this, and you just walked in with this, it's not inscribed with a date, it doesn't say where it was signed.
Without this, we're really lost with that connection.
The frame is period.
It mentions in the letter that he had it framed soon after he was given the picture.
It's in great condition.
The one thing, archivally, you may want to do is some of this toning I see, which is typical of the matting from that period, turns a brownish.
We want to make sure it doesn't get onto to the mount itself.
This albumen photograph is mounted onto a mount that could tone with time, and we want to be careful that it doesn't.
The signature is very clear.
The glass... you did mention, when we spoke, that you had museum glass put.
Museum glass.
UV protective glass, that's very critical.
Overall value, very interesting.
They're very rare, this size format, on the market inscribed.
The ones that have come up have brought some pretty significant amounts.
One, especially because he had the beard, sold for $140,000 at auction.
You're kidding.
I'm not kidding.
Because of the format, it was inscribed in Springfield, so I don't want to mislead you.
This doesn't have the detail.
That was the first one with the beard.
So it's slightly apart from that, so that's why I would give this an auction estimate of a $70,000 to $100,000 auction estimate.
I think that's...
Okay.
Yes, and I think for insurance, certainly for insurance, I would be thinking about putting a $120,000 insurance value on it.
Okay.
WALBERG: You're watching "Antiques Roadshow" And now it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth.
Brought in my signed print from someone named Partee.
It's a bit risqué, but worth about $1,200.
Love "Antiques Roadshow"!
I found out that grandma's bronze flatware from Thailand in the 1950s has a high lead content, and it's not safe to use-- it's not food safe.
Thank you, "Antiques Roadshow."
We're not using that anymore.
And I found out that this Charlie Harper print that hung in my grandparents' bathroom all my life is worth $1,000.
This is not Ming dynasty jade.
They told me that they're still children.
There's a lot of these out there, and they're not that valuable yet, so I'm just going to let them stay in my possession and grow up and mature a little bit.
And we'll see how it goes later down the road.
We had a couple of hits today.
These are worth $800 to $1,000 each, but... And this is a guitarmadillo.
and it would've been worth about $500, but my dad dropped it, so it's only $150.
Thanks, Dad.
Thanks, honey.
I got this from my French in-laws.
(hat pops open) Bravo chapeau to "Antiques Roadshow."
WALBERG: I'm Mark Walberg, thanks for watching.
See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."