What Would You Bring to Antiques Roadshow?

[Handbag Lady]

I applied for tickets this year to the show in Anaheim. Close enough!


I've been trying each year. The only year I won tickets was for the show in Las Vegas, and I had to cancel due to an emergency that came up.


I have an item I am DYING to take in. It is so hard to explain what it is but I will try.


It is the size of a framed movie poster. It is a hand-drawn and framed Birthday Card to Danny Thomas. It has over 120 signature on it, from Don Knotts, to Mary Tyler Moore, to Pat Carroll, to Andy Griffith, Joey Bishop, Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam...and it even has Ronny Howard's autograph in child handwriting. It is from 1963. I even have Carl Reiner's signature on it.

I don't really care what the value is. Everyone's writing was done in RED INK!!! What the heck? How do I make this thing last forever? THAT is my concern.

Although I do work in TV, I got it by sheer luck. One of the Midcentury Modern dealers we buy from in Palm Springs had bought Danny's estate. He had about 7 of these birthday cards from various years. He had NO idea what he had and didn't knowt the signatures. I agreed on a price, bought it, and then I told him what he had.

When the stage I was on was working on The Bucket List, I asked Rob Reiner into my office and he said it was indeed his father's signature. He was so cute, he thought maybe I was a descendant of someone, but no, I had to fess up that I was a noboby. He was very sweet about it.

[lynxstch]

Originally Posted by Handbag Lady

I applied for tickets this year to the show in Anaheim. Close enough!


I've been trying each year. The only year I won tickets was for the show in Las Vegas, and I had to cancel due to an emergency that came up.


I have an item I am DYING to take in. It is so hard to explain what it is but I will try.


It is the size of a framed movie poster. It is a hand-drawn and framed Birthday Card to Danny Thomas. It has over 120 signature on it, from Don Knotts, to Mary Tyler Moore, to Pat Carroll, to Andy Griffith, Joey Bishop, Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam...and it even has Ronny Howard's autograph in child handwriting. It is from 1963. I even have Carl Reiner's signature on it.

I don't really care what the value is. Everyone's writing was done in RED INK!!! What the heck? How do I make this thing last forever? THAT is my concern.

Although I do work in TV, I got it by sheer luck. One of the Midcentury Modern dealers we buy from in Palm Springs had bought Danny's estate. He had about 7 of these birthday cards from various years. He had NO idea what he had and didn't knowt the signatures. I agreed on a price, bought it, and then I told him what he had.

When the stage I was on was working on The Bucket List, I asked Rob Reiner into my office and he said it was indeed his father's signature. He was so cute, he thought maybe I was a descendant of someone, but no, I had to fess up that I was a noboby. He was very sweet about it.

wow..that sounds pretty awesome. Can you find someone locally who can tell you how to preserve the red ink on the signatures. I would love to see a picture of that card, how cool!

[bettymae1121]

I just got a child sized rocking chair that my grandmother had when she was a child, so it's at least 90 years old. I doubt it's worth much (since it's been refinished and that's death on the value of antiques) but I'd love more info about it. Even if it was worth a fortune, I'd never part with it, but just to know more about it (and insure it if need be) would be neat.

Meanwhile it holds stuffed animals in my DD's room.

[lovesmurfs]

We have a crystal bowl that was given to us for our wedding in 1990 from a 90-year old friend of my grandmothers, that had been her grandmother's. The note in it said her grandmother used it for cranberry sauce for holidays every year, so that's what I use it for.

I'd like to know the age and more information on it, if possible -- there aren't any markings, and it looks like it could have been bought yesterday in a department store.

The other? I don't know. My mother has a very old Hummel nativity piece (very small, about 3") which is marked, but isn't painted (it's white glazed) -- doesn't appear in any of the books, so we'd probably borrow that from her to get more information.

I also have a couple of old watercolors that I've picked up at yard sales, eBay, etc. just when I like the picture -- those would be nice to know the history/value.

[snarlingcoyote]

Originally Posted by PatsMom

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Boston tour in 2012. I brought some old Duncan Miller oil lamps that my husband thought would be worth a bit of money - they were reproductions and worth $100! I also brought some vintage tattoo flash that my step daughter had on the wall in her tattoo parlor. They had a hard time appraising that and basically told me that I should send pictures to a dealer to get approaisals but since the art was by a known artist, it was probably worth quite a few bucks. I had some unusual stuff like a naked Betty Boop! I still need to follow up on that, especially since on last night's show they did a special piece on vintage tattoo art.

The show is awful fun to do! I hope you get tickets. The longest and slowest lines were oriental art and paintings. I don't know about oriental art but one of the appraisers told us that paintings is always really long and slow. So I wouldn't bring a painting unless I was really curious.

We brought folding chairs and crates on wheels to carry our stuff in. We had snacks and beverages. My best friend and I were so hoping that the tour would be coming near us this year too!

Oooohhhh! Thanks for the advice! Someone I know has one of those little seats that folds flat and can be used as a walking stick - I'll borrow that - and my lunch bag for work is a little mini-Vera Bradley, so I can use that to keep some drinks in! I wouldn't have thought about it. Or about bringing a cart or somesuch on wheels. Hopefully, the line for little American Indian baskets from the turn of 20th century isn't too long. I might even bring my little Colima dancing dogs too. That's IF I get in, LOL!

Originally Posted by FergieTCat

If they ever had "Worthless Junk Roadshow", I'd be a shoe-in.

Ohhhh yeah, they could have one show just about my worthless junk!

Originally Posted by Handbag Lady

I applied for tickets this year to the show in Anaheim. Close enough!


I've been trying each year. The only year I won tickets was for the show in Las Vegas, and I had to cancel due to an emergency that came up.


I have an item I am DYING to take in. It is so hard to explain what it is but I will try.


It is the size of a framed movie poster. It is a hand-drawn and framed Birthday Card to Danny Thomas. It has over 120 signature on it, from Don Knotts, to Mary Tyler Moore, to Pat Carroll, to Andy Griffith, Joey Bishop, Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam...and it even has Ronny Howard's autograph in child handwriting. It is from 1963. I even have Carl Reiner's signature on it.

I don't really care what the value is. Everyone's writing was done in RED INK!!! What the heck? How do I make this thing last forever? THAT is my concern.

Although I do work in TV, I got it by sheer luck. One of the Midcentury Modern dealers we buy from in Palm Springs had bought Danny's estate. He had about 7 of these birthday cards from various years. He had NO idea what he had and didn't knowt the signatures. I agreed on a price, bought it, and then I told him what he had.

When the stage I was on was working on The Bucket List, I asked Rob Reiner into my office and he said it was indeed his father's signature. He was so cute, he thought maybe I was a descendant of someone, but no, I had to fess up that I was a noboby. He was very sweet about it.

OMGoodness! That is just. . .WOW.

[SandrA9810]

Every time I find something stashed away at my aunt's house, my grandmother chimes in "you know, that's an antique." I always tell her, "yes, we know you're an antique. Everything you own is an antique." There's just so much stuff, it would be cool to know if some thing was worth a pretty penny. My aunt did have an antique marble table appraised before having it moved out to Texas, and insured.

[funkychunkymonkey]

my glass bottle that I found in gmas wall for one. I think the second thing would be this ugly white bowl. Im not sure who made it,the blue ink of the makers mark has worn off over the years. Its got a raised leaf design on the edges. the thing is this thing is at least 2 feet accross! would love to know if its worthless cause if it is, Im gonna finally pitch the stupid thing (its moved with me 4 times now. I use it for a junk drop zone. oh yea, I found it on a neighbors curb)

[apirateslifeforme]

My mother still has some decorative porcelain teapots that she remembers from her grandmother's house, so it might be fun to find out if they're worth anything. One in particular is in perfect condition, is beautifully embellished, and I remember the stamp on the bottom says "Made in Persia."

Also, hanging on one wall is a very heavy china serving platter with a portrait of Marie-Therese painted on it (Gram always insisted it was Queen Victoria, but it clearly says Marie-Therese).

But just for fun, I'd like to see what they'd say about my grandfather's WWII government-issue bugle. He was stationed in the South Pacific and was even at Iwo Jima. The bugle is all banged up, scraped with a few small dents, but the most ironic thing on it is that it is stamped "US Regulation...Made in Japan."