GUEST: Uh, it's a British
uniform from the Revolutionary
War period, 1780s. And it was
something my father found in
England when he was walking
down the street, and he saw
a woman cleaning a glass with
this. And he said, "What's
that?" And the woman said, "The
mistress of the house "told me
I can use any rags that I want
to clean." So my father said,
"Let me see the rag box," and
there was this, and clothes
inside it, and this red coat.
And he spoke to the mistress
of the house, and he gave her
five pounds, which is about
$15. For the whole...
APPRAISER: About $15
for the whole lot.
GUEST: The whole
lot. This is in 1955.
APPRAISER: (laughing): Right,
right, right. Well, it's,
it's too bad that she cut the
leg off of the breeches
to use to clean with.
GUEST: But that
saved the rest of it.
APPRAISER: It saved the
rest of the stuff that
you got, including this
wonderful regimental
coat. It's an officer's
coat from the 125th
Regiment. Now, that regiment
was only in existence
for two years.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: 1794 to 1796.
GUEST: Ah...
APPRAISER: Yup. Now, we can tell
it's an officer's coat for a
few reasons. It's got gilt lace.
GUEST: Yes, silver.
APPRAISER: It was
actually gold, it's faded.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it was
actually, there's brass buttons,
so it would have been gold
lace. We've got this wonderful
fitted sleeve right here. Got
the cuff with paired loops
or paired lace-- two here and
two here. And if we spin it
around... You can see the detail
of the false pockets here.
These are all non-functional.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: They're just for
looks. And down here, we can
see Stanford Regiment, which,
this is the, uh... The logo for
the, uh, 125th Regiment of Foot.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: It's a great piece,
great piece. The condition
is awesome. The other thing
is, is, you can tell it's an
officer's coat because of the
color. The color is scarlet.
Enlisted men would have had
a brick or madder red coat.
GUEST: Ah, that's
why it's so red.
APPRAISER: Exactly,
exactly. So have you ever
had it appraised before?
GUEST: No, never.
APPRAISER: So, unfortunately,
with the damage to the breeches,
with the leg being cut off,
it does affect the value,
and they don't... They aren't
really worth anything, unlike
the coat. We would put a
conservative auction estimate in
today's market between $7,000
and $9,000 for the coat.
GUEST: I'm gobsmacked. (laughs)
APPRAISER: It's a great piece.
GUEST: Whoa.
APPRAISER: Like I
said, the condition is
just wonderful on it.
GUEST: I knew it was
in good condition.
APPRAISER: Yeah, for surviving
that long, it's just amazing.