Antiques Roadshow Interesting Item, Jane Austen’s Toys

By Jamie

I found a very interesting clip today from Antiques Roadshow. I always like to look for the unique items that you won’t find in an antiques price guide and this one didn’t disappoint. The featured collection consisted of items that belong to one of Jane Austen’s direct descendents and some of them were used by Jane herself. There are several pictures of her relatives, an ivory cup and ball game, along with a beautiful board game and other toys. Check it out!



Jane Austen was an English Novelist in the late 1700s and early 1800s. She is one of the most celebrated writers of all time. I have always been a huge fan of her work. Many of her books have been made into movies such as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Predjudice and Persuasion. My personal favorite hands down is Sense and Sensibility, though most people love Emma. There are even recent movies about her life like Becoming Jane.

Apparently Jane’s family was very close-knit. She had six brothers and one sister. Her sister, Cassandra was her closest friend and a gifted artist. Jane was also very close to her brother Henry, who was her literary agent and a clergyman. The descendent on the show was from Edward, another of Jane’s brothers. I haven’t seen any of the movies about Jane Austen’s life, but now my interest is piqued and I’m going to have to go out and rent one. It will be fun to see if Edward is heavily featured in the films. I can’t help but value collectibles like this, that make historical figures seem so much more real.

Besides being interesting, this appraisal was one of the more entertaining antique appraisals I’ve ever seen. It almost seemed as if the appraiser didn’t believe the owner of the collection that he was directly related to Jane Austen. I imagine antique appraisers really have to be careful what they believe. To truly value collectibles accurately, they need reliable information and facts. He had the family tree there to prove it, but I guess you are always better safe than sorry.

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Antique Roadshow Interesting Item: Navajo Blanket Worth Half a Million

By Jamie Gilliam


Today’s featured item is something really special. Not only, is it one of the most valuable antiques collectibles to ever appear on Antique Roadshow, but it is truly a National Treasure. The blanket at first seems insignificant at best, but looks can be deceiving. It was given to the owner’s Grandmother’s Foster-father by Kit Carson himself. Carson was the frontiersman in charge of rounding up and imprisoning Navajo Indians in the late 1800s. Apparently they can tell by the pattern on the blanket that it is very old and one of the first most pure patterns the Navajo ever used. They also say that it is a chief’s blanket, which is also very exciting. Check out this video clip of the appraisal to learn more.



Even with financial and historical importance aside, I have to say that it was honestly one of the most entertaining antique appraisals I have ever seen from the show. The antique appraiser, Donald Ellis, is so excited he can barely contain himself, and when he tells the owner the value, the man is so shocked that he is moved to tears. The fact that the appraisal wasn’t even based on the fact that Carson had owned the blanket is very exciting too. The value of antiques rise significantly based on historical figures. My favorite line would have to be “When you walked in with this, I just about died.” What a great appraisal!

Rumor has it that the blanket later sold for $550,000. This appraisal was in 2002. I wonder what the value of that blanket is today. Maybe one day they’ll do a revisit episode on Antique Road Show.

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Antique Roadshow Interesting Item 1957 Fender Stratocaster

I was browsing the web today and I came across one of the most surprising antique appraisals I’ve ever seen. I’ve always been pretty fond of guitars and I have even owned a few. I thought I knew a little bit about them, so I was shocked when the seemingly normal old guitar on the video below was valued at $60,000. I wonder if that is the highest value antiques like guitars have gotten on Antique Road Show.



My interested was piqued so I did some research. Fender has been making Stratocasters since 1954. They were designed by George Fullerton, Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares. Apparently, the design of this guitar has been widely celebrated and featured in museums. Many year models of the guitar are highly sought-after collectibles, though the highest value is generally placed on strats from 1954 to 1958.

The 1957 model is particularly collectible because of style and material changes made over the years. Buddy Holly and other famous stars have owned and played 57 strats throughout their careers, which also lends to the model’s popularity. Fender still makes and sells Stratocasters today and even has a custom shop where your guitar will be made to your specifications. Who knows, in fifty years or so, your guitar could be one of the hottest antique collectibles out there.

Apparently, there are a lot of fakes out there so it is important to be an informed buyer and to find a trustworthy dealer. While I was researching, I noticed that many strat collectors out there have horror stories of bad sellers that they are more than willing to share. I hate that those people were tricked, but at least they are sharing what they learned from their mistakes. It is always good to see collectors who are so willing to look out for each other. I hope you enjoyed th

Antique Roadshow Recap 3/24-3/30

This weeks Antique Roadshow was shot in San Antonio, Texas, and originally aired this Tuesday. As I’ve said in previous blogs, I’m partial to the shows shot here in Texas, so I was pretty excited about this one.

The first item I wanted to talk about today was a painted candy box from 1910. I selected this item because it was so interesting to me that it was made of China. Of course antique china is fairly common. I’ve seen so many antique collectibles made of china, I can hardly count them, but never a candy box. Suzanne Perrault valued the professionally hand painted candy box at up to $600 dollars. I thought it was such an interesting item, because the original owner’s uncle had her childhood portrait painted on it for her as a gift. Apparently, professional portraits on china are rare from that time period. What a sweet story and sentimental item. Out of all the antique appraisals this week, this one was by far the lowest valued item on the show but I thought it was one of the most touching.

The next item on the show I thought I should talk about was a 1943 Ernie Lombardi “Giants” practice jersey. It isn’t very often that I see sports memorabilia from this era, so of course it is exciting. This item had another sweet story to go along with it. The owner had received the jersey as a child in Meeker, Oklahoma. The town’s doctor had asked professional baseball player, Carl Hubbell, to donate some jersey’s for the town’s baseball team to use. Since Meeker was Hubbell’s hometown, he happily sent Giant’s practice jerseys to the team. The lucky owner received a jersey formerly owned by Ernie Lombardi, a hall-of-famer. Simeon Lipman, the appraiser valued this item at up to $15,000, but I can’t imagine the owner would ever sell it, from the look on his face as he told the story.

This week’s show was sentimental and touching as could be, I got a warm fuzzy feeling watching all the people tell the stories of their prized possessions. Whether it’s antique furniture, or antique bottles, these items mean so much to the people who collect them.I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching this show!

By Jamie.

No Need to Check Your Antique Price Guide to Find Worlds Most Valuable Coin

If you want to find the world’s most valuable coin, an antique price guide isn’t the place to look. You don’t even need to go on Antiques Roadshow, I’ve got the info for you right here. The 1933 Double Eagle is an extremely rare gold coin, and it holds the distinction of being the World’s most valuable coin. Few antique collectibles can hold a candle to its interesting past.

Over 400,000 of the coins were minted but none made it into circulation. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 in 1933 to end the 1930s general bank crisis by making it illegal to use gold coins as legal tender.

It was originally thought that only three of the coins survived, but apparently 20 coins were stolen and circulated among collectors, including ten coins that were discovered in 2005. Two of the original three went to museums, the third was stolen and later ended up in a private collection. It was sold at auction in New York in 2002 for 7.59 million dollars.

Regardless of the number of coins in existence today, chances are slim you will end up with one. Except for the coin sold at auction, it is illegal to own the Double Eagle as they all belong to the United States Government. If you buy one, make sure it is a reproduction and if it isn’t you’ll want to keep it under your hat or the Secret Service will be along to collect it.

Coin values are often determined by rarity, but I’d be more interested in collecting coins that are legal to own and not so much trouble to come by.

By Jamie.

Historic Town and Antique Collectibles For Sale

The ultimate antique collectible will soon be auctioned, an entire historic town. The town of Garryowen, Montana is located across the Little Bighorn River from the National Park Service’s Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

Garryowen is home to the Custer Battlefield Museum. The sale of the town includes a 4,000 square foot home, a trading post, the museum, an office complex, a bed and breakfast, a post office, a gas station, a restaurant and an archive of Elizabeth Custer’s papers. The starting bid at the auction will be $6.5 million dollars.

The town’s owner, Chris Kortlander has owned Garryowen since 1993, and is selling the town in the hopes that someone with more resources will buy the town and build a museum and research facility for Elizabeth Custer’s archive. If you value antiques, you’ll love the archive, it contains photographs, correspondence, drawings, notes, book drafts, invitations and even a card from her and George Custer’s 1864 wedding.

I’m not sure exactly what the Custer Battlefield Museum holds, but I doubt you could find most of it from your local antique dealer. The Battle of Little Bighorn is one of the most famous battles in all of the Indian Wars. The value of antiques found on that battlefield must be more than I can imagine.

Hopefully, the person who ends up with this town will put all the historical items to good use. I’d hate to see our Nation’s history used by a corporation to make money.

By Jamie.

Antique Roadshow Recap #5

This week’s Antique Roadshow was the third in a row shot in Tampa. Like the two previous, it originally aired in 2006. Tampa has been fun to watch, next week will be from a new city and possibly even not previously aired. As usual there were lots of interesting items this week, but I think I picked the best two.

The first item I’m going to talk about was given the highest value of all of the antique appraisals just like last week. I don’t know why but the most valuable items always have the best stories. The item is a marine painting by James E. Butterworth. This item is particularly interesting since two weeks ago on Tampa hour #1 there was a painting misidentified as a Butterworth. I imagine the antique appraisers double checked this one before telling the owner.

James E. Butterworth was a celebrated painter who took boats out on the water to paint marine scenes in the 1800s. Nan Chisholm, the antique appraiser, valued the painting at around $90,000. The owner of the painting inherited it from her mother who had it hanging in her trailer near the bathroom. I could tell by her entertaining reaction that she had no idea the painting was worth anything. As you can see in the photo the painting is beautiful, but it was nothing compared to the owners reaction when she was told the antiques value. If you didn’t see this appraisal you should really go to Antique Roadshow’s official site and check out the video.

The next item I chose was a collection of Chinese snuff bottles. I thought these antique collectibles would be perfect for my blog. Not only are they antique bottles, but also Asian antiques, two of the most popular categories on iTaggit.com. The owner of the bottles had been collecting them for three years. He paid as low as $12 dollars and as much as $250 dollars for the bottles. I could tell he was very passionate about his impressive collection as he listened to appraiser Marvin Sokolow describe each bottle. He must have been so pleased to hear that it was worth up to $15,000 dollars.

Well, that was the show, as always feel free to comment and let me know what you thought of the items I covered.

By Jamie.