Extraordinary Finds

Back in 2005, appraiser Noel Barrett met Charlie, the owner of a pristine Heyde Buffalo Bill Wild West set. Having purchased the set for $400 , Charlie was delighted to hear Barrett give it an auction estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. Fourteen years later, ROADSHOW interviews both Barrett and Charlie as they explain why it pays off to hold on to your child-like sense of wonder when it comes to toys.

While working his very first ROADSHOW in 2005, Watches appraiser Paul Hartquist met Robert, the owner of a one-of-a-kind 1914 Patek Philippe watch. Hartquist shocked our staff when he gave the watch an auction estimate of $250,000. Flash forward to Hartquist’s second-ever ROADSHOW event in Fargo, North Dakota, last May, where he updates ROADSHOW on where the watch is today.

At the 2005 Bismarck event, Asian Arts appraiser Lark Mason met Dee, the owner of a tattered but magnificent silk court screen, several hundred years old and apparently of Chinese origin. Dee said she’d come close to throwing it out, but eventually enlisted Mason’s help to sell it at auction. An auction that would wind up leaving Dee elated, and Mason and his colleagues in shock!

During the Boston ROADSHOW event in 2012, famous Civil War enthusiast Rafael Eledge encountered an unlikely artifact his guest had found in an attic on Cape Cod. Neither Union nor Confederate, it was actually a beautifully preserved leather cartridge box originally used by a British soldier of the 43rd light infantry while on campaign in the rebellious colonies during the American Revolution.

At ROADSHOW’s 2014 Birmingham, Alabama, event, appraiser Colleene Fesko discovered a family treasure with some very personal provenance. It was a portrait of the guest’s great-grandfather, a cavalry officer, painted by the renowned 19th-century American artist Frederic Remington. Five years later, ROADSHOW catches up with Fesko to learn what’s happened to the painting since she first appraised it.

During ROADSHOW’s 2014 New York City event, one Beatles fan named Ted got the surprise of a lifetime when Collectibles appraiser Laura Woolley told him his John Lennon-autographed sign — which he’d paid just $350 for at auction in the ‘80s — was now worth $50K to $75K. Watch Woolley reminisce about her experience appraising the sign and learn why Ted’s first auction purchase was such a lucky one.

At John Sollo’s first-ever ROADSHOW event he met a guest named Nancy and discovered an extremely rare mahogany chair lived for many years — unloved and unused — in Nancy’s mother’s attic. When to Nancy’s astonishment Sollo appraised it for $80K to $120K, they each nearly needed to sit down. Here, join both of them again as they reunite to chat about their initial 2006 meeting in Philadelphia.

When appraiser John Buxton was at the Tribal Arts table during the 2001 ROADSHOW event in Tucson, he was unprepared for the “national treasure” he was about to discover. Watch as he recounts the touching, fateful day when he and colleague Don Ellis met Ted and appraised his rare Navajo Ute First Phase chief’s blanket for an astounding $350K to $500K — a moment that would become ROADSHOW history.

This past spring, ROADSHOW met up with RISD curator Elizabeth Williams and learned what it was like for her to see Michael Grogan's appraisal of a $10,000 to $15,000 Magnussen drawing on her television screen, and what the museum did next to unite the newly discovered design drawing with the finished piece it inspired.

During ROADSHOW’s 2014 event in Chicago, appraiser Ken Gloss came across a Civil-War-era letter penned by Walt Whitman on behalf of a sounded soldier — a rare piece of literary history that was owned by a guest named Abbie. After Gloss’s appraisal aired, Ken Price, the co-director of the Walt Whitman archive, struck up a pen-pal friendship with Abbie to learn more about her letter.

At ROADSHOW’s 2016 visit to Fort Worth, Texas, a guest named James brought in an Auguste Rodin bronze sculpture that belonged to his father’s great-aunt. Appraiser Eric Silver valued the bronze between $450,000 and $500,000 on the contingency that the piece could be authenticated as a genuine Rodin.

During ROADSHOW’s 2013 Detroit event, a guest named David brought in the working script for the beloved Hollywood classic, The Wizard of Oz. The script had belonged to the actor who played the Cowardly Lion, Bert Lahr, who was David’s step-grandfather. After expert Simeon Lipman gave the script an insurance value of $150,000, David decided to contact appraiser Catherine Williams to sell it.