Newport, Hour 3

MARK WALBERG: Not even a hurricane can stop "Antiques Roadshow" from finding treasures in Newport, Rhode Island.

APPRAISER: It's a very desirable ring.

It's nice to think that it could've been here at Rosecliff at a party one day.

(laughing): That is amazing.

♪ ♪ WALBERG: The elegant Rosecliff mansion was built to entertain.

And over the decades, it's certainly seen its share of entertainers.

Broadway fans may get a kick out of knowing that Cole Porter reportedly wrote songs for "Anything Goes" in one of the rooms upstairs.

And Hollywood used Rosecliff as a lavish set for several movies, like "The Great Gatsby," when Robert Redford greeted Mia Farrow at the foot of the heart-shaped staircase.

And "True Lies," where Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tia Carrere danced across the ballroom floor.

Today, "Roadshow's" camera crews are here to capture and celebrate the stories behind some of America's treasures, starting off with a toast to vintage glassware.

WOMAN: Well, my late mother-in-law invited my husband and I about 20 years ago to her parents' house after they passed away, saying, "Would you like to come through?"

She knew we liked to see art, antiques, collectibles.

She said, "Come on through, and see if there's anything you like."

So we went into Bryn Mawr, and we found this old wooden barrel in the basement, sealed up, and we opened it up and found these in hay and wood chips, and all nine of them were together and intact.

Okay, and has anybody ever looked at them?

No.

All righty.

Well, these were made in 1928 by Frederick Carder.

And Frederick Carder was a genius in glass.

These are not marked, but there's no question that they're Steuben, and they are opalescent glass, and then there's Cintra here.

This is what makes them extremely rare for stemware, because Cintra is a very, very rare color to have.

That's what I like most about them.

It is, it is-- they really stand out.

Glass is a little bit down in price, as many things are.

But because they have such a modern shape, everybody's after modern, so you have two different markets that you can... Well, it's a great martini glass.

Great martini glass.

And I would say that these would be worth-- and this would be all nine of them-- in a retail market, you're looking at $2,000 to $3,000.

Great, that's great.

So you'll enjoy those.

Well, they make a pretty cocktail.

They certainly do.

WOMAN: It was in the home of an old family friend.

When she passed on, I was able to have it.

That's all I know.

The combination for the Holy Grail in signatures is to have Gehrig and Ruth on the same ball.

People want this combination.

But having Bob Smith on here, who was basically a journeyman player...

Right.

as was Hank Gowdy... Yep.

this actually takes away a little bit from the value.

Yeah, yeah.

So value-wise, you're still looking at probably somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000.

Oh, yes, I'll take it, I'll take it.

Awesome, thank you!

I can say nice catch.

(laughs) Awesome.

♪ ♪ MAN: It's been in the family as long as I can remember.

We always thought this sword was from the Civil War until recently my mom did some research, and we believe it might be even older.

Actually, it is.

What was your ancestor's name?

Thomas Noyes.

Thomas Noyes.

Mm-hmm.

He's from Newbury, Massachusetts.

And he was a lieutenant colonel in the militia.

He died about 1730.

But right here, we have...

"T.N."

for Thomas Noyes.

One of the other things I noticed, as soon as I looked at it... ...was right here, we have a little touch mark.

And it says "Hurd."

Jacob Hurd was a silversmith from Boston whose dates were 1702 to 1758.

There are a few issues with some rust on the blade.

Right.

And some pitting on the blade.

But the silver hilt is in wonderful condition.

Over here, that's the original silver hook that would go on the scabbard, so you slide it into the frog and hold it in place.

This is what's called a small sword.

It was a gentleman's sword, and they would use it as a badge of rank.

Not a fighting sword, necessarily.

So it would have a very thin blade.

You knew he was an officer because he was wearing this formal sword.

What is this made out of?

It's steel, iron-- steel.

Iron.

Yep, it's early, it's got all the proper touch marks.

It's got two stories-- the story of Thomas Noyes and of Jacob Hurd as a silversmith.

I took it around to some of the silver experts and Americana experts, and we all agreed that given how early it is, and with the two provenances to the maker and your ancestor, that at auction, it would probably be in the $8,000 to $12,000 range.

Wow.

(laughs): Wow.

If it didn't have initials or that touch mark on it, it would be around $800 to $1,200.

So yeah, you've got a great sword here.

Awesome.

It's a ring that was used when women used to wear long white gloves, but they smoked, so they wouldn't stain their gloves.

It belonged to my grandmother.

Grammy was a hipster.

Exactly, it's a roach clip for the '20s.

It's a roach...

I love it.

Was she in this house?

(laughs): No.

This would have been... Well, this is in great condition, so she either didn't smoke a lot, or she smoked all the time and just...

Took care of it.

Yeah.

It's probably from around 1910, 1915, and it's beautiful gold work.

I mean, it's very detailed.

I would say this is at least 14-karat gold.

She was something else.

I would say that value, this is probably around $350.

Okay.

It's pretty unusual.

It's just finding someone who has to have this.

Right.

And there will be takers.

WOMAN: They belonged to my neighbor growing up.

She was an older woman, and my father helped take care of her.

And when she passed away, we received a lot of the things in her home, and she knew that I liked fashion, so she wanted me to have them.

They were designed by Henry Creange, who worked for the Cheney Silk Company.

And he was an artist who studied under Rodin in Paris.

He was the representative of the United States at the French Exposition in Paris in 1925.

These fabrics were designed for the 1930 collection, these patterns on the fabric.

And he called the collection "Staccato" because he felt there was so much rhythm and movement in the fabrics.

He was inspired by Picasso, Chagall, all the contemporary art of that period.

It was a time when everything was changing, becoming much more vibrant, and lines were going up.

The one right next to you with the lawn chair and the one here at the top right, where she's in her bathing costume with the anchor on the front, they're sort of absolutely perfect for Newport.

It's very "Great Gatsby."

Yeah.

I would put a retail price on these of $100 to $150 each.

And you have 46 more in the book, so I would value them between $5,000 and $7,500 for the group.

Wow.

They're beautiful, I love them.

They're beautiful.

♪ ♪ (waves pounding) MAN: I acquired the painting at a local auction in West Bay of Rhode Island.

APPRAISER: When was that?

That was, I think, about ten years ago, and I paid $12,000 for it.

I know you know about the artist.

What can you tell me about him?

Well, I can tell you that he's a Rhode Island artist.

Right.

Edward Bannister.

He was one of the founders of the Providence Art Club.

And I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard the story that he was awarded a prize at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, and when they stepped up to receive the prize, they said, "Oh, no, we're looking for Edward Bannister," because he was a black artist, and people didn't believe that a black artist could have won the prize.

Well, that's right.

He really was the first African-American artist to gain any kind of national recognition, and it was an award, a bronze medal, at the Centennial.

But I understand that that story is true.

Certainly, he is one of the 19th-century African-American artists of note, the first being Joshua Johnston, and then Robert Duncanson from Cincinnati, and then later, Henry O. Tanner.

So he certainly was in very good company.

He was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and while he was a young boy, he had the luxury of being able to learn and study art, and finally comes to Boston around 1848, and he had a career as a barber for a while in the Boston area.

He had the fortune to marry a wealthy businesswoman from New York, and because of that, he could spend his career painting.

And so he was able to set up a studio early on.

And I believe they lived in the Boston area until they moved to Providence sometime by 1870.

So in your painting, we see a very moody, churning sea with a break of sunlight there in the center, which adds a little bit of drama to it.

He was a sailor, and he would sail off the coast of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts and make sketches.

So most likely, he would've made sketches for a painting like this on one of his trips.

The market for African-American art has soared in the... since...

Certainly since 2000, if not before.

As a result, the market has become much more frenzied.

Wow.

So if this painting were for sale in a gallery in New York, I believe that it could be sold in the range of $45,000.

(no audio) (laughs) Wow.

That's amazing.

It's a stunning piece, and it's just very special, and his work is special, and the seascape is a rare subject, so I think that makes it quite interesting.

Wow, wow, thank you.

You're welcome.

(laughs): That is amazing.

♪ ♪ WALBERG: The era's trendy interior decorating firm Allard and Sons executed the captivating stucco relief and painted canvas ceiling in the ballroom.

In a nod to the Grand Trianon of Versailles, the model for Rosecliff, the drifting clouds in a bright blue sky motif is based on late 17th-century French decor.

WOMAN: I have a sterling silver Asian teapot.

It was my mother's.

MAN: What do you know about it?

Nothing-- that's why I'm here.

(laughs) These are plastic.

You know, two dollars and two dollars.

Several companies in Spain made these.

These are a little more collectible.

I've seen these for $35, $45.

Okay.

It's a mezzotint, which is a type of print.

And this particular one is made after a painting by William Beechey.

In the late 19th, early 20th century, it was quite valuable.

Their appeal has gone down.

Okay.

And it's probably worth about $150, $200 now.

That's great.

I think I paid a dollar, so, yippee!

APPRAISER: I'd like to start off by asking a really important question: How do you pronounce your father's name?

"Tay-uh," Tage Frid.

Tage Frid-- it's Danish.

Exactly.

And your father came here in 1948?

Exactly.

It's so unusual to find a single piece of your father's work, it's so rare.

You've got four.

Please tell us what you know about these pieces.

Well, I inherited them from my father.

And he got the idea sitting at a horse show, watching my brother and I.

And he was noticing where his cheekbones were sitting on the fence.

And he decided that three-legged stools always seemed to be kind of clunky, and they would fall over a lot, so he wanted something a little bit more refined.

Your father's production was limited, compared to other people who designed 20th-century furniture, because your father was a teacher.

Yes.

So he came first to work at Alfred?

Alfred University in New York, and then he went to R.I.T.

's School for American Craftsmen, and then in 1962 we moved here, and he was, started kind of the RISD furniture design.

At Rhode Island School of Design.

Exactly.

Started the first college-level furniture design course in America.

Yeah.

My understanding is, your father had students make the stools, because everything they needed to know about woodworking was manifest in this form.

Now, these are signed, but a lot of these were made by his students, because he wanted them to make them to show that they learned the skills he was teaching them.

And to not have provenance, and to not have a mark, means it could be by anybody.

At auction today, I would say the stools are worth between $7,500 and $10,000 each.

Oh, that's really nice.

Okay, so I think you've got about $30,000 to $40,000 for the stools here.

Oh, that's great-- thanks, that's super.

You're welcome.

(laughs): Wow.

WOMAN: This is a watch that my grandfather had acquired during World War II, we believe around 1944, 1945.

He was stationed in some of the islands in outer Japan, and he somehow acquired this and mailed it back to his wife, my Grandma Janet, in Chicago.

It still runs time.

That's all I know about it.

We have a Japanese watch.

We see it has the characters on the back, and they're numerals.

The maker of this is Seikosha.

This was a very well-made timepiece.

It is a World War II Japanese pilot's watch.

We know that it is navy, and among the symbols, there is an anchor.

This particular style of watch is specific to the Japanese navy.

The Japanese naval aviators were the elite.

They are generally more highly regarded than their army pilots.

There are reproductions of pilot's watches being made.

This style tends to be going to bigger and bigger watches, so there's a fashion component to that, too, that's helping to drive that market.

It is a rare piece.

It is one of the rarest World War II pilot's watches, because Japanese naval aviators, their standards of training were very, very strict coming into World War II, so there weren't as many of them at the start of the war.

And then they did not have a high rate of survival.

From a value perspective, in this nice condition, you should expect a retail value between $8,000 and $10,000.

I love it.

My grandpa was an incredible man, and I'm lucky he was my grandfather.

Well, I have a ring that I had inherited from my grandmother.

And other than I know it's diamonds and a sapphire, I don't know much about it.

Okay.

I know that it's inscribed, "T.J.O.D.

to A.L.O.D., December, or D-E-C, 25, 1913."

Nice Christmas gift.

When I asked my father what my grandfather did-- and it was actually my maternal grandfather-- he said, "Oh, he was retired."

And I said, "Retired from what?"

(laughs) He said, "He was just retired."

Okay.

He'd never had to work.

Well, in that case, they must have been of some means.

Yes.

The ring is a sapphire and diamond three-stone ring.

And it is signed by Tiffany and Company.

Mm-hmm.

And looking at the stones, we can do weights by formula.

Obviously, we can't unmount the stones, so by formula, that center sapphire is probably about three and a half carats, and each one of those side diamonds is about one and a half carats.

The side diamonds are beautiful.

They're very high-color stones, they're clean.

They're what we would call Old European cut diamonds, and they were very typical of what you would see in 1913, and you can also see the sapphire.

It's a nice old cut, also from the period.

Now, what makes this ring really special, in my opinion, is that sapphire.

In this period, Tiffany would've only used the highest-quality stones, and country of origin is very important.

I've showed my colleagues at the jewelry table, and we feel that there is a good chance that this might be a sapphire from Burma.

Also, in this period, we would not expect any treatments.

It hasn't been heated, so it came out of the ground like that, and that is very unusual.

In the Tiffany mounting, with the three-stone setting, it's a very desirable ring.

1913, it's nice to think that it could've been here at Rosecliff at a party one day.

That's right.

I think, at auction, if we sent the stone to a lab and could determine that it was a Burma sapphire with no heat, you might be looking at a value of $25,000 to $35,000 at auction.

(laughs): Oh, wow!

Oh, my gosh.

Now, if you walked into Tiffany's and had to replace this ring, I don't think you could replace it for under $100,000.

It's a really nice ring.

Whoo!

Oh, my gosh.

Thanks, Granddad!

You made my day!

Thank you, I'm glad we did.

If this were not a Burma sapphire, I still think you would probably be looking in the $15,000 to $20,000 ballpark.

The diamonds are a significant size.

♪ ♪ This chair probably dates...

Earliest, it would be, like, 1795.

You can see this is probably second-generation paint.

When this chair was new, it would've been painted, right from the get-go, green.

Yeah.

Then they tried to spruce it up very early in the 19th century with red paint.

This chair has great form, great surface.

I think in the market today, at least in an auction situation, it would be estimated between $800 and $1,200.

Oh.

Nice chair.

Thank you so much.

If this were stripped, it'd be worth a quarter of that.

Yes, okay, so leave it as is, don't do anything to it.

You can sit in it gingerly.

Yes.

(laughs) Okay.

APPRAISER: This is an ancestor of yours, correct?

WOMAN: Yes, my great-great-great-grandfather was born in 1844.

Okay, this is probably, then, done sometime in the 1840s, is what you're telling me.

Yes.

Yeah, and I would've dated it, based upon this subject matter, in that sort of....

In that timeframe.

In that timeframe.

It's a great portrait.

At one time, your family must have had some money, because this child is holding a rattle...

They did.

A silver rattle.

Silver rattle, and is wearing a silver medallion.

And just to have a portrait this scale made of your child meant that you had some money.

I love the expression of the little boy.

He's got a very sort of taciturn and almost suspicious kind of look.

So many of these paintings were painted by itinerant artists who traveled from town to town doing commissions and then would travel to the next town, so...

Going to the next place where the money was.

Right, so I don't recognize the hand here.

In terms of value, an auction estimate is going to be somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.

Nice, very nice.

And what would you put it as an insurance?

I'd probably insure it for a little bit more than $12,000, maybe $15,000, maybe $20,000.

Okay, perfect.

That's awesome, thank you so much.

Great, it's charming-- I really love it.

Me, too.

WOMAN: The captain of the ship The Mary Ann was my great-great-great- grandfather.

And we're just really interested in finding out a little bit more about what we have.

One of the pieces has James Madison's signature, so that was something that we thought might be of value.

Well, basically the ship was a China trade ship.

And much of the wealth of New England was going to China, picking up goods, exotic goods, whatever they could get, bringing them back, trading them, sometimes even trading them along the way.

The crew, they'd sometimes be out a couple of years at a time, but when they got back safely, the captain would get paid very well, the merchants who owned the ship made a huge amount of money, and the crew were paid.

Now, this is the sort of invoice book for the whole ship.

And it tells everything they got, everything they picked up, where they got it, where they brought it to, and the sums, the amounts, the weights.

And so it's a very interesting item of what a China trade ship was doing.

Yeah.

This document, which is the one signed by Madison, this is basically the passport.

The passport is for the captain.

And the last document, which I really like for the engraving at the top...

I do, too.

It's a right of passage, or a bill of passage.

And it was sort of a safe passage to Canton, China, and without that, they could get stopped.

Okay.

And the War of 1812 was just at the end, and they needed to make sure they could get there.

Now, this pitcher-- actually, it's a beautiful pitcher.

It's United States on this side.

Mm-hmm.

It was done in Liverpool, and these are relatively common, but the real thing that helps is the ship.

The name, yeah.

I mean, that's what brings it all together.

Now, what you have as a group would probably be in the value of $2,000 to $3,000.

Okay.

In a retail market.

Mm-hmm.

♪ ♪ (laughing) Thank you, have a good day.

APPRAISER: You asked me if your watch is 18 karat.

Yes.

You saw me whip out this little piece of slate, and I made some scratch marks.

The scratch mark in the center is my bracelet, which I know is silver.

This scratch mark right here is from this inside cover, called the cuvette.

And then the last scratch mark is from this outside cover.

This is acid.

It's for 18-karat gold.

Okay.

So if I hit the silver, you see it gets chalky white?

Yes.

Not gold, all right?

So now we're going to go to the cuvette, and we're going to hit it, and you see it disappears immediately.

So that's not real gold, either.

Not real gold.

The third one, the outside cover, we put the acid on it.

And you see, the color's holding strong.

So your watch is in fact 18 karat.

Awesome.

Isn't that great?

That's good.

You got a couple of condition issues.

It's not a terribly sought-after watch today.

Yeah.

I would say, at auction, you're looking at probably $300 to $500 in this condition.

Okay.

All right?

Well, thank you.

You're welcome.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: Good morning, good morning!

WALBERG: In the salon, the monumental Gothic-style chimney piece, made of limestone, has four deeply carved relief panels.

These scenes tell the story of a knight who finds redemption after surviving a life-threatening voyage at sea, and, grateful to God for saving his life, builds a chapel for the less fortunate.

APPRAISER: So this is a pretty kooky thing you brought in.

Tell me where you got it.

MAN: Well, I actually got it at a yard sale.

The gentleman that owned it was an older gentleman.

He said, "You really need to buy this," and I paid $25 for it.

Okay.

What do you know about it?

I know that Sam Zell had these made for some of his employees, and he gave it to them as gifts.

Sam Zell, who is an investor, mostly in real estate, a pretty big mover and shaker-- I think he's one of the biggest holders of real estate investment trusts-- had these made every year and gave them out in the New Year to friends, employees, and associates.

So here the plaque says "Sam Zell, Wired Exports," and it's number 428 out of 675.

So there's 674 other of these out there somewhere.

Now, I've seen ones from other years.

This particular one is from 2003.

But they all have a different theme.

And you said this one talks?

This one talks, it talks about exporting American goods to China.

We're going to see if it actually gets going here.

The complication of the device makes it interesting and unique, and because of Sam Zell's power in the industry, make it something that folks are interested in.

Conservatively, a retail value on this, we're looking at, like, $5,000.

Wow.

Wow.

I never thought it would be worth that much.

WOMAN: My father gave it to my mother as a birthday present, in... sometime in the early '70s, I believe.

APPRAISER: Yes.

And she wore it a few times, and then she left it to me, really because I was the only one with the sort of chest to wear it.

Thing is, you can't really wear it every day.

You really need a ball gown to go with it, and I don't wear a ball gown very often, needless to say.

So it sat in a drawer for a long time, and then I swapped out part of it for a puppy.

You-- I'm sorry?

I swapped it, part of it, for a puppy.

A puppy?

And I thought my mother and father would really approve of the necklace I probably wasn't going to wear to a darling Jack Russell by the name of Max.

And how did you get the necklace back?

I... borrowed it back.

Okay.

Um... And I was a bit worried that when I borrowed it back, the gentleman with whom the swap was made might want my puppy back.

He's, needless to say, not going to get the puppy back, because I love him far too much.

Of course.

And when I heard the "Antiques Roadshow" was coming, I thought this would be a great place to bring it and just find out a bit more about it.

Well, when you brought it up to me, I got very excited, because it did look like a jeweler that was named Andrew Grima, who was a British jeweler, making jewelry in London, and basically, he liked to use all of these amazing crystals and geodes.

And so he looked at jewelry as sculpture.

This particular jeweler, who we have here, from Russell of London, we needed to do some more research on this particular jeweler, but he's definitely a contemporary of Andrew Grima.

It's from 1975, which is exactly when Andrew Grima was in his prime.

He was using things that weren't necessarily valuable.

Right.

For example, this is just an amethyst geode, and he split it in half to resemble the butterfly wings, embellished it with some tiny diamonds from the top and the bottom, and even made the little antenna, right here, en tremblant.

So it trembles when you wear it.

Right.

I think it's a great piece of sculpture, and it's actually a great piece of jewelry.

It's in 18-karat gold.

It's truly one of a kind.

And you said you don't wear it very often, but we're in Newport.

Maybe you should wear it.

Maybe I should wear it.

We're in the best place for it, right now.

I'd better find the grand balls to go to in order to wear it.

Yes, exactly.

I'm sure you could find it.

There are people that are buying 1970s jewelry very much right now-- it's in vogue.

So anything a little different, anything a little bit unusual, or very unusual, we'll call this...

Right.

...is very desirable right now.

I would say auction estimate would be between $3,000 and $5,000.

That's very nice to hear, and also that makes sense, because I didn't think my father probably went and spent $100,000 on a birthday present.

If it was an insurance value, it would be, you know, close to double that.

So...

But auction value, $3,000 to $5,000, yeah.

That's great, thank you very much.

My pleasure!

WOMAN: My brother bought it at an estate sale on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Okay.

It's really wonderful, we have this lovely little heart with an arrow through it, with a flaming heart with an arrow through it, and then on the back, it is inscribed, "E.E., April 1680."

Any ideas what it is?

We're thinking it's a love token.

It may have contained a lock of hair.

It's possible that that was that, but then also, my colleagues and I think it's most likely a patch box, as well.

Okay.

Ladies, at the time, in the 17th and 18th century, would have little accessories, moles that they would carry.

Oh, okay.

Patches that they would wear on their face.

Right.

It's a really lovely example, it's quite crudely done, unmarked, so we don't know who made it.

Okay.

But everything appears to be correct.

If I were to see this in an antiques store today, I would expect to see it priced at around about $400 or $500.

My goodness.

That's pretty exciting.

WOMAN: My husband found this print that is called "July Fifteenth," and that happens to be our wedding anniversary.

So he said, "I have to get you this print as a present."

So he was checking lots of auctions, and every time he tried to bid, he was outbid.

When he was bidding and not getting the print, can I ask what he was bidding?

He bid, like, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000.

Yup.

And he was overbid.

Okay.

And then finally, in this last auction, he only bid $1,000, and we got it.

Well, this is, as you know, a lithograph by Grant Wood named "July Fifteenth."

Uh-huh.

This was actually printed in '38.

Now, Grant Wood was an American Regionalist, and he was known for scenes of Iowa-- although he did study abroad, he spent most of his career in Iowa-- and creating these wonderful landscapes that, on the one hand, were carefully observed and accurate, and on the other hand, have this sort of surging, undulating sort of style.

And we get a sense of nature that's been made to look energized and alive.

If we were to put this into auction today, we would put it into an American print sale, and the estimate would be $5,000 to $7,000 in the current market.

Okay, that's good, that's good, thank you.

♪ ♪ WALBERG: The Rosecliff library, paneled in antiqued English oak, was originally a billiards room, created for the mansion's first man of the house, shipping magnate Hermann Oelrichs.

WOMAN: This was sitting on my grandparents' coffee table ever since I can remember.

I understand that my grandfather's brother George, who lived in Berlin during World War II, got it from some Jewish friends that he helped escape Berlin during the war.

And he gave it to my grandparents.

And I inherited this after my grandmother passed away.

And did your grandmother give you an idea of what it was?

Well, we had two ideas.

I'd heard that it belonged on the tusk of an elephant, perhaps, and also, we looked at magazines, and my cousin says she saw one of these on the ankle of, um, you know, some tribesman or something.

So I don't know.

It is an anklet, and it's called an antal.

They're made in Oman, which is on the Arabian Peninsula, in a place called Nizwa, and would probably be part of a dowry, and I think this one was probably made any time, probably about 1850 to about 1910.

It's made out of silver.

The workmanship is extremely good.

It's very beautiful, indeed.

And, as you can tell, I really like it.

Thank you, I like it, too.

I think a retail price for this would be around $800 to $1,000.

(gasps): Holy cow!

Wow.

That's amazing.

I had no idea.

MAN: This has come down through six generations of my family, from Tiverton, Rhode Island.

Our family folklore has always said that it was a Goddard knee-hole desk.

This is called a bureau table.

People often mistakenly refer to them as knee-hole desks.

It's not a desk.

It was made as a dressing table, and this would have graced the bedroom of an extremely wealthy 18th-century patron.

It was made about 1770 to '80, and we can tell that by the construction, by the patina of the wood, and also, it has the original brass hardware, which is helpful.

So it is an 18th-century piece.

It does have some originality issues.

For example, the lobe is broken off of the drawer.

Also, the rear feet are replacements-- they're a different form from the front.

Right.

And there's a support that's been added across the entire back.

And also, this door, this recessed-cover door, appears to be an old replacement.

It's not the same quality as the rest of the piece, the wood is a little bit different, the lock is a replacement, the hinges are not original.

In terms of where the piece was made, you mentioned the Goddards of Newport, famous cabinetmakers.

This is a block-front piece, the way the drawers are blocked, was popular in Newport.

It was also popular in Boston.

If we look at the details of the construction, this is not consistent with Newport.

For example, Newport block-front bureau tables have a blade here above the top drawer, and then a large molding.

This doesn't have that.

They have exposed dovetails here.

In Boston, they covered it with a strip of wood.

And the blocking of the front edge, that's Boston.

Newport, they tend to be straight across.

The piece is made of mahogany, and the secondary wood is all white pine.

If this were made in Newport, we would expect it to have poplar or chestnut secondary woods, so this piece was made in Boston, not in Newport.

If it were a Goddard-Townsend piece, that would bring it to a different level.

It's still a beautiful piece of furniture, but the value of what's called "brown furniture" in the industry, is way down from where it used to be.

Particularly pieces that are not perfect.

So I would say, in today's world, at auction, it would probably have a $5,000 to $7,000 estimate.

Okay.

It's a very unusual piece of furniture.

These are super-rare.

It's just the condition really holds back...

The value.

...the value.

If this were in perfect condition, even in today's market, it would bring at least $40,000 to $50,000 at auction.

Wow, great, thank you.

WOMAN: This is an Italian painting, and I inherited it from my mother when she passed away, and I think it's kind of cool.

It's got a beautiful hand-carved frame that apparently is relatively newer in comparison to the painting itself, which is from the 1600s.

They're wonderfully done.

The subject is very good.

I can see a wide range of appeal for them.

I would say each of these is probably worth in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.

Very interesting.

This is all hand-painted.

They called them piano lamps.

You often see them placed on the top of pianos.

Have you had it appraised before?

Never, it spends its life in a closet in a box.

Well, you have to get it out and enjoy it.

I mean, look at that bluebird.

What's not to like there?

Yeah.

A lamp like this, today, would be worth around $200, $300.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: My mother-in-law gave it to me, and there was a note in the box that said it was from her grandmother's sister, and that it was seed pearls and jade, and the sister was born in 1861.

What we have here is a Mughal seed pearl and kundan-set emerald necklace.

And the kundan setting is a method of carving into the emerald.

They carve out channels into them, they set the gemstones, and then they hammer in lines of very high-karat gold.

In this case, the stones are seed pearls and rubies.

And I would date it to around 1890, maybe 1900.

The clasp is a drilled natural pearl flanked by rose-cut diamonds that are set in silver.

It's all old Indian-manufactured.

(laughs): Wow!

Well, the timing works completely with when she was alive.

Yeah.

So, 1890, that-- she would have been 30 years old.

There's good news here, because antique Indian jewelry is in demand now.

The Indians are becoming a buying community, rather than a jewelry net-selling community, and they're searching for the old pieces.

So an old necklace like this, at auction today, would be $4,000 to $6,000.

Oh, my goodness!

(laughs): Wow!

Thank you!

That's terrific.

I love wearing it.

WOMAN: This belonged to my grandmother, and I think it was a bag that she had, maybe when she was a teenager.

But we're from Oklahoma, so she got it in Oklahoma, I'm sure.

Where in Oklahoma, do you know?

She was from Walters, Oklahoma.

Southwest.

Yes, southwest.

I grew up in northern Oklahoma.

Did she have a lot of things like this?

No.

And I didn't see this until after she died, and I had these two little handbags, and this one was Native American, the other one was just beaded.

It's a neat thing, and it comes from near Walters.

Oh, does it?

Yeah.

Ah.

Walters is southeast of Lawton, Oklahoma.

Lawton is where Fort Sill is, and Fort Sill was the main cavalry fort over the Apache and the Comanche, and a number of tribes in that district, even the Delaware.

And this is Apache.

Oh.

And the Apache that made the most of these bags, were, they called them the Fort Sill Apache.

During the Indian wars, the Red River wars forward, there were huge numbers of military troops, and as World War I geared up, there were more, and as World War II geared up, there were more.

And all of a sudden, the Fort Sill Apaches had a market they could sell things to, and they started making these bags.

These are traditional bags, they're not something they just did for tourists, but once all the soldiers were there, they started selling them to keep tobacco in, to roll cigarettes.

(laughs) And this one, it's been handled a lot, it's been carried a lot.

It's been used.

So it has a great look to it.

It was probably made between 1900 and 1910, has a great big sun circle or a medicine wheel.

If I walked into a gallery, I think this piece would be $400 to $600.

It really has a great look to it, and it's a nice piece, and there are people that collect only these types of bags.

Thank you.

Is that what you wanted to know?

Oh, wonderful, yes, yes.

WOMAN: It's got a little bit of a personal history.

I actually got it through my divorce 18 years ago.

My ex-husband used to be a collector of antique toys.

Lucky you.

(laughs) What we have here is an ocean liner, the ocean liner Britannia.

I would date this right around 1900.

We have the original mark right there, and that has "GBN," and what that means is, "Gebrüder Bing Nuremberg."

And "gebrüder" means "brother," Bing, the name of the company, and it was located in Nuremberg.

Oh, cool.

So this is one very outstanding ocean liner.

It's got this really decorative bow up here.

Mm-hmm.

That indicates to me that it's a nice, early boat.

And it's just a beautiful hull design, and it's a clockwork model, so you would wind it up, pull the key out, and you could actually put it in water.

Back here, we have this big box.

Right.

And it's the original box for this boat.

I have never seen a box for a Bing boat like this, this early boat.

It has the original stand on the bottom with wheels, so the child could play with it on the floor.

Wow.

So this was the type of toy that was a luxury good.

This was a very high-end, of-the-period piece.

It's in outstanding condition, but I believe that this mast and this mast are replacements.

Now, I don't feel that that is a major problem, and I also feel that the anchors are probably replacements.

Other than that, I've gone all over the boat, and I think that we're looking at a really pristine example.

The way this boat is, in today's market, I think a fair auction estimate would be $8,000 to $10,000.

Okay, wow.

That's cool.

It's just an awesome ocean liner.

WALBERG: Tessie Oelrichs' son inherited Rosecliff after her death in 1926.

Hermann used the ballroom for ping pong matches, and even the fast-paced game of jai alai.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: My husband's great-grandfather was in the China trade.

They lived in Canton, and this was his.

This is a first-place trophy from the Canton Sailing Regatta in 1859.

It's a wonderful example of what we would call China trade silver.

If you can imagine the maritime trade as it would sail to Canton, once it arrived there, it was there for three months, six months.

All those sailors needed things to do.

So they golfed, they played polo, they played soccer, and they sailed.

You said 1859, I see 1850.

Oh.

That's very, very early for this sort of piece.

Most of these were made for the Chinese market.

What you would do is, you'd go into your Chinese retailer, the silversmith, and you'd pick out what you wanted, and then you would have it engraved for that particular occasion.

Well, they happened to pick out a Chinese silver cup that was made for the Western market.

Many of the ones made for the Chinese market have these embossed dragons and figures and villages all over them that represent Chinese life.

This has more the acanthus leaves that you would find in a nice piece of English silver.

Now, underneath here, we have the hallmark that looks English, but it's really a pseudo-English hallmark.

And in the middle of that, you see the three letters that distinguish this as having been made by Khe Cheong, a very prominent silversmith in the mid-part of the 19th century for China.

In a well-advertised auction, this should sell somewhere in the range of between $5,000 and $8,000.

Pretty good.

I think it's great.

MAN: I inherited these from my parents, who had inherited them from my great-grandparents.

They're magnificent pieces of jade.

Really beautiful, nice color.

And they're actually, they're very, very typically 18th century, in terms of the quality of the carving, and the stands, particularly.

But they're not-- they were actually made probably between 1880 and 1890.

And particularly, because of the color of that piece of jade, that material was only found in, like, Siberia in the 1870s.

Really?

So it wasn't available before that period of time.

But the carving is top, top quality.

Do you know what they paid for them at the time?

I don't have the slightest idea.

Yeah, because by that age, the price in, like, the 1920s on something like this, in a good shop, would've been even $4,000 to $6,000.

Mm-hmm.

Then, after the Second World War, the price on things like this, the pair of them, would be $1,500.

Oh, wow, okay.

And now with the Chinese buying back their own material, and particularly with a fixation about jade, they're looking for things like this.

Mm-hmm.

And conservatively, the value at auction would be between $30,000 to $50,000... Really?

...on these now.

Wow.

Well, I've always loved them, and... Yeah, they're a beautiful presentation.

The carvings have always mesmerized me as a child.

I have two Eschers that my husband bought from Mr. Escher in '61.

He and a friend of his were interested in art, were looking around for what they could invest in.

He didn't like Andy Warhol's tomato soup cans, he thought it was ugly at $15, didn't want it, and moved to Mr. Escher for the prints.

And I got them and the letters from Mr. Escher saying that if he wanted to buy more, buy them all at once, he's a feisty guy and didn't want to keep going to the post office.

So, of course, we're talking about M.C.

Escher.

M.C.

Escher.

His visual imagery is probably some of the most well-known, nowadays, to college students across the United States, who all have a poster of some of his work on their walls.

Mm-hmm.

At the time when your husband had bought it, he wasn't as well-known.

He was living in the Netherlands as of 1941, in Baarn, until 1970.

This one is "Belvedere."

Correct.

"A beautiful view," belvedere, in Italian.

He lived in Italy from about 1923 until 1935, and the view is of the Abruzzo mountains.

This is based on Escher's impossible cube, this was an idea that he had about a cube which cannot exist in reality.

And what he was famous for was depicting, in two-dimensional form, that which cannot happen three-dimensionally.

That structure itself cannot exist.

The ladder, the way it's placed, cannot exist.

But all of it looks so natural.

And a lot of it is very highly mathematically informed.

Although he did not consider himself a mathematician, he was writing and corresponding with a lot of mathematicians.

This lithograph, it's signed, lower left in pencil, in the margin, and it's also numbered eight out of 51, and it has a Roman numeral "II."

The Roman numeral refers to the state.

States are one grouping of the lithographs.

Some little change was made, and that made into a different state.

Let's also talk about "Ascending and Descending."

When we're looking here, what we see are these figures walking up and down a staircase, but really, it's an impossible staircase.

They don't go anywhere.

Because it never ends.

This one was done in 1960, "Belvedere" was in 1958.

This one doesn't have any Roman numerals, but it does have a pencil signature and a number, 26 out of 52.

Can you tell me how much your husband paid for that?

I think they were $30 for each, and two dollars for postage.

And two dollars' postage.

Have you ever had these appraised?

We did.

In 2004, we had our artwork appraised for insurance.

Mm-hmm.

And at that time, they said "Belvedere" was $20,000, and the "Ascending and Descending" at $17,500.

And we mentioned the letters, but they didn't seem to be, go into the, anything into the equation.

The letters are letters from Escher himself to your husband, and it actually shows his wry sense of humor, telling him to, as you had mentioned, to buy more at one time.

He was famous for his wry sense of humor.

And there are a lot of fake Escher prints on the market, so we know that with these letters that these works are real.

Okay.

And, in addition, even Escher autographs, even without prints, are valuable in and of themselves.

For value's sake, today, I would insure these at $50,000 each.

How nice.

Thank you!

That's nice.

WALBERG: You're watching "Antiques Roadshow" WALBERG: And now, it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

We always treasured these.

These have been in the family 60, 70 years, and I was very proud of my Chinese statues that sat by our fireplace.

And we learned today that they're actually made in Italy, not China, and that they're really not worth anywhere near's what we thought.

I brought my two wooden boxes.

It turns out they're not worth all that much, but the best part of the day was that I got my picture taken with Wes Cowan, and Ken Farmer took the picture.

This is a Civil War-era clock from my great-grandfather.

They were mass-produced, so therefore, they were affordable then, and apparently they're still very affordable now.

So I won't be buying any Newport mansions, but we're glad to be here at the Antiques Roadshow.

Awesome.

I brought two "Life" magazines from 1944, and I found out they're worth about a dollar each.

Unless we cut 'em up and put 'em into frames and sell 'em for maybe two dollars each.

We found out today that it is better than mint, and it's a beautiful N.O.S.

It's a New Old Stock watch.

Collectors will go crazy over it, and it's valued at about $3,000.

I brought Great-Grandma's shawl, it was worth $1,000.

Her teapot, not so much.

WALBERG: I'm Mark Walberg, thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."