McNay Art Museum, Hour 2

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: "Antiques Roadshow" is back with old treasures and new stories from the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

My heart just went pitter-pat, pitter-pat when you opened that portfolio.

Golly.

(chuckling) ♪ ♪ PEÑA: In the middle of San Antonio, on 23 acres of wooded land, stands the McNay Art Museum.

The original building, a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival mansion, was designed by the father-and-son team of Atlee and Robert Ayres.

The matron of the grand house was passionate art enthusiast Marion Koogler McNay.

Several years after McNay's death in 1950, upon her instructions, her estate was turned into the cultural touchstone we see here today.

All kinds of art, antiques, and collectibles are showing up at "Roadshow."

What would Mrs. McNay think?

♪ ♪ (people talking in background) WOMAN: I went to estate sales, antique shops, and thrift stores and yard sales.

I have three rooms.

Do you have some pictures of those rooms?

Oh, yes, I do, Lord have mercy.

I have a lot of Steiff.

Tell me...

If my husband was still alive, he couldn't get in the bed.

(all laughing) I love the little kitty, because I'm a doll lady, and doll ladies like accessories for their dolls.

They sell around $60 to $200 apiece, retail.

Larger ones can be $200 or $300, $400.

And we're looking at dozens, so a fantastic collection.

And three rooms full at home.

I couldn't get no more in my suitcase.

(both laughing) WOMAN: My grandfather was an artist, and he had a great eye for art, as did my grandmother.

My grandmother went to an estate sale one day and ran across this painting.

At the time it was signed G. Day, only G. Day.

And she recognized it as being good Texas art, and thought my, my grandfather would also appreciate it.

She bought it and took it home and did some research, and realized that it was a Robert Wood.

I think that they bought it in either the late '60s or the early '70s.

I think that it was originally purchased for less than $1,000.

My grandfather wanted to get to meet Robert Wood and then also wanted to hopefully increase the value of this painting, so decided to track him down in California and get this painting signed.

(chuckles): I, I wouldn't want to disappoint your grandfather, but it actually doesn't really affect the value.

The value.

I mean, it's really neat, but we know who G. Day is, so...

Right.

Where was the fated garage sale?

In San Antonio.

Robert Wood is actually English, but he, he moved to America as a young man-- he was 21-- in 1910, and lived all over America, doing kind of the hobo experience, if you will.

Okay.

Random jobs, trains.

Painting all the while.

But he settled in San Antonio in 1923.

He was there for a number of years, all the way through 1940.

He did end up in California.

Was it Laguna where they tracked him down?

I believe so.

And I don't know the date for sure.

Early in the '70s is my understanding.

Well, he died in 1979.

This particular painting is oil on canvas, signed lower right, G. Day, and also signed Robert Wood, which I've never seen before.

I think there were very few people who tracked him down and had him re-sign them.

(laughs) He also, during this period, was signing his works "Trebor," T-R-E-B-O-R, which is just Robert backwards.

There are lots of stories about why, and I think all of them are apocryphal.

I don't think anybody knows, but he only did that between 1924 and 1940.

The two other signatures.

Okay.

G. Day and Trebor.

And then after that, the remainder of his work is all signed Robert Wood.

I notice on the back there's an appraisal.

I'm going to call it an appraisal, because it says, "$5,000," and then it says "Robert Wood" underneath it.

And I'm wondering, when they took it to him, if maybe at the time, he assigned that value and then signed his name underneath.

We see the stamps, that the copyright is reserved by the artist, and that the painting is by Robert Wood, which probably wouldn't be on there from a painting like this, circa 1930.

So I would imagine those were added, as well, when he reviewed the painting and modified the signature for your family.

Wood is famous for a bunch of different subjects, but in particular the bluebonnets are something of a signature topic for him, and they also are among his most valuable paintings.

This would be a strong example of paintings of this period.

At auction right now, I think a reasonable estimate would be in the realm of $15,000 to $25,000.

Wow.

That's incredible.

There's literally over a million prints of some of his more famous paintings.

That's where most people know Robert Wood.

WOMAN: I brought you a compact with a signature by Salvador Dalí.

APPRAISER: Where'd you get it?

A present from my mother-in-law about 18, 20 years ago.

She knows I collect them.

She was always out and about, and if she saw something that someone in the family enjoyed, she went ahead and bought it for them.

You can open this up like this.

So, you have a place for your powder here, which is fantastic.

And got a little place for, for pills.

Okay.

A little pillbox.

And, and most importantly, on the back here, as you said, it's stamped Salvador Dalí.

It was made around 1950.

People think of Salvador Dalí as an artist.

Mm-hmm.

Not always just an artist.

He was a designer, he designed for Elsa Schiaparelli.

He actually designed a famous sofa that's in the shape of Mae West's lips, a lobster telephone.

It is made by the Elgin American Company.

Oh, okay.

Which is an offshoot of, if you've heard of Elgin watches.

Yes.

It's called the bird-in-hand compact.

Oh, okay.

And the bird-in-hand compact is a bit of a Holy Grail for a lot of people who collect compacts out there.

What do you think it's worth?

I have no idea.

I mean, I know my compacts when I purchase them, they're somewhere in the $100 to $200 range.

So that's what I was thinking.

At auction, I would expect this to bring around $3,000...

Okay.

...to $4,000.

Oh, my goodness.

Okay, that's sweet-- I didn't expect that.

Isn't that great?

Yes.

Just a fabulous little bird.

Great.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: "The Washerwoman" was sculpted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, but executed by sculptor Richard Guino.

Renoir suffered from arthritis at the time, and hired Guino to model the piece based on his drawings.

The water-themed work was intended to be one of a pair.

But when the artists' relationship soured, the second piece, meant to symbolize fire, was not completed.

WOMAN: Well, they're kind of a mystery in my family.

My mother gave them to me.

And I know everything that she paid for anything of value and where she got it except these.

And we've never been able to figure it out.

When did you receive them from her?

Mmm, probably about 35 years ago, 30 years ago.

She may have gotten them in the Diamond District of New York.

or she could have gotten them here in San Antonio, I don't know.

As you know, they are ear clips.

And what you have is a profusion of colored diamonds.

And different shapes, as well-- you've got pear shapes and brilliant cuts, very organic design.

When I turn them over, we find a mark for a well-known New York jeweler, Julius Cohen.

Yes.

Who was very prominent in the 20th century.

He was a very well-known, very skilled, high-quality jeweler.

He did work for Harry Winston at one time, but before that, he started in the late '20s, even, I believe... Ooh.

...working for Oscar Heyman, who did a lot of work for major American jewelers based in New York-- Oscar Heyman and Company.

And then, in the late '50s, Julius Cohen went out on his own.

So, under his own name, he produced jewelry most importantly in the period of the sort of '60s, '70s, and '80s.

I would say they were made about late '60s-early '70s.

The firm still continues.

Hmm.

But Julius Cohen himself died in the mid-'90s.

He started his career as a 16-year-old bench jeweler.

Ooh.

And worked his way up to sort of a well-known name, although less well-known today.

But in the course of business, we've seen nothing but very good-quality pieces from his hands.

Always very interesting-- interesting colors, bold.

These earrings include white diamonds, but they also include fancy yellow diamonds, from fancy light yellow to almost fancy intense yellow, deep yellow.

You might have mentioned canary diamonds.

That's not really a term that's used anymore.

Oh, okay.

It's, it's too broad a term for grading the different colors of yellow diamonds.

It's all set in gold.

Would it surprise you if I told you that in a retail setting today, you might have to pay $80,000 or $85,000 for this pair of earrings?

That would delight me.

That's just wonderful news.

Thank you.

Yes.

I'm happy with that.

Very good.

APPRAISER: You've brought in this wonderful Air Jordan sneakers display.

Where did you get this?

My grandmother gave it to me.

Ah, all right, Grandma.

Where did you get it?

Well, when my kids were small, when they were babies, I took them to one shoe store.

And years later, the shoe company store went out of business, and they were throwing away a lot of stuff.

And this was one of the things that I thought was great and not to be thrown away.

So, I got this.

How much did you pay for this?

I didn't have to pay anything for it.

I just kind of saved its life 'cause I thought it was pretty cool.

So, what year was that?

That was probably about eight years ago.

Okay, so why did you think about this as a gift for Miles?

His mother played basketball.

Ah.

She was four-year scholarship, basketball college.

His uncle, my son...

Right.

...was a basketball star in high school, and now he's a basketball star.

And I thought this would be great to put up in his room.

How old are you?

Seven.

Okay.

And how long been playing basketball?

About since I was five.

Okay, so a couple of years.

And your mom taught you.

So, what, what did your mom teach you?

She taught me how to dribble, shoot, and pass.

Dribble, shoot, and pass-- that's all you got to do.

What do you know about Michael Jordan?

I know he's a good player.

(chuckles): There you go.

Well, you know, Michael Jordan was not just a good player.

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest players of all time.

And he came out of the University of North Carolina, led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.

Michael Jordan signed a deal with Nike for $2.5 million, which was a ton of money in 1984-- it was five-year deal, and they started making shoes for him.

And all of a sudden, overnight, they became famous as he became famous.

So, you got this great display.

This display is from 1993.

How do I know that?

Well, that was the year of Air Jordan 9.

They decide to take words that were most associated with Michael Jordan.

So here are the words here in English, "Skill, creative, sport, grace, freedom, intense, power, and dedication."

Because they were expanding globally, they put them in all different languages, whether it was Japanese and German and Spanish and Italian.

And those are on the soles of the shoes.

So every year, they would do something like that.

And that's what they did in 1993.

So the shoe would go here.

What do you think, Miles, something like this would be worth?

Hmm, about... $500.

If I was going to put an auction estimate on this, I would put about $500 to $700 on it.

Wow.

It's a pretty cool gift.

That's really good.

♪ ♪ We have a black, hard-stone bead here, and this is hard-stone, as well, but it's been dyed.

So this isn't the natural color.

And the reason I can tell is because you can see the run of the dye throughout the piece, throughout that agate.

So it was probably originally a clear stone and then they dyed it red, and it would have been made in the '60s.

It's beautiful-- do you wear it?

Yeah, sometime I do.

I think you should wear it more often.

This was a graduation from zither school?

From zither school, yeah.

Back then, this was a very popular instrument, and it's a kind of a folk instrument.

Yes.

You don't see it played very often anymore.

And it's actually more difficult to play than it, than it looks.

MAN: Yeah.

APPRAISER: It's rare to see one this age in this good a condition.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: It actually belongs to my husband.

But, you know, Texas is a community property state, so I figure it's mine, too.

After having had his first Rolex bought off his wrist when we were living in South America, he went to the PX in Panama-- we're retired military-- and bought this.

He bought it in 1966, and he was en route to Vietnam for the first tour.

So it has endured a helicopter crash, because he was with the first, of the ninth of the 1st Cav Division.

It went through another tour in Vietnam, and then he came home and was having a little brawl with our son, a fun time-- dropped the watch, broke it.

So I had to have it repaired.

So I sent it to my daughter with instructions, "Don't let it out of your sight."

She took it to Rolex in Dallas.

They repaired it.

He's 88 years old.

And now we have to have a new band put on it.

What would you suggest?

Should I send it back to Switzerland, where they could repair it?

Or shall I send it to Dallas?

What was his rank?

Lieutenant colonel.

We call him our hero.

A, he came back alive, but he came back wounded, also.

Well, I think everybody here at "Antiques Roadshow" would thank him for his service.

Well, we certainly do.

So, now, let's talk about the watch.

It's a Rolex, stainless steel, GMT Master.

This watch has been around a long time.

The first one was built in around 1954.

This particular model, the reference 1675, was built until 1980.

We looked up the serial number-- it's in the eight million range-- was made in 1963.

It is the original band.

Yes.

And the way I know that is, there's a date from the first quarter of 1963 on the band.

It was very popular for this bezel, which was this blue and red.

Right.

It's referred to in the business as a Pepsi bezel.

Soon after this watch was made, they switched something in production.

If you look over here, these crown guards are pointed.

Soon after this year, they went to a much fatter crown guard, and it's not pointed.

Pointed crown guard, more money.

Okay, okay.

Pepsi bezel, more money.

More money.

All right?

For collectors...

He got a deal.

How much?

$150.

You had told me when you came up about the bracelet...

Right.

Being broken.

We can see here, it's pretty banged up.

Yes.

There's nothing wrong with sending a watch into the company for service.

I mean, they manufactured the watch.

They certainly know what they're doing.

But there's little things that you have to know about a collectible watch at this point in time that you might have done a little differently today that was not even an issue back then.

Okay.

All right?

So, I'm going to start off with, this watch at auction is worth $8,000 to $10,000.

Okay, good.

Good, right?

Big return on his investment.

Big return.

Good.

Okay, here's the rest of the story.

When they serviced it, if you see over here, it says, "Disc for revolving bezel" replaced.

Ah.

Right below it, "Dial."

And it says there, "Noir"-- black.

"GMT," this.

In 1998, 21 years ago, replaced.

They talk about the second hand.

And the other hands.

Yes, yes.

Replaced, although I noticed, the red hand, which is for military time... That's the great thing about this watch-- it was actually originally made for Pan Am.

And it could easily distinguish between day, night, and then different time zones.

When you send the watch in today for service, no problem sending it to Rolex.

Have them service the guts, the engine.

Have them-- let them do that.

Okay.

But do not let them refinish the case.

Do not let them replace the dial.

In the old days, you used to go get a watch serviced-- in the '60s, '70s-- they would actually give you back the old parts.

At some point in time, they stopped returning parts.

That old bezel was probably all faded and banged up.

Yes, it was.

If it had all been original, $15,000 to $20,000.

Oh, my word.

Oh, my word.

Yeah, still great.

Yeah.

But I think it's, there's a big lesson in all that for people out there who have these old watches.

Yes.

MAN: I bought it probably around ten years ago at a local thrift store.

So, how much did you spend for it?

I believe it's under four dollars, I believe.

Wow.

The artist is Malvina Hoffman.

Yes.

So, it's signed and dated 1928.

She was American artist, born in 1885 and died in 1966.

She had a very long career with a lot of success.

Came from an artistic family.

She went with a letter of recommendation from Borglum, who's a very well-known American artist, to Auguste Rodin in Paris and worked with him for a year.

And she, I think it's most interesting, because she was a woman artist that was successful in the time.

And she also had a commission for the Field Museum in Chicago that pretty much covered her expenses to travel the world for a few years documenting, sketching, taking photographs with her husband of people and cultures around the world to create 104 sculptures for their museum.

At the time, was probably one of the largest commissions, like, ever, for a man or a woman artist.

Yes.

And it's a just beautifully done sculpting in bronze.

The condition is fantastic.

If I had to put an auction estimate on it today, I would say between $2,000 and $3,000.

Mmm, that's nice.

(both laughing) That's nice.

APPRAISER: What'd you bring in for us today?

MAN: A medal that we think is from maybe World War II.

This one's a little earlier than World War II.

It's actually a veteran medal from the state of West Virginia, and West Virginia was a Northern state.

And did you know that there's a name stamped on this medal?

No.

Along the edge, we actually have the soldier's name, and he was a member of the Second West Virginia Cavalry.

Wow.

This is a medal that today would probably sell in the $150 to $200 range.

Okay, wow-- wow.

WOMAN: It's a Mary Bonner print from the backyard at the McNay.

Mary Bonner and Mrs. McNay were good friends.

Okay.

So they spent a lot of time there.

Yeah, so, this is an etching.

Mm-hmm.

And Mary Bonner is Texas artist who moved to San Antonio in 1897, studied in the early 1900s in Europe.

Mm-hmm.

And learned printmaking... Mm-hmm.

...etching, there, and came back to San Antonio, and is one of the foremost female artists working in San Antonio in the 1920s and 1930s.

The house itself was built in the late 1920s, so I imagine that she made this etching sometime around 1930 into the early 1930s.

And would have done it in a very small edition.

It's beautifully inked, and it's a lovely image.

I could see a value on it probably around $1,000.

Okay, all right.

My son just told me, "Don't sell it and don't lose it."

Good advice from your son.

(laughs): Yeah.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The use of decorative tiles was a main feature of the Spanish Colonial Revival homes designed by Atlee and Robert Ayres.

Colorful Talavera tile murals, probably from Puebla, Mexico, enhanced the ambience of the courtyard.

The tiles on the walls surrounding the open-air fireplace depict literary characters from the 17th-century novel "Don Quixote de la Mancha," by the Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes.

I brought this about ten years ago at an auction.

It's by the Highwaymen, and they were a group of black artists in South Florida in the 1950s.

Yeah.

And they would paint along the highway.

And the gentleman that was the most prominent of them-- his name was Mr. Newton-- he's the one that signed it.

We've had it hanging in our dining room for ten years.

Where was the auction?

In Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Everybody was sitting around talking about it.

And the auctioneer, a good friend of mine, says, "Well, I'll waive my commission, the first $500 buys it."

I went... and I bought it.

Good for you.

It's an oil on board, so artist board, or Masonite, in this case.

Okay.

The moniker "Highwaymen" came about because they were literally selling their paintings up and down the highway.

Oh, okay.

And stopping from one exit to another, going to hotels, going door to door.

They sold anywhere from $25 to $50.

Oh, really?

That's what they sell them for.

It was a group of roughly 26 artists.

Yes.

And, as you said, Harold Newton was the kind of premier, best artist of the group.

And they would paint on very inexpensive materials, and often, they would frame it with just ordinary coving, molding that you would find in houses.

They're pretty widely collected.

The wonderful part about these Highwaymen, these African American artists from Florida, is that they painted the kind of untouched landscape of Florida in the midpart of the century.

Okay.

And they started, as you said, in about the 1950s.

Yes.

Painted right through about the 1980s.

It's difficult to date this, 'cause it's not dated.

If I look at the material and the type of pickled oak frame that it has, and the way the liner is painted with this kind of whitewash, I would say it's an early one from the 1950s-- maybe the late 1950s.

They were trained pretty much by a very prominent landscape artist in, in Florida named Backus, B-A-C-K-U-S.

They called him Beanie, Beanie Backus.

Oh, okay.

He was a white artist, but he loved training the African American artists.

Okay.

And they got pretty successful, and they all made a living doing this.

This, I think, is a rather good one.

It's really an undisturbed landscape, there are no buildings, there are no people.

It really captures that remote, unspoiled Florida landscape of that time period.

Okay.

Today, it's so built up, as we know.

Sure.

And today, at auction, this would probably bring somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.

(laughing) I wasn't going to say this, but, golly.

Yeah, there's a, there's a real collecting fad for this type of art, and you nailed one of the better ones.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

My pleasure.

(laughing): Yeah, jeez.

WOMAN: I brought my Garbage Pail Kids collection.

It's the series, the full set.

When everybody else had, like, Cabbage Patch Kids, I had Garbage Pail Kids, because they're just, just, like, the grittier version.

How did you actually come across the cards?

I won a rock, paper, scissors game with my friend.

Like, really, rocks, paper, scissors?

His-- yeah, these were... Yeah, this was actually his set.

Okay, yeah.

That he had.

And 'cause mine, back in the '80s, I used all mine and put them all throughout the school, the stickers, and I always talked about them.

And he got tired of me talking about them, so he said, "Rock, paper, scissors."

(laughs) He's, like, "We'll do it.

"If you win, we don't talk about the cards, you have them.

I win, you don't talk about the cards, I keep them."

Garbage Pail Kids were introduced in 1985 by Topps.

And basically, it's a trading card, but they're also stickers.

You actually have two complete sets.

Oh, okay.

So you have series one and series two.

Uh-huh.

But you have both variants of the sets.

Okay.

So that's why, when you look at the cards, there's a 1a and a 1b.

Oh, okay.

So it's the same artwork on the card.

Mm-hmm.

But it's just a different character name.

There were 41 cards in the original of each set.

So 41 a cards, 41 b cards, 82 cards in the first set.

And back in the day, you would buy a single wax pack, and they'd only cost 25 cents at retail.

There's roughly 160 cards here.

Mm-hmm.

The cards we have separated up top are a little bit special.

Nasty Nick and Evil Eddie, they're both the number-one card in the set.

Uh-huh.

And they're an iconic image.

Number eight, Adam Bomb and Blasted Billy.

Adam Bomb, if you remember opening the wax packs back in 1985... Yeah.

Up through series five, he was the image on every single card pack.

So it's so recognizable.

Oh, you're right!

And the Cabbage Patch Kid connection, which is really neat, 'cause if you look at a back of a card-- if you remember getting a Cabbage Patch Kid doll... Yeah.

They came with a birth certificate, certificate of authenticity.

So they're making fun of that certificate... Mm-hmm.

...by putting it on the back of the card.

Yeah.

Now, when it comes to collecting trading cards, condition is everything.

For the Nasty Nick and the Evil Eddie up here on the board, you can see the Nasty Nick has a slight bend to the corner in the upper left-hand side.

Mm-hmm.

The stickers are perfectly intact.

And the other thing is centering.

The margin here is slightly lower.

But regardless, they're unused.

This card, if it were to be professionally graded, it's maybe on the lower end of a seven.

Yeah.

Maybe upwards of an eight.

Just the Nasty Nick and the Evil Eddie alone are worth between $250 to $350 apiece.

Oh, wow!

The Adam Bomb and the Blasted Billy, they're about $200 to $300 apiece.

Oh, wow!

But cumulatively speaking, for your whole collection... Mm-hmm.

Series one, series two, all the variant cards, you're looking at auction today, conservatively, $1,000 to $1,500 An unbelievable, phenomenal set.

Awesome.

♪ ♪ Well, my mother claims it's a mold for these dolls that used to be used during celebrations in Mexico.

What they'd do is, they'd cover these with papier-mâché.

Mm-hmm.

Then they'd paint them all up.

Gotcha.

And they did-- at fiestas, everybody's throwing them up in the air with firecrackers, blowing them up.

And that red clay, that's what they make a lot of these out of that are molds for papier-mâché.

Cool.

And they still make them today.

Do you know about this?

Uh, no.

This is from Central Mexico, but... Do you know what a molcajete is?

I do, yes.

You do, yeah.

The old grinder.

Yeah.

Well, this is, like, for spices.

Oh, cool.

You know, it's not one of those big grindstones, but it's like a ceremonial one.

But that's what those things in the bottom are for.

Oh, I wondered.

To grind up little dry spices.

And, you know, this is, like, 1,800 years to 2,000 years old.

Oh!

Okay.

And it's, it's hard to believe that things this old aren't worth more money, but they're great things from Mexico's heritage.

$150.

Oh, that's great.

Something like that.

That's probably worth about $50.

Cool.

This is cool stuff.

Thank you.

Well, thanks for coming in.

WOMAN: My mother worked at a clothing store called Vogue here in town, and she was a secretary to the manager.

Elvis was really big in 1956.

Of course, that was the beginning of his career.

And our local radio station, 55 KTSA, had a contest where you could win a, a date with Elvis when he came to San Antonio for a concert series.

And you just had to write on a postcard why you deserved a date with Elvis.

So, my mom wrote a poem.

The people at the store kind of were rooting for her.

She was friends with the man who painted the window signs and did the store displays.

So, they had this idea where they would make a supersized poster postcard.

He hand-painted this, complete with the post stamp and the address.

And on the back is her poem.

They hand-delivered it to the radio station.

And it was so unusual, and the poem, I guess, connected with them, and she was selected.

So, the Vogue store was very excited about it.

And so they donated the dress and the outfits for her, and she went to, like, a press conference, and she got to sit backstage for two of the concerts that he played in town here.

And he would wink at her from the stage, and she just felt just tickled.

Oh, that's so cute.

And then they went out for dinner as a group.

I mean, it was a large group of people.

Right.

She wasn't, like, on a date with him and anything like that, but it was a really big moment in her life.

Not only is this an amazing piece of Elvis Presley memorabilia, it's also a piece of art, because, as you said, this is all hand-done.

Mm-hmm.

And what I love is the fact that he has signed it to her, and he signed it in ink, and the photo shows him signing.

And can you read what it says?

"To Marie, My very best to you.

Love you, Elvis Presley."

And, as you said, this was the start of Elvis's career.

Mm-hmm.

And he basically was on record as stating that he owed everything to Texas because this is the state that put his career over the top.

He came to Texas three times in the, in 1956.

The very first time he came, he was pretty much of a hellion, because he was young-- he was just getting famous.

But by this time, by October '56, he had calmed down, and he was starting to do press junkets.

He participated in this contest, and I'm sure that he was thrilled to get this poem that your mom wrote.

There are a lot of Elvis autographs out there from 1956, from this tour.

A lot of them are on photographs, a lot of them are on plain white paper.

You can find them online for $45.

But because you have the card, you have a picture of Elvis signing the card, at auction, conservatively, I would estimate this at $3,000 to $5,000.

Wow.

Yes, yes.

Your mom did good.

(laughs) I mean, not only did she get to meet Elvis, but she left you an amazing legacy.

And if you wanted to insure it, you should insure it for $7,500, because there's no way to get another one.

Wow.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Once described as the Gertrude Stein of San Antonio, Marion McNay supported student artists by allowing the San Antonio Art Institute to hold classes at her estate.

She also rented quarters on the grounds to artists at modest rates.

WOMAN: I've had it for about eight to ten years.

My husband and I went to a storage unit sale.

I saw this and another guitar, and I got it, and we've had it for that long a time.

Have you had this appraised?

I've had it appraised once, and they told me it was, like, between $2,500 and $4,000.

Okay, and what did you pay for it?

I paid three dollars.

Three dollars?

Three dollars.

Three, three.

For... three dollars.

Like, three dollars?

Three dollars.

Okay.

The materials is maple back and sides and the resonator and the neck.

It's Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, which is endangered-- that require a CITES certificate, permit, to ship outside of the U.S.

It's mostly original.

This has been added, which is no big deal.

It has a plug on its side.

WOMAN 1: Yes.

Which, this is not an electric banjo.

What it is is, people would put lights inside for their show, which a lot of banjo players did back in the '30s, even the '40s.

It has two Christmas lights that are easily taken out.

This was a 1928 Gibson Granada banjo.

This is a tenor banjo, which is a short-necked four-string.

The only issue this has is, there is a crack in the headstock that somebody put a screw in.

Oh, I didn't notice that.

It's not a huge deal, and it can be fixed.

It really doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

Price-wise, a little bit.

The gold plating is in pretty decent shape.

There's engraving under here-- there's some oxidation.

You have to be careful what you use to get this off.

You can't use solvents, because it will take the plating off, too.

Oddly enough, the best thing is saliva.

Oh, wow.

Really?

To take it off.

Oh.

'Cause it's just enough acid to break down the oxidation without damaging the plating.

It's also a rosewood tone ring.

You see the back of it.

WOMAN 1: Mm-hmm.

And there's the damage, but it's pretty minor.

But all that is repairable.

Considering that, this has a retail value around $7,000.

(both gasp) (chuckling): Wow.

Oh, my.

Wow, $7,000?

APPRAISER: Yeah.

Oh, my goodness.

(laughing) I did not expect that.

APPRAISER: No.

I did not expect that.

You don't want your three dollars back?

(laughing) No.

Man, $7,000.

Wow.

Never expected that.

The other sign of a good banjo is, it's heavy.

I noticed that it was heavy.

The heavier they are, the more valuable they are.

Oh, really?

♪ ♪ APPRAISER: It's a complete works of Shakespeare bound in three volumes, which, normally we see it in two volumes.

But in this case, it's bound in three, which means each volume's a little lighter.

It's published around the 1890s.

After the Bible, Shakespeare's works are the most published books in the English language, so...

They were done in pretty large numbers, these books.

It's a good read.

APPRAISER: You can see the overall quality of the workmanship on this.

And because of the subject matter, which is rare-- and I think it was probably intended as a hunting trophy-- so this really elevates the value and the interest level of it.

In spite of the falling prices of porcelain these days, I think you've still got a pitcher worth somewhere between $250 and $350.

Awesome.

It's really good.

WOMAN: I had gone to an estate sale, which I had previewed online.

And I'd seen in one of the pictures a picture in, in the distance leaning against a wall, on the floor.

And I thought, "That's kind of neat."

So when I got there, I made sure I was first in line, and I went right directly to it.

Didn't have a clue who it was.

Mm-hmm.

But I knew I loved it.

And do you remember what you paid for it?

I paid $40 for it.

$40, okay.

And how long ago was that now?

Probably four, five years.

Okay.

And the artist is, of course... Maurice Braun.

Maurice Braun-- he's very much associated with Southern California.

Mm-hmm.

He was born in Hungary, originally.

Oh!

And then moved at a young age to New York, where he studied art.

Studied with William Merritt Chase, who was a major artist and teacher at that time.

But the big year for him was 1909, and that's when he moved to San Diego.

And he fell in love with the landscape, and he fell in love with the intensity of the light there, and responded to it.

He was very interested in esoteric philosophies.

Mm-hmm.

He was interested in things like theosophy and transcendentalism.

And so he believed in the unity of man and nature.

And so when he was painting, that was really an expression of that.

So, this is an, an oil paint on canvas.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

In terms of when it was done, it's a little hard to say, but he moved there in 1909, 1910.

He died in the 1940s, so I think it's fair to assume it was done... Before... '20s, '30s.

It has a number of things going for it.

It's just a really nice painting.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

It's a really nice example by him.

The other two things are, it's in the original frame, and collectors love that.

And finally, what I love to see in a painting is, it's really, really dirty.

Yes, it is, I'm sorry.

Now, that might... No, no, no, no need to apologize.

That's a good thing in our world.

So that's, that's actually a very good thing.

Now, there's a very strong market for Californian Impressionism, and particularly Southern Californian Impressionism.

He also worked on the East Coast.

You don't get so much at auction for those works.

It's really this kind of thing that people want.

And although the title on the back is fairly generic-- "The Road to the Hills," that could be anywhere-- we know that this is Southern California.

So you bought it for $40.

Bought it for $40.

Would you be surprised if I told it was worth at auction $10,000 to $15,000?

That's, that would be awesome, yeah.

It's a pretty good return, I think.

It is, yeah.

Isn't it?

Pretty good return on your money.

MAN: This is a antique roll-top desk.

I'm guessing anywhere from the 1820s to 1920s.

We'll find out.

APPRAISER: A lot of the steins that you see on "Antiques Roadshow" are somewhere between $25 and $75.

The ones that are still quite valuable are made by a company called Villeroy and Boch, done in Mettlach, and this is that.

Okay.

They are of a completely different level.

The artistry, the workmanship, and the design.

The sense of humor.

I would think that these days at auction, this is probably in the $400 to $600 range or so.

Okay.

So, definitely better than most.

Mm-hmm, okay.

My husband bought it probably 20 years ago from a dealer in Atlanta.

I cannot exactly remember how much he paid for it.

I'm guessing maybe a couple of hundred dollars.

It was not much.

When he brought it home, he said it was a poster from World War I, from, to sell war bonds to raise money for the war.

And then, long time after we had the poster, we had a book that had, said it was a chromolithograph from 1916, and the artist is unknown.

But we, it's been hanging in our home for a long time.

The two-headed eagle has been a symbol of Russia since 1497, when Tsar Ivan III made it the official national symbol.

And it's important to notice that in one talon, the eagle, double eagle, is grasping the orb, and in the other, it's grabbing the scepter, which are two renowned symbols of power.

And the other thing is that there are three crowns.

Each eagle has a crown on its head, and there's a floating crown in the middle, which is a symbol of unity.

And the eagles each, one is facing east, one is facing west.

So, as a Russian symbol, it was a very powerful graphic tool that united all of Russia.

You also have in the middle St. George slaying the dragon, which was also part of the, sort of the Russian visual mythology.

And yes, this is a poster for the First World War, and they needed to raise money to fight the war.

And so it says, "War loan, five-and-a-half percent."

And in the print beneath, it reads in Russian, "For the strength to hasten victory against our enemies."

Under one of the eagle's wings is a trophy of arms, which is sort of an age-old symbol of defeating enemies in battle.

And under the other wing, we have a heavy-caliber World War I field gun.

The thing about Russian World War I posters is that Russia was not a very rich country, and these posters were printed on incredibly flimsy paper, almost like newsprint.

So, many of them have begun to crumble, almost return to dust in your hands if you've picked them up.

And I've handled enough of them to know that they're very, very fragile.

And yet yours is in as close to immaculate condition as one could hope from a poster that's 103 years old.

The other fascinating thing about this, historically, this is from 1916.

Mm-hmm.

One year later, in 1917, was a historic year in Russia of unimaginable proportions.

There was not one, there were two revolutions, and in the second revolution, the Bolsheviks toppled the provisional government and set up what would ultimately become, in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR, and the onset of their communist regime.

Now, when the communist regime came into power, they banned all tsarist material.

The double eagle was no longer the symbol of Russia and was not the symbol of Russia until after the Wall came down.

Right, right.

And Gorbachev and Reagan came to some détente.

Right.

It does mention that it was printed in Petrograd, which then became Leningrad.

It's a very prolific designer, a designer who designed so many different artworks all over the world, a fellow by the name of anonymous.

(laughing) And the amount of work that he created was incredible.

We don't know who designed this poster.

I consulted with some of my Russian-speaking colleagues.

It does say that it was printed chromolithographically.

Technically, however, it is only a lithograph.

Oh, okay.

It's a small detail.

I don't know if it's a difference in translation.

The other posters tend to sell for $800, tend to sell for $500, sort of in that range.

I've never seen this image before.

Oh!

A fair auction estimate for this would be between $1,500 and $2,000.

Oh!

Oh.

But on a good day, it could certainly sell for more, say, between $2,000 and $3,000.

Wow, wow, that's wonderful.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The McNay Art Museum has undergone eight expansions since 1970.

The original 1929 home was roughly 6,800 square feet.

Today, there is 53,000 square feet of exhibition space.

WOMAN: I was at a paper and print show in New York about 15 years ago.

I've always collected historical documents or anything on the Philippines.

I'm Filipino.

So I saw the Philippines on this map, so I was immediately interested.

It's bigger than it would show in other maps.

But the more I looked, the more intriguing the, the map looked to me because of the age, and it looked like it might have been a commission by the king.

And how much did you pay for this wonderful map?

Between $275 and $300.

The map was published in 1664.

And it's by Pierre Duval, who was a cartographer, and he was appointed geographer to the king.

Uh-huh.

Do you know which king was it was?

It was the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Uh-huh, Louis XIV, yes.

Yes, and so, he was interested in geography and history, and he employed Mr. Duval as his mapmaker.

So he puts that on the map to look more of an authority.

He says, "Geographer to the King of France, with privilege."

Now, at the time, he was a geographer, but he wasn't running around Asia doing his own triangulation.

Mm-hmm.

He was using sailors' accounts and other people's maps to make this.

Mm-hmm.

So it's accurate for the time, but there is quite a bit of distortion, like you pointed out in the Philippines.

Mm-hmm.

They're stretched out and larger than they are.

Mm-hmm.

Right now, retail value for the map would be about $1,500.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

You're welcome.

MAN: These were from my grandfather.

He was given them in the early 1950s.

Well, that's right on the mark for the date.

Oh, is that?

These are mid-century.

This is a compote, signed "Steuben" on the bottom.

These are snail design.

If you look at that real close, you'll get the snail out of it.

Okay, I see.

And those are both signed.

Now, for insurance, this bowl would be about, oh, $400 or $500.

Okay.

And these, comfortably, you're around $2,000 for the pair for insurance.

That's super.

Thank you for bringing them.

I appreciate it very much, thank you.

♪ ♪ My grandmother was Swedish, and it was in her house all growing up.

The story was that her father had gotten the rug from Russia.

He was a Swedish trader in metals, I think, in brass.

And during World War I, he had at one point ended up in Russia, and the rumor was that he was paid from a treasury of goods from the tsar, and was for some kind of work, possibly spying for Sweden.

Mm-hmm, wow.

And you said it was around 1914?

Yes.

Well, I think the date of 1914 kind of makes sense.

The rug was woven in the late 19th century in the Caucasus.

And the type of rug that it is is a sumak, which refers to the technique, and you'll notice that it's all done in this very intricate flat weave.

Yes.

As opposed to most rugs that are handmade that have pile.

The design is a classic Caucasian design.

The medallions are referred to as Lesghi stars.

And in the late 19th century, production was ramping up, and they were selling 90% of the rugs they were making to the West.

So it was sort of that magic period where they were holding onto the old traditions.

It's in amazing condition.

Really?

It has its original macramé ends.

It has its original selvages.

The brown in the background has corroded, and that's because they used iron in the process of dyeing.

And to a collector, that's not a negative.

Okay.

There are some old repairs that are handmade, that could probably be redone better.

And there are some nice bits of folk art.

For instance, the man standing on the back of the horse.

Mm-hmm.

Where do you keep it now?

(chuckles) Well, it, for the last few years, it's been in a trash can in the garage.

Oh, my goodness.

(laughs): Yeah, so... Well, it seems to have survived that pretty well.

Yes, I'm surprised it's in good condition.

The value as is would be, on a fair market basis, about $1,200.

Okay.

It will not be in the trash can anymore.

Perfect.

We will put it somewhere.

where it can be enjoyed.

MAN: My dad, Jack Kent, was a cartoonist, but before he became a cartoonist, when he was a teenager in the 1930s, 1940s, he wrote to all of his favorite cartoon artists and asked for original comic strips, which, in those days, they sent to him.

And many of them sent them with comments and signatures specifically to him.

My dad, unfortunately, passed away fairly young in 1985.

Been in storage for many decades.

Comic art itself wasn't as appreciated as it is in the market now.

And we look back on these strips, and they're really beautiful, beautiful art.

So, the earliest one that you do have is the George Herriman, "Krazy Kat."

And "Krazy Kat" was started in 1913.

He was this kind of surrealist, goofy, simple cat that was annoyed by this mouse, Ignatz, that would hit him with bricks.

This is a particularly interesting comment on people on the dole, with this character Li'l Thin Dime, who just complains about taxes.

And I love that it's a very early strip, probably from 1938.

And hand-tinted, it's just beautiful.

The biggest newspaper, Hearst, produced the syndicate for "Krazy Kat."

The next one is "Prince Valiant."

"Prince Valiant" actually started in 1937, which is so interesting, because this is a King Features from April 17, 1937.

So, it's talking about when Prince Valiant was still young.

Mm-hmm.

And that's why it has such a poignant message to it.

The Sunday strips are so large and so beautiful.

And even though there were over 4,000 of these Sunday strips, I think this is a really beautiful example.

And the full title was, "Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur."

The other one out of the hundreds of things that you have in your archive... (laughs) ...is this "Mickey Mouse," and I love it, because it's, "Hello, howdy!

Texas Jack, Sincerely," with a signature from Walt Disney himself.

Yes.

Another piece Walt Disney did for a Sunday daily, and it is also 1937.

And the Disney would also be reprinted in many Sunday and daily strips.

And that was by Walt Disney Studios.

We are so thrilled to see them.

In terms of auction, I would say the "Mickey Mouse," which is a beautiful example in very, very good condition, would sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.

Oh, my goodness.

Could even be a little more because it's a very early strip.

The "Prince Valiant" has a little bit of condition problems, but it's on the edges.

Because it's him as youthful, it doesn't have as many fighting or vigorous scenes that one would expect from a piece, but this one is very desirable, being so early.

And I would put a value on this at auction of $40,000 to $60,000.

Oh, my goodness.

But honestly, your prize is the Herriman.

The Herriman is extraordinarily collectible.

It is, as Herriman goes, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.

(laughs) This is about as good as it gets for any collector.

It brings tears to my eyes, it's so great.

I would put an estimate on this of $50,000 to $60,000.

Oh, my goodness.

Very honestly, I think it could bring more.

And everything that you brought in that portfolio, which is just seminal cartoons, well in excess of $200,000.

I mean... (laughs): Oh, my goodness, I'm astonished.

Oh!

You can see why my heart just went pitter-pat, pitter-pat when you opened that portfolio.

I'm astonished.

Really, when you brought it in, I was shaking.

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

I like to go to garage sales, but my husband always says... Don't bring home a bunch of junk.

But that was worth-- I paid five dollars for that-- that was worth $200, and this was worth $200.

And so what do you say now?

Thanks a lot, "Antiques Roadshow."

I brought Dino with Fred.

He was my toy when I was growing up in the '60s.

I found out that he is worth somewhere between $200 to $400.

We got a Keno appraisal on the bench.

It's pre-Civil War.

It's been a canoe and a spaceship and everything from childhood, but it's only worth $200 today.

Yes, but it is priceless.

And it's priceless to us.

And this is a book that I got for my husband for, as a gift, and it's worth about $150.

I brought about a 70-pound bronze, and it's too heavy for me to bring it up here.

I thought it was worth a lot of money.

I found out it's not.

So, my kids are going to be very disappointed, and I got to change my will.

Today is our 34th wedding anniversary.

And you would think after all that time, he'd believe me when I tell him this thing's fake.

It was.

It's a fake shaw.

So we have a nonvaluable, fake shaw.

I have a Milford Zornes watercolor of Texas.

And I was really excited because my mother bought this for me for $21 at an estate sale.

And it's worth $5,000.

Yeehaw!

Texas!

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."