Wadsworth Mansion, Hour 2

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: There are so many surprises in store when "Antiques Roadshow" visits Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, Connecticut.

Hot, hot, hot!

Wow.

That's quite a good investment I made.

I'm so happy!

(laughs) APPRAISER: It's great.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ PEÑA: The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill is the stately backdrop of our "Roadshow" event today.

Things are a little different this season.

It's a closed set with a much smaller crowd due to pandemic precautions, but our pre-selected guests are still showing up, hopeful for good news from our excited experts.

♪ ♪ Another surprise: for the first time ever, "Roadshow" has something we've never appraised before-- a vintage sports car.

(engine stops) Hot, hot, hot!

Thank you.

I mean the car, of course.

(laughs) The car, what a beautiful ride.

A 1970 Corvette Stingray.

America's sports car.

How did you get this?

It was really a stroke of luck.

There was a radio contest for who could get the most famous celebrity to call in on their behalf.

And I was working for a catering company at the time and we were gonna do Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Annual Gala, uh, raising money for his camp for the kids with cancer.

And I asked my boss if I could ask him, he laughed and said, "There's no way he'll do it for you, but go right ahead and ask."

So I asked him, and he remembered me from the years before, having helped him out with things at other parties that we've done, and he called.

And he was voted the most famous out of the 24 celebrities that had called in.

Some of the other famous celebrities were, David Hyde Pierce and Kelsey Grammer called in together, Whoopi Goldberg called in, Rosie O'Donnell called in, and this was the prize.

And so then, the following spring, I drove it out to another Hole in the Wall Gang party we were doing, and I asked him if he would autograph the dashboard, and he did for me.

And I have pictures of doing the autographing of the dashboard.

APPRAISER: It's just incredible, because Paul Newman, one of America's greatest actors, is well-known for being reclusive and private.

I think there's a lot people don't know about Newman behind the face.

One of it is his great philanthropic efforts: Newman's Own, which he's given away, I believe, all the profits.

The first Corvettes came out in 1953.

Mm-hmm.

And that's the first generation.

They had a body style from '53 to '62.

'63 to '67, they had the second version.

This body was actually based on a concept car called the Mako Shark II.

So you can see these sort of sleek, powerful lines here sort of emulating the shark, because who wouldn't want to have that feeling of, of sleekness and sexiness and power, which, which really makes, is the essence of the Corvette?

These cars were so popular that this body style stayed relatively the same from 1968 to 1982.

So 1970 was the last year of what they call high performance, before emissions took over some of the power of the car.

It was one of the last years that they have chrome bumpers, because in '73, they start with the rubber bumpers.

And what you also have here is what we call the basic motor, a 350, which was stock for these.

You got an automatic transmission.

They also made manuals, of course.

You've had this since 1998, right?

1998, yup.

So have you had anything done to it since then?

It's got about 82,000 miles.

Just tune up kind of stuff.

This was repainted at some point.

I think it was.

Without the Newman association, I'd probably put an auction estimate about $18,000 to $24,000.

I think a retail price would probably be starting somewhere around 25.

But the reason why we're here and talking is the Paul Newman value.

Right.

There's another side to Paul Newman, which I think even, beyond his fame, beyond his philanthropy, increases the value even more for a celebrity, and it's the fact he was a race car driver!

And he raced Corvettes.

I would probably put $30,000 to $40,000 on this, auction.

And I would insure it for at least $65,000.

That's where I got it.

(laughing) Can you take me for a ride?

Absolutely!

Get on in!

I'm in!

♪ ♪ (engine starts, appraiser chuckles) ♪ ♪ During the '80s, I was in the National Guard in, uh, Danbury, Connecticut, and they had a civil air defense shelter down in the basement.

And they were cleaning it out and they said, "We want all you "19-year-old kids to take everything and just toss it in a dumpster."

So one of the things they wanted to toss in a dumpster was this, and I'm, like, "This is really cool.

Do you mind if I take it home?"

They're, like, "We don't care.

It was going to go in the dumpster."

So I've been carting it around with me for 20-something years now.

I looked up the "WCTU" part-- Women's Christian Temperance Union.

But I don't really know much about them.

The Women's Christian Temperance Union was actually founded around 1873.

It's still in existence.

They were very big proponents on anti-slavery, Prohibition, and also women's suffrage.

As you can see just from this, it's very cool-- "Alcohol plus gasoline equals danger.

"Why drink beer, wine, whiskey?

All contain alcohol."

So it's definitely anti-alcohol.

In 1919, when they passed the Prohibition Act, that kind of brought a lot of validity to what they were doing.

Right.

They wanted Prohibition, they got it.

This might have been put up on the street.

This is porcelain on top of metal.

Okay.

And they do a lot of reproductions of these.

This one's 100% original.

You can tell just by looking at it.

Mm-hmm.

The grommets are right.

That's the holes here.

And to me, it's really cool-looking, because it's got some wear.

Yeah.

Dating it, I would say 1910, 1915 period.

Right.

That's when they were really, really active on Prohibition.

Mm-hmm.

Could be a little bit later, also.

The front side's interesting.

The back side's great.

I'm gonna flip it around.

Okay.

And, um, we'll get that up on the stand.

And to me, this is, like, the pièce de résistance.

Yeah.

Because you have the big, "Alcohol is the poison," and you have the skull and crossbones.

Yeah.

And when it comes to people collecting stuff, that's a big plus.

Skull and crossbones on bottles, on poison bottles... Mm-hmm.

Huge factor.

Really, really cool piece.

This side is actually in a little bit better shape.

And it's a great display piece.

I can picture this hanging over somebody's bar in their basement.

Right.

In terms of value, if I were to put this at auction, I would put a $3,000 to $5,000 estimate on it.

Really?

And I think it would sell in every bit of that.

And if you get the right people bidding on it... Yeah.

...who love this type of imagery...

Right, mm-hmm.

...it'll go for more.

I, I didn't think it'd be worth that much, because it's kind of banged out, and beat up, and chipped.

Yeah, and the estimate I gave you is based on condition.

Yeah.

If it was in higher grade, it might be a little higher.

Yeah.

But it doesn't affect the image, and that's what's important.

Right, yeah.

It's a wonderful piece.

I'm, I'm glad you saved it from the garbage.

Yeah, thank you.

MAN: I came across this little guy for about ten bucks at a garage sale.

I turned around and that's when I noticed an inscription on the back that said "Picasso."

And, and I said, "This might be something."

This bowl has a name to it.

A very unassuming name.

"Fish in Profile."

(laughs) Picasso pottery over the last, I'd say, 15 or 20 years has gone up in value, where so many other collectible ceramics have gone down in value.

It does have a hairline crack in it.

I think the bowl in its current condition would be worth between $500 and $700.

Okay, cool.

And had it not had the crack, it would be estimated between $3,000 and $5,000.

Oh, wow.

It's actually a mourning robe.

As in, as in... As in funerals.

Okay.

Wow.

Yeah.

And that's the reason for the color here.

And the rondelles indicate that it's a member of the imperial family.

Everybody wore dragon robes.

Okay.

So there were an enormous amount of them.

But the mourning robes are unusual.

It's a very, very strong market right now.

At auction, I would expect this rope to sell for around $12,000.

Wow.

Okay.

That's great to know.

A nice thing.

Definitely a nice thing.

I brought a sterling silver teapot.

And where did you get it?

In my hometown of New Haven.

I was walking home from school with my dad one day... Mm-hmm.

....and we came across a box that said "free."

And what appealed to me about this item is that it had a G on it, which is the first letter of my name, and it looked interesting, like it had history.

I think it's a teapot, but I call it a genie's lamp, because when I was five, I wished to be on TV.

It's what they call a demitasse pot, which would be used for coffee, rather than tea.

Okay.

And this was probably part of a set.

And the, the G on there is probably a family name of whoever this belonged to at one point.

You're right that it's sterling silver.

Why did you think it was sterling?

Well, if you flip it over... Yeah?

...it says "sterling" on the bottom of it.

Ah-hah, it does say "sterling."

If it's 92.5% silver, then it qualifies to be sterling, and it will be marked "sterling."

This laurel wreath and, and the sword, that's the mark for Wilcox & Wagoner.

It's a company out of New York City and they made silver objects, trinkets, vanity items.

And then in 1900, another company, Watson, they were commissioned to make hollowware, which, this is called hollowware, for Wilcox & Wagoner.

In 1905, Wilcox & Wagoner went out of business.

Okay.

But Watson continued making, and they used the same mark until 1929.

So your demitasse pot dates between 1900 and 1929.

Wow.

Teapots usually have short spouts.

You know the song "I'm a Little Teapot"?

For coffee, it's a longer spout.

Okay.

And if you look inside, you'll see it's almost like a filter in there, and that would keep the grounds from going into the coffee cup.

Huh!

These are called heat stops.

Metal conducts heat, so if you have a hot liquid, it could burn your hand.

Oh!

But these would stop the heat and make the handle cool enough that you could pour it into the cup.

Interesting.

These are made of ivory.

There are laws against selling ivory, so you can take those off if you were to ever sell it.

Okay.

At auction, it would probably be estimated in a range of, like, $250 to $350 for auction.

Wow!

Wow, for something I found on the side of the road, that's amazing.

I hope you find some more stuff on the side of the road.

Yeah, thank you.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Construction of the mansion began in 1908 and was completed in about 1911.

It was reported in 1909 that the Wadsworths contracted a builder and agreed to pay $90,000, a hefty sum at the time.

The symmetrical façade with four fluted Doric columns supporting a pediment and the dentil molding that wraps around the cornice of the building are just a few elements of the house's Classical Revival style of architecture.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: These are celadon bowls that my dad bought during the Korean War in 1953.

He bought them at a store in Seoul.

My dad was a physician working in, um, a MASH-type unit for the Marines.

Okay.

Um, so he bought this on, I guess, R&R?

Sure.

During a break.

And my mother had asked him to look for celadon.

He had said that they were 800 years old, but I really don't know.

My brother and I inherited them two years ago, when my dad passed.

Two years ago, he was having second thoughts about having taken them from the country.

Sure.

Because he thought they may have been maybe antiquities.

Celadon is a, sort of a national product of Korea, sort of a national treasure.

Yeah.

The question of whether these are 800 years old, they are indeed 800 years old.

Really?

These date from the Goryeo dynasty, which was 918 to 1392.

Mm-hmm.

In fact, the word "Korea" comes from Goryeo.

Celadon wares were influenced by Chinese celadons.

So this bowl, for example, is especially more of a Song Dynasty type bowl.

Mm-hmm.

This dates from the 12th century.

Okay.

And it has this beautiful floral molded decoration on the inside, and it's just magnificent.

It's flawless.

The two smaller bowls, I wish I could say the same.

(laughs) But unfortunately, we see the condition of the one.

These have a special technique that's employed.

Do you see the white decoration on the inside?

Yes.

Yeah, I did notice.

That's what we call a slip inlay decoration.

Mm-hmm.

So the decoration was carved out, filled with a different kind of clay, and then decorated with a white slip.

These are the genuine article and they're beautiful.

Yeah.

These are wonderful artifacts from Korean history.

Your father had a question about whether or not these bowls should be returned to Korea.

Or whether it was right in the first place that they be brought out.

I think it's fine.

These are pieces that likely would have been made for an upper class, perhaps a merchant class.

And as such, these were made for sale.

Antique dealers had probably been selling wares like this for hundreds of years prior to your father's trip to Korea and having bought these in 1953.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

These are not utilitarian wares.

These would have been difficult to produce.

The difficulty is not in the potting as much as it is in getting the glaze right.

Mm-hmm.

So I don't think this was a daily sort of eat-your-lunch bowl.

Yeah.

(laughing): Okay.

And what did your father pay for these when he acquired them in 1953?

Well, I recently found a letter that, um, he wrote to my mom and he said that he bought these three pieces, plus a hammered, uh, bronze bowl, for $35.

I believe that the pair of bowls, with one of them being damaged, would have modest value at auction.

Maybe $2,000 or so.

Yeah?

(laughing): Okay.

If this pair were in perfect condition, and that broken example were the same as this, at auction I think it would sell for $5,000 to $7,000.

Wow.

That was broken by, um, a house cleaner.

So... (both laughing) This bowl is the prize, though.

I think in today's market... Mm-hmm.

...a conservative auction estimate for this celadon bowl would be $15,000 to $20,000 at auction.

No!

(laughing): Oh, my gosh, my dad would be flabbergasted.

(chuckling): Absolutely so.

It's a magnificent example.

Wow.

Well, that's why we were never allowed to touch them when we were kids.

I think that was good advice.

But, but I didn't know if they were real, so...

They're wonderful.

That's amazing.

Well, thank you so much.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

Appreciate it.

After an auction, I had gone back to pick up some other items that I picked, and I had become friendly with the auctioneer's daughter, and she said somebody reneged on a purchase of a Tiffany lamp.

Long story short, my spouse basically said, "Get the lamp."

When was that?

2017.

I paid $11,000, including auctioner's premium.

And what do you know about it?

I know it's a Tiffany lamp.

It was originally an oil lamp.

It's been electrified.

It has the hallmarks.

And that's all I know.

What we have is a Tiffany Studios lamp.

And one of the things that I was hoping to find when you brought this today was that the shade and the base had come together.

And this is a perfect fit.

It fits perfectly into the arms of the base.

What I was looking forward to seeing was the interior of the shade and how the ring was constructed.

And if you see, it's, it's flattened.

Later, when this particular shade was made to fit on an electric lamp, the ring on the interior would be protruding, so that it would fit on the wheel of the electrified lamp.

So that made me very happy, because the minute I saw it, I said, "Oh, yeah, right as rain."

What was really perplexing about this lamp, which I couldn't believe, was, the condition of it is spectacular.

And I can't find any evidence of any kind of repair.

And this is the first shade I really think in, like, 40 years that I have seen that really doesn't have a crack in it.

Um, there are... That's a relief.

(laughs) It has a signature that indicates that, um, this was made probably around 1906.

Now, as you said, this was originally an oil lamp, and it has been converted to electricity, but it's done correctly.

I have friends in the business who would look at this patina and they'd call this "righteous patina."

(laughs) Because it's just gorgeous, it's rich, and it's been untampered with.

Recently, there's been a spike in the interest in this type of lamp.

This is what we call a geometric lamp.

So, in today's market, I'd say for a retail price, anywhere between $15,000 or $20,000.

Oh, wow, that's awesome.

That's good, that's very nice to hear.

It was invented by my great-great-great- grandfather Elizur Wright.

It's called an arithmeter.

Mm-hmm.

And it was designed for the purposes of determining premiums for life insurance policies.

This arithmeter basically did multiplication and division.

It was like an early cylinder slide rule.

It was all hand-fitted.

It's just a marvel of 19th-century engineering.

Early calculator machines, early mathematical devices are very collectible and very desirable.

♪ ♪ Well, I went on vacation up at Lake George, New York, and I saw it in a store that was going out of business, and they used it as a display piece.

They had a "for sale" sign on it.

I went home from vacation and I thought about it.

I went back up to Lake George, like, two days later and I bought it.

Do you ride?

Are you real interested in the West or... No, I just...

I don't ride, but I did see it as a piece of artwork.

It's all hand-tooled leather and silver.

And to me, I fell in love with it.

Well, this saddle tells its own story.

Number one, it's got the maker's mark here.

"D.E.

Walker, maker, Visalia, California."

D.E.

Walker was a 19th-century saddlemaker.

He actually bought Visalia out.

Visalia and Walker started in the 1870s and he died in 1899.

And so when that happened, that ended it.

We know this is a pre-1899 saddle.

D.E.

Walker saddles are considered a horseman's saddle by serious horsemen.

This is one of their better saddles.

Did you take the tapaderos off?

No the tapaderos came with it.

Okay.

Those stirrups would go under these tapaderos and be laced on.

Mm-hmm.

Now, the silver.

The piece of silver with the longhorn on it... Mm-hmm.

...I feel pretty strongly that that was made by Schaezlein.

Schaezlein started in business in California minting gold coins.

After that was all over, and they went out of the coin business, they went into the silver business, and they went into the Western silver business in particular.

And that really has the look of one of their longhorn heads.

They are still in business in San Francisco.

Really?

That's amazing.

Believe it or not.

And most of this silver looks like Schaezlein, but not all of it.

The buckle looks like it's been replaced.

Mm-hmm.

It's from Edward Bohlin in Hollywood.

So somebody was using this saddle in the '20s and the '30s and the '40s...

In the Westerns.

...and broke their rope holder off... Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

...and had a new buckle put on it, because that is a Bohlin buckle, and it is really worn.

And the tooling shows a lot of wear.

Not bad wear, just regular wear.

Mm-hmm.

What did you pay for this saddle?

I paid $1,000 for it back in the early '70s.

Yeah.

The saddle's in good condition.

If this came up at auction, $25,000 to $30,000?

Wow.

(laughs) That's quite a good investment I made then, back in the '70s.

Yeah, you did okay.

$25,000 to $30,000.

That's awesome.

And you got to enjoy it.

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, you know, it's a great thing.

Yeah.

It's a beautiful thing.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah.

WOMAN: My husband, who is always looking for unusual things, and sort of that meets his definition of beautiful.

And I think with this necklace, which I do know is an Art Smith, and it sort of falls within the Modernism period, and he bought it online.

It was a gift to me.

And you've worn it.

Yes, I have-- it's very wearable, actually.

He was born to Jamaican parents in Cuba.

(gasps) Okay, they come to Brooklyn, New York, in 1920.

So here he is, in a new country, and as a kid, he designs a poster for the A.S.P.C.A.

(gasps) And it gets all this acclaim, and this is his entrance into the art world.

In the early 1940s, he takes a job at the Children's Aid Society, and he meets Winifred Mason.

And she's working in copper and brass, and this is where the bug bites him to make jewelry.

Mm-hmm.

And eventually, he moves and opens a shop in Little Italy, Lower Manhattan.

Hm.

Now, you think about the times-- Black man, Little Italy, openly gay.

Hm.

Not so easy.

No.

They, they break his windows... (scoffs) Um, just, you know, all the nonsense that goes on with people who are ignorant.

So, he moves, but where does he move?

He moves to the coolest place.

He moves to Fourth Street in Greenwich Village and he starts to thrive.

You notice the jewelry has some large scale to it.

This was due to the fact that early on in his career, there were a lot of dance companies.

When you're on stage, things need to be large to be projected.

Yep.

You look at a lot of his jewelry, it's extraordinarily big and fun.

Mm-hmm.

He was very, very, very big about how he viewed jewelry and how he viewed the human body.

He wanted people to look at a piece of jewelry-- his quote-- and say, "What is it?"

He said, "A piece of jewelry is incomplete without the person's body who's gonna wear it."

Because once it goes on you, it transforms everything.

Hm.

The way you feel, the way you look, the way his jewelry looks.

It's a striped agate.

There is a hole drilled through the middle, and then he runs the silver through it, and then wraps it.

And this piece looks to me to be very much entrenched in the '60s.

If we go over here behind the clasp, and we flip it over, you can see it says "sterling" and then it's signed "Art Smith."

He didn't sign everything.

I've seen plenty of Art Smith jewelry, especially a lot of the early stuff, that's not signed.

Early in his career, there were a lot of people-- Lena Horne, Harry Belafonte... Mm-hmm.

They would come down to his store.

He was once commissioned as a young man to do a piece for Eleanor Roosevelt.

(gasps): Hm.

And if, if you see pictures of this guy... Mm-hmm?

...he's, like, so hip and cool, and unfortunately, he passed away in the late '70s.

I know you don't know how much your husband paid for it.

(laughing): No.

(laughing): I'm, I'm gonna go with, you got a really nice gift.

Oh, okay!

Will make his day, too.

There's a lot of renewed interest in this type of jewelry.

In an auction today, I would say this is easy, $2,500 to $3,500.

Mm.

Yeah.

Um, it's, it's just wonderful.

It's got nice scale, and, uh... Oh, thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I'm dying to put it on you.

(laughing): Ah.

Okay.

I haven't done this in a while, but... Yeah.

APPRAISER: Just the way he would have liked it.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Colonel Clarence S. Wadsworth, a conservation authority, and his wife, Katharine Hubbard Wadsworth, worked with the renowned landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers, John and Frederick-- the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted-- when planning Long Hill's 500 acres in the early 1900s.

♪ ♪ About 17 years ago, I was at a charity auction.

As a group, it came with a script and the tracksuit.

I was a fan of the show, and I ended up winning it only for, I think, $100.

It's from "The Sopranos."

And obviously, I don't think we really even need to say which character wore this.

(laughing): Right.

But it's, it's obviously Tony Soprano.

It's from season five, episode 11.

And the title of that, that show was "The Test Dream."

It's definitely a memorable episode.

I think, uh, whether people liked it or didn't like it, they remember it, because it was different.

There was a 20-minute dream sequence.

So it was a bit odd.

David Chase wrote that episode, who was the creator of the show, and so it had his imprints all over it.

He's wearing it for quite a long time on screen.

He's wearing it throughout an entire scene where he's in the kitchen with Carmela having some kind of crazy visions of things on the television that weren't there.

Right.

And it's very recognizable.

The other thing that's great about this is, this charity auction obviously got this directly from the production to put into to the charity auction.

This is absolutely tried and true.

This is a correct piece from the series.

Wow.

They had a very simple tag on their clothing, and I've seen other costumes from the show, and this is exactly the kind of simple tag they had.

The most important thing is, when we value costumes like that, is, where was it worn and which episode?

And so we, we know it's right, we know it's Tony, which is the character you're gonna want.

Sadly, we lost James Gandolfini in 2013 at such a tragically young age.

So I think, um...

In our business when, when someone passes away, there often is kind of an increased interest.

But that, coupled with the fact that it's such an important show, it really will only stand to, to keep the value in an upward swing.

You also got this script over here, which... Yeah, came as a package.

I don't know much about it.

Even if it's real, but I'm assuming it has something to do with whoever donated the, uh, costume.

The script is something that we would call kind of a file copy.

This was not a production script.

This was a photocopy made of the pilot episode.

That's one that you see come up a lot in the marketplace.

If it were someone who had used it on the episode, and there were notations throughout it, that, that would be a production script.

And so because this one wasn't necessarily used, you're really buying the autographs.

I would say the tracksuit right now would be worth, at least in the auction estimate range, around $2,000 to $3,000.

(laughing): Oh, wow.

Wow, I never would have expected that.

That's amazing.

Wow.

It's $100 well spent.

It sure is.

I mean, that's, that's real...

I knew it'd be worth more than I paid for it, but I never, ever expected that.

The script alone, I would say very conservatively, an auction estimate would be at least $1,000 to $1,500.

Wow.

(breathlessly): It's one of the few times that a charity auction paid off for me.

Yeah.

That's unbelievable.

I mean, I've always respected the guy as an actor, and enjoyed the show, and it's just, uh, it's nice to know I have a piece of him as an actor and, and, uh, the show, so, it, uh, wow, that's...

I'm a little bit speechless there.

That's, that's really amazing.

Have you ever put it on?

(exhales): To my wife's chagrin, I did try to put the sweatpants on, but even they were too big on a big guy like me, so... (laughs) This is an Easter candy box made in Germany, about 1910.

This particular one is really wonderful, because it's so minty in its condition.

If you had it in a good auction, it would probably sell for at least $1,200 to $1,500, and could go higher, depending on who's fighting over it.

Well, that's wonderful to know.

APPRAISER: It's a Russian enamel sugar bowl made by a man called Yakov Borisov in the late 19th century.

This one is particularly attractive because it's a particular type of cloisonné enamel known as shaded enamel, and it's a particularly sought-after and high-quality form of the technique.

The accompanying tongs that you have here, they are also Russian, but they're not a set.

At auction, the bowl would be worth somewhere around $1,500 to $2,000.

Okay.

That's great, wow.

And the tongs, $200 to $300 for those.

Wow.

My dad bought it, I believe, in about 1977.

Mm-hmm.

He acquired it in the Berkshires.

My parents used to love to go antiquing to Lenox, Stockbridge, estate sales... Mm-hmm.

And it matched my bedroom furniture.

Okay.

So he thought that I would like it and that I could put jewelry in it.

You kept your jewelry in this?

(inaudible) Yes, I keep my costume jewelry in it.

You still do.

Yes.

Do you remember what they paid for it?

No.

Okay.

And I tried to find some information on that and I couldn't.

I did have it appraised at one time.

Okay.

And someone thought perhaps it was a salesman sample.

Mm-hmm, okay.

An antique dealer came over right away and said, "I'll give you $5,000 for it."

How long ago was the... That was probably 20 years ago, I bet.

20 years ago.

It's exactly half-scale, right on, on, on about, every measurement is half-scale.

This is so finely done that it was a salesman sample, probably.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, you, we can only guess.

Right.

It also could have been made for a cabinetmaker's son or daughter.

Okay.

But what are we looking at overall?

What does this appear to be?

It appears to be a Chippendale miniature chest-on-chest from New London County, Connecticut.

Oh.

So, probably the Colchester area.

Okay.

And we know that from the distinctive wavy fans here and the feet, and the way that these scrolls are graduated.

And that is all New London County, Connecticut.

Oh, wow.

The primary wood is mahogany, and the secondary woods are chestnut, poplar, and white pine.

Okay.

So that turns up in New London County, Connecticut.

So, we pull out the, the drawer, you look at the interior, and it's white pine, and it shouldn't really be oxidized, because this is a sealed case.

But you look at this backboard, and if you, if I make a tiny little mark on it, you can see that's oxidized wood.

It's a reused board from another piece, perhaps.

Oh, I see.

So we look at the, that color.

We also look at the brasses, and this is the only set of brasses that were ever on this, and in this case, you have machine-cut posts versus hand-cut posts.

So that does give away something about the age.

About four years ago, a masterpiece sold, from 1770, New London County, Connecticut, and if you saw it, you'd think it was the same exact piece.

It's identical.

I think that this is an exact copy of the one that sold.

This piece was made probably 100 years after-- I'd say about 1875.

The one that sold sold for just under $200,000.

(gasping): Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, I know.

(laughing) Sold for $185,000 privately.

Oh, my goodness.

It's in a major kind of collection.

And it is, if you saw the picture... Wow.

(both laugh) It, it's the identical twin.

It's a wonderful piece.

It's not from 1770... Mm-hmm.

...like the one that sold, but it is a beautiful copy.

Value-wise, I feel it's, it's in the range of $3,000 to $5,000 as a wonderful 19th-century... Mm-hmm.

...late-19th-century decorative piece.

But a beautiful, beautiful copy.

Well, that's great.

I mean, so thanks for bringing it.

Oh, thank you.

I mean, it's...

I'm so happy.

(laughs) (laughing): That's great.

Are you gonna put your jewelry back in it?

Yes, I am.

You are, okay.

You're going to still use it.

For now.

(laughs) Yeah.

WOMAN: My mother went to Yale, and she met Eva when they went to a summer art program in, I think, '57, and they were roommates, and they just became fast friends right away.

They stayed in touch over the years.

My mom went to New York and they picked out my mother's wedding dress together.

And when they went back to her studio, Eva said, "Pick something out for your wedding."

So that was in 1961, or '60-'61.

And this is the drawing that she picked out.

Eva Hesse, as you know, was born in Germany in 1936 and she did her graduate studies at Yale.

And while she started with Abstract Expressionism, her style morphed into something much more mysterious and idiosyncratic.

She ultimately became best known for her sculptures, which used all sorts of unusual, especially at that time, materials: rope and fiberglass.

And she did all sorts of exotic things with very everyday objects.

Among the things that I find interesting about, about this collection is how, is how prescient this drawing is.

Because on the one hand, it's very figural, but it really quickly moves into what she's going to be known for, with these odd shapes sewn together, hanging in space on the floor.

As I'm sure you know, Eva Hesse died of a brain tumor when she was 34.

She was basically productive for ten years, from 1960 to her death in 1970.

And during that time, she made such an impact on contemporary art, as well as women in art.

Some people consider her to be a proto-feminist.

She hated labels of any sort, so she would not have liked that.

And she really thought that to make it in art, it's not about your sex, it's about excellence.

Her sculptures today can sell at auction for in excess of $4 million.

(quietly): Wow.

What you really have is an archive.

You have the letters; they talk about day-to-day things, but they also talk about art.

They talk about her health.

Mm-hmm.

They're a very important component to the value of the, of the archive.

You have the Yale catalogue of Yale artists in a retrospective exhibition in '93.

Right.

You have your mother's address book.

(chuckles) With Eva Hesse's address in it, which is just... (chuckling) It's just so amazing to me.

And I would estimate it at auction-- the entire group, because I think it should be as a group-- at between $30,000 and $50,000.

(inhales) I would say for insurance, maybe around $75,000.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

I think we should get it insured, then.

I think you should get it insured.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Most of the objects connected to Colonel Wadsworth and his family are here, in the History Room.

Originally the gentlemen's smoking room, it now showcases many furnishings and artworks that were donated by the Wadsworth family, including the colonel's dress uniform coat, made by Brooks Brothers in New York City around 1914.

The coat is thought to have been worn by the colonel when he was in the 12th Infantry Division of the New York National Guard.

MAN: What I have is a, what I believe is a 13 colonies-era flintlock pistol.

It's my father-in-law's, but he's inheriting it to me.

Mm-hmm.

And his father had found it in the 1930s in the Chicago area.

How much Frank paid for it, I would have no idea.

Well, you've got a great example of a gun that's just a little bit later than you think it is.

Mm-hmm.

This is a wonderful Federal-era gun from just after the revolution.

Fantastic.

And even though we don't have a maker's name on the gun, we can identify who these guns are attributed to because of the unique decoration that they used primarily on the butt cap.

Wow.

I'm sure you noticed, there's this beautiful stylized folk art eagle with the 13 stars.

And that decoration is attributed to Halbach and Sons of Baltimore.

Halbach, all right.

They went into business sometime right around the end of the revolution, circa 1785 to the 1820s.

Based on the style of this gun, I'd say it's probably 1790.

It could be as late as 1810, but certainly before the War of 1812.

Wow.

One of the other features of Halbach guns...

Okay.

...is this sort of shell motif in the raised carved apron behind the tang.

No one's sure exactly how many guns Halbach and Son produced.

But the estimate is somewhere in the range of 300 to 500 guns.

And these pistols would be classified by a collector as what we call a secondary martial.

Okay.

It's a military-style gun.

Okay.

But Halbach never actually received any specific contracts to produce for the U.S. military.

Okay.

But during that period, officers had to buy their own equipment... Wow.

...out of their own pocket.

So this is a perfect example of the kind of gun that an officer might have bought as a personal sidearm.

Wow, that's, that's really amazing.

It's got a couple of condition issues.

It's missing the forend cap, the small piece of brass, or sometimes horn, that would have capped off that wood and prevented the stock from splitting and chipping in the forend, which is what it's starting to do now.

And it's missing the ramrod, but that's certainly not uncommon with pistols of this age.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

But it's the way any serious collector wants to find a gun, just untouched and wonderful.

In today's auction market, this gun is going to bring somewhere in the $4,000 to $6,000 range.

Wow.

It might bring a little bit more, but that's probably where that gun's gonna sell.

That's amazing.

I would've never guessed that it would've been that much.

WOMAN: I started working for the best coach in the country in 1994.

And because of that, I've been, uh, along for the ride with his success, and I have 11 national championship rings from the UConn women's basketball program.

Incredibly impressive coach, Geno Auriemma.

Correct.

How are you affiliated with the team?

I kind of do the behind-the-scenes work to make sure the team gets to where they need to go, make sure the coach is where he needs to be, and set up the schedule-- those types of housekeeping things.

Well, I'd say those are pretty important things, because you keep the machine running.

We have a whole history here.

Some of the greatest players in basketball history, period... Mm-hmm.

...are represented here.

Correct.

Can you tell me some of these?

The first national championship was my very first year there.

That's 1995, and that was the Rebecca Lobo-Pam Webber era.

And then in 2000 was when Svetlana Abrosimova played with us, and Shea Ralph, who's now the head coach at Vanderbilt.

And then we move into the Sue Bird- Diana Taurasi era.

From there, it's the '09 and the '10 championship, and that was Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Renee Montgomery.

And then the last four were consecutive.

And that senior class that won that fourth consecutive in 2016, it, that's unprecedented.

No other college athlete in the sport of basketball has won four.

And that was Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck, and Moriah Jefferson.

You're part of one of the greatest dynasties in sports history, period, and, uh, certainly one of the most important, uh, contemporary dynasties and had, had such an incredible influence on so many people, and the popularity of women's basketball, primarily because of just how incredibly successful this program has been.

What's interesting about this, you have all 11 here, and there aren't too many people on the planet who have 11 championship rings.

Who affiliated with the program does, at this point?

Obviously Coach Auriemma and Coach Dailey, they built the program, they're responsible for all the success of the program.

To my knowledge, I think it's only the three of us that have all 11.

There's somewhat of an established value, and college championship rings can vary, but generally speaking, I'd say a championship ring from a UConn Women's Basketball Championship, which is very popular and very desirable, probably would be worth between $3,000 and $4,000-- for a single ring.

(chuckles) Now, this is the complete set.

The sum is much greater than the parts, and I've actually conferred with several colleagues of mine, and we are all in total agreement that, that a collection like this is so special and so important, I'd insure it for $100,000.

Not a, no question about it.

Okay.

I think it could be more valuable in the future, as time goes by and people realize what an incredible thing this actually represents.

And hopefully we add to it.

Oh, absolutely.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Thanks.

And thanks for bringing it in.

It's so cool.

I know people out there are, like, "Wow!"

Nobody gets to see something like this.

It's really cool.

Thank you very much.

Thanks.

Are you kidding?

No.

The piece is made by Gorham.

Gorham was a silver and silver plate company, but the most interesting part of this is the wood insert.

Do you have any idea about the wood insert?

I know that it comes apart in two pieces, and that's all I know.

It started out life with a glass bowl, then, God forbid, it was ever broken, you would be able to use this mold here and then replace the bowl that was broken.

I suspect what happened is, at some point in its life, the glass bowl broke, and they didn't get around to replacing it, so they just put the mold in there that fit.

It's really, really unusual to have the mold.

I'd anticipate an auction estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.

(chuckling): Really?

That much?

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

I met an old fellow about 30 years ago.

He said he was selling all his worldly goods and wanted to build a school for the deaf in Mexico.

I put it in a new frame, and it's been on the wall ever since.

I recognize the "A.D." as being Albrecht Dürer.

Okay.

But whether it's a picture of a Dürer or a real Dürer...

Right.

I paid $400 for it.

And when was this?

30 years ago?

You're absolutely right.

This is by an artist named Albrecht Dürer, who worked in Southern Germany and is really the most famous of the early Renaissance printmakers.

Dürer was born in 1471 in Nuremberg, worked there his whole life.

He died in 1528.

He was a child prodigy.

Uh, his father was an artisan, a craftsman, metalsmith, and we know from self-portraits that Dürer made when he was a young teenager that are incredibly realistic... Oh, my goodness.

...how talented he was at 13 years old.

He made approximately 300 different woodcuts, which is what you have here, a woodcut... Oh, okay.

...and more than 100 engravings and etchings.

He was also a painter, but he gravitated to printmaking... Mm-hmm.

...as a means to disseminate his work further throughout Europe, and became extremely famous in his own day.

This is one of 15 different woodcut subjects he made to illustrate what's known as the Apocalypse.

There's also a 16th woodcut title page that goes with this, and it's illustrating the Revelations from the Bible, written by St. John.

Oh.

The title of this work is "St. John Appearing Before God the Father."

Dürer made this woodcut in the "Apocalypse" series in the mid-1400s, and first published this in 1498, and it is known as the first artist's book.

Wow.

It's a book that's both designed by and published by an artist.

In 1498, he issued it in two editions, in a Latin-text edition and German, which was very unusual to put something in the common, spoken language.

And then, there was such demand for it that it was reissued in a Latin version in 1511.

Ah.

And that's what you have.

Yours is in an amazing state of preservation.

You're at 500-plus years for a sheet of paper... Wow.

...and it's, it's phenomenal, the way it's, it's preserved.

So I got my $400 worth.

I was just about to say, I think you got a pretty good deal for $400.

(both laugh) I think it would be easily set at a replacement value for this at $30,000.

Whoa!

Oh, my goodness!

Well, I'm glad I put a nice frame on it.

(laughs): Really?

That's amazing.

That's, that's certainly good news, but it's going to stay on my wall.

(both chuckle) PEÑA: Hanging above the mantel in what was once the family dining room is a portrait of Julius Wadsworth, the colonel's father.

Julius was a very successful businessman in the railroad and banking industries.

The portrait is attributed to the famous American artist William Merritt Chase.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: These bracelets were given to me after my grandmother died.

I do remember them as a child.

She would take them out and we would play with them.

We called them Shazam bracelets.

But after she died, I was given a letter that said these bracelets were given to my grandmother by my grandmother's aunt, who was a friend of the last queen of Hawaii.

And you have a lot of papers and letters that corroborate that story, as well.

And when did she acquire them?

Sometime after 1891.

My grandmother's mother was a harpist.

The other two sisters were musicians at some sort of event in Boston.

So maybe the queen was at that event.

Most likely, yeah.

Queen Lili'uokalani was the only reigning queen in Hawaii, and she reigned from 1891 to 1893.

Okay.

And then the overthrow of the Hawaiian Islands happened at that point.

In our research, we've seen a lot of photographs of her wearing jewelry.

She had tons of these Victorian bracelets up and down her arms.

She did do a trip to London, to the Queen's Jubilee a little bit earlier than 1891, and she entered from Hawaii through San Francisco, through the United States, into Boston and New York City.

So she could have bought these at that point in time.

These are gonna be probably circa 1870 to 1880.

She also could have bought them in London, but I think these are probably American.

There is no real maker's mark, but it does say "patent 1870" on the clasp.

And these patents were done quite a bit for jewelry mechanisms around that time period.

That was an American thing.

The motif is classic.

You have some beautiful tassel work.

They look like they're in high-karat gold with a little bit of bloom on them.

They always turn this beautiful patina when they're this old and not washed.

So that's really important, not to get rid of that patina.

Mm-hmm.

They have a few little surface scratches, but they're not dented.

Yeah.

And these are hollow.

They're in great shape, and a lot of times, these are broken up, so to have them as a pair together in very good condition is really unusual.

With your paperwork that backs up the story that it did belong to her, and the collectors of Hawaiiana is a very strong field, so I would say for insurance values, you'd be looking at anywhere between $10,000 and $12,000 for the pair.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

It's a painting by Elizabeth Peyton, who I knew as Betsy.

We went to high school together.

She, after high school, went to SVA.

After she graduated, she had a show in the city, and this painting was in that show.

A month or so after that show, she was in the process of moving and she asked if I'd like to pick something out, and I picked this painting.

I love it-- I love it.

That's a portrait of, of one of her close friends at the time, so she was happy to see it go to another friend.

The window itself was from a building that the Rockefellers owned in New York City.

She was friends with one of the younger Rockefellers who procured a bunch of windows from a renovation.

It is an original painting by Elizabeth Peyton.

Correct.

It's an oil done mostly in brown tones, a little bit in black tones, and slightly lighter tones.

It's done directly on glass.

She more commonly does paintings on paper, on canvas, on board, on panel.

So it's unusual to see.

Unusual to see also because she tends to work generally in a slightly smaller format.

A fascinating artist.

I'm a real fan of her work.

There are a lot of people, when you read about Elizabeth Peyton, who think of her really as a painter of celebrities.

It's my understanding, she really doesn't like to be thought of as "a painter of celebrities," à la somebody like an Andy Warhol.

She is somebody who likes to do pictures of people.

She's interested in people who have charisma, people who make her feel a certain way and convey a certain psyche in her portraits.

The sitter is sort of slightly tilted on an angle, which I find to be very interesting.

There is a gaze in the sitter's eyes.

I don't know if it's sort of an all-knowing gaze or sort of engrossed in thought.

So all of that said, she is nonetheless known for painting portraits, and specifically portraits of well-known people.

So it's a little bit hard to put a price on it.

In this case, the provenance coming from that 1987 inaugural solo show in Soho is really ironclad.

The most expensive works-- and we're talking about works in recent times, done in the 2000s, some in the 1990s-- a number of them, impressively, have sold for in excess of $1 million.

So upward prices, artist having a moment versus an early work that's slightly not atypical, but shows where her work was headed, where it was progressing.

And my sense is, if offered today at auction, I would probably put on an estimate of $100,000 to $200,000.

(softly): Wow.

That's pretty substantial.

I think it's a great early example of her work.

People who are watching the "Roadshow" today are probably saying, "There's something I haven't seen before."

PEÑA: And now it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

Before the appraisal, I used to keep my spare keys on the side of my bed in this object.

So... (laughs) And after the appraisal, I know I'm going to keep it in a very special place in my house.

I was surprised to learn more about the artist, Art Smith, and a little bit about his history, and that he was from Cuba before he ended up moving to New York.

That was the part, the personal part about the artist.

Before the appraisal, I didn't really know much about this object.

I'd say I'm going to hang it on a shelf or a wall, as a display piece, just for me.

We knew very little about this object, so we were excited to find out about the famous Russian maker of this, the cloisonné enamel, which we didn't know.

We just are so thrilled to have this knowledge, to this appraisal.

Two of Elizur Wright's grandchildren married as first cousins and they were my ancestors.

So if I act a little strange, that's my excuse.

(laughs) Now I'm gonna have to call my insurance agent and up the value, the coverage on my policy.

But it's going back in your foyer.

It's-- it belongs in my foyer.

It needs-- it's been gone for 24 hours and now it needs to get back to its home.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."