♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: "Antiques Roadshow Recut" has a treasure trove of stories to share from Bonanzaville in West Fargo, North Dakota.
We bought it so that we would have a change table for our firstborn baby.
Wow, that's really amazing.
♪ ♪ PEÑA: In this half hour, "Antiques Roadshow Recut" continues exploring Bonanzaville, U.S.A., a town created to take visitors back in time to discover the area's early settler history.
We'll check out a few of these celebrated sites later on, but now let's what treasured objects have been brought in.
I thought it hung the opposite way.
So you had it hung this way?
Yeah.
That's how the piece on the back is set up to hang it.
So you had it this way.
But then all of the decoration's at the bottom.
Yeah.
And then if you sort of turn it... the numbers on the back are upside down, so I reckon it's been later hung up like this.
And it should... you know, it sort of looks really like, like it's sort of been sucked to the bottom.
If you turn it up here, I think, I think this is the sort of crest of the mirror, if you like.
And then these églomisé panels really pop.
One of the things that we always ask people when we're doing posters, when I used to work at one of the auction companies, someone would call and say, "I've got a King Kong poster."
Uh-huh.
And I used to say, "Oh, great," can you read at the bottom, does it say, "Portal Publications?"
Okay.
Because that's a commercial company that used to re-release the posters and sell them at the souvenir shops.
Oh, okay.
So it's a, uh, it's the real artwork from the film, but it was put out later, after the fact, and it's not one of the official studio posters.
Okay.
Anywhere between $25 and $40, depending upon the condition.
Yours is in great condition.
Uh-huh.
But if it were the original, it would obviously be quite a bit more than that.
It would be.
GUEST: Well, I brought my wife's and our collection of "Star Wars" figures from the late '70s and early '80s.
Her and her mother started going, when the movie came out, they went seven times straight in a row, and so my wife said, "Mom, I want to collect them."
And so her mom started buying as they released them.
So...
So you're a family of dedicated "Star Wars" fans.
(laughing): Oh, yes, oh, yes.
(laughing) Well, "Star Wars" came out May 25, 1977.
But what's funny is, the toys weren't released until 1978.
And that's because Kenner actually produced the toys for the "Star Wars" franchise.
But there was such a mass hype for the production of the toys, they weren't able to meet the need for the 1977 Christmas season.
So what they had released was something called an Early Bird kit, where you would go to the store, and you would buy an envelope, you would mail it in, and then they would send you a four-pack of figures.
But in 1978, you have the official release of the "Star Wars" toy line.
Now, the one figure in particular that's important is the Jawa, because when the Jawa was first released, there was a release with a vinyl cape, which is what you have here.
And then Kenner switched him to a cloth cape, which is the much more common of the two figures in the variation.
Have you ever thought what these toys would be worth?
No, not really, but we figured this would always be our retirement.
So when it comes to toys in general-- condition, condition, condition.
And now, typically, when it comes to "Star Wars" collecting-- just to give you an example-- if you were to have this Jawa right here, this cloth one, individually, is only worth about $25.
It's in really good condition.
If it was on the card, factory-sealed, it would be $500 to $800, minimum.
Correct.
But the vinyl-caped Jawa is an exception to the rule, because it's just so exceedingly rare that you just don't find them in circulation.
And, actually, in, within the past ten years, they've actually been knocking them off.
You can buy a fake vinyl cape to put on your Jawa, but yours is 100% real.
It is so clean, his cape has no scuffs.
There's no stickiness to his plastic.
There's the tiniest, tiniest little white mark on the back of the cape.
That little mark is going to make a difference.
Mm-hmm.
But conservatively, at auction, for the vinyl-caped Jawa alone, you're easily looking at between $2,000 and $3,000 for the single Jawa.
Oh, wow.
(laughs) (laughing): Oh, wow.
Yeah, for that little Jawa!
For that little one.
Now, look at the difference in the cape!
Yeah.
Because if you just have a cloth cape, you're only $25.
Right.
Jawa, $2,000 to $3,000 in the vinyl.
Now, the remainder of the collection, excluding the vinyl-caped Jawa, you're in the $400 to $600 range, conservatively.
Oh, wow-- wow.
Pretty cool day, right?
Yeah, yup, yup.
Well, I'm glad my wife took care of them, and kept them put away.
(laughs) That's all I can say.
♪ ♪ I got this many years ago from my husband, probably in 1969.
Circus posters themselves, especially from this era, the 1950s, 1960s, were printed in huge numbers, Mm-hm.
and are not really that rare.
And it's great that you got to meet him, but his signature really only adds about $50 to $100 to the piece.
I see.
So all total, I think we're looking at about $300 to $400.
Okay.
Because it's interesting, I mean, everybody wants a squirrel, you know.
Yeah!
(laughs) Because it's interesting, it might bring $50 or $70.
Oh, more than I expected, actually.
Come on, it's a squirrel.
(laughs) ♪ ♪ GUEST: This is a piece that I purchased at a flea market in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in about 1969 or 1970.
And we bought it so that we would have a change table for our firstborn baby.
I have pictures of my daughter at six months sitting in a bathtub on top of this buffet.
Do you remember how much you paid for it?
This antique dealer down there had several buffets of different types, and he wanted to clean out his antique store because they were taking up so much room, so he said that we could have any one we wanted for $25.
Wow!
And do you know who made it?
I believe it's a Stickley, because I found the labels, actually, like, this week, as I'm getting it ready to bring it here.
So the piece is by Stickley, and the firm, while not owned by the family, is still in business today.
But this piece was made by Craftsman, which was a Stickley company, which was started at around 1900.
What we also know is that it was retailed through their New York showrooms, and then that's really helpful, because then we have a better sense of when it was made, and we are able to say it was between about 1905 and 1910.
So the paper label on the back has all of that information, which is really, really helpful.
The Stickley Brothers firm was established in upstate New York just outside of Syracuse.
The Arts and Crafts movement, which came over from England, sort of was really established in upstate New York by Stickley.
Some people refer to this as Mission-style furniture.
Mm-hmm.
And Stickley really didn't like the use of that term.
He really preferred Arts and Crafts.
It's a much more simplistic term.
This is a really wonderful example of one of his pieces, it's made of oak, with these wonderful quarter-sawn oak panels here and this absolutely fabulous hammered-copper hardware-- these wonderful big hinges.
You've got the big ring handle, cabinet door handles, and then also the drawer pulls.
Also, this piece back here, do you know what this is for?
Yeah, for plates.
I always have put plates in there.
Yup, that's exactly right, that's for plates.
And then what's really nice... We have the Stickley mark in there.
Mm-hmm.
Which is a joiner's compass.
And it says, "Als Ik Kan," which, loosely translated, means "To the best of my ability."
I would call it a sideboard.
I think you had called it a buffet.
Mm-hmm.
They're very interchangeable terms.
What's really lovely about this piece is that the finish is almost completely original.
Do you see there's a color variation along this front edge?
It's a little lighter, this warm honey color here?
Yeah.
Well, that's simply because when people were cleaning and dusting it, they really just focused on dusting the front edge, so then you have this transition back to the back, where it maybe wasn't dusted as much.
That's a really good way to look at the finish and have a sense of whether it's original or not.
Really?
I can tell you $25 was a very good investment.
(laughs) If I were to see this come up for auction today, I would expect to see an auction estimate of between around about $3,000 and $5,000.
Okay, well, that's exciting.
That's fun.
Now we, now we know.
GUEST: This is a soldier's memorial that my great-great-grandfather received after the Civil War.
And I also brought in a blanket that he carried during the war.
And these items were passed down to my grandmother.
And because I was such a Civil War buff as a young child, she passed these on to me.
In collecting, we run across things that are fairly common, and then we run across things that are special.
You've brought in one of each.
These, even though it's very beautiful, are fairly common, because the soldiers were proud of where they served.
They would buy these that had their men that served in the regiment with them.
And they had a good history.
They fought at Second Bull Run.
They fought at Antietam.
They fought at the Battle of Winchester.
It's nice, it's pretty.
But the common-looking thing is the rare thing.
This is one of the most elusive of all pieces that you can get that went with a Civil War soldier.
And it's a simple blanket.
But it's a very important thing during the Civil War, because they ran out of them.
And when you hear the word "shoddy," you think of poor craftsmanship, very hurriedly made.
This is what's referred to by collectors as a shoddy blanket.
Do you know what the lines are for?
I do not know, no.
To know where to cut them.
They would run about 100 of them, and then cut along the center.
So you actually have two blankets.
And you notice the hole where his head would go through.
Mm-hmm.
He wore it as a poncho.
(chuckling) (chuckling): So...
I never would have guessed that.
I would not have guessed that.
To a collector, even though it's missing some sections, it's got the hole, it's got a lot of wear... Mm-hmm.
It's beautiful because you don't see them.
Today, the soldier memorials-- we do see a lot-- these will sell in the $300 to $400 range.
Okay.
The blanket is a little different.
This one is full of character, and it would probably retail today for about $2,000.
Wow.
(laughing): Wow, that's really amazing.
I would never have guessed that.
You know, you're, you're exactly right.
I kind of thought this would be the piece that maybe was, was more attractive.
Um, that's incredible.
Thank you, Grandpa.
Yes, absolutely.
(laughs) What a great gift.
PEÑA: Bjerklie Drugstore was once in Gilby, North Dakota.
The store was recreated here and includes the original soda fountain, which operated in the early 1900s until the 1940s.
Back then, you may have come in for the nerve syrup, but stayed for the ice cream soda.
♪ ♪ GUEST: It is something that my mother-in-law had in her house for close to 70 years.
She and my father-in-law were in Chicago in the late '40s.
He was a commercial artist.
The story that she told was that he shared a building space with Haddon Sundblom, and that when they were clearing things out, that they did not want this anymore.
And I don't know if he asked for it, he was given it-- really, details are a little sketchy.
But he ended up with this.
And who was Mr. Sundblom?
He was the Coca-Cola Santa Claus artist.
Mm-hmm, yes.
This is just an amazing piece of original Coca-Cola advertising art.
There are not a lot of them left out there.
And a lot of them did wind up in the trash, because they were not considered valuable.
The Coca-Cola collectors, they are rabid.
This is a real rarity for them.
Coca-Cola art is highly collectible, especially the earlier art, because it shows an America that doesn't exist anymore.
I actually was able to find this image.
It was used in a 1942 ad, and it is just such an amazing piece of our history.
Given all of the parameters of this piece and given how beautiful it just is, even with all of the issues, I would have no troubles valuing this at $4,000 to $6,000.
Cool, very cool.
You should get it framed.
Okay.
Because it will protect the paint from cracking any further.
And hang it on a wall.
This is history.
Yes.
Thank you.
GUEST: This has been passed down to me through my family.
It is a pool table game board that belonged to my great-grandfather.
He had it in his pool hall in Ringsted, Iowa.
APPRAISER: So when do you think that it was actually first in business in the pool hall?
I haven't been able to find out, but I think through the 1930s and '40s.
How long have you had it?
I've had it two years.
It's really a kind of a neat thing, you know?
And a lot of people wouldn't even know what this is.
I had a bit of an ill-spent youth and spent some time in the pool halls, and I remember games like this.
This whole board would lay on a pool table.
And this part would be nudged up under the cushion.
And because there was a slope here, you would, you would shoot a pool ball up there, and the pool balls would lodge right in these things and stay there.
And you can play three different games.
You can play a poker game, you could play a keno game, where you, whoever got the highest number won the game.
Or you could play the baseball game, which is this beautiful green here.
And we see, it's a Schafer combination recreation board, made in Peoria, Illinois.
Peoria is not too far from Chicago, and in the roaring '20s, Chicago was a major manufacturing place for gambling machines, slot machines, all manner of table games.
And it would make sense that a company like this would be there, because this is a gambling sort of device, and also a gaming implement.
I think this dates from the 1920s.
What's really appealing about this is, it's so colorful, and it's really in wonderful condition.
What I really like is the fact that you got this beautiful graphic of the baseball game.
Yes.
Do you have any idea exactly what it cost?
It cost $22 when it's new.
It's in pencil on the back.
$22.
It's worth a little more now.
It's very hard to evaluate some things, especially when it's a really rare thing.
This is only the third one I know of that have been sold at auction.
If I were to put a reasonable auction estimate on this, I think I would probably... try to be conservative, I think it should have an auction estimate of around $1,200 to $1,500.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, very good.
And, you know, I'm just really excited to see it.
It brings back my youth in the pool halls.
♪ ♪ APPRAISER: So this book actually is the first "Horton" book.
"Horton Hears a Who," which is the more famous title, is 1954.
This one's 1940.
And usually, the earlier title is the more collectible one, but because that one is more famous and more beloved, that would be worth a lot more.
That one sells routinely from $300 on the low end to $700, $800 on the high end.
The floral beadwork on this is, is fantastic.
A lot of beads.
Yes.
Lots of beads.
The flower on the back, that's, that's fantastic.
Yes, I love that.
Those are glass seed beads, and it dates to about 1925.
GUEST: I brought a collection of boxing cards that I found in a rental unit about 20 years ago.
The renters had left, and other renters came in, and maybe two or three down the road, they found them back in the back of the closet.
They were basically abandoned.
Yeah.
Then to your possession.
Yeah, right.
Well, what we have here are four beautiful examples of early 1900s real-photo postcards.
These were actually printed with the intention of being mailed.
From the backs of these, none of these were mailed.
Right.
So what we have here today are the three different boxers in four postcards.
On the top two, both are of Jack Johnson, first African-American world champion in 1908.
And then Peter Jackson, he was the Australian champion.
Then we come down to the lowest one next to me, and that's Jim Jeffries, also an American world championship boxer.
In 1910, Jim Jeffries comes out of retirement, far past his peak, to fight Jack Johnson strictly for the purpose of showing that the white man's a better boxer.
And in 15 rounds, he was defeated by Jack Johnson.
On the one closest to you, Peter Jackson, Australian world championship.
In 1891, he went up against James Corbett.
That fight was stopped in the 61st round when the referee decided there just will not be a winner in this fight.
The 61st round.
61st... And I saw some reports that said the 64th round.
Yeah.
These are all between approximately 1908 to 1912 or so.
Some really great examples of early boxing history right here.
I have not seen that real-photo postcard of Jack Johnson before.
That one I would expect to sell at auction for $1,000 to $1,500, for that one alone.
Okay.
The other Jack Johnson image, of him getting ready for the punch, I've seen that one trade hands before at auction.
About $500 for that one.
The Peter Jackson, I've also seen that postcard come up before.
That one, again, would sell at auction for $500 or so.
The Jim Jeffries, I've not seen that one before.
That's likely a one-of-a-kind or never-before-seen image.
That one I would say, at auction, $300 to $500.
Okay.
PEÑA: Working antique presses can still churn out newsletters and cards at the "Hunter Times" building.
This 1897 hand-fed platen press, made by the Chandler & Price Company, is a sought-after machine by artists who want to use old tech to make art.
Bonanzaville uses it to print souvenirs for visitors.
♪ ♪ GUEST: Well, this portrait I inherited from my great-uncle, and as a young man, he moved from South Dakota to California, and became a restorative dentist in Beverly Hills.
And he worked on a lot of movie stars and famous people.
And Nicolai Fechin, the artist, happened to be not only one of his patients, but a friend of his.
And he did this portrait of my uncle's son, and it was his only son.
And when he was in college, this... his son got killed in a car accident.
So this was also a gift of love, and very special to myself and our family.
Well, it's a spectacular portrait, as we would expect of Nicolai Fechin.
It's charcoal on paper, as he did many of his portraits.
It's initialed lower right, "N.F."
He is an artist that led a really international life, and that's had a big impact on his value in the market today.
He started his life in Russia.
He ended up having to flee, due to the Bolshevik Revolution.
Through the good graces of a few American collectors who knew his work, he came to New York.
He was there for a few short years, and then tuberculosis drove him to New Mexico, as the climate was thought to be best for his health.
Taos is where he really became quite famous in America.
And the Taos works are, in many ways, his most well regarded.
Then, unfortunately, through divorce, he ended up leaving Taos and moving to Santa Monica, and I'm sure during that time, around 1936, is probably when he met your great-uncle.
I would place the value at auction at $15,000 to $25,000.
Thank you.
I think my great-uncle would be very proud.
It's such a moving story.
We were all trying not to cry when you told us.
(chuckles) ♪ ♪ WOMAN: Well, it was a gift to my father.
My father was a surgeon who took very good care of little old ladies.
And late in his career, one of the little old ladies gave him this.
And she wrote a letter, and in the letter, it said that the plaque was made in 1790 by Josiah Wedgwood for his personal friend John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist religion.
And this patient told him that she'd spent her life looking for a Methodist bishop to whom she could gift the plaque, but she couldn't find one.
(chuckles) And she said then in the letter that she found an angel in the cloth of a surgeon, and she gave it to my father.
Josiah Wedgwood was important, and John Wesley was, he was even very important and famous in his own time, and many different English pottery and porcelain manufacturers made figurines and depictions of him because he was so important.
Now, according to the story, the gift was in 1790.
Well, Josiah Wedgwood died in 1795, and John Wesley died in 1791, so that would seem to fit the story.
But then you have to look at the object and see if the object fits the story.
So in 1860s, Wedgwood started a date mark system.
The back is impressed with three letters, and the last letter is the year that it was made.
And so this piece has a date mark on the back, and it was made in 1884.
So this plaque was first made in the 18th century, but throughout the, the period of Wedgwood manufacturing, they remade the plaque because John Wesley was such an interesting and important figure.
So, unfortunately, this doesn't fit the story exactly, because it was actually made in 1884.
It was made by the Wedgwood company, it does depict John Wesley, but it was made much, much later.
In today's market, this would probably be worth between $200 and $300.
Thank you very much.
♪ ♪ PEÑA: Thanks for watching.
See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow Recut!"