Antiques Roadshow St Louis

So awhile back-like February, I applied for tickets to go to Antiques Roadshow. They had stops this year in Milwaukee and in St Louis, I couldn't decide which one to apply for, but went with STL. It's a random drawing, so I wasn't too optimistic. But whatdoyaknow? I got tickets!

The way it works it is, the Roadshow volunteers line up everyone and are filed into the proper assigned lines based on your ticket time. You're allowed to bring two items to be appraised. I read the on line directions carefully, they tell you things to NOT bring. They take a look at what you are bringing and assign you to the group for your item. Like glassware, paintings, militaria, toys, and such. We lucked out and had two textiles and two folk art, meaning we would only need to wait in two appraisal lines instead of 3 or 4.  Hubs took his favorite art. This table that he had made, features a carving by my BIL Steven Kelsey on a tree.

The last time I went to one of these, was with DD in Chicago-the lines were awful that time. The lines here were not too awful, but we chatted with people in our textile line that had been in line for 2 hours for militaria, and we saw the lines for glassware and watches were crazy long next to us.

 We had only about 3 people in front of us for textiles and the same for folk art too! WOW! What a great thing! So the table....I was skeptical....I didn't know what they'd say about it....Ken Farmer(We've seen him quite a bit on the show!) was called to collaborate with our initial appraiser, Nancy Druckman. They loved the burls in the wood, they loved the color and the shape. they loved the carving, they just thought it was a wonderful piece. And a retail estimate of.......$500-$700!!!! WOW!!!
Our 2nd folk art item was this set of bookends. Mom was pretty sure they were brought back from Europe when Grampa & Gramma went there in the 60's. And she was RIGHT!! Appraiser Nancy, said she felt these were created for the tourist market, likely in the northern parts of Europe and even though they aren't REALLY old, they still would be valued at $100-$200!! YAY!!!

 Then we had our textile items. Up first was this quilt that I have from my Great Aunt Grace. It's a very unique pattern, I think and all hand sewn. And I like the orange fabric.

The appraiser was Katy Kane and she also thought it was a unique design-"the stars look like pants don't they?!"...yes they do! She said that quilts are not as pricy as they may have been in the past however this one with the few flaws (a small stain and a bite out of an edge) would go for about $150. YAY!!!

And the last item we had was this Hawaiian shirt that belonged to my Grampa. He and Gramma went to Hawaii in 1959 and this shirt returned with them. I've always loved the fabric and the bright colors so I was hopeful! Appraiser Katy said it was lovely and obviously for the tourist trade with the cruise ship motifs. Another appraiser agreed and said the buttons were correct too-real coconut shell or the like. They both agreed it is in excellent condition and said it would easily retail for $150-$300! WOW! I knew I loved this shirt!!

So that's how we came out at Antiques Roadshow. Best experience ever! There was a long line for the feedback booth and  Hubs wasn't in the mood to wait in another line, so off we went!

Antiques Roadshow

So I'll just post this real quick. We had fun at Antiques Roadshow. This time we DID have to stand in a couple of LONG LINES . The event was organized pretty much the same as the last time we went in Madison, WI. When you approach the area for appraisals you get a ticket to go to that area of expertise. 

SO for the belt buckle that once belonged to Hub's Dad, we were sent to the Tribal  Art table which included western art...sounds wacky but that was it. So we only had two people in line ahead of us, and we spoke with a knowledgeable fella, he punched our ticket and told us that this buckle was a trophy buckle and they are collectible and he'd never seen one with short horns like this, so it may be slightly more valuable, he estimated it tat $200 to possibly up to $500.   COOL!

So we go on to the next place the
one for the civil war journal and tintype photo. That was at the Arms & Militaria table. Again we only had a couple of people ahead of us! I was pretty thrilled to have Rafael Eledge appraise our items! We always like his spots on the show. Anyways he looked through the journal and I told him the dates there and the discharge paper that we had. He said the journal was in pretty bad shape, but was interesting listing folks who died or where discharged and he said he would value it at about $200.  I asked if he had a guess about what some of the figuers in the book were and he said he guessed poker or card game winnings, since the date on the journal was March 17,1863 and he was discharged on March 27,1863.  We speculate that this journal was helping him pass the time in the hospital. Mr. Eledge also valued the tintype picture at around $200 also. He said it was not an original photo, but was printed on the tin from another original, Like the original in the gold frame we had.  He said  that's why you can see the nail on the top left edge of the picture-the photographer took a picture of a picture nailed to the wall! So we moved on to our next item the lamp.

The line for Decorative arts was pretty long.
We waited a little over an hour in line there. The time goes pretty fast if you chat with the folks you are in line with. We met a lot of very nice people, with everything from a door knob possibly from the Chicago Board of Trade, a lady with a diamond ring from the 1800's, a guy with a collection of police billy clubs-learned a lot about those things! and just so many interesting things that I'd never seen before. DD and I chuckled to our selves sometimes when we'd see some one walk by with an item we'd seen before somewhere and appraise it our selves! Anyway we fianlly got our turn and our appraiser was Wes Cowen! WOW! I was pretty thrilled, we love him on History Dectectives as well as the Roadshow. DD plunked the lamp on the table and told him this was the ugliest lamp in the world, he said oh no it's not the ugliest, there are plenty that are uglier that his one! Perhaps a lighthouse collector could be interested in this one and he wondered if the globe was original-probably not-and he said well, $25 would be a fair price for the lamp. We had such fun with that appraisal! 

So we only had my stick left to get appraised.

We headed over to the Collectables line.....OH MY!!!!!!!

Yes this line was HUGE!

 We got inline and chatted a little bit, but I think everyone was kind of tired of talking about their stuff by then, we were sure wore out since we had hiked all over the Soldier Field/lakefront/museum section of Chicago. 

 

It was 3 o'clock, we had been inside the McCormick Center since 11:30am. I looked at DD and said, so what do you think? We waited about and hour, and the line moved a little bit, not fast at all, I told DD I'm Ok with what we got done, I'm OK with what a lady standing in line told me about my stick. She has an Antique shop in Michigan, and she told me that my stick was actually a measuring stick that a person would use to measure how much fuel was in a gas tank. I told her, that I had worked in a convenience store and they fuel guys still used a long stick to measure how much was in the underground tanks then, a lot longer stick but, the same idea. Anyways, I still don't know how much the stick is worth, but I like it and I guess it's good enough to know what it is, at least what it might be!LOL!

As we were leaving we stopped by the table for Liberty Mutual and won a couple of prizes-a T shirt and a to go drinking mug! Hey it was a great day, and we were bushed! Time to hit the road and go home!

Picking to Pack

 So I'm getting ready to go to Chicago with DD to visit Antiques Roadshow. I have 3 items I've settled on, A silver belt buckle from Hub's Dad, a book and tintype picture from the civil war from my Mom's family and the stick I got advertising Aultman threshing equipment.

We can take up to two things each so I can take one more thing, what do you think brain glass lamp or wooden cup thingy? I can't decide....

OH BOY!!

Look what came in the mail today! I can hardly wait to hit the windy city with DD!! I better decide what to take....hmmmmm, what to take, what to take?????

Browsing Antiques, or maybe just old stuff

Darling Daughter and I went to town today. She had to return a curtain rod to BB&B, apparently she can't measure. Then we went over to the antiques show at Sycamore Mall. 

 

Lots of stuff to see, I always look for stuff like I already have and then see what they think they can get for it.

I didn't see anything like what I have..imagine that!

See DD? Do you know what she's doing? Yup, she's telling the guy who was selling stuff that his pearls are fake. Well they WERE!!!  She may not be able to run a tape measure, but she knows her pearls! He asked if she wanted to run the business.

Cross My Fingers for Luck!

It's that time again! Yes, I signed up for the drawing for tickets to Antiques Roadshow. They'll be in Minneapolis in July! And then I could go see my favorite cousin too! Sign up here PBS Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow

So we crossed the mighty Mississippi to get to Madison Wisconsin for Antiques Roadshow.Wonder-Son and Darling Daughter along with Wonder-son's pal Dennis made the drive.

Too bad our "treasures" were really only valuable to us! So that means Hubs can keep on hating my favorite tiki lamp.