Vintage Los Angeles 2020

♪ ♪ APPRAISER: What's interesting about this is, I'm calling it a leaded-glass lamp, but in fact, it's not really a leaded-glass lamp.

When I saw the painting on it, I knew it was a pretty good piece, and I, I thought it was probably Pennsylvania.

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: Back in 2005, "Antiques Roadshow" visited Los Angeles for the second time.

The curious came, more enthusiastic than ever, to learn if there were any treasures among their trash.

I want to know how far you had to dive down into the dumpster.

All the way to the bottom.

(laughs) All right?

All right.

PEÑA: Well, at the time, some received better news than others.

(laughing): Are you kidding?

PEÑA: Wondering what's changed over the last 15 years?

Let's find out which values went up, down, or stayed the same, in this new look at Los Angeles.

WOMAN: The sitter's my mother.

This is 1924, she was seven years old, it's in France, and she was going to school there at the time.

She was there with her family.

Her father came over to do the reconstruction after World War I-- he was a lumberman, and the family was over there, living in France.

It's a wonderful bronze, such an appealing subject.

The artist has signed it here, it's Paul Troubetzkoy, who was a bit of a fairly colorful character.

It's signed and dated 1924 and has a foundry mark here, it's a Paris foundry.

Mm-hmm.

And he was born in Italy, the second son of a Russian prince, and his mother was an American lyric singer.

Really?

Interesting.

And it seemed that he was always ahead of conflict.

He moved from Russia to France in 1905.

Uh-huh.

Then he left France to come to America.

Uh-huh.

And then went back to France.

He did a whole variety of subjects.

He did animal, um, topics.

Mm-hmm.

He did famous personalities, politicians of the time, intellectual thinkers.

Wow.

Authors and illustrators.

But his real, flourishing part of his career was doing society portraits.

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

A lot of artists earn their living traveling in high society.

Uh-huh.

And so there were lots of elegant men and women that had their portraits done.

Yeah.

And obviously, these sort of charming young children, as well.

Wow.

Well, it's so fascinating to hear what you say, because it's just been my mom, you know, in her house, and I, you know, never really thought about it.

Some of the figures that have come up on the market tend to be less personal in nature and more sort of recognizable.

Right.

But it still has a considerable value.

And if you had to find something by this artist of a comparable scale, you'd expect to pay, in a retail price, in the $20,000 range.

Wow, wow.

So it's good.

You've got a very valuable piece.

Wow.

WOMAN: These were perfume bottles that were collected by my mother.

I believe that she was given several as gifts from her mother, and they just are items that I have grown up with.

APPRAISER: And did your mother live here in Los Angeles?

Yes, she was born in Los Angeles.

Okay, so she probably collected them here?

Or did she travel much?

I believe her mother traveled, and that's why I believe several of the pieces may be from out of the country, but I do not have history specific to any of the pieces.

Collecting perfume bottles is a very popular habit today, and it has been since your mother or even your grandmother's time.

And people look for perfume bottles from the period that most of these represent, which is the interwar years, the '20s and '30s.

Okay.

They do all come from outside of the country, but you could have bought all of these in Los Angeles in the '20s and '30s, so... Oh!

She may have picked them up locally.

Okay.

Starting, the one closest to you, that's a Bohemian bottle.

Very typical of bottles made in what's now the Czech Republic.

I would say, by the look of it, it's probably early '30s.

That's quite a nice one, and it does have some value in the hundreds of dollars.

In the center, you have some bottles which are very typical of Venetian glass.

If you pick them up, you see they're very lightweight.

Yes.

Venetian glass has no lead in it.

It's soft, so that you can work it into these pretty shapes.

They're very characteristic of Venetian glass from the '20s.

And again, they have some value in the hundreds of dollars.

Then these two are made by René Lalique, the French company, which specialized at the time in making perfume bottles.

In fact, Lalique really began his career as a glassmaker by making perfume bottles for François Coty.

Okay.

Around 1910.

And you have two here, which are quite different.

This one, and I'm gonna take the top off, because this top's in trouble.

Yes.

This happens a lot with perfume bottles.

The stopper has been stuck in there, and someone's tried to force it out, perhaps, and they've broken it.

Okay.

But in this condition, with a broken stopper, I'm afraid it's worth about $100 at the most.

Lalique did make a lot of perfume bottles, tens of thousands of them, before World War II, and many of them are actually not that valuable.

Okay.

If this one was perfect, it would only be worth maybe $400 or $500.

Oh, okay.

Even though it's from the '20s.

This is a great one.

A Lalique bottle made very early in René Lalique's glassmaking career.

It was designed in 1912, and it's called Oreilles Épines, which means pine or briar, brambles, in the ears.

See, it has these ears on it.

It's exquisitely made in a way that Lalique kind of experimented with when he was an early glassmaker.

It's actually quite complicated.

The bottle itself is forced into a mold by pressing it down without the bottom being on it.

Okay.

Then the bottom is separately cast and stuck on.

It's really the only way you could make a piece of glass that looks like this, and really, Lalique figured it out.

He was a brilliant technician as well as a great designer.

If this came to auction, I would estimate it to sell for between $30,000 and $40,000.

Oh, my gosh.

Lalique perfume bottles are very high in demand.

And this particular one, unlike this one, is very low in supply.

Okay.

I've only ever seen two other of this example.

Wow.

MAN: Well, I've had this nice sculpture here for about five years.

I bought it from a friend of mine, and... APPRAISER: What'd you pay for it?

Paid $1,500 for it.

Okay.

All right, here's the news on it.

Okay.

It's contemporary.

(groans) But the great news is that on the decorative market, this still has value.

Okay.

Not as much as your $1,500, but certainly in the $400 to $600 range.

And if you have a garden, I'd put it outside and I'd just enjoy it.

I think that's what I'll do with her.

It was my grandmother's, and my grandfather was the business manager for Adrian.

Ah.

And Adrian was a designer in the '30s.

My mother's worn it, I've worn it.

(laughs) It seems to fit absolutely any body's type.

In a retail situation, it would be worth, in my estimations, $6,500.

Really.

Really, wow.

It's really a beauty.

APPRAISER: Nice watch you brought in by a very famous house called Breguet.

Originally founded by a man named Abraham-Louis Breguet in the late 1700s.

He was a fantastic watchmaker.

A very, very innovative man.

Oh, really?

This is an interesting watch-- you can see, as we turn towards 12, it flips.

It's a very complicated mechanism.

Do you know what it's worth-- any idea?

Oh, no idea, none.

Um, anywhere from $10,000 to $18,000.

(laughing) (laughing): Are you kidding?

Nice watch.

Oh, I would say it's more than nice-- oh, my goodness!

My husband will just be thrilled.

That's so exciting.

WOMAN: I bought it in the late '60s, uh, in Los Angeles from an antique dealer.

In fact, I still have the, the receipt.

Really?

Now, do you, do you remember what year?

I believe it was 1967.

1967.

Do you, what did you pay for it?

$130 plus tax.

At the time, that was a very fair price...

Yes.

For this particular kind of lamp, which is a Handel lamp.

During that time period, that's just when people were starting to take notice of Tiffany lamps.

And this does resemble a Tiffany leaded-glass lamp.

But it's not, it is a Handel.

This lamp is circa 1915, and at that time, people really didn't necessarily differentiate between the lamps.

Every time they saw a leaded-glass shade, they'd say, "Oh, it must be a Tiffany," or, "This is Handel, it must be just as good as a Tiffany."

And the prices were fairly similar.

Over the years, that has changed, because we know a lot more about the lamps, and how many were made, and what the operations actually entailed to create the lamps.

And what's interesting about this is, I'm calling it a leaded-glass lamp, but in fact, it's not really a leaded-glass lamp.

It's really more of an imitation of a leaded-glass lamp, and this is something that Handel specialized in.

They did, by the way, make leaded-glass lamps, but this doesn't happen to be one of them.

This is an overlay lamp.

It's called a cattail shade.

Now, on the outside, it looks as though this is all leaded glass.

However, when you take off the shade, you don't see any of the leading on this side.

Instead, what you see are these large pieces of glass that are held into place with the same metal overlay that's folded over to secure it.

Now, you're probably wondering, how did the color get here?

Because these are not individually colored pieces of glass.

This was a colored finish that was put on underneath the metal overlay.

I talked to my colleagues at the glass table, and we feel that if this were to sell in a gallery, it would sell between $10,000 and $12,000.

Whoa!

(laughs) Yeah.

Oh, Lord!

You held onto it, and, uh... Oh, my gosh!

You've got a real gem.

I am just shocked.

MAN: My family come from China, Canton, and I heard that, like, in the 1930s, my father was well-to-do-- that was before I was born-- and he loaned some money to a friend, and some time later, the friend came back.

He said, "I cannot afford to pay you back, so just take this dish."

So, so my father took it home, and give it to my grandfather, and he use it to keep the bean curd-- tofu, you know?

Really?

Yes.

(both laugh) Well, this is a Ming Dynasty, Longquan celadon dish, probably made in the 15th century.

Now, celadon is a glaze that's made out of iron oxide as a colorant fired in a reducing atmosphere.

Oh.

And it is one of the most popular glazes in China.

It's made in Zhejiang province, in the Longquan kilns.

This was a highly prized glaze.

This glaze was also used on pottery and porcelain, both for imperial use and for domestic use.

Sometimes you can achieve this little craquelure that you see on the surface of the glaze through this firing, which is also a coveted result of the firing.

And here you have a decoration of peony blossoms and beautiful leafy foliage around the exterior.

This is a molded decoration with some hand carving, and a beautiful example of its type.

About ten years ago, a flood of these came on the market, and so the price went down at auction.

Ten years ago, this piece might have only been worth about, oh, $1,000 to $1,500.

But now, with the influx of new Chinese, mainland Chinese bidders at auction, currently, I would estimate this piece to bring between $5,000 and $8,000 at auction.

Oh!

Amazing!

Oh, it's really a wonderful example.

Thank you very much for bringing it in.

You're welcome, thank you!

WOMAN: These paintings were from my aunt's home in Toledo, Ohio.

They had been handed down from her husband's uncle, who was also from Toledo.

He was a physician who traveled the world.

Uh-huh.

And actually commissioned most of the paintings in his collection.

I was my aunt's last relative, and so I had my pick of, of the paintings, of which I took most of them.

You said he's from Toledo, Ohio?

Yes.

That's interesting-- you have two paintings here by artists from Ohio, originally.

Oh, really?

This painting here is "September Sea" by Cullen Yates.

Yates was born around 1864, and this painting is a view, I believe, of Ogunquit, Maine?

Yes.

Is that correct?

It was of Perkins Cove, and I have traveled there many, many times since I was about nine years old.

And so I knew exactly where this... Sure.

Where this was from.

But it wasn't until I took the back off of the painting and had it restored that we found letters from the artist... Mm-hmm.

To my, to my uncle's uncle.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

And talking about the commission of the painting.

It's a lovely scene of Maine, and your letters reference that, which is very important, as far as establishing where this is.

Mm-hmm.

Now, the other painting over here, the "Wild Morning Glories" by Charles Courtney Curran, he was a contemporary of Yates, and he was born in 1861.

His painting is, is very typical.

He did a lot of these attractive young women bathed in sunlight.

He lived mainly up in Cragsmoor in New York, up on the Hudson.

The Yates here is a, is a beautiful painting.

It's great brushwork and use of palette knife here.

It's a very lively surface, very colorful.

It's huge, too.

For him, it's a very large painting, one of the largest that's out there.

Also, you add to that the fact that it's a known place.

You have the letters that establish that, that adds a premium onto the value, as well.

If this were to go to an auction, I would expect a world record for that artist.

I would estimate it around $20,000 to $30,000.

Oh, my goodness, no!

(laughs) So, now, the other one, the Charles Courtney Curran... Uh-huh?

That is a drop-dead-gorgeous painting.

That is one of the most prettiest things I've seen here.

And that's one thing I've learned in this business: You never underestimate pretty, and pretty girls in white dresses really do well, plus the flowers.

That painting, in an auction right now, I would put an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000, and it might even do above that.

Oh, my.

WOMAN: I brought my grandmother's necklace.

She brought it from China, she came to the U.S. in 1923.

And then this I bought on an online auction about four years ago.

APPRAISER: You know about this particular piece.

It's high-karat gold.

Right.

It's like 22-, 23-karat gold.

Uh-huh.

And the carving of the jade in this heart is jadeite.

And it's a little mottled, but it's a new piece.

It's not old.

I mean, it has to be 100 years old before it's old.

Yes.

Now, you brought me another piece here.

Yeah.

And do you ever use this?

No, I have not.

You know it's a compact.

Yes, I do.

I do know it's a compact.

It's a two-stage compact.

There's two compartments with a mirror.

The, your two pieces of jade are broken.

Oh, are they?

Yeah.

This one has a slight crack in it, and the top over here is missing.

Oh.

See?

They were representative Han Dynasty coins, the double carving on both sides.

Yes.

And Han Dynasty coins had holes in the middle.

Now, those were good luck, jade, for that particular period of time.

Mm-hmm.

What I like about this compact is, the whole gold case is made from green gold.

And that's very hard to do, and very rare.

Really?

The gentleman who made this, which is not marked, knew what he was doing, because enamel adheres to green gold much better than yellow gold.

Oh, oh.

And this is all black enamel, right?

And even on the back.

Your chain is platinum.

I don't think it really belongs on this piece, but it's a magnificent two-tone platinum chain.

Now, how much did you pay for this?

$1,200.

Well, your jadeite piece over here would bring anywhere from $1,000 to $1,200 at auction.

Oh, okay.

Your compact, at auction, could easily go anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000.

(gasps): No kidding!

(laughs) Oh, my God!

I don't believe it.

Oh, my God, really?

$12...

I don't, I don't believe it, that's... My God.

Enjoy it.

Thank you.

WOMAN: Well, when I was a kid, my parents had a general store out in farm country, and a lot of times, people who owed us money for their grocery bill, they would bring in items for us to, to barter or to trade.

It's a Gibson harp guitar, and that was a very... Actually a relatively common form often used in the mandolin orchestras of the period.

Hmm, yeah.

In top shape, this would be worth about $5,000 or $6,000.

Oh, really?

But someone in the past has put, taken a whole big piece of wood out of here... Mm-hmm, I see there's something missing.

And put in a plug down here.

Right.

So I'd take about 20% off for that.

So let's say it's... $4,000.

Thanks for bringing it in.

Oh, I appreciate it, thank you.

You're a quilter, right?

Yes.

And so one of the things you wanted to do with this was to quilt it.

Turn it into a quilt from the top, yes.

It will lose its integral value if you, um, if you quilt it, because it's no longer an original piece.

So I have to tell you, don't do it, even though that's what you as a quilter are, are inclined to do.

Saves me a year's worth of work.

(both laughing) WOMAN: It belonged to my mother.

She received it from her grandmother when she was a child.

I don't know at what age.

And she lived in Wisconsin, that's all I know about her.

Okay, so what time frame are we talking about?

Well, I would think she received it somewhere in the '20s.

1920s, okay.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, it's a German china head.

Okay.

Very nice portrait face, very low, long breastplate, super-duper hairdo, with this sort of loop in the back.

Yeah.

And it's not really the 1920s.

Oh.

It's been around a little bit longer than that.

It's possibly made by a company in Germany called Schaleggenwald.

Okay.

There's no mark on it other than a number in the front, and it dates from the late 1840s.

Oh, wow!

So it's, you know, quite old.

Uh-huh.

You know, good brushstroking here, very nice face.

Oh, my.

A little bit of this firing which happened in the making, which has not harmed the doll.

Oh, okay.

It originally would have had a cloth body, with china arms and legs.

Mm.

And, you know, perfectly dressed in the 1840s era.

So it probably would have been your great-great- grandmother's doll.

Oh, okay.

So, uh, let's see, the possible Schaleggenwald, what are you worth?

Uh, probably, just as a head, probably $2,500 to $3,000.

(gasps): Oh, my goodness!

And as a whole, complete doll, up to $4,000.

Oh, wow.

So you got a really good treasure that's been in your family.

Thank you.

Good, thank you!

That's great, thank you.

MAN: I bought it from a dealer that was in Long Beach, California, in the early 1970s.

APPRAISER: Okay.

I went by his shop regularly.

Were you looking for pieces like this in particular?

A painted piece or...?

Well, I always love painted pieces.

Right.

And we have a few in, in our home.

Okay.

And, um, when I saw the painting on it, I knew it was a pretty good piece, and I thought it was probably Pennsylvania.

How much did you pay?

I paid around, uh, $300.

It may have been as much as $350.

$300 to $350, not bad.

Yeah, yep.

In the '70s, early '70s.

Right.

First of all, you know you have a dower chest, right?

Yes.

And this chest is Pennsylvania, and I do think it's from probably the late 18th century.

Okay.

You have six beautiful painted tulips in these stylized vases, which was a very popular Pennsylvania German decoration.

There was a lot of German settlement in Pennsylvania, and these symbolized love, so it makes sense that it'd be a dower chest, don't you think?

Yes, absolutely.

Okay, may we open it up?

'Cause I... You bet.

I saw this newspaper in here.

Tell us the story on that.

Well, when I saw the chest, I loved the chest.

But when I opened the lid... Yeah.

And saw this newspaper article that's dated 1937...

Right.

And read the article, I found out that it was from the Somerset, Pennsylvania, area, and my mother and grandmother lived in this town, the town of Somerset in Somerset County.

So it's rural, rural Pennsylvania.

Isn't that a coincidence?

You were in California buying a chest, and it turns out your family lived in the county it was made.

And that's, when I saw that, I knew I had to have it.

That is neat.

This is white pine.

Uh-huh.

And they often painted these wonderful chests on a soft pine like this.

And over there, that till, would you mind opening that?

Uh-huh.

That was a nice little place to store things.

And I love these wrought-iron hinges, possibly made right in, either in Lancaster somewhere in, in Somerset County.

And they've been there all those years.

Look at that nice oxidation here, where the iron has seeped into the wood.

Yes.

Those are absolutely original, John, and really, really nice.

Terrific.

I mean, I love to, I love to see all that.

Yeah.

This has survived, actually, in, really, pretty nice shape.

On this end, this is the nicest end, because you have the birds, again, with the tulips.

And that paint didn't get beat up as much.

There is, there's one repair.

It's a repair on the whole back foot.

Did you know that it was repaired?

Okay.

I, I thought there was some molding that had been repaired on it, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, so there's a nice seam, and you can see that that whole piece of wood in the back foot, it's about 18 inches there, there is replaced.

And that does affect the value of that.

Yeah, sure.

Well, did... You wanted to know value?

Okay.

Absolutely.

I'd kind of like, also, to know, were these made by fathers of the girls?

Or were they made by a local cabinetmaker?

Good question, and my guess, looking at this piece and looking at the decoration and the moldings, is that this was made by a cabinetmaking shop.

Okay.

And it would have been purchased by the family for the daughter.

Yes.

Because it's too well done.

The paint is made with a combination of some incised work and some freehand, and some stenciling.

It was done by a place that made several of them.

Just to give you an idea of retail value, this piece would easily be valued at $9,000.

Uh-huh, terrific!

You didn't do bad.

Fantastic.

MAN: It was a violin that my Aunt Vivian had used.

We know it's really old.

It was inherited by my immediate family about 30 years ago, and frankly, it's been sitting in a, in a closet over the last 30 years.

So your family believes that it's actually from the 16th century, because it's got a label that says, "Gaspar Tieffenbrucker, 1519," and it's something that your great-aunt played in recital.

Yes.

And it's been... She was quite a musician.

And it's been in your family all this time.

This is a very unusual style, because it has, instead of a spiral scroll, it has a carved man's head.

Mm-hmm.

Some people believe that to be the head of the maker, Gaspar Tieffenbrucker.

But you can see that the carving on this example is quite fine, especially the detail in the beard.

Mm-hmm.

And the eyes, and all of the facial features-- his hooked nose.

There is actually an etching that exists of Gaspar Tieffenbrucker that this is taken from.

As we head down towards the bottom of the instrument, we see a beautifully inlaid, flamed maple fingerboard.

Coming down the face of the violin, we see various relief-carved motifs.

On the sides, we see wood inlaid to look like an old city scene.

As we go to the back of the instrument, this is where it gets really spectacular.

We have three types of decoration.

We have the relief carving at the top, we have an oil painting, and all of this intricate inlaid wood that shows a scene of an ancient city.

It's not actually from the 16th century.

It's a French instrument that was made in the 1800s, probably by the shop of Derazey in Mirecourt, France.

Mm-hmm.

But it was done very, very beautifully, and it was done true to style.

Uh-huh.

Now, your aunt had an outfit here.

She's got a case and a bow-- let's look at the bow.

It looks rather plain.

Mm-hmm.

It looks a little bit like it hasn't been used in quite a while.

The hair is broken on it.

Mm-hmm.

As we take it out, we see that it's actually a very fine bow.

In its simplicity, it's got a certain elegance.

This bow was actually made in probably the late 1940s in the shop of Eugène Sartory in Paris.

It has a mother-of-pearl inlay in the eye of the frog, and it's got beautiful sterling silver fittings.

Mm-hmm.

It's got a beautifully carved head up here.

Mm-hmm.

And that was all done by hand.

Done by knife work.

This bow by Eugène Sartory is a classic example of one of the most innovative makers of the 20th century.

As I turn it around, you can see his stamp on the shaft of the bow.

The value of your violin is between $3,000 and $4,000.

Uh-huh.

The value of this bow, although it was purchased to accompany the violin probably for $100 or so, is worth at a retail violin shop $14,000 to $15,000 today.

Holy smokes!

When was the bow made?

Late 1940s.

No kidding!

Wow.

WOMAN: I got it about 30 years ago.

There was an elderly gentleman that lived in San Jacinto, and he had an antique shop.

And he didn't have a family, and he just kind of adopted me.

And the very best of what he had, that he thought was his best, he wanted me to have.

Well, it's probably Baccarat glass, but in order to prove that, we would have to see the line drawings.

It also leans towards a nice Bohemian glass.

Either way, values and styles are pretty much the same.

And this is all heavy giltwork, along with heavy enameling.

It's all matching, the just perfect condition.

You have a handled decanter and a stoppered decanter.

And if you notice, you have two different stopped tops.

Right.

That's so when they're out of the bottle, you could remember which one goes in which.

Oh.

Now, generally, these come in a huge set.

Do you have more?

Yes.

Originally, I had 27 pieces.

My husband was helping me one day before a party, and he knocked a glass shelf out.

Oops!

And nine of them broke.

Oops!

Yeah, oops.

So... Maybe I shouldn't know how big an oops.

(both laugh) Well, these were made in about 1870s, 1880s, and again, I would lean towards Baccarat.

And since I can't see the other pieces that are available...

Yes.

The pieces that are here on the table, for insurance, would be in the $4,500 to $5,000 range.

Ooh!

(laughs) So I hope the "oops" wasn't... Yeah.

(laughs) Well, he's an antique, too, so I have to keep him.

(laughs): That's great.

Cherish what you have left.

And keep my husband away from it.

Well, just make sure he uses all the bubble wrap.

Yeah, there you go.

Well, that's, that's wonderful.

Well, my husband and I bought it in, at an auction in Montana, and it's E. Martin Hennings, and I believe he's part of the, um, Taos School.

And you paid... About $3,000 for it-- it spoke to us.

Yes!

That's why.

Well, I can see why, he has so much character.

Yes.

And the brushwork is really wonderful on this.

I would judge that it ought to be worth somewhere in the $25,000 range.

(laughs): Oh, my, that's very nice to hear.

Yes, yes.

Very nice.

You know, we have a policy here.

No bull is spoken at the Roadshow.

But I think we can make an exception in this case.

Why don't you tell me a little bit about this?

MAN: Well, the gentleman whose name is at the base was a philanthropist in the early part of the 1900s, amassed a huge fortune of artwork, and left the artwork to the Museum of the City of New York.

This was a painting that my parents bought in the '50s and hung in my home all through my life, and they passed away five years ago, and I wanted this piece.

And do you know who it's by?

It's by an artist named Reginald Marsh.

I don't know much about him, except he's a well-known 20th-century artist.

Right, well, he's arguably one of the most famous New York printmakers of the early 20th century.

And, in fact, it's an engraving, which is a print, it's an original print.

And it's one of his more fanciful images, ones that I like, the beach scenes, with people frolicking on the beach.

What makes it unusual is that it's hand-colored by the artist, with watercolor, and that also greatly affects its value.

It's unique because it's hand-colored, and if it weren't hand-colored, it'd be worth about $2,000 to $3,000.

With the hand-coloring on it, done by Marsh, its value is about $5,000 to $8,000.

Wow, great!

Easily double.

I think it's a wonderful image.

Yeah, I love it, I love it.

MAN: Well, this clock originally belonged to my great-great-great- grandfather, Judge John Kearsley.

He was appointed by Patrick Henry.

After that, it was passed down to his son, who passed it down to his son, which was Major George Kearsley, who owned the clock during the Civil War.

Okay.

There's a family story that says that the lead weights were melted down and used for ammunition during the Civil War, and that the clock was hidden away and forgotten about for a few years.

It was discovered again in 1880 and given back to Major George Kearsley.

Really?

Where was it discovered?

In an attic of a relative's house.

Really?

Because that's where it was hidden.

After that, it was handed down to his son, then down to the next grandfather.

down to my father, then down to me.

This is a clock made by Aaron Willard, who came from a family of our country's most famous clockmakers.

His brother was the most famous clockmaker, Simon Willard, and Aaron Willard is certainly our country's second-most famous maker, and you see his name right here on the dial, "A.

Willard."

Aaron Willard was born in 1757 and died in 1844.

He had three other brothers, Simon, Ephraim, and Benjamin, that worked with him in Grafton, Massachusetts.

He followed his brother Simon from Grafton to Roxbury in 1780.

This is a Massachusetts shelf clock made circa 1785, which is a really early Massachusetts shelf clock.

There's a couple of features that make this clock very early.

It's what we call a case-on-case form.

It has this case here, and then these brass feet.

And then again, it's repeated with another case, and then these wonderful brass curled feet here.

It has this beautiful balloon top with a, what they call a kidney dial, and it's a very early form, and it's certainly the earliest form of a Massachusetts shelf clock with a painted dial.

It's a mahogany case.

It has a nice original finish on it, which a lot of clock collectors really like.

The dial is great, there's really no paint loss.

It's in fantastic condition.

The hands are absolutely wonderful.

They're called poker beetle hands, they're an early form.

It's just an absolutely incredible clock.

Any museum would be glad to have this clock.

I mean, it's just...

It's as good as they get.

Wow.

The weight was original, the movement's fantastic.

It's a beautiful piece.

This clock, in a showroom, would certainly sell between $125,000 to $150,000.

(chuckles): Wow.

It's a little surprising?

(laughs): Yes.

It is just an absolute treasure.

Boy.

Any serious clock collector would love to have this clock.

I think we should insure it.

I would certainly put an insurance value on this clock at about $150,000.

Wow.

I mean, I haven't seen a nicer clock in a long time.

Thank you.

MAN: This is a painting that I got from my grandmother, and she got it in the Philippines.

She lived in the Philippines during the '30s.

My grandfather was interred by the Japanese when they came in in the, in the '40s there, and she got out, she came back to pick him up, and they stayed there till about '48, when he died.

And that's when she got this painting.

Do you know if she was able to buy it from the artist, right there?

Yeah, she got it from, from Mr. Amorsolo.

She lived up in Baguio, and I guess he was a painter from that area.

When I was a kid, she'd tell me that he was a well-respected artist from the Philippines, and I always loved it, and that's why she gave it to me when she died.

Well, it certainly is a very important painting.

He is an important artist.

As you mentioned, this painting is by Fernando Amorsolo.

He was born in Manila in 1892, and he studied art as a youngster, went to an art school, academy, in Manila, and graduated in 1914.

And after that, he went to Spain and studied art, and loved to wander the streets of Spain looking at the light and the effect of heat.

And he sketched a great deal, and after that, around 1917, 1918, he moved to New York for a brief period.

Hmm.

And when he was in New York, he was influenced by the postwar Impressionist paintings, seeing the abstract work and their use of light and brushstrokes, and so he employed much of that in his work, came back to the Philippines around 1920, and opened his own studio.

And he's very famous for doing these genre scenes, these nature scenes.

You can really feel the heat of the Manila midday with these fruit pickers under the tree, and the highlight on this lady's scarf and on her, on her shoulders here, to show, again, the, the wonderful use of light, that he was a master.

Yeah.

Uh, wonderful brushstrokes, and very nice painting, and it's signed and dated 1948, and it's important, because later in his years, in the late 1960s, he began going blind.

So you'll find that his works from the '60s onward become a bit fuzzier, they're a bit more indistinct.

But these earlier works from '48 are very much collectible.

Have you learned anything about the price or the value of this work?

Well, after my grandmother died, I wanted to find out.

So I went to an appraiser here in L.A., and he gave me an appraisal of about $4,000.

Mm-hmm.

And offered me $2,000.

This is a major work, and at an auction, it would be estimated in the range of $25,000 to $35,000.

Oh, man.

(chuckles) Well, I'm glad I didn't take $4,000, or $2,000.

MAN: It was a gift to my wife 32 years ago from a store in Pasadena.

Really?

Yeah.

Just strolling by and you saw this?

Yeah, and I remember him telling me that it was $20.

And what did your wife think of the lamp?

Did she like it or...?

She, she loved it.

She loved it.

We both loved it all this time.

Uh-huh.

And I've never known what it was.

I've looked in books and she's looked in books.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

And, and so I was really curious to find out what it was.

Right, right.

You had lined up at another table.

Exactly.

And I, I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

And I was very excited, because I knew exactly what it was, you know?

Did you?

That's great.

It's actually a very, very rare lamp.

It's by Elizabeth Burton.

Really?

Burton started in Santa Barbara, and then she also had a shop in Los Angeles.

Uh-huh.

I would date this piece probably in the 1910 vicinity, and she was part of the Arts and Crafts movement.

That's what we thought, it was Arts and Crafts.

Which is... it's... right.

Usually, when you think of Arts and Crafts, you think of Roycroft, you think of Gustav Stickley.

There was a San Francisco maker, Dirk van Erp.

Yes, I've seen Dirk van Erp lamps.

They're very different, they have more of a hammered finish.

Right.

They have a more Arts and Crafts look.

Uh-huh.

Her work has more of an Oriental feeling to it.

Right.

So your lamp has this wonderful lotus leaf on the bottom, with the curling standard, coming up with these leaves here and the shade made out of shell.

And her work shows up in exhibitions of American Arts and Crafts.

She represents this other aspect of the Arts and Crafts movement that was much more influenced by Asian, by Japanese art.

It's in pretty good condition.

Uh-huh.

And, uh, it's not signed.

Many things are not signed.

Uh-huh.

When she did sign it, she signed them with a monogram.

Uh-huh.

And your piece has some lead put on it.

Somebody must've put some lead on the bottom to stabilize it.

Right.

So they may have covered up the mark, but it's really not worth taking apart, since this is her signature work.

And this market is very strong.

The piece is very, very desirable.

Uh-huh.

At auction, this piece would bring between $5,000 and $7,000.

That's amazing.

That's really wonderful!

Isn't that great?

That's great.

Yeah, it is great.

I really appreciate your knowledge on it.

It is a little on the funky side, you have to admit.

Yeah, it is, it's different.

MAN: This has been in our family as long as I've been around, which means it's been there for 60 years.

My father and his family came to San Francisco from Europe in the early 1920s.

I assume he probably bought it in San Francisco sometime in the 1930s or 1940s.

I've always been told that it's carved quartz crystal, that it's Oriental, either Chinese or Japanese.

It's been in the back of a closet, frankly, for, uh, for the last 35 years.

It comes in two parts.

This is one, and then the base, and the base is carved as a cresting wave and you can see the wave is rising from the ocean at the bottom.

And then it's almost like a water spout.

Mm-hmm Up to the top.

And as you turn around and look at it, you can see that the wave is swirling in all directions, and on top is the orb.

Well, this is actually a pearl.

It's not a real pearl, obviously.

To symbolize a pearl.

Symbolize a pearl.

And it's the pearl of immortality.

Oh.

Okay?

You do get carvings like this that were made in Asia.

Mm-hmm.

So the question is, is it Chinese or Japanese?

Based on the way the carving is done on this particular piece, I believe it is Chinese.

Chinese.

Made for either the domestic Chinese audience, maybe made for the Japanese audience, because of the orb at the top.

The pearl, mm-hmm.

And possibly for the Western collectors.

And it was probably purchased by your ancestor in San Francisco in the 1920s.

Now, you'd always been told it's rock crystal.

Do you know how to tell the difference between rock crystal and glass?

Well, I'd look for air bubbles in, um, in glass, which I wouldn't expect to find in quartz.

Absolutely.

The other thing you can do is just hold it, because glass warms up much quicker in your hand than rock crystal.

So bubbles are a major key.

And as I looked at this with you earlier, there are no bubbles.

Mm-hmm.

But there are almost no flaws in this at all.

Right, and in quartz, I would look for minute flaws... And there's...

Within the crystalline structure.

And there's almost none.

Yeah.

So...

It's a very good piece of quartz, or... Or it's a very good piece of glass.

It actually is a very good piece of quartz.

Mm.

Quartz crystal.

The quality is exceptional.

It's truly extraordinary, so auction, I would say $7,000 to $10,000... Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Would be a pretty reasonable auction estimate.

Okay, very good.

WOMAN: I purchased it at a pottery store down in Newport Beach.

APPRAISER: How long ago?

20 years ago.

What'd you pay for it when you bought it?

$150, which was a lot for me.

Okay, well, this is a piece that was done by Polia Pillin, who was a Polish American artist.

She was really more a painter than a potter, so her pots were a little on the weak side.

But her painting was very strong.

And retail value on this is about $3,000 to $4,000.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Yeah, that's a good one, so... That's good to know.

This was in my uncle's house, and when he passed away, it came to me.

Edward Weston, as you probably know, is considered one of the masters-- the grand masters-- of 20th-century American photography, someone who approached photography with all the creative artistry of a painter or a sculptor, but used photography as his medium.

Well, I bought this in 1996 at an antique mall in San Antonio.

And did they tell you much about it?

Nope.

Or did you know much about it?

They didn't know anything about it at all.

I, I noticed on the marks that it was made in France, and I was wondering if the gems are genuine or not.

It's gold-washed silver, and, uh, with a, not a huge, high grade of silver.

It's a lower grade of silver, but the gems are all real, and they vary in quality tremendously.

This one sapphire here is the best stone, actually.

It's about probably two-and-a-half to three carats, and it's a Burmese sapphire.

Really, really good color.

And all of the emeralds are real, the diamonds are real.

The two other sapphires are inkier, and so they're darker and lesser-value.

But did you pay a lot of money for it?

I paid, uh, $2,500 for this.

That's a very good buy-- I would say, conservatively, just in the value of the jewels and the craftsmanship, you could add a zero to that.

Really?

This is probably worth about $25,000 to $35,000 if it were to come up for auction.

Awesome.

Well, that's wonderful-- thank you.

It's a very good buy.

Yes, it is, indeed, thank you.

MAN: I bought it in London, I think it was in 1991.

I bought two other items with it.

And what did you pay for it at that time?

Um, all three items, this and a book of pressed flowers, and an edition of Spencer's "The Faerie Queene," was printed in about 1700, $400, as I remember.

For the whole grouping?

Yes.

Well, when you opened this up, we were amazed what we saw here.

(chuckles) At first, I thought I was looking at some glass beads, and then of course, as I looked down, I saw all of these wonderful scarabs, and these wonderful butterflies and moths.

And this was made during the Victorian period in England somewhere in the 1860s-1870s.

Mm-hmm.

They had a tremendous culture for nature at that time.

The English did stuffed fish, they did exotic birds.

I can't tell you the name of all these beetles here, but I think they're possibly from all different parts of the world.

It's in remarkable condition.

It's in a beautiful mahogany case, which is so typical of these Victorian pieces, with hinges, and has the latches on the side.

This should be carefully preserved, not hanging on a wall, but maybe down flat.

As you can see, we've got a couple little scarabs here that are falling off...

Right.

And dropping down into the case here.

But all in all, it's still in remarkable condition, and it's truly one of a kind.

What do you think the fair-market value would be on this piece?

You know, I have no idea.

I, all I know is that I actually was not gonna buy it.

And I walked about a block away and I stopped and thought, "I'll never forgive myself if I don't go get that."

(chuckles): Well, I'm glad you went back.

I would say, fair-market auction value, between $2,000 to $3,000, but we think that if at auction for exotic, nature things, this might even do considerably better.

But thank you.

This is really a fun piece.

You bet, thanks.

MAN: I worked for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri, before moving to California 33 years ago.

I was a "Peanuts" fan for a long time, and came up with the idea to use "Peanuts" on greeting cards, and I had to sell the idea to the creative committee.

As a result, they ended up with a whole big line of Hallmark "Peanuts" products.

And I went out to work with Charles Schulz in 1960 for the first time, and worked with him for 12 years in developing all the Hallmark "Peanuts" products.

And he gave me some of this original strips and some of the original artwork.

This was a group of drawings that he did for a product we called "Snoopy's Daily Dozen."

It was an exercise booklet.

Okay.

And this is an original strip that he signed.

These are pencil drawings of some of the greeting cards that we developed.

We would come up with the ideas for the greeting cards.

He would do the pencil sketches, send them back, and we'd come back with, with... Little fixes, like, "Make this a full figure," or, "Add bells here."

And this is Schulz's pencil, and these are my penciled comments on them.

These are Sunday strips, and then this is an original strip that he did from 1957 to '59, and it's called "It's Only a Game."

He was a great, humble person, that had a tremendous insight into human nature, as, as millions of "Peanuts" fans will tell you.

Sure.

I idolized this man's talent.

To meet him and work with him for 12 years was, was just great, yeah.

Great, that's great.

Let me give you an idea on what you have and what the value is.

Okay.

There are three factors when I'm doing an appraisal like this that I'm gonna take into consideration.

First is freshness to the market, and obviously, it's never been out on the market, totally fresh.

You've had it all these years.

Right, right.

Which is tremendous.

Second is the age of the material, and it's really vintage perfect "Peanuts" period, late '50s into the early '60s, nothing later than that.

And the third factor is the characters involved.

Everywhere you look, you see nothing but key characters: Snoopy, Charlie... Linus.

Linus, Lucy.

What we have here in the bottom panel, you have 14 of these daily exercise large panels.

The estimates I'm gonna give you are basically conservative auction estimates, and the sky's the limit when it comes to Charles Schulz stuff.

It's the hottest comic art right now on the market.

Okay.

Easily, I would estimate each of these at $6,000 to $9,000.

Each?!

Each-- each piece.

(laughs) There's 14 of them, okay?

Right.

Now, when we go up here onto your daily, it's fantastic.

You have Charlie in all four panels, and it's early '60s, I think '61.

'61.

'61, okay, again, conservative estimate, $8,000 to $10,000 for that daily.

When you jump up here to the pencil roughs, you have a nice little grouping here.

Not as attractive to collectors, but still historically very important, and a conservative estimate on that would be $4,000 to $6,000 as a group.

When you come over here to "It's Only a Game," since it's not a "Peanuts"-related strip, I don't know if it's gonna be as interesting to the "Peanuts" collector as it might be if it had any of the characters in it.

But still, just from a historic point of view, you gotta estimate these at $4,000 to $6,000 each.

Now, Sunday pages are really desirable.

and these are terrific-- you have Linus and Lucy, you have Linus, Lucy, and Snoopy.

Great years, I think these are '59, and on the conservative side, I'm gonna estimate these anywhere from $12,000 to $18,000 each.

My God... (chuckling) I think, if you add it all up, I wouldn't be surprised to see you come out anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000, on a piece-by-piece basis.

You're kidding.

Absolutely not, and if you're gonna insure it, you'd probably want to insure it for a little bit more than the high estimate.

I, I was going to say, I had these on a shelf in my closet, and I think, uh... Not a good place for them anymore.

Not a good place for them anymore.

No, absolutely not.

Wow.

PEÑA: You'reatatching "Antiques Roadshow: PEÑA: Now it's time for the Roadshow Feedback Booth.

I brought my infamous corn picture.

I paid one dollar for it at the thrift shop, and it's worth $300, so, "Ha, ha," to my husband.

And we found this Native American silkscreen print on the floor of an open-air market.

We paid 50 cents for it, and we found out it was worth over $100, so that was cool.

We came all the way from Anchorage, Alaska, to be here And I brought this... marble stone purse that I got at the... flea market for a dollar.

And it was worth $100.

So that's a nice appraisal.

between $85 and $100.

I am thrilled.

Yay!

And I brought this painting, which is apparently bad hotel art, according to the appraiser.

I just found out that my 80-year-old Capodimonte vase is brand-new, considered brand-new.

(laughs) What a disappointment, very enlightening.

This is Loretta, I'm at the "Antiques Roadshow."

Boy, oh, boy, these were appraised, the Victorian earring and pin, and, uh, $150 and $75-- not bad, huh?

This is part of our Bradley and Hubbard andiron set, which turned out to be worth $500 to $700.

So we did not get rich, but we got educated.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."