Newport, Hour 1

MARK WALBERG: Come along as "Antiques Roadshow" holds our first-ever outdoor event in Newport, Rhode Island.

APPRAISER: This is a piece I was waiting for for 20 years.

Oh, wow.

Good backdrop, huh?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

♪ ♪ WALBERG: Before she built this magnificent mansion, a young heiress from the western states fell in love with the coastal town of Newport, Rhode Island.

She wasn't the only one.

During the Gilded Age, Newport was a top destination for America's wealthy elite.

Captains of industry and queens of high society summered here on seaside estates made to entertain and impress.

Places like Rosecliff, completed in 1902, the so-called summer cottage of Theresa "Tessie" Fair Oelrichs, was more than a grand dwelling.

It was also her stupendously extravagant ticket to the top tier of the country's upper class.

Today, a free ticket to "Antiques Roadshow" has brought thousands, and their treasures, from all over the Northeast.

And even the threat of Hurricane Jose, looming just offshore, hasn't dampened the spirits of our guests and appraisers.

So imagine, you are invited to a party here.

You're coming off the back porch, you're walking down to see the water.

In a gown.

In a gown.

And you're wearing this.

Tell us what you brought in.

The pin belonged to my grandmother, who lived in Chicago.

I don't know where she bought it.

I don't know what it's worth.

I haven't worn it, and that's, that's all I can tell you, really.

And never had it appraised, did you?

Never had it appraised.

We love people like you when you come in here with that.

Lack of information.

Lack of information, solid lack.

Right.

(laughs) All right, so, first of all, you see, I'm just standing here, and it's moving.

In the wind.

Yeah.

Is that fantastic?

It is lovely.

Imagine if you were dancing in this house, you know, in 1940, because that's about when I think this pin was made.

Okay.

All right?

Now, we keep referring to it as a pin.

But?

I don't-- I think the pin was added.

I think it was always made to have some type of a chain running through it, and it hung as a necklace.

Not that it doesn't work as a pin.

Okay.

It reminds me of a waterfall.

I mean, the diamonds are truly dripping off of this.

There's a little over two ounces of platinum in the whole piece.

All right?

Then there's about four carats in baguettes.

The marquise-shaped stones, there's a lot of them, and they're all different sizes.

One of them is as large as a carat.

You add them all up, there's nine carats in the marquise diamonds.

So all together, we got 13 carats of goods, all right?

Any thoughts on the piece?

Beautiful.

Beautiful, I like that.

So you really don't need to know what it's worth.

I would like to know.

(laughs) Thought I'd get out of here.

So I would say at auction, $15,000 to $20,000 Great.

It's not bad, right?

Not bad.

Yeah.

For a bunch of rocks.

(laughing) That's great, I love it.

Good backdrop, huh?

Yeah.

This, I believe, is a foghorn from the 18th century that my dad found in the bay when he was scuba diving in about 1960.

MAN: So it might be useful today.

It might be very useful today, since it's rainy and foggy, yeah.

(blowing, no sound coming out) No.

He could do it, though, so you just need more wind.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ WALBERG: Rosecliff Mansion was made to have a ball-- literally.

This 3,200-square-foot ballroom is the largest of all the surviving Newport mansions.

♪ ♪ I like to yard-sale, but I get a lot of grief from my sons all the time, so I've been trying to, like, not do it as often, but I saw a sign, and I stopped, and I saw these, and I liked them.

Okay.

And the price was right.

So can I ask what you paid for them?

For all of them, $25.

$25 for all of them?

Yes.

Wow.

About how long ago?

Just a few months ago.

Really?

Okay, so when you came in, you had these all in a folder.

That I bought last night.

That you bought last night.

Probably for almost the same amount.

Yeah, yeah, it was $20 for the folder, yeah.

And the top one was this one up here.

Yes.

I really liked it, and I'm familiar with the artist, but I wasn't sure if it was real or not.

And it's signed "Edward Hopper" underneath.

Yes.

So then, I flipped the page in the book, and this piece showed up.

Yeah.

Now, this is by Kenneth Hayes Miller, who is, was, in his day, a very important artist and instructor, but isn't somebody who's really withstood the test of time.

But what's interesting about seeing these two together is, the Hopper was in a portfolio called "Six American Etchings: The 'New Republic' Portfolio."

That was published in 1924.

Okay.

This was also in that same portfolio.

Oh.

So just by having found the two together, that strengthens the provenance even more.

Oh, okay.

To tell me, "This looks very good."

Also in that same portfolio of six prints was a John Marin print, an Ernest Haskell print... Ah!

and a Peggy Bacon print.

And I left one behind.

And that was by John Sloan?

I don't know.

Because I didn't have enough money-- I only had, like, $25, so I left one behind.

Oh, no!

(chuckling) And I just took the one that I didn't-- yeah.

So that was probably a print by John Sloan called "The Bandits Cave."

Okay.

So the fact that you have all these together is wonderful proof that this is indeed what it purports to be.

So let's start-- we'll talk about the values of each.

Okay.

The Hayes Miller, also pencil-signed, also an etching, lovely print, not in terrific condition.

Realistically, were you to sell this at auction, you might expect it to bring about $80 to $120.

Okay.

Not a tremendous amount.

Yeah.

The Ernest Haskell, also signed, called "Sentinels of North Creek," another lovely etching, but again, not very important.

Yup.

$200, $300.

Down here, Peggy Bacon, a fairly unusual female artist.

This is a more important print.

It's called "Promenade Deck."

At auction currently, you're probably looking about $500 to $700 for it.

Okay.

The John Marin is interesting.

When the portfolio first came out, it included this John Marin print, which is called "Brooklyn Bridge Six Swaying."

Okay.

After just a few of the edition was published, he changed out that print for another print called "Downtown, The El."

This is the more rare and desirable print.

Oh.

So this is a fantastic etching, and it's in lovely condition.

So at auction, for the John Marin, you're looking about $15,000 to $25,000.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God!

I'm glad I didn't leave that one behind.

(laughs) The Hopper is possibly one of his best-known prints.

Okay.

And at auction, you're looking $30,000 to $50,000.

Crazy.

Absolutely crazy.

Are your kids going to give you grief after this?

No, they better not.

(both laugh) They better not.

No, not at all, they better not.

The one you left behind, the John Sloan, $500 to $700 at auction.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: I brought a Royal typewriter that was presented to my grandfather, and he worked at Royal for many years.

For his ten-year anniversary as vice president of sales, he was presented this typewriter by his staff, and all the top salespeople were able to sign it, and then get it-- and so it was engraved at Cartier.

And it's gold.

(chuckles) And my dad also worked at Royal, and so it went from my grandfather to my father to me.

Okay, well, there's so much to talk about on this typewriter.

Oh, awesome.

But, first of all, we'll talk about what they call this.

Okay.

And they do refer to this as the Gold Royal.

Right.

So Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1904...

Okay.

but it wasn't until the 1930s, when your grandfather was in charge of national sales, that they really started to take off.

Right, right.

Which, as a result, led him to be the top salesman, and then eventually the president of the company.

Right, and he actually only had an eighth-grade education and became president of a Fortune 500 company.

Right.

There's 1,064 names inscribed in this.

Oh, wow.

And they're inscribed by a fellow named Warner MacDonald by hand, individually.

Oh, okay.

The typewriter itself has 2,257 different parts.

What Royal did is, they then took a completed typewriter, took it to Cartier...

Yes, okay.

and every exposed piece, large and small, was plated in 24-karat gold.

Okay, yep.

That was in 1939 at a cost of $5,000.

Yes, yeah.

When I asked some of the appraisers at the jewelry table... Uh-huh.

"What would you think it would cost to have something like this commissioned today?

", they couldn't even put a number on it, barely.

Because of, the cost of labor was less back then.

Right.

And the cost of gold was less back then.

It's $150,000, $200,000, perhaps, they speculated, it could cost to have something... the craftsmanship like this, with that many 24-karat-gold-plated parts.

Yeah.

The other cool thing about this one is that it was exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Oh, okay, I wasn't sure which-- I knew it was a World's Fair, but I wasn't sure which one.

1939 World's Fair.

Okay.

And then it went on tour all around the U.S.... Yeah.

at the offices of Royal sales agents.

And it was presented in 1940 to your grandfather.

Right.

One of the more difficult things we've had to appraise today, and frankly, for a while.

As I said, there's half a dozen appraisers were all involved in this with me... Uh-huh.

as we tried to talk about the different components to it.

Yep.

We would put a value, at auction, of $30,000 to $40,000.

Oh, my God.

(laughs) Awesome!

That's amazing, wow-- I had no idea.

It's been in my closet.

(chuckles) You have a Japanese form here...

Right.

that some clever Western person said, "What a nice idea, "I can turn this into an oil lamp...

Right.

and we'll add this little bit."

And they actually made all of this in the U.S.

Okay.

Here we go.

This was the height of fashion in 1900.

Right.

And now not so much.

And now it's, like, not fashionable anywhere.

(laughs) This is an object that came from my great-grandmother's dining room table.

We're not quite sure what it is.

Might be a U.F.O.

(laughing) This violin is labeled, "Matthias Averill," but just when you opened the case, I could see that it reminded me of a, what's called a Schweitzer commercial violin.

From around 1900 to 1910, I would guess this one is.

WALBERG: Architect Stanford White based the elegant Rosecliff Mansion on King Louis XIV's palace, the Grand Trianon of Versailles.

The intention, to create an opulent home fit for so-called American royalty, like the Oelrichs family, was abundantly clear.

This is a letter from Jackie Kennedy that was sent to the Men's Democratic League of Newport, because she was in Newport, and had, unfortunately, a stillborn child at Newport Hospital, and the Men's Democratic League sent her a bouquet of flowers.

And this is the thank-you note that she sent to them for the flowers.

And my grandfather, at the time, was the president of the Men's Democratic League, and this was 1956.

So he kept the letter, gave it to my mother, and said, "Keep this letter, "because he's going to be president, and she'll be first lady."

Wow.

And it came true.

Wow, very prescient.

Yeah.

You know, it's interesting, because there are a lot of ties from Newport and the Kennedys.

They were married here, 1953.

Mm-hmm.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, actually, Hammersmith Farm, so there's a very strong Newport connection.

Yeah.

It's just a lovely little note, it's very short.

Yep.

Basically, "Thank you for the roses," and on the back here, it is nicely signed, and it said, "It meant a great deal to me," so... Yeah.

Elegant note from a very elegant lady.

Yes.

Have you ever had it appraised?

Never had it appraised.

My mom has just always held onto it and just never had it appraised.

Interesting.

So... Well, at auction, I would expect this to bring around $1,500.

Wow.

Very good.

WOMAN: They came down from my mother-in-law, and we think they may be Benjamin Greenleaf, but I'm not sure of that, and I don't know.

My mother-in-law was given to hyperbole.

Ah.

And these came down from the family, and each woman brought it down.

Ah, so it's been handed down to daughter, to daughter-in-law, okay.

Since you've had them, have you done anything to them?

The only thing we did was frame them.

And so these are newer frames, then?

Yes.

And what did the original frame look like?

Well, the frames that my mother-in-law had, um, were really the kind that you would put on a diploma, those little black ones?

Uh-huh, okay.

And they were falling apart, so that's why we had them...

Okay, all right.

Well, let's start with dispelling any family hyperbole, any apocryphal story.

These paintings are definitely by Benjamin Greenleaf.

Greenleaf, as you may know, was born in Hull, Massachusetts, in 1769, and he really started painting when he was in his early 30s.

Before that, we don't know what he did.

He's one of those artists that we don't know much about.

But we do know when he was born and when he was active.

And he was active for about a 15-year period between 1803 and 1818.

He was an itinerant painter, going from town to town, staying there until his...

He had either worn his welcome out or he's painted enough commissions that he was done.

Now, these two portraits-- this painting is very typical of Greenleaf's work, because it's painted on glass.

In other words, it's a reverse painting.

Greenleaf took a piece of glass and painted the portrait on the back of the glass, and they're very fragile.

The gentleman, who's almost certainly by-- also by Greenleaf, but it's on a panel.

It's on a piece of wood.

One of the things that Greenleaf was known for was painting these profile portraits and virtually filling the painting with the portrait.

And, in fact, this one, I wonder when it was reframed, if, there, her bonnet, really goes underneath the rabbet of the frame.

Oh, yeah-- oh, interesting.

Now, here's the potential bad news.

Greenleafs, every one that I've seen, they're in those little crummy black frames, so you might have thrown away the original frames.

That hurts the package, because it's not the original frame.

In spite of the fact that the portraits are great, if they'd been in their original frame, they'd be even greater.

Well, let's move on to the final piece of the puzzle: what are they worth?

Greenleaf's work is really pretty rare.

There are less than 60 of these portraits known to have been done by him, probably because a lot of them broke, because they were glass.

I would think that in this condition, in these new frames, that a good pre-sale auction estimate would be $5,000 to $7,000.

Wow, very good.

Now, if they were in their original frames, you might add a few more thousand, and it might have been worth $8,000 to $10,000.

I should also point out that Greenleaf did various sizes of these, so the bigger that they are, the more expensive they are, because they're more fragile.

WALBERG: Rosecliff has seen many notable gatherings over the years.

A circus tent was erected on the grounds in 1901 for the tenth birthday of Tessie Oelrichs' son.

For her Bal Blanc, or white party, in 1904, Tessie had full-size silhouettes of sailing ships anchored in the water off the back lawn to give the illusion of a grand white fleet.

WOMAN: Years ago, my husband and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for an exhibition, and on the way home, we passed this little antique shop, and I wanted to stop.

He didn't, but we stopped-- I won.

(chuckling) Nothing of the, in the shop was of value, but this was hanging on the railing outside.

And I said to my husband, "I absolutely love that rug.

I've got to find out how much it is."

So I went in to see the gentleman, and he said, "The rug's $100."

And I said, "Are you sure?"

He said, "Yes, it's a good rug."

I wanted the rug.

Early 20th century, there was a trend of collecting Oriental rugs in the United States.

People collected paintings, tapestries, furniture, also collected great rugs.

And as a result, other people thought, "Hmm, we have this tradition of American hooked rugs.

We could use those designs and create..." Basically, not really reproductions, but our own variations on what Eastern rugs looked like.

Mm-hmm.

The interesting thing about these is that they were really originally sold as kits.

Circa 1920, you'd buy the burlap backing and it would have a pattern stenciled on it, but then you'd get your own wools, and you'd get your own fabrics and do the hooking yourself.

And so whoever did this went out and very specifically bought the proper yarns.

I think, just because the color's so consistent throughout, it's obviously not scrap material that's been used.

Yeah.

But you can see a few a spots where they have filled in.

There's a deeper red through here.

I can see it, yeah.

There's a purple, and I originally thought, "Hmm, some restoration."

But when you look at the back of the rug and really look at the consistency of the yarn itself...

They ran out of this red, so they transitioned to the other?

Absolutely, absolutely.

Uh-huh.

And that's a really nice aspect of things, because hooked rugs really come out of a Folk Art tradition... Mm-hmm.

and so it's nice to have those kind of homey touches that are coming into the rug itself.

This example's in extremely good condition, with very, very good color retention.

I think it would have a retail price of $8,000.

$8,000?

$8,000.

Oh, my goodness.

That-- that is remarkable, and certainly far beyond what I've ever expected.

I have loved this for the years that I've had it, and actually, I tried to give it to one of my girls, and she said no, and I bet she regrets it right now!

(laughing) MAN: My son and I go to auctions and estate sales looking for junk.

It was a rainy morning, and there were box slats out on the grass of this auction.

And, uh.

nobody wanted to get their feet wet.

We really didn't look in the box, you know, and, you know, the frame looked really nice, so we ended up getting the box for $45.

Now, the box was in the garage drying out for a couple of days.

Wow.

So my son got around to it, brought the box in.

This was wrapped up with another one in very old Saran Wrap.

We opened it up, and this was there.

This is exciting.

It's a really beautiful example.

You've seen the signature, you know the artist, Benny Andrews.

Benny Andrews is, is really a favorite artist of mine, an African-American artist who did incredible work.

He's an expressive figurative artist working in the 1950s until his passing in 2006.

He was born in 1930.

And what's striking about this painting is its beauty, its interest in nature, the yellow dress, the colors-- it's got a lot going on.

It's an early work-- it's very interesting.

He's known primarily as a New York artist, but he was born in Georgia...

Right.

and so a lot of his artwork that people know are images of the South from his childhood.

But he, he was...

He was a very enterprising, talented young artist.

He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1950s, and moved to New York in 1958.

And he was picked up by a gallery and had his first solo show in New York in 1962.

Looks like oil with tempera, and it's got a wonderful pattern.

It doesn't have his collage, which he's really known for in the late '60s, but it's got a lot going for it: the size, the early interest in color, the pattern.

And probably another image from his childhood.

We don't see many Benny Andrews from the early '60s, and most of those are works on paper.

So this is a work on board, and it's a painting.

This is a beautiful image.

Of course, the woman in the yellow dress is, is a zinger-- it really draws your eye in.

Few works like this have come to auction, but those that have have done well.

Do you have any sense of what it might be worth?

Well, my son's salivating.

Online, asked about it, so I go, "I don't know, let's find out."

Well, it's an early work, and it's a beauty, and for that, I would put it at auction, conservatively, at $7,000 to $10,000.

You're freakin' kidding me.

(chuckles) All right, well, guess it's not going online.

All right, cool.

It's an amazing find.

Right.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

And thank you for bringing it in.

I appreciate it.

♪ ♪ MAN: Well, I got it from my ex-mother-in-law, who grew up in Cooperstown, New York.

APPRAISER: Right.

And they happened to go to this event, which was the only exhibition event held by Major League Baseball at the time called, "Cavalcade of Baseball."

Right.

And it was held at Doubleday Field.

These tickets are really rare, and they sell anywhere between $500 and $800.

This is like a little pencil box or a dresser box.

Uh-huh.

And it's probably German.

German!

European.

We made things like this in America.

Yeah.

But the way it's painted and the decoration and the wood, that tells you that it's probably European.

You're looking at about $350.

Where did you get it?

My aunt gave it to me, and she was born in the late 1800s, so it's been around a while.

We think it's an American Indian-- probably from the Northeast-- root club.

APPRAISER: And you're right, they are Penobscot.

They're from Maine.

And what's interesting about this one, it's sort of older than most, and you can tell by some of the carving and some of the faint bits of writing on here, it's definitely mid-19th century.

But they're famous for doing these bizarre ends from the roots.

Sometimes it's human faces, sometimes it's animals, sometimes it's completely fanciful.

And, quite often, they do paint them, as well.

This one doesn't have any paint on it, which is actually rather more attractive.

They did sell them to tourists-- well, the later ones-- but they also formed sort of an important part of their sort of cultural life.

They would have them in their dances.

This is a particularly extraordinary object, it's a fat, big one.

It's wonderful.

Any idea of the price?

Years ago, I had an estimate of $1,500.

Right, um, I think this one would definitely reach the sort of $2,000 to $2,500 range, okay?

That's great.

It's a fabulous object.

Yeah.

Thanks for bringing it in.

Great conversation piece.

Yes.

WOMAN: This is Shakespeare.

I believe he's Wedgwood basalt.

My grandmother purchased him probably in the '40s or '50s from one of the estates in Newport.

At that time, they were selling off a lot of stuff, closing the estates.

They were too expensive to keep up.

Well, you're correct, this is William Shakespeare.

And have you been to Westminster Abbey in London?

Yes.

Okay, have you seen the original of this sculpture?

I imagine I did-- it did look familiar to me.

Well, it's a famous model from the memorial to William Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey, and the original Shakespeare memorial was put there in 1740.

It was modeled by William Kent.

Wedgwood began making reproductions in the Victorian years, and they made them until quite recently, in fact.

And this was probably new in the early part of the 20th century, perhaps 1910, something like that.

But it is exactly the kind of thing you would've found in Rosecliff or in any of the big houses of Newport.

The fact is that Wedgwood collecting is less popular today than it was even a generation ago, but the modern kind of library concept is something that appeals to a wider range of people.

So I think $800 to $1,200 is the right auction estimate, and a kind of sale aimed at that patron is the right way to go.

Okay.

♪ ♪ WALBERG: Many of the furnishings at Rosecliff today, including this late-17th-century tapestry depicting the Wedding of Andromeda, were owned by the estate's last private owners.

My grandmother passed away recently, and I found it in her attic.

She didn't do any extensive traveling in Asia that I'm aware of, but I think her parents may have at some point.

So did you know that the robe was Chinese?

I had a feeling.

Well, it's Chinese, and it's actually kind of unusual because of a number of different features.

One, it's for a child.

Okay.

But the child was also probably a eunuch.

Oh, really?

And a servant in a palace.

Mm-hmm.

And one thing, in terms of dating these robes, these robes are pretty standardized from the 17th century to the 20th century, but certain things change, and one of the things that change is this area in the robe, on the bottom.

It's called lishui.

Later on into the 20th century, this gets longer and longer and longer, and one of the reasons why, it was the easiest part of the robe to embroider.

Mm-hmm.

So basically, they were cost-cutting on it.

The motif on the bottom actually represents the firmament, and then the dragons are all couched in gold thread... Mm-hmm.

and that gold thread was gold leaf that was actually wrapped around threads and used for the embroidery.

There are these round figures with the flames, and those are celestial pearls, and there are bats on the robe, too, but bats just mean prosperity.

The robe is silk, and the embroidery is also silk.

At this period of time, which was about the 1850s, there were just a huge quantity of people attending, basically, the emperor's every needs.

Mm-hmm.

And it was people like this that were doing the clean-up work, even in these robes.

Sure.

Wow.

So did you have an idea of the value of this robe?

No, I don't have an idea.

Well, at auction, I would expect this robe to sell for around $2,000.

Wow, great.

WOMAN: I bought this about a year ago from a local dealer.

APPRAISER: It is, as you know, signed.

Let's check it out on the back.

Sure.

So it's relatively rare to find furniture with signatures on it, and your chair has two.

One of them is a decal label from the L. & JG Stickley Furniture Company.

And the label that's on it is this rectangular shape.

Right.

Which means that it was made between 1912 and 1920.

They changed their labels over the years.

Okay.

And it also is stamped, "Breakers Cottages."

Yes.

Which probably was not done by the Stickley Company themselves, but probably from either the preservation society once they took over the Breakers, or the Vanderbilt family themselves.

Of course, Cornelius Vanderbilt built it, but he furnished his home with really fanciful European furniture.

And this was an oak, pretty pedestrian piece.

That's what confused me a little bit.

Yes, I am guessing that this probably came out of either the servants' quarters or it was a utilitarian piece, because by the time this was made in 1912 to '20, it wasn't made by Gustav Stickley, the grandfather of the Arts and Crafts movement-- he made very expensive furniture.

His brothers then went on to make a little more pedestrian furniture...

Okay.

more affordable.

Any idea of its value, or...?

I paid $750 for it.

Well, I would probably insure this in the range of $800 to $1,200.

Oh, great, great.

Yeah.

It's a connection between the Arts and Crafts movement and one of the grand homes here in Newport.

Oh, thank you.

WALBERG: The mansion itself reportedly cost about two-and-a-half million dollars to build at the turn of the 20th century.

That would be over $60 million in 2018.

APPRAISER: The mountings are in an incredible condition, fantastic filigree work on the edges, stones were simulated.

I would appraise these retail at about $750 each.

Oh, okay.

They are wonderful.

Great.

I did find quite a few plaques similar to this-- but not exactly like it, but similar in size... Uh-huh.

and of course, the same subject.

And they all seem to be selling for around $150 to $250.

Oh, okay, wow.

I don't know that you'll ever figure out who the artist is, though.

Right-- isn't it interesting?

I think it's a tiara.

Oh, will you put it on?

Can I see it on you?

Yeah, well, I... You don't have enough hair.

Oh, you have to have a bun?

(laughing) WOMAN: I collected things, always, from when I was very young, because my mother was, collected things.

And then I started to get older, and I fell in love with Modernism and Modernist things.

I don't think Claire Falkenstein is that well-known to a large jewelry audience because she really was known for sculpture, that was where her mark was made.

Yes, yes, mm-hmm.

And the most famous sculpture she made was for Guggenheim, "The New Gates of Paradise" in Venice...

Yes, yeah.

and did not use expensive materials, and that was really because she didn't, couldn't in the beginning, but then she continued to use wood and glass and iron and silver... Mm-hmm.

and very rarely used gold.

And what you brought are two quite rare pieces.

The first piece, the earrings, I have actually never seen a pair of her earrings.

I mean, it was not a big body of work.

But this piece, this is very unusual.

I imagine it was worn as a head ornament, probably in a bun, and then you put these in the back and they would dangle down.

That's what I think, too.

And what's unusual is, every material is in here.

There's brass, there's iron, there's silver and gold, and also, it's signed.

Her full name, Claire Falkenstein.

When you bought this, where did you get this?

The hair ornament I bought online.

It came from Paris.

It was about 20 years ago.

It was at an auction thing, and it didn't sell, and in those days, you could contact the owner.

And buy it.

Which I did, and she said, "Nobody bid on it.

If you want, you can have it for $50."

The earrings I bought when we were living in Milwaukee at a church thrift shop.

And what did you pay?

I paid probably like two, three dollars.

I'm thinking this was made in the '60s.

That could in the '60s...

But that's, that's what I'm thinking.

and the earrings were probably late '40s, would be my guess for the earrings.

Yeah, so...

I am hard-pressed to put a value.

It's not for everyone, it's not that wearable, but if you want to be avant-garde and cool, hey, that says it all.

So I would say, on this head ornament, I would put a value, at auction, $4,000 to $6,000.

And I would say as an insurance value, probably in the $15,000 range, at least.

And the earrings I would also put up there, maybe $4,000 to $5,000 as an auction price and a replacement, I'd have to say $10,000, $12,000.

And I'm so glad you came because I think people will all of a sudden say, "Claire Falkenstein-- who was she?"

WALBERG: One of Rosecliff's most impressive features is the unique "sweetheart" staircase, limestone stairs with a grand heart-shaped opening.

The history of the family goes, it came down through my great-great-uncle, and my, it was passed on to me from my grandfather.

Okay, and do you know when he acquired it?

I don't, unfortunately.

This is actually a Zulu dance spear, and there're some elements that are really cool.

This is horn here, and these little dots are actually bone.

Okay.

And you see we have down here, we have the same inlay.

This is really a terrific example.

I think this easily could be mid-19th century, so 1850 at the earliest.

Oh, wow-- it's older than I thought.

And at a good auction, I would say $800 to $1,200.

Oh, wow, excellent!

♪ ♪ So you got it from your parents, masted ship, American flag.

The artist, Reuben Chappell, is a British artist.

It's a great painting.

It's a great maritime painting.

Is it presently insured?

If you say it should be, it will be.

WOMAN: It's been in our family for so long...

I mean, generation after generation, and it's been in all our drugstores that our family's owned, so... 1690, in this condition, you're probably talking in the $500 range.

Oh, okay.

Probably half the medicines would kill you far quicker than anything else.

APPRAISER: This is part of an 1860 naval cutlass.

You originally would have had a leather scabbard, copper rivets all the way down the back.

Okay.

It's missing the scabbard, it's missing the hand guard, so it's probably worth about $70, $75.

All right.

Well, my aunt, when she passed, left a few things, and each of her nieces and nephews were allowed to select some things.

I loved them because they're mechanical, and you wind them up, and then different things happen in each one of them, so, that was why I have always been fascinated by them and just wanted to know a little bit more.

Okay.

I'm happy to fill in the blanks.

They are made by Henry Dankner & Sons.

They were a family that had escaped Nazi Hungary.

Oh, wow.

Re-established in the New York jewelry market in the 1950s, and filed a patent for these in 1965.

Which is your favorite?

You know, I kind of loved the heart, which goes up and down when you wind it.

Can you show me how it works?

And then... Sure.

Wow.

And this one, I think, has the most motion in it with the, with the horses.

I just love them.

Yeah.

It's a great collection that's enough to make an instant bracelet for somebody.

(laughs) And if they were coming to auction, I believe they would do an auction estimate of $4,000 to $8,000.

Oh, my goodness, wow.

Wow, thanks, Aunt Alice.

That's great.

♪ ♪ I found this in a trash heap in a basement where we were living, and it looked like somebody was throwing it away.

I've been carrying it from place to place for the last 48 years.

It was really tarnished, and I kind of went like this, and I saw that there was light, you know, like a silver spot.

Mm-hmm.

So I picked it up and brought it upstairs, and I said, "Oh, we can use this, and I have been using it as a champagne holder.

Nice.

(laughing) So whenever we have champagne, I bring it out like an ice bucket, and so I just wanted to know a little more about it.

Isaac Van Horn was a financier, and he started off in Nebraska as a grocer before moving to Boston after he made his money... Uh-huh.

and he became an investment banker.

Oh.

And he invested in the Laramie, Hahns Peak, and Pacific Railroad that was built in Centennial, Wyoming, in 1907.

Huh, wow.

So you've got this wonderful combination of railroad memorabilia... Yup.

and then this wonderful trophy cup.

So it was a gift, basically, from his investors.

Yup.

Because he'd invested in this railroad.

Oh.

And it's actually made by Gorham, which is right here...

Which is in Connecticut.

No, Providence, yeah.

Providence?

Oh, oh.

So right there, we've got that mark, and it's a wonderful three-handle trophy cup.

Mm-hmm.

But I think champagne is an ideal use for it.

It's made of sterling silver.

Right.

You can definitely clean it up, maybe get it professionally polished... Yeah.

because it looks like it's had a bit of a rough life, so to speak.

Right.

Used, well-used.

Well-used, exactly.

So I think once you had it cleaned up, I'd expect it to sell for somewhere between $1,500 and $2,500.

Okay.

Okay, great, thank you so much.

All right?

Yeah.

And thanks for bringing it out on this wonderful day.

It's been a wonderful experience, I love this.

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, so this is great.

Well, fantastic-- thanks!

WALBERG: Rosecliff's marble-like exterior is actually polychrome-glazed terra cotta.

It was one of the first buildings in America to use the material.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: Well, this is my grandmother's table.

She bought it in 1982.

She was always very interested in metalwork, so we weren't surprised when she sent my uncle down in his truck to New York City to pick up this table.

We didn't really know much about it other than the fact that it was, at one point, buried in dirt.

We did a little research and found out that it was made by the LaVerne Studios?

And how much did she pay for it, do you recall?

$6,000.

$6,000.

So, in 1982, this table would have probably retailed for more than that.

They probably actually got a good price at $6,000, believe it or not.

Yeah, she did mention that because she didn't use a designer that they took $4,000 off the price of the table because she purchased it directly.

Right.

In the '80s, this company had already been producing these tables for about 15 or 20 years.

So in 1982, it was probably brand-new.

They probably bought it shortly after it was made.

My information says that these were about $10,000 retail.

Okay.

At that time.

By the mid-1980s, the design team of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne-- a father-and-son team in New York-- were very well-known.

They were highly prized works that were sold through decorators, through high-end design shops, and of course, you can buy them directly from the LaVernes if you knew somebody.

(chuckling): Right.

It's made out of bronze with a proprietary process that Philip and Kelvin LaVerne were able to make by etching these bronze plates and attaching them to a substructure.

In this case, to a scroll shape, but the same pattern here, called the marriage whirl, would've been used on consoles, end tables, various other types of furniture.

The LaVernes took their objects and would actually bury them in a proprietary mix of soil to give it a patina.

Your example is in really beautiful condition.

There's no heavy scratches, dents.

I think that if this came up in a well-publicized auction, it would probably sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.

Well, that's... that's really good.

(laughs) I'm just a little stunned.

(laughs) Very good.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ APPRAISER: This would've had a handle.

Yeah.

So which, if you would heat it up first of all, because this big, thick slab of iron, it would've maintained that heat for a long, long time.

So you could have used it and used it, and then when you were finished, you could knock it off, you could grab another one if you had that going, and you could interchange the handles.

Okay.

So date-wise, turn of the 19th century.

In a local shop, that's maybe $15, okay?

Okay, good.

This was my, at my grandmother's house.

I'm not sure if she owned it or if it was left at the house from previous owners, but I grew up with it, always staring at it, and I'm curious to see if it's worth anything today.

It's a porcelain or china cat, it's got a stamp from England, and that's about all I know.

APPRAISER: Stylistically, the china-painted stuff tends to be more Victorian or Art Nouveau.

Stylistically, it's not a turn-of-the-century design.

Right.

So it's a black Japanese Satsuma piece that was sent here and then decorated here.

Her name is Clotilde.

She was purchased in France when my great-great-grandmother had traveled on a European tour, and she gave it to her daughter, my great-grandmother, who, in the picture, is holding the doll.

Okay.

Well, what we're looking at is a doll made by Leontine Rohmer.

She was a very prolific French doll-maker, and it was an interesting that a woman of that time could run an entire business.

The doll is made of porcelain.

This type of porcelain that's glazed on a white background, we call that china.

The shoulders are the same material, the arms are the same material, the body is of kid leather, and it would have a mark in this area of the chest of the leather.

I looked and the mark has worn away, it's no longer there, but it would be a green stamp that said, "Mademoiselle Rohmer."

This is a very early doll, probably in the 1860s that this doll was made.

And it has her original dress, original underwear.

Also, sitting on the table here is her original hoop skirt.

Mm-hmm.

She does have a bit of damage that goes up her cheek, up to the eye.

Mm-hmm.

Now, that can be repaired.

Mm-hmm.

It would cost about $250 or $300.

Okay.

But it, it would help the value of the doll.

Mm-hmm.

But as the doll sits today, she would sell for $2,500 retail.

Oh, my goodness.

If you had the repair done on the cheek, it would raise the price to $3,500.

That's not what we expected at all.

(laughing) It was worth waiting for, that...

Yes, it was, it was.

♪ ♪ During the Depression, my aunt was, started buying up these vases from Tiffany's, so I guess she ordered some by the crate-load.

On the side, it actually says, "Louis C. Tiffany Studios," with an address.

Mm-hmm.

And the crate in itself it's something you don't see very often, with "glass" plastered all over the sides.

But I also want to point out the straw, because it's not often that people keep the shipping crates.

So let's talk about what you have.

The, the dates are very interesting because the first piece of glass over here, which is what we would call pastel glass... Mm-hmm.

is later-production Tiffany-- it was made in the '20s...

Okay.

it was made in multiples...

Okay.

and it came in different colors-- it came in pinks, and blues, and yellow, and wisteria.

These are the colors that you see in some of the Depression glass of the era... Mm-hmm.

but this was a lot more expensive than your average piece of Depression glass.

Now, this piece is a paperweight glass vase.

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Nash, who worked for Louis Comfort Tiffany, claims that while they were working with paperweight glass, Louis Tiffany himself, who was a painter, came into the glass-working shop, handed them a painting of morning glories that he had painted, and said, "I want you to make this in glass."

Wow.

Supposedly, it took $12,000 in R&D... Mm-hmm.

to create this kind of glassware.

1914 is when they first introduced it.

Your piece, on the bottom, actually says "exhibition piece" on it.

Mm-hmm.

And I know from the date letter on it, which is a suffix L, that that would be somewhere around 1915.

Okay.

So it's possible that this could've gone to the 1915 San Francisco International Exhibition.

Okay.

I think it came back to the studios, that's the interesting part.

You may have seen vases like this.

They're in many museums all over the world.

I think I saw one at the Met in New York, mm-hmm.

Yes, and the one at the Met has a number on the bottom, which is 1130-L. Yours is 1132-L. Oh.

So this is two numbers after the Met's vase.

Okay.

The Met acquired it in 1924, even though it was probably made in 1915.

So these things still were sold later.

So just to give you an idea of value.

The, the crate, in a retail setting, this is something for Tiffany geeks everywhere-- collectors, museums.

They would actually be very excited about this, and it would be worth between $5,000 and $10,000.

Holy cow!

This piece, which is not as sought-after as some of the other art glass... Mm-hmm.

would retail probably between $2,000 and $3,000.

But this piece, in a retail shop, it could be sold for anywhere between $50,000 and $75,000.

No way!

Oh, my gosh!

I was... thinking maybe $8,000 to $10,000, I was hoping.

Wow.

Well, that was a long time ago.

Wow, I really didn't know what the market had done, you know, if it had gone sideways or up or down, but... wow.

(inhales) So there's one other thing in here that I want to talk about.

This vase.

This practically stopped my heart when I saw it in the box.

(giggling) This is the piece I was waiting for for 20 years.

Oh, wow.

And what I can tell you is, every night before the Roadshow, people would always say, "What is on your wish list?

What would you like to come in to the show tomorrow?"

And I always say, "A Tiffany Lava vase."

Wow.

And that's what this is.

It's extremely special.

It is meant to look like molten lava... Mm-hmm.

on the surface of the vase, and this one is particularly interesting because you also have these protrusions here.

And it's very similar to a vase that was shown in the 1906 Paris Salon Exhibition.

Oh!

A very similar example is in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and it's been there since 1906.

Gee.

So when I saw this...

I was kind of excited.

(laughing) Oh.

Well, the thing about Lava is, it was very hard to make.

They get cracked in the making.

Oh.

And I did go over your Lava with my special light and a magnifying glass, and I couldn't find any imperfections.

An example like this, in a retail shop, could sell between $100,000 and $150,000.

(laughing) Where's my brother?

He... (laughs) Wow.

That's unbelievable.

I had no idea.

I just can't believe that your aunt bought all of this in the late '20s and the early '30s.

Yeah.

It's... it's pretty remarkable.

Yeah.

WALBERG: You're watching "Antiques Roadshow" WALBERG: And now, it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth.

And these are two German wooden figurines.

They're pretty crudely carved, so they were only worth five or ten bucks.

So, play toys!

(laughs) My wife won me tickets to the Antiques Roadshow for my birthday, and there's no one luckier than me.

Everyone who brought something worth money's luckier than me, but, oh, well.

Next time, we're going to have more fun and more money.

And I bought a carriage clock that, actually, the case is worth more than the clock itself.

I brought the family heirloom medals.

I found a lot about them, and the appraiser, I made his day, and my grouping was worth about $1,000, so I am very pleased.

And I found out that my photographs of Elvis Presley doing karate were worth about $225, so, not bad.

My family has told me for years and years that it was a print and it wasn't worth very much, but today, I came to the Antiques Roadshow, and I found out that it was a print and it wasn't worth very much.

$100.

I've got this antique chicken boot scraper that my wife bought at a yard sale for $25 and appraised it for $15, so I think we are rich.

$1,500.

$1,500, yeah.

WALBERG: I'm Mark Walberg, thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."