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.