Crocker Art Museum, Hour 3

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: The treasures are flowing in the River City, Sacramento, when "Antiques Roadshow "sets up at the Crocker Art Museum.

It's an absolutely splendid work of art.

I feel like taking off all my clothes and dancing.

Just don't breathe too deeply.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The Crocker Art Museum was the first public art museum in California and one of the earliest in the American West.

In the Gold Rush Gallery, a masterpiece of California art can be found: "Great Canyon of the Sierra Yosemite."

This oil on canvas was created in 1871 by Thomas Hill, who is known for his paintings of the Yosemite Valley and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

E.B.

Crocker purchased it for $10,000, an enormous price at the time.

Today, Hill's works can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

Our experts are seeing lots of interesting objects at the Crocker today.

Has anyone struck gold?

Let's find out.

♪ ♪ What struck me initially when I saw the bowl was how thick it was.

Right.

I love the honey color of this.

This is an honest bowl, not been messed around with.

Even as it stands at the moment, I think probably $2,000 to $4,000.

I love my poi bowl.

(chuckles) WOMAN: I got this at a, uh, thrift store about 25 years ago, and I paid $45 for it.

And I just want to know if it's worth more than my $45.

(laughs) Well, we see hundreds of cameos on the "Roadshow," but rarely do I see one still on the shell.

Right.

If someone wanted to buy this today, I would say they would have to pay at least $150 to $200.

Okay.

♪ ♪ They were part of an estate.

My, my aunt had ended up with them.

They were once my grandmother's, and she got them through marriage, and when she passed away, I got them.

You know this is a Dirk van Erp lamp because it's marked "Dirk van Erp."

This one, yeah.

In addition to having the rare closed-box mark, which is an early designation for van Erp, it's got the name D'Arcy Gaw in it.

And D'Arcy Gaw was a designer that worked with van Erp, only the earliest part of his production, around 1909.

D'Arcy Gaw was from Chicago.

Van Erp practiced metalsmithing at the shipyards in San Francisco.

And I don't know that it's true, but the story that we hear is that D'Arcy Gaw was a Russian spy who was with van Erp to get secrets about the naval shipyard.

But whatever happened, she was gone soon.

And you could see the earlier marks after she was gone, the same closed-box mark, but where "D'Arcy Gaw" was was hammered out, was chiseled out, so there is just an empty, scratchy spot there.

But what you've got on this lamp is a real D'Arcy Gaw mark.

But even without the D'Arcy Gaw mark, you would know this is her work because of several things.

Number one: this vented cap, you don't really see those.

There's a lot of extra work in venting a cap like this.

Only the earlier shades that I've seen have had vented caps, especially something as complicated as this.

If you look at the later Dirk van Erp lamps, these straps end under the cap and under the band.

So you don't have all this additional detail work with rivets showing.

It's a lot more labor-intensive to make these articulated straps with riveting.

You don't also see on the later lamps these rolled rims.

This rolled rim is really hard to do.

This is mica, which is easier to see from the inside.

When you hold it up to the light, there's a slight orange cast to it, another indication of original mica.

Now, you were told that the mica was replaced?

They, they said they thought it had been.

I didn't know-- is that the case?

No, it's beautiful early mica.

And furthermore, you see little holders, these place holders?

Yeah.

When the mica has been replaced, these have to be unbent.

It will bend and you can bend it back, but it loses some of the patination.

The patina on, on this lamp is spectacular.

I have goosebumps.

This is glorious.

That color, nobody can fake that color.

This is 100% straight and true.

It's called a beanpot base.

This is the Dirk van Erp windmill mark.

He was Dutch, and it says "Dirk van Erp" inside of a closed box.

But above Dirk van Erp, it says "D'Arcy Gaw"-- D-apostrophe-A-R-C-Y, her first name, and Gaw, G-A-W.

So it's a really fabulous early lighting fixture.

Really!

Now, let's look at the next one.

You can see the vented shade once again, early aspect of van Erp's work.

Beautiful marbled mica, slight orange cast to it.

Exposed strapping with rivets.

This is under the trumpet base.

All these lamps are rare.

They're fragile, they fell out of favor.

These are all one-of-a-kind bench-made lighting fixtures by a master.

I think they were fairly expensive for the time.

Oh.

My guess is, a good van Erp lamp like this might have been $40 or $50 in 1909.

Oh, really?

The prices of van Erp lamps, like so many things over the past decade, have dropped in value.

On today's market at auction, I think each of these lamps are worth between $15,000 and $20,000.

I think it's safe to say they're $30,000 to $40,000 with a Dirk van Erp at auction.

15 years ago, this might have been a $75,000 lamp.

And this, certainly, $25,000 to $50,000 lamp.

Really?

I've seen 2,000, 3,000 pieces of van Erp.

I've seen the D'Arcy Gaw mark maybe ten times.

This is a lamp from my great-aunt.

She was, worked for the C.I.A.

during the Cold War and stationed in Southeast Asia.

And it's a dragon.

There's a dragon winding its way up, and then his head, his eyes.

And then his tongue licks out, and the lamp is the fire-- that's about what I know.

It's from Germany, and this was your father's toy?

My father's toy.

It was his as a child?

Yes.

It's a very fun toy, very comical action, good motion, it's attractive, fun to look at, and very clever by design.

It's just fun.

I thank my dad for rescuing it, then, from his nieces and nephews.

Yes, it survives.

Well, I come from a family of gold diggers.

We came in 1849, my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather.

And so this is one of the nuggets that we collected.

The next generation, my two great-aunts and one great-uncle went up to Alaska, and they were in the gold rush in 1898.

I even have a journal from it.

Well, normally, gold nuggets are... most of them we see are like this size here.

This is river gold.

Okay.

And, but you brought in a couple of other pieces, which was very exciting, and you can see the difference in the size.

These are massive nuggets.

They are between five and six ounces each.

This one here, a great-uncle found it on the beach in Nome, Alaska.

All of the claims had been taken along the creeks, and they were really disappointed, but things had been washed down by the streams, and so they were just laying out on the sand.

Nuggets, normally, they melt them down, they make jewelry out of them, make coins out of them.

But when they are exceptionally large, it's very rare to find anymore.

Gold value on these right now in today's market is between $6,000 and $7,000 in gold each.

Each?

Each?

Really?

Yes.

Oh, God, all right.

But... What?

Because of the collectability of these nuggets, you're looking at closer to $15,000 to $18,000 for each one.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

And do you know that this is just a small portion?

We have a big family, and this is...

There are a lot of these nuggets around in safe deposit boxes, so... Well... (laughs) You're going to have a lot of friends now.

But they're really... they're exceptional examples.

PEÑA: California was a new state when E.B.

and Margaret Crocker left Indiana for Sacramento in 1852.

E.B.

's brothers had found success as merchants in the city, and E.B.

established his law firm there in 1854.

Several years later, E.B.

joined his brother Charles and began to work as legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad.

You shared an important part of your early life with the 44th president, Barack Obama, when you were a student.

Sure.

Well, we were freshmen together at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

And we were there for two years.

We were in the same dormitory freshman year.

And then after our sophomore year, we both transferred to Columbia College in New York, and we were roommates for the first semester that we lived there in New York.

And then after we both graduated, we stayed in touch.

We wrote letters back and forth, and that's what I brought here, some of the letters.

That's great, and what was he like?

Well, he was a very charismatic, fun guy.

You could tell he'd be successful at something, very thoughtful.

I didn't see him as the first black president of the United States, but I knew he'd be successful at something.

What I find fascinating about this group of letters, which includes seven postcards and three very lengthy handwritten letters... Mm-hmm.

Is the two sides of Barack Obama-- the, the man and the student, and then the idealist, and the philosophy that he was building in these years.

The letters date from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.

To start with some of the later material first, I think this is a great card that he sent you soon after he married Michelle, and he included a photograph of her with it.

Right.

And he wrote this little wonderful biographical comment.

"I still have the nicotine habit, "but Michelle has made me promise "to quit as soon as the book is done.

Otherwise, no babies."

Right.

And that would be "Dreams from My Father," the book that became a bestseller and helped, helped him in his career, yeah.

That's right, that's right.

And then five years later, as he's ascending in his career, this letter gets very short.

"Michelle and I have a beautiful baby daughter, "Malia, one year old.

"I'm running for Congress.

Life is hectic, but good."

Right.

As his life got busier and he became a senator and so on, his communications became shorter.

In real estate, we all know the famous phrase about value-- location, location, location.

Right.

With letters and correspondence, it's content, content, content.

And this letter is really where we see incredibly important content.

This was written in November of 1985, five months after he became a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago.

He talks about his work with his colleagues as a community organizer, and his thoughts and his reflections on what was going on.

He says, "I walk into a room "and make promises I hope I can keep.

"They generally trust me, despite the fact "that they've seen earnest young men pass through here before "expecting to change the world, "and eventually succumbing to a lure of a corporate office.

"And in a short time, "I've learned to care for them very much "and want to do everything I can for them.

"It's tough, though.

"Lots of frustration when you see a 43% dropout rate "in the public schools "and don't know where to begin denting that figure.

"But about five percent of the time, you see something happen: "a shy housewife standing up to a bumbling official.

"Or the sudden sound of hope "in the voice of a grizzled old man "that gives a hint "of the possibilities of people taking hold of their lives, "working together to bring about a small justice.

"And it's that possibility that keeps you going through all of the trench work."

We all remember Shepard Fairey's campaign poster of Obama, that wonderful image of him with the word beneath it-- "Hope."

Yeah.

And here it is, hope.

Right.

Not only do we see the word "hope" in this letter, but we see "love," and others of the postcards and letters are signed "love."

These are two very simple, very basic four-letter words, and they show him in his formative years, as he's developing what would evolve into his presidential politics.

And I think that that's an amazing resource for us biographically to, to kind of understand his mindset in these early years.

I did visit the White House in 2011.

It was nice to go to the Oval Office and hang out for what turned out to be 15 minutes, so that was pretty exciting.

In terms of putting on a value of letters like this, it's hard, because from a biographical point of view, there, there's endless value.

It's very, very rich.

Letters have come on the market, but nothing of, of this kind of caliber.

This letter alone I would give fair market value of $8,000.

Wow, that's a lot.

All together, I would give the entire group-- the seven postcards and the three letters-- a fair market value of $25,000.

Oh, wow.

And in terms of insurance, I think you should think of them in the range of about $40,000.

Okay.

I'm interested in preserving them as historical documents.

It's good to have an appraisal and have some idea of what they're potentially worth.

It's a replica of the Santa Maria that has been passed down in our family.

And, um, I took it to an antique store one time, and they asked... offered to buy it.

So I thought maybe I should go see if it has any more than sentimental value.

Oh, I brought a San Francisco Seals stadium sign that was a roof, part of a roof of my house in San Mateo that I took apart in 1980, and found this, and it was, like, "Oh, you're in good shape, I'll keep you."

They were the team before the Giants, so I would guess it's probably late '40, early '50s.

Well, this is from the 1960, mid-'60s.

I was director of the U.C.L.A.

Drug Abuse Training Center at the time.

And we had this mission to train people who worked with drug abusers all over the Western region.

And Tom, um, really liked our work.

And he came and visited us, and he's one of the principals of, of NORML at that time.

And he and I talked a little bit, and he said, "Would you like a poster from me?"

I said, "I would love one."

And so he gave me one.

Yeah, we should point out that NORML is the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Yes, yes, exactly.

And you say you got this poster in the 1960s.

Yes, uh-huh.

Um, and the 1960s were kind of a wild time... Oh, yes.

(laughs) Well, I have this joke because I'm from the '60s: "If you remember the '60s, you weren't there."

(chuckles) And so I am a product.

I'm lucky I have some synapses left in my, in my own head, so, yes.

That's fantastic.

And I'm going to actually give you a living example of that right now, because I'm very familiar with this artist, Thomas W. Benton.

Oh!

And the poster was actually designed in 1970.

Ah, really?

Really.

So...

So you were so out of it, you got the date completely wrong.

Exactly, exactly.

So Benton fought in the Korean War, and afterwards, I think in 1963, he relocated to Aspen, Colorado.

Huh.

Where he lived for the rest of his life.

Yes.

He was very friendly and worked for many decades with Hunter S. Thompson.

Uh-huh.

And in fact, Benton helped Thompson when Thompson was running for sheriff of Aspen County in 1970.

Amazing.

And they organized the Freak Power Party.

It just, it was an incredible time.

Benton did incredible art.

But it wasn't just for this narrow group of people.

Benton also designed posters for national politicians like George McGovern, for Gary Hart.

Wow.

And here in California, for Willie Brown.

So he was a very established artist.

And it's wonderful, too, if you read the sentiment by Spinoza, the great philosopher: "He who seeks to regulate everything by law is more likely to arouse vices than to reform them."

It's a fabulous sentiment.

Yeah, yes, yes.

It's signed by the artist, and it's inscribed to you.

Yes.

Which is very personal and nice.

His work has come up at auction with some regularity, not that frequently.

And his work generally sells in the $700 to $1,000 range.

Ah, okay.

But it's my belief that because this is such an exciting topic, because it's such a timely issue... Mm-hmm.

Because it's an issue that really reflects and reverberates so well with so many people, I would think that at auction, an estimate for this piece would be between $2,000 and $3,000.

Wow, that's, that's nice, very nice.

Wonderful, thank you.

It's also so great to see, like, the marijuana leaf here with all the star jasmine plants.

Yes, exactly.

It's, like, natural.

I feel like taking off all my clothes and dancing.

Just don't breathe too deeply, and you'll be fine.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Facing off as they originally did in the Menlo Park mansion of mining magnate James Flood, this elaborately ornate fireplace and cabinet were made by the New York City company Pottier & Stymus in the late 1870s.

The monumental pieces made of walnut, mahogany, white oak, bronze, and rouge griotte marble are thought to be among the finest examples of their type in the country.

♪ ♪ MAN: This table was made in 1900 by prisoners at the City of St. Louis Workhouse.

My great-great-grandfather was the warden.

And this was, according to family history, made as a gift for him.

I know that his wife was the matron.

They were there for some time.

I don't know exactly how long that they were actually part of the, of the workhouse down there, but, um, it, it did seem, it's always been said it was a gift.

It was presented as a gift to my great-great- grandfather.

I think you just have to assume that just because it's so finely crafted.

Yes.

It's almost customized for him, right?

Exactly.

My great-great-grandfather and my family are Masons.

It's got some Masonic symbols on it.

They're Shriners.

There's a Shrine symbol on it, as well.

The thing I find most interesting is, it's 32 inches tall, 32 inches deep, and 32 inches wide.

And in the Mason's world, 32nd Degree is the number you want to achieve.

Fascinating.

So it's a parquetry table.

So parquetry is, differs from marquetry in the sense that it's geometric forms that are inlaid in wood.

Okay.

The date is 1900, which is very visible because on the top, we can see where the one, nine, zero, zero for 1900.

This undulating scallop top, fan forms on the edge, parquetry band with the games table in the middle, with the fraternal symbols in each corner.

Beautiful, colorful bright table.

Oak, walnut, mahogany, and there might be some rosewood in here, as well.

Okay.

Rosewood can come into play if it was ever going to be sold, which I doubt it will be, if it was ever sold internationally.

It's not a problem to sell locally.

Okay.

If we move down the table, we can see these great, big, meaty legs that taper down into a very small hoof foot in the... A goat we think it'd be modeled after, a goat?

Yeah.

That's, that's the thinking.

These beautiful acorns, and, again, a parquetry joint there, with the hearts coming down.

Prison woodworking was a very popular thing in the 19th and early 20th century.

Okay.

For the logical reason that it taught people a trade.

Right.

But it also kept them occupied and it gave them self-worth.

True.

And unlike either commissioned furniture or production furniture, there was really no time limits, right?

Right.

I mean, they had nothing but time.

So in here, you have an endeavor for perfection.

And you can really see how this is finished almost perfectly from top to bottom.

I've never seen anything quite as elaborate as this, you know?

You will see simple examples, but nothing as complex as this one.

Have you ever had it appraised?

I have not.

It's been in the family.

I'm the fifth generation.

Hopefully my son will become the sixth generation eventually, at some point in time, much further on down the road.

My father did up a note that keeps with the table with some census information that we keep with it.

And he said if somebody at some point in time sold it, it might be as worth as much as $15,000.

But it's never been professionally appraised.

It's never really been out of the house.

Okay.

Except between moves, before it came here today.

Well, it's a one-of-one, you know.

Yeah.

So it's, we're kind of making a guesstimate.

Right.

Based on what we think comparable sales for such material is.

Parquetry tables, despite all the worksmanship that goes into them, generally don't bring a lot of money.

At auction, we would estimate this at $2,000 to $3,000.

If you were going to insure it, probably double that.

Okay, right.

$5,000.

It certainly wouldn't be an easy thing to replace.

Exactly.

It's part of our family.

Yeah.

And it makes it special for me.

What a nice heirloom to share and pass down.

Very much.

Thank you for sharing it with our family.

Thank you very much.

Uh, it is theoretically a cartridge from, um... President Grant's funeral that was fired in the volley.

A hand-engraved, um, period cartridge.

Everything is absolutely perfect about it.

I picked it up at the Concord Flea Market.

I know nothing about it, except for, the guy was not budging on his price, and everybody just kept walking by.

And, finally, at the end of the day, I just gave him his asking price.

PRODUCER: How much did you have to pay for it?

300, mm-hmm.

WOMAN: Yeah.

WOMAN: So this sword hung in my grandmother's living room, and she always told me that the sword was George Washington's dress sword and was given to a relative, um... believed to be an aide-de-camp to George Washington.

So I did a little bit of paperwork, a little research.

Mm-hmm.

And I believe this belonged to Josiah Pratt, who is seven-times-removed grandfather.

Nice, nice.

(clears throat) Well, it more than likely has nothing to do with George Washington.

Oh.

Sorry about that.

That's okay.

But there's some good news.

Tell me.

When I saw the sword, we instantly realized a couple of things about it.

First of all, the blade, it's German-made, the blade is.

German?

Hm.

Yup.

They were being imported in big numbers.

They shipped barrels of these over.

And, um, sometimes they would be hilted here.

Sometimes they would be hilted in England and shipped over, but this one's a Boston hilt.

So everything you said about Josiah Pratt really fits with this sword.

He was a militia officer.

He was born in 1719 in Stoughtonham, Massachusetts, which later became Foxborough, Massachusetts, in 1778.

Right.

And your ancestor was instrumental in helping to form Foxborough, along with helping to write the Suffolk Resolves.

But he was a militia officer.

He had been a militia officer most of his life, and he needed to have a badge of rank, and the badge of rank for these people would have been a small sword just like this.

This is a little nicer than most, but all of the swords from this time period that I have found are all similar in form, but not as nice as this one.

You got a really special one.

Thank you.

Um...

It's missing the wire wrap, which you know, sadly.

But the pommel form, these ferrules, everything is, is Boston to us.

Have you ever had it appraised before?

No, never.

Well, we think it would be worth, at auction, in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, given the history that it has.

If it had Boston touchmarks on it, it would probably be an $8,000 to $12,000 range at auction.

Oh, wow.

But with the history you've got and the form, I think we can really identify it to Captain Josiah Pratt, and that's wicked cool.

(laughs) It is, it's...

I love it.

You know, when I saw it and I saw the story, I went, "Oh, my God.

This is fantastic."

So I was pretty excited to see it.

And thank you for bringing it in today.

Thank you, Joel.

It's awesome.

Awesome.

So this was your... My grandmother's.

Grandmother's.

And your grandmother probably got it from her mother.

Probably, yeah.

For the age of it, being 150 years old, it's actually in pretty good shape.

I wouldn't guarantee any timekeeping on this thing.

I'd stick to your phone.

It's probably a better thing.

It's porcelain.

It's molded with two rabbits, okay?

Which is, um, a symbol for, um, many children, for being prolific, right?

It's a marvelous, marvelous example.

WOMAN: Well, my mom got it many years ago, like, 20, 30 years ago.

APPRAISER: Yeah.

She bought it from a store.

She paid around $1,500, $1,800.

Okay.

However, I didn't like the setting.

Yeah.

So I asked the jeweler to reset it for me, and I paid about $1,000 for it.

To have the resetting.

And the, and the stone, too.

And the stone put in.

In the middle.

And you're afraid that it's not a real diamond.

Well, I was just kind of curious.

(laughing) So, it is indeed a real diamond.

Oh!

It's a beautiful transitional-cut diamond.

Oh!

So in between the old European cut and the modern round brilliant kind of period.

Okay.

The diamond itself probably dates to 1930s or 1940s.

Oh.

MAN: Okay.

It does have a little inclusion in it.

WOMAN: Okay.

But I think that that just gives it some character.

BOTH: Okay.

The carat weight, how big it is, is also an indicator of value.

So I use my carat weight gauge here, and I put this in, and I think it's just about one-third of a carat.

So .33 carats.

WOMAN: Okay, okay.

I love the setting.

It definitely updates this beautiful jade piece here.

Okay.

It's a really nice color of jade.

When we're looking at jade, we want to see really pure, apple-green color.

BOTH: Oh, okay.

You can see it is a little bit mottled.

There is some white in there, not unusual to see that.

BOTH: Yeah.

And I think, in the auction market today, if you were to sell it at auction-- which is the market that I work in-- it would bring somewhere in the $1,500 to $2,500 range.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

About what we paid for it.

What we paid for it Perfect.

Exactly.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for coming in, it's a beautiful piece.

Thank you very much.

MAN: Thank you.

WOMAN: I brought an abstract painting from Paul Bingham, and I bought this about eight years ago from Concord's flea market.

And what caught your eye with this painting in particular?

It was folded when I saw it, and so I asked the person, and he said, "It's expensive."

When I told him, "Well, what do you want?"

And he told me $45.

So I paid him $45.

And I have had it for about seven, eight years, approximately.

The artist is Paul Burlin.

He is actually a 20th-century Modernist and Abstract Expressionist painter in the United States.

He was born in New York.

Uh-huh.

And at an early age in his career, he actually worked in Santa Fe.

Oh.

And sent some works back to New York for which he became very celebrated.

He was the youngest artist to be included in the seminal Armory Show of 1913 in New York.

Oh.

Born in 1886, and that show was in 1913.

Ah-hah.

He was always forward-thinking.

Later in his career, after the Armory Show, he did return to the Southwest and was painting there.

And after that, he also went to Europe, but he was always on the cutting edge.

He was looking at what avant-garde artists and other artists were doing.

Oh.

And he was pushing himself to the limits in terms of the current artistic movements of the time.

Mm-hmm.

This represents this wonderful period right before his most Abstract Expressionist works, which were later in the '60s.

He passed away in 1969.

Uh-huh.

So his works were a little bit more symbolist... Uh-huh.

And a little bit more figurative right before he became much more abstractional in, in his compositions.

Uh-huh.

So I would date this painting to approximately the 1950s.

He was also a teacher at some of the more important schools and associations.

Oh!

He taught at Woodstock.

He taught at Provincetown.

And he also taught at Washington University in St. Louis.

But, generally, after the 1930s... Uh-huh.

He was basically staying in New York.

He began losing his eyesight in the 1950s.

Uh-huh.

And a lot of his works have to deal with this, but in a way, abstraction lent itself to that.

If he was trying to be more representational and trying to get every single detail in the painting... Uh-huh.

It would have been harder for him.

This painting is oil on canvas.

Why isn't the painting stretched?

Did you ever...

I did take it to get it stretched, but because his signature is so much at the bottom, we will not be able to show.

I think it's, it's very easy to actually get it stretched... Uh-huh.

And not touch the signature.

When you frame it, you can put it into a shadow box frame, so you can actually see the edges, and then you can see the signature.

Uh-huh.

Abstract Expressionism is one of the most popular collecting categories.

There are not that many artists who you can find who are as influential as, as this artist.

Uh-huh.

If I was going to put this painting at auction today... Uh-huh.

I'd put a conservative estimate auction on it of $20,000 to $30,000.

Whoa!

That's good!

That's good news!

A lot of the paintings by him that have come to, to auction... Uh-huh.

Have gone considerably above their auction estimates.

This is a U.S. model 1860 Army revolver.

It's a percussion cap and ball revolver.

This particular gun by serial number was produced during 1863.

The reality is, is that this gun was completely obsolete by June of 1876, when Custer's men were massacred.

They were no longer using this model.

Where did you get this?

Um, from my grandfather's antique store.

And that's all you know?

That's all I know, yes.

APPRAISER: Where did you get this adorable, funky clown?

WOMAN: I got this clown from my grandmother.

And what do you want to know about it?

Everything about it.

Okay.

Well, it was made by the Noritake Company.

And Noritake is in Japan, and they've been around for 100 years or more, and they're really known for making sets of china, like a whole set with gravy boats and soup bowls and dinner plates and everything.

But they also made a lot of giftware.

And most of the giftware that they've made is kind of old lady with flowers and kind of pretty and it's sweet and it's nice.

But between World War I and World War II, they made a whole line of things for the boudoir, like powder boxes, dresser trays, perfume bottles, and I think this is part of that.

And they were made in a very severely Art Deco style with these incredible bright colors.

Frequently having beautiful women in outrageous clothes, but lots of clowns.

They did a lot of these very exotic Art Deco clowns, and this is part of that line.

So most Noritake made in the '20s and early '30s is worth five, or ten, or $20.

It's pretty, it's nice, and it's decent quality.

But these... this group of stuff is so outrageous and so bright and colorful that it sells really well.

This particular piece would sell for between $500 and $800.

Dang!

Cool!

When it was new, it was dime-store.

It was a little too wild for a lot of people, so a lot of people didn't buy it.

It's sold, but it's fairly rare actually.

Oh, cool!

That's awesome!

PEÑA: One of E.B.

and Margaret's daughters, Jennie Crocker Fassett, contributed ceramic, jade, and ivory works of art she collected while visiting Korea.

Jennie was a big supporter of the museum, buying back the Crocker family home in 1911 and giving it to the now city-run museum, along with an endowment.

MAN: I bought them new when I was about 11 and 12 years old, and I put them in a box, and for the last 50-something years, they've sort of sat in that box.

I got inspired when "Antiques Roadshow" came to town, and I thought I'd bring them in.

Oh, very cool.

So you remember it, back in the day, in 1962 and '63?

I loved these comics.

These were great.

Marvel was, I thought, the best comics.

So all the comics in your collection date from the silver age of Marvel, beginning from 1961 and your later book is until about 1967.

Marvel has been around since the late '30s, originally as Timely Comics, in the golden age.

But it wasn't until 1961, with the birth of the Marvel silver age of comics, when it finally had a change from Atlas Comics to Marvel.

And the first book that started it all was "Fantastic Four Number 1" in November of 1961.

Oh, really, ah.

But when it comes to comic book collecting, what we look for is, what is a key issue?

And a key is essentially just any type of comic that's historically significant, whether it's the first appearance of a character, a costume change, an important storyline, maybe somebody died.

Right.

And historically for Marvel, the Fantastic Four is a breeding ground of superheroes.

So the Fantastic Four was really a way for Marvel to introduce and intertwine a bunch of characters.

We have "Fantastic Four 36."

Now, first appearance of the Frightful Four, but more importantly, the first appearance of Medusa.

Who is Medusa, come to this issue, the first Inhuman.

And that's what takes us to issues 48 and 49.

It's the first appearance of Galactus, and, more importantly, the Silver Surfer.

"Fantastic Four 48" is your best book by far.

In its current condition, the "Fantastic 48" alone is a $2,000 to $3,000 comic.

Okay.

Now jump to issue 49.

You have the first full appearance of Galactus, and there he is on the cover.

Right.

And then you also have the Silver Surfer on the cover.

Right.

That book in its condition is $1,000 to $1,500.

Now, continuing to the next row, we keep with the Fantastic Four, issue 52.

This book is literally hotter than fire in the marketplace.

Really?

Wow.

T'Challa, first appearance of the Black Panther.

The Black Panther is the hottest character right now in the Marvel universe.

Easily at auction, this is an $800 to $1,200 comic.

"Avengers 11," important key issue.

Because why?

You have the first crossover with Spider-Man joining the Avengers.

Very hot book because "Avengers: Endgame" came out earlier this year, and here you have Spider-Man joining the Avengers for the first time.

In its current condition, you have a $300 to $400 comic.

Last but not least, one of my favorites on the table-- "X-Men 12."

I don't know if you're a movie goer, but "Deadpool 2," a super-hot satirical movie.

The Juggernaut was in it.

What happens?

Revitalized interest.

Everybody wants a Juggernaut comic.

In that condition alone, the Juggernaut book in itself is $500 to $800.

Now, that's just ten comics outside of the 110 you have.

And the condition across the board is, realistically, it's phenomenal.

Conservatively at auction, for the entire collection, I think you easily have $30,000 to $40,000 worth of comics here.

So times 100, at 12 cents apiece, I mean, what are you in, like ten bucks all in, $12?

I mean, that's not too bad of a return of your investment.

I really didn't think of it as an investment at 12, but I guess it was.

On the "Fantastic Four 52," if this was in 9.8 condition, you'd easily have a $100,000 comic.

Are you kidding me?

Yeah, it's the Black Panther, of course!

It's hard to believe.

There's no way that I can make that into a $100,000 comic book?

No, I can't.

No, unfortunately... (snapping fingers) I don't have that Infinity Gauntlet, so I can't make them.

If I did, trust me, I'd make your dreams come true.

APPRAISER: It's conforming to the right design.

This one is something that is still being made, but it's probably a low-grade silver.

And it's incorporating a number of Buddhistic elements.

So at an auction setting, what would you think?

$200 to $300?

$200 to $300-- I agree.

WOMAN: My husband found her for me at an antique flea market early in the morning.

He saw a lady looking at it, then kind of hung back, and the woman gave the doll back to the seller, and he ran over and asked her how much, and she said, "$50."

So he bought her for me.

I don't know anything really about her, you know.

Okay.

I don't know if she's German or French.

I know she's probably not American.

Okay, very good.

She is German.

Uh-huh.

And in fact, if you look underneath her wig, you can-- which is original, by the way.

Oh, good, okay.

Which is a wonderful thing, to have an original wig with this doll.

Uh-huh.

You can see the plaster that is on the pate.

Yes, uh-huh.

And so that tells us that she would be a Kestner.

Okay.

And then she would have been a doll that would have been done in about the 1880s.

Wow, okay.

And there aren't, as you noted, a lot of marks on her.

Right.

She only has, underneath the wig, the number eight.

That's the size.

She would be called a Kestner closed-mouth black doll.

Okay, okay.

And she is remarkable in that her condition, she still has her original wig.

She does not have her original dress.

No, uh-uh.

She has all original finish on her body.

Mm-hmm.

And a little hard to see, but if you-- pardon me-- pull her pantaloons down, you can see her finish is in excellent condition.

Yeah.

And she has ball joints.

Mm-hmm.

And that's an earlier body.

Okay.

Of those with the 1880s.

And it, obviously, would go with her anyway, because the paint, the color is identical, face and body.

Okay.

That's good to know, yeah.

Tell me about those shoes.

Oh, they're new.

Okay.

Yeah, no, I know they're not, yeah.

Okay, do you think you can find an old pair for her?

I probably can, yes, uh-huh.

Okay, it would really make a difference.

Oh, okay.

It would be excellent if you could find an old pair of shoes for her.

Okay.

Those are pretty distracting.

Okay.

I would tend to leave her barefoot.

Oh, okay.

Rather than putting the shoe on her.

Okay, good.

This is a very charming doll.

They are rarely found as a black doll.

Okay, uh-huh.

If she were a Caucasian, she would be around $1,200 to $1,500.

Okay.

But because she is a black doll in this kind of condition, I would say that at a retail doll show, she would be around $3,500.

Really?

Wow.

So worth quite a bit more.

That $50 investment was good.

Absolutely.

And if I were you, I would recommend that you take your husband and let him go to more flea markets.

(chuckling): Okay.

PEÑA: Another daughter of E.B.

and Margaret, Aimée Crocker, was not as involved with the art gallery as her sister Jennie, but lived an incredibly interesting life.

She was a world traveler, an international society darling, was married five times, had many lovers, and was a spiritual seeker.

Aimée wrote a scintillating memoir chronicling her adventures called "And I'd Do It Again," published in 1936.

Look at the... Beautiful craftsmanship, yeah.

Look at that purfling there.

Fabulous.

So bird's eye maple.

Yeah.

Which is, they call it Berge, Berg-Ahorn.

Um... Do you think that the lion ever had teeth?

No, the head's... there should...

If the lion had ever had teeth... Maybe it had.

Um, there should be a hole back here, a pin, which there isn't.

So I don't think the lion ever had teeth.

WOMAN: This is a violin that's been in our family for years, decades.

It was my father's.

My father had a long, illustrious career in the Air Force and rose to the rank of a major general.

I don't know how much he paid for it, but he would have picked it up probably in the mid-1970s during one of his tours to, to Germany.

It never was repaired.

We've never, obviously, tried to play it.

It hung on the wall.

And it's an unusual piece, and I think that's probably why it had prominence and just as a wall hanging.

I think that the lion carving for the top of the peg box makes it really, really unique.

The thing that we loved, too, was the wood.

The wood on the back is a burl, which is a really unusual...

It's a very pretty pattern.

Indeed, it looks like it's been a beloved violin.

You can tell by the creases in the finger board that the strings make as it's played, and that this has been a violin that's been played a lot.

Uh-huh.

And cherished, because it's in beautiful, very, very pure condition.

There are a couple of labels that are inside, but they're in a language that, that I don't read.

So I was hoping that, that maybe someone could decipher it.

My dad collected a lot of musical instruments throughout his career.

And I know that this was special to him.

And, in fact, after he retired from the Air Force, he went to school and became a luthier.

So he repaired stringed instruments and actually made some of his own.

But this, obviously, was, was very dear to him because he hung on to it, rather than putting it up for sale.

Well, I'm impressed that he became a luthier, that he became a violin maker.

Because that also means he had the eye to appreciate something that was quite special.

And, indeed, the wood that's on the back of the violin is maple.

We call it bird's eye maple.

Oh.

And it's very typical of a particular period and making in the history of the German violin making.

That helps us place it, in terms of the geography of the instrument.

And, indeed, there are two labels that are on the inside.

One is a repair label from H. Voigt in Vienna, and it's dated 1879.

But it says "repair."

Amazing.

And the second label that's on the inside, that you probably noticed is a Latinized label, a name of Nicolò Amati, who was one of the great founders and originators of the violin in Cremona, in Northern Italy, in the 1600s to 1700s.

Yes.

And that's a false label.

So those two labels don't tell us much about the origins of the instrument.

But what we have found is that there is a third label.

Oh, really?

There's a third label on the inside of the violin, and it is glued to the inside of this rib on the base side.

And it's upside down as, as you read it.

And that tells us who made it.

Really?

Who did?

(laughing): Who made it?

I was so thrilled to see that label, I can't even begin to tell you.

It took everything not to start jumping up and down.

But it was made by Matthias Hornsteiner.

The label says "Matthias Hornsteiner, Lauten- und Geigenmacher, Mittenwald, 1781."

It's from Mittenwald, oh!

So Mittenwald is in the Bavarian Alps.

Yes, yes.

It's been a center of violin making going back into the 1600s.

And the Hornsteiner family were the kings.

They were the earliest of the makers.

Well, there were two families-- the Klotzes and the Hornsteiners.

And the Hornsteiners were really highly regarded, and Matthias Hornsteiner II is considered to be the top-notch member of the Hornsteiner family.

And so the violin is absolutely pure.

It's got the original peg box with the lion's head on it.

Uh-huh.

Carved from pear wood.

The body is in really untouched condition.

And then the repair label from Mr. Voigt, he also branded the side of the neck.

So you can see his stamp on the side of the neck.

He must have been incredibly proud of having worked on this violin.

And we believe that he changed the neck to modernize the violin in 1879.

Oh, my father would be so thrilled if he was still alive to know this.

It's, it's gorgeous, absolutely a pristine example of Matthias Hornsteiner's work from 1781.

That's fabulous!

And we would put a retail value on it of $20,000.

(laughing): Oh, my.

Really?

Really?

That's right, and that's conservative.

It's going to stay in the family and be a masterpiece for our family for a long time.

It's just a wonderful piece-- we knew it was.

We just had no idea how great it was.

♪ ♪ It was, I don't know, ten, 15 years ago, somebody was on the "Antiques Roadshow" that had a mannequin full of pins, and they said the pins were worth $20,000.

And so with that, I decided, "I'm going to collect them, too.

Maybe my pins will be worth something someday."

So here I am.

(chuckles) Well, I won it in a contest, and it was back in '92, right around there.

And it was...

I couldn't believe I won the contest.

And years later, I found out that was the year they won the Super Bowl.

Mm-hmm.

So I had this Super Bowl autographed jersey.

And I'm a Montana fan, but here I got this one.

Okay, okay.

And that's kind of the story.

And I've had it ever since.

And I've been online trying to find out what it's worth and I can't, I can't find out.

Okay.

It's not a game-used jersey.

Okay.

The autograph's authentic on the back, though.

You can still wear it to the game.

Good deal, thanks so much.

So this clock originally belonged to my great-great- uncle Arthur.

He was born and raised around Albany, New York.

He ended up being an attaché after World War II in Japan.

He worked in Honolulu, and then ended up working for NATO in Paris, and the family believes that this probably traveled with them all the way around the world, until it finally ended up, they retired back in Albany.

And he passed away in about 2002, and this came down to us.

Wow.

So in the business, we call this a crystal regulator.

And some people refer to them as a brass and glass clock, for obvious reasons.

Okay.

It does say Tiffany and Company on the dial.

And it was retailed by Tiffany.

It was not made by Tiffany and Company.

I'm not familiar with the maker of this clock, but it was probably made in Paris.

Tiffany and Company obviously handled the finest things, and this is certainly one of them.

It would have been made circa 1890.

It has green onyx all throughout the case.

And on the garniture set, which is a remarkable set, as well, it has champlevé, and it's repeated throughout the clock on the columns, on the top of the clock, on the dial.

Do you have any idea of the value of this clock at all?

We think it's beautiful.

Always hoped it was worth maybe $1,000 or $2,000.

Right.

Well, it's worth a little more than that.

It's a clock that, if in a retail situation, with these urns, I think you expect to pay $4,000 for a clock like this.

That's wonderful.

That's really wonderful.

Well, we treasure it, and it's going to stay with the family forever.

MAN: It's a micromosaic.

We don't know if it's from Italy or Russia.

It's by the artist Moglia, but there's a father and a son.

So that's one of the things I'd like to find out.

My grandmother was an antique dealer.

Uh-huh.

And it used to be in her home.

As long as I can remember growing up, it was in our home.

And I always loved it.

I was amazed that something made from stone or ceramic could actually look like a painting.

Well, as you said, it is a micromosaic.

The term "micromosaic" was given in the 20th century to denote this type of artwork, which is literally the introduction or the placement of these tiny little what we call tesserae into a ground.

Mm-hmm.

So the tesserae, actually, you mentioned ceramic or stone.

Are these stone or are they ceramic?

Mosaics are stone, are stone often.

These are neither ceramic or stone.

Okay.

These are actually glass.

Ah!

They made them in tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny sizes.

And so many different colors.

Up to 15,000 different colors in glass would have been made to create micromosaic artwork.

The technique really sort of came into its own in the 18th century, and into the 19th century, as increasing numbers of Grand Tourists visited Italy and purchased these.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

In micromosaic that depicted some of the antiquities that they found there, sort of the archaeological sites, the forums, St. Peter's Basilica, and great old master paintings such as this.

Mm-hmm.

Tell me a little bit, if you know, about the subject itself.

Well, this is Beatrice.

Beatrice and her stepmother were abused by her father.

They murdered him.

They were convicted of murder, and ultimately, they were both, uh, I don't if they were hung or how they were killed.

They were, I believe they were beheaded.

Okay, beheaded.

Yeah.

Partly because she's so beautiful, partly because she stood up for her rights.

She was both a heroine as well as a murderer.

She's a tragic hero, absolutely, yeah.

Okay.

Some people say that Guido Reni, the artist of the original painting... Mm-hmm.

On which this is based...

Right.

Visited her the night before she was beheaded.

Right.

That's just hearsay, though, I believe.

But it's one of the stories, unsubstantiated... Good story.

About how this painting was created.

She was executed in 1599.

Guido Reni painted the original painting on which this is copied.

Right.

In 1600.

Guido Reni was one of the great Baroque painters.

He was from Bologna.

And the painting itself, because it captured her at such a tragic moment... Mm-hmm.

The night before she was going to be killed, it inspired so many people-- especially in the 19th century-- authors, poets, and so forth.

This was made in the 19th century.

Right.

Probably somewhere between 1850 and 1875.

Okay.

You wondered if the mosaic was done in Italy or in Russia.

It was almost certainly done in Italy.

Because the son went to the Russian court, was my understanding.

There was... there was more than two Moglias.

Okay.

So you mentioned Moglia.

It is signed Moglia here, on the margin.

There were three of them-- Luigi, Augusta.

There was Domenico.

They all flourished in the 19th century when they were making these wonderful works of art.

I don't know for certain, but I think it's by Luigi.

Moglia, the family of Moglia, who created this, are considered some of the best.

The Moglia family exhibited in 1851 at the Great Exhibition.

Mm-hmm.

To huge acclaim.

They created artworks in mosaic, paintings after old masters, such as this.

But they also not only made great pictures like this, they made small bits of jewelry.

Right.

Little plaques that would have been inserted into snuffboxes.

The art of micromosaic on this sort of scale, which is actually very, very large for a mosaic, is incredibly rare and incredibly exciting to find on "Antiques Roadshow."

I would think an insurance valuation of $85,000...

Cool.

Would be a fair price.

Excellent.

It's an absolutely splendid work of art.

I nearly leapt over my colleague to look at this.

(laughs) PEÑA: You're watching "Antiques Roadshow" PEÑA: And now it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

Well, I brought two duck decoys that we thought were really valuable that have been in the family for a lot.

And they are not valuable at all.

(both laughing) Turns out Uncle Elmer didn't make these.

No.

I found this in a toilet in Tahoe.

And someone had tried to flush it.

I had it appraised at $1,000.

And I always take it with me whenever I go gambling because it's lucky.

And we always call it "the potty ring."

We had a great time today.

We brought my grandmother's Rolex.

It quit working about ten years ago.

The jeweler told her it would cost her $40 to have it fixed.

She said, "No way.

I can go buy a new one for that price."

We found out today it was worth $1,000.

So, Grandma, pay the $40 and get your Rolex fixed.

This is a music stand, silver-plated, so not worth that much in the silver weight, but it is a "handsome object," said David Walker.

Um, and it's worth about-- what did he say, $25 to $30?

$25 to $30, yeah.

And I brought what I thought was a Lionel... My Lionel train set that I've had since... Oh, it's got to be at least 60 years old.

It wasn't worth all that much, but it was worth a treasure of memories.

We had a great time...

Here at "Antiques Roadshow"... "Antiques Roadshow."

Sacramento!

Thank you!

Thank you!

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."