Vintage San Francisco

I remember climbing in them as a little child.

(laughing) Wow.

Maynard Dixon threw his steak right on the-- the coals without a frying pan or anything.

I guess that's cowboy style.

WOMAN: That's cowboy style.

♪ ♪ MARK WALBERG: Fans of "Vintage Antiques Roadshow" tell us they like to guess how or if values have changed as they watch the show.

Will the update create a gasp or a cheer?

Or the sound of that sad trombone?

(descending tone plays) In 2003, we made our second stop in the City by the Bay, San Francisco.

How do you think the values of these treasures have fared?

Starting off with two jaw-dropping Native American baskets.

WOMAN: They're from the Miwok Reservation, which is near Tuolumne.

My grandparents had the general store in a little town close to there.

Lots of times, Indians brought baskets, and gave them to my grandfather in return for groceries and goods.

My grandmother liked them so much, and she became a collector, and the Indians in the area knew that she collected baskets, so they started giving them just to her.

I would guess they're about 1900, maybe a little later.

They were married in 1900.

California baskets are a real specialized field of study, because every little valley, there's a different tribal group that did something a little bit different, and so it's hard to identify all of them.

We know for sure these are Miwok because of your family and from the turn of the century, so around 1900.

This is the ultimate Miwok basket.

I've never seen any this big.

They're storage baskets for nuts and different kind of materials.

These have obviously never been used, they were brought to her just like they came out when they were made.

These are not ordinary, and they're almost beyond extraordinary.

The patterns are very traditional and pure on this one.

On this one, all the shapes plus the scale, they're so huge.

When we see these, we expect to see something, you know, this scale.

These things are tremendous.

Appraisers will go back and look for comparables, and come up with a reasonable evaluation.

The problem is, there's nothing comparable.

And all of us at the table have sat and gone through all our records.

We've made phone calls.

People just go, "I don't know."

You can tell their jaws are dropping on the phone.

With the documentation you have, the history, $8,000 to $12,000 each.

Oh, my.

And that's the very conservative estimate.

It's a collector's dream, it's the best I've ever seen ever at any time.

Well, they're important to me.

APPRAISER: But they're fabulous, yeah.

I remember climbing in them as a little child.

(laughing) Well, I'm glad they're still here.

WOMAN: It was my grandparents', and they took my mother and all her sisters around the world in the '30s.

And it's from France, so I think they got it then.

But it always hung in their dining room.

And I remember as a kid, I would look at it and think, "Oh, that's so creepy-looking," and I just thought it was gross.

But then when my grandparents died, and we got to choose something of theirs to remember them by, I thought, "Well, I associate them with the fish plate more than anything else."

So do you still think it's unattractive?

No, I think it's really beautiful.

Oh, you do.

Okay, so-- so you've matured in your taste.

Yes, I've matured in my taste.

Well, let me tell you a little bit something about it.

Okay.

In the middle of the 16th century, there was a gentleman by the name of Bernard Palissy that worked in France making this, which is now known as Palissy ware.

His name has stayed with the piece as they've developed into the 19th century, and a lot of other firms manufactured similar-type wares.

Now, we never see any of the original Bernard Palissy pieces.

But what we do see are these types of lead-glazed pieces manufactured in the 19th century, going into the 20th century, as well.

They were produced not only in France, but in England and in Germany and in Portugal.

Always very typical, naturalistic in style.

You always see a lot of lizards and snakes and some seashells, as well.

If you were to go into a museum and see a period piece of Palissy, you would find the quality to be a lot better.

Okay.

So the quality gets a little flatter.

But it's still a very interesting piece.

It is an earthenware body.

This piece has suffered a few damages to it.

A large section of the top has been repaired...

Right.

And the head of the snake, tail of the fish, as well.

Yeah.

It does affect the value.

But it's very desirable.

It's classified in the majolica category, which is really defined by these wonderful glazes that were used in the European countries at that point in time.

The platter was made to be hung.

So it's not made to be put in the middle of a table.

It's not.

Uh-huh.

Usually produced with a couple of holes on the rim.

Right.

For hanging, as this one does.

Now, are these live castings?

They are not.

They're not.

No, they're models, and many of them are hand-modeled pieces.

With the damages in consideration, and also in consideration of how desirable these pieces are today, I wouldn't be surprised if in the right auction it would realize in the range of $2,500 to $3,500.

Wow!

APPRAISER: I was hoping these would come in today.

These are called Zeenut cards, and these were actually issued in chocolate bars.

Packs of a candy bar.

These were the stiffener, and the bar was actually on the back.

They're very rare.

They were only issued on the West Coast.

And basically, they only showed Pacific Coast League teams and players on those teams.

And this is around 1910 to 1917, somewhere in that range.

APPRAISER: It's a French clock.

It was a house clock, very first type of alarm clock.

This is the alarm.

(bell ringing rapidly) So you pull that, and then when you set the alarm, which I happen to have it set on, it makes that rattling sound and it wakes you up in the morning.

These alarms were different.

You couldn't turn them off by pushing a button, you had to listen to them all.

Well, what you have here is an elegant piece of Japanese porcelain.

It's called Hirado ware.

Beautiful blue and white decoration, all hand-painted.

In fact, the painting is so fine on these pieces, that people often think that they're machine-made.

And this piece dates from about 1850, which is, like, the height of the period when this stuff was made.

MAN: I got that in an antique collective in Berkeley, California.

APPRAISER: How much did you pay for it?

About $25.

And when was that?

I'd say 12 to 15 years ago.

Okay, do you know who made it?

No-- I know it's signed, but I couldn't read the signature.

This is a French art glass, it's a very rare French art glass.

It's Duc de Caranza.

He was a Turkish fellow that came to France in the late 19th century, actually worked with the Longwy pottery company, and his work is always known for these metallic oxides, making this look like a pottery piece.

Even though it is art glass, it looks like pottery.

Okay.

And it's actually a lovely little vase.

Now, you paid how much for it?

$25.

$25, okay.

I would say because of its rarity and basically, you know, kind of beauty, maybe $2,000 to $3,000.

Wow.

And it's, it's a lovely piece, and it's a rare piece of art glass and it's a pleasure to see it.

I don't think we've ever seen one on the "Roadshow."

Wow.

WOMAN: I bought it probably 30 years ago as a birthday gift for my mother, and she loved antiques and collected antiques.

And I knew she would love it, which she did.

She died in 1981, and I have kept it.

APPRAISER: When you brought it up to the folk art table, I guess you kind of noticed that our eyes perked up a little bit.

Yeah, I did.

We know it was done in New York.

It says, "Rochester," and it's got his name on there.

This was done by Justus DaLee, who was a folk miniature portrait artist.

It's interesting that it has the date 1840, because that's right at the time that photography would have started being used in America.

Mm-hmm.

And it wouldn't be too long after this that everybody would have had their picture taken with a camera instead of having somebody do a portrait by hand.

So once I figured out who it was, then the thing that puzzled me was the fact that the man's portrait is a little bit smaller than the woman's portrait.

Luckily, it was okay with you for me to do this.

This was glued in the back.

Uh-huh.

And underneath that, was a piece of wood... Uh-huh.

And underneath that was the original image.

Huh.

Which I will pick up out of here very gently.

And once you see this without the glass on it, it really does strike home with you how wonderfully detailed Justus DaLee could do this type of thing.

He was active from the 1820s up to about 1848.

I think this lady in this portrait is his second wife.

Oh, really?

I do.

Oh, for heaven's sake.

And you know why I think that?

Because if you pull the mat back... Oh.

Look how much larger her portrait is.

And it's still done by the same artist.

I think his first wife died, and his second wife had her portrait done to put that there and have it in the family.

Now, what did you pay for this when you got that?

It was probably around ten dollars.

I'm sure it wasn't more than $15.

Okay, do you think it's gone up in value any?

Well, I'm beginning to think so.

(laughing) Well, I talked to my colleagues at the table over there, and there's been several of these examples.

He did portraits of children, but he also did double portraits like this, and we feel like a conservative estimate at auction would be $6,000 to $9,000.

Oh!

That's wonderful.

WOMAN: I inherited the ring from my grandmother, and she received it was a gift from my grandfather.

She passed away about three years ago... APPRAISER: And you got it?

And I got the ring.

It's just a beautiful piece, I know she treasured it.

Now, you know it's a diamond engagement ring?

Yes.

When did your grandmother get this ring?

Sometime not long after World War II.

This happens to be a deco mounting, and in that time, they used to call that a square stone-- four sides equal.

If you look at the baguettes on the side, they are tapered.

So that denotes a deco.

And they still make them today, but the idea is it's a true deco mounting.

And it's platinum.

This particular shape-- they don't call it square-cut anymore.

They don't call it an emerald cut anymore.

There's a new terminology out, which is very hot and very desirable in the East Coast.

They call it an Asscher cut.

It's-- same thing, square with the corners cut off, and every young bride-to-be wants a ring like that.

You got a new ring here, you know what I mean?

You're right in style.

(laughs) This particular square Asscher-cut diamond is clean.

There is no inclusions in it.

And the color is white.

It's approximately five, maybe five-and-a-half carats.

So you have not a small ring there, you have a very desirable diamond ring that should be certified, so you know what you have.

Now, would you like to know how much your grandmother gave you?

(laughing): You do, huh?

At auction, a ring like this can easily go anywhere from about $30,000 to maybe $45,000.

If we get a clean certificate on it, it can go over $50,000.

Okay?

So... Wow.

(both laugh) WOMAN: They were given to my mother when she launched a ship in Scotland at the Clydebank.

And apparently, it was customary to give any lady who did this a gift, and they said, "You're from the United States, and you'd have to pay duty, so we're going to give you an antique."

APPRAISER: What year was this?

WOMAN: I think '49.

She was told that these were antique perfume bottles that had presumably belonged to Nell Gwyn, who was a mistress of Charles II, and I've always wondered if any of that could be true.

They are definitely of the period of Charles II, who reigned from 1660 to 1685.

And they are pieces of silver in the chinoiserie style.

In the 1680s, for a very brief period, about five years, there was a workshop in London that was producing decoration in the Chinese style like this.

So it's an Englishman of the 1680's idea of what the Orient was like.

They are scent bottles, part of a toilet service, probably.

I see.

It would be a big dressing table set...

Yes.

...Of mirror, glove trays, various boxes for unguents and cosmetics.

And two perfume bottles like these.

If we take the top off, you'll see they have little pierced insets inside.

Yes.

And if we look underneath, they have the original owner's coat of arms, which I'm afraid is not Nell Gwyn's... That's too bad.

And here we have the maker's mark.

Now, this is an interesting Charles II-period silversmith whose initials were T.J. Now, most of the London silversmiths from before 1697, we don't know what their marks were.

Because in that year, the records of the Goldsmiths' Company were all destroyed in a fire.

Oh, really?

So we have to do a bit of detective work.

And there is one man who was working in London at this period.

His name was Thomas Jenkins.

And from archives, we know that Thomas Jenkins used this mark-- T.J. with two shells either side of it.

In terms of quality, they are superb.

And in terms of condition, they are really exceptional.

They are sterling silver, they don't have a full set of hallmarks, but that's often the case in the 1680s.

I think probably the pair would sell for about $30,000 to $50,000.

(laughing): My heavens.

Are you surprised?

Yes, I... (gasps) I can't believe it.

WOMAN: This chair has been in our family since Captain John Parker, the Minuteman on Lexington Green that they say fired the shot heard 'round the world.

It's a wonderful early- mid-18th century chair.

Probably from Massachusetts, based on the overall form.

Is it comfortable to sit in?

Yes and no.

(laughs) Yes and no?

APPRAISER: Bible commentaries, the sad news is, there's almost no market for them.

WOMAN: Okay.

It's interesting as a piece of early printing.

WOMAN: Uh-huh.

It's in reasonably good shape-- that's the original binding-- but the value is still only about $75 to $100.

Oh, okay.

But nice to have.

Yes.

As a relic of 1704, you know?

Absolutely.

APPRAISER: Look at the work here.

(gasps) MAN: That is cool.

And that's a beautiful face.

Neapolitan puppet.

Best I've ever seen.

I didn't know he was worth anything.

He's just a guy that guards our house during the day.

It was given to my great-grandfather in Shanghai, I believe, in the 1920s... Uh-huh.

From the French Embassy or French Consulate.

Okay, so how did the vase get from there to here?

Well, that was my great-grandfather, passed on to my grandmother, who was in Hong Kong and immigrated here, I believe in the 1970s.

Okay.

And that passed on to me.

Okay.

Well, it's a Sèvres vase, it has Sèvres marks.

Oh.

It has an underglaze green mark that says, "1912," which, that would have been the year that the vase was actually made, the blank vase.

Oh, I see.

Then it sat around for a year or two, and then it was decorated in 1914, the red mark.

Now, frequently these marks can be faked.

Uh-huh.

But what we do past that is, we look at the piece itself, to look at the quality and the decoration.

Mm-hmm.

And this is the highest-quality hand-enameled decoration in very much the Art Nouveau style, which was very popular at that point.

Mm-hmm.

But this was very modern.

Art Nouveau had been around ten or 20 years... Mm-hmm.

And in China, it would have been a very marvelous Western sort of thing.

And these wonderful sinewy flowers and tendrils winding down the vase.

Sèvres earlier had done a completely different styles, but around the turn of the century, they really switched directions, and instead of being the old fuddy-duddy company, they were creating these new wonderful styles.

Because of the great quality and the wonderful style of this vase, it would probably now be worth somewhere in the $2,500 to $3,500 range.

Oh, my.

WOMAN: It was in my grandmother's hope chest, and when she passed away, I found it.

It's my great-great-great- grandmother and -grandfather.

They lived in Willimantic, Connecticut... APPRAISER: Right.

I'd kind of like to know who the artist is, and if he did other paintings in the area.

Right.

This is a fascinating watercolor.

You said, "I'd like to know more about him," as the artist-- is that it's not a him.

(gasps): Oh, it's not?

It's not.

It's a, it's a she.

Ohhh.

And the artist's name is Jane Anthony Davis.

Oh, my.

And she was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1821, and she died of consumption in 1855.

And she was an itinerant artist, and she traveled around the areas close to her birthplace in Rhode Island, in Willimantic and other towns in Connecticut, painting portraits of the common folk.

These were not expensive things to be done.

No.

But they were important things to be done, because they were the primary way that people had images of their families.

What's really nice about this particular Davis is, you've got the mother...

Yes.

And her baby girl, and her husband, and there's the mother-in-law, right there.

Yes.

Elisabeth Fisk.

Yes.

And what's really nice about this one is not only that it's three generations, but it's fully inscribed.

Beautiful calligraphy, which shows the names of the subjects-- there's the name of the town in which they were painted, the date, August the 9th, 1845-- and here's the artist's signature, J.

A. Davis.

And a photograph of them in Nebraska later on.

Right.

So this is an incredible family document, and a wonderful example of a rare woman artist.

Oh, well, I never thought about a woman at all.

I know, most people don't.

Never crossed my mind, that's...

So I guess the only piece of the puzzle that's missing right now is the value.

This unusual triple portrait and the single portrait would be $25,000 to $35,000.

Oh... that's very nice.

I-- my husband will be very surprised.

MAN: I found this at a church rummage sale about eight to ten years ago and really loved it, and I've never found anything suitable, in my eyes, to put in it.

I thought it was just beautiful the way it was.

And I know nothing about it.

It's got all this stuff going on and it's just beautiful.

It's a work of art, I think.

APPRAISER: You're quite right, it is a work of art.

I share your enthusiasm for it.

I mean, the actual manufacturing technique is quite simple.

It's just embossed.

So there's no great intrinsic value in the material.

It's straightforward, it's brass, it's embossed.

Is this mass-produced?

Well, believe it or not, it would be mass-produced, but, fortunately, the people who made this were quite discerning, and they didn't let too many onto the market.

They could have made 1,000, but they would only make 100.

There's something Egyptian-esque.

And we've got more stylized birds here.

This is a stylized palm tree, the trunk of a palm tree.

And then over here, I love this figure.

I mean, it's almost like a Maasai warrior, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah, there's a definite sort of African feel to this.

And then, more of the sort of Cubistic elements.

You're quite right, it's very Art Deco.

The dog down here is a joy.

I say a dog.

I mean, it may well be a gazelle.

I can hardly make it out from where I am.

But, either way, the composition's everything.

When it comes to where it was made, well, you've got to do a little bit of detective work.

If I can just pop this down here, I noticed there's a mark down here.

Have you ever come across this mark?

I looked at it a number of times and could never find any mark.

Okay, well, it's hiding down there.

It says, "wHw."

This is a mark of a maker that was working in Vienna called Hagenauer.

You come across him before?

I have a small Hagenauer head.

You do?

Yeah.

This particular frame dates from around about 1925, 1928.

And if I wanted to replace this today, I would need to have in my pocket at least $2,000.

I'm amazed.

I'm very pleased.

Thank you.

So you should-- three dollars.

(laughs) $2,000-- not a bad return.

WOMAN: The brooch, the necklace, and the earrings were bought by my great-grandmother, who had come to San Francisco from Germany.

She was a very independent person, and she bought this for herself.

It's been in the family ever since.

In 1848, they came to California to mine gold.

Now, when they would mine gold, they would take it out of veins in mountains.

But sometimes they would have a vein of quartz, and there would be not enough gold to mine out, but enough gold to make jewelry, and that's called quartz gold jewelry.

That's what you have here.

This is quartz gold jewelry.

And actually, there's quite a bit of gold in here.

And this is a brooch.

There's a pin on the back and there's a pendant bail.

And down here, they have dangles.

And this set would have been expensive when she bought it.

She would have bought it in a fine jewelry store.

Its original value would have probably been around $200.

That was a lot of money.

That was a lot of money back then.

I want to look also at the earrings, and the same style is in the earrings.

And at this time, the women were wearing their hair up and back, and so they were exposing their ears.

And you see the balls on the earrings do match the balls on the necklace.

This is an American-made piece.

Yes.

It's unsigned, it's 14-karat gold.

I see.

Do you have any idea, besides sentimental value, what the value might be?

Well, I took it to a jeweler, with a number of other things.

And he put several things aside, and he says, "Whatever you do, never sell these without giving me a chance first," but he didn't say anything definite.

Because of the connection to the Gold Rush, San Francisco provenance, your suite would sell for $5,000.

I am surprised.

MAN: Well, it was originally my grandfather's-- he's had it as long as I can remember.

He used to use it as a-- a letter opener, I know it's a Will & Finck, but I only know that because of what's actually on the knife.

APPRAISER: Was he a native Californian?

Yeah, he was born and raised on the-- on a peninsula.

On the "Roadshow" here, on our table, we always joke, who's going to get the first Will & Finck knife to come on the show, and this is the first one that's shown up, to my knowledge, since its inception eight years ago.

Will & Finck began manufacturing knives in 1863, and they continued on with knife manufacturing to about the turn of the century.

The thing that we noticed first is, is this clasp that holds it on to your belt.

It's patented in 1872, and then it's got the maker's name down here at the bottom, too.

It's a unique clasp, and we only know of one other that has this type of a patent clasp on it.

Now, we could be wrong-- there could be more, but...

The other unique feature about it is, it's marked Will & Finck, SF, Cal, where it should be marked, and yet it's also marked on this side, which is unusual.

Normally they're just marked on one side.

Hm.

But I think the best feature is the grips, and they're walrus ivory, which was typical of California manufacturers, opposed to elephant ivory.

Typically, they put some silver studs on, but this is just a, a huge amount.

You can see where they come all the way up the side and around.

So it's got a lot going for it.

Condition-wise, it's excellent.

It's got a little bit of deterioration, but the blade itself has got the original polish on it, so it hasn't been sharpened or played with.

The knife, with all this decoration, would bring at least $30,000.

Wow.

(laughs) That's, uh... that's great.

(laughs) Well, good.

WOMAN: I don't know anything about it, it just appealed to me 'cause they were black.

There's no better reason to buy something than you like it.

How much did you pay for it?

Um, about $50.

I got it in a garage sale.

And what did you pay for it?

$15.

It's Joseph Pitts, English, 1803, with an original glass compote.

This piece is worth between $6,000 and $9,000.

(laughs) You did well.

Well, I guess-- that's my passion, to go to garage sales.

(laughs) You have a good eye.

APPRAISER: The handle shows a lot of wear.

This has a kind of a form of Mangbetu, which is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

APPRAISER: The label is absolutely right.

It says, "Pierre & Hippolyte Silvestre."

They worked in Lyon, this was made in 1834.

It says, "Number 47," it's absolutely right.

What I really like about the violin is that it's really quite untouched.

The varnish hasn't been highly polished, the varnished surface is all there.

It needs a little bit of work to keep it playing and sounding its absolute best, but it's in remarkably fine condition.

It's a copy of one of the great, great violin maker's works, Guarneri del Gesù of Cremona.

And you can see that by the f-holes, are very distinctive.

They don't have that fluid look like a Stradivari would.

And... it's a little bit large, which is also typical of a French instrument.

I would place its value somewhere around $20,000 to $25,000.

This jewelry, the pins, and the hairpins, came from my mother, and she received them from my grandfather, her father-in-law, when I was born.

And this was in Malaysia, about 40 years ago.

This photo is from 1923, and it shows my grandfather and my grandmother, who died before my mother married my father, so I never saw her and my mother, of course, never met her, either.

But this is her jewelry.

She's wearing it in this picture.

Yes, so, if we look here, we see this pendant...

Yes.

And she's wearing it around her neck here.

Right.

The center is empty.

Mm-hmm.

This piece in here is in the form of a cicada bug.

We think she's wearing it here.

Now, this jewelry is in high-karat gold.

You know, normally something's made in 14-karat or 18-karat.

This is fine gold, 22-karat.

And this jewelry also tend to be handed down in the family.

It wasn't meant to be worn and then somebody sells it.

It's passed down...

Right.

generation to generation.

The diamonds in here are rose-cut diamonds.

They have a flat bottom, they're very crudely cut.

The technology just wasn't there to cut them like we do today.

And this would have been made in Malaysia probably, not in China, right?

They were probably cut in India, the diamonds.

Oh, really?

Okay.

But the goldwork's Malaysian.

They didn't do work like this in China.

Yeah, I see.

Now, if we look at these hairpins, they're holding some type of ornamentation she has in her hair.

All totaled, we probably have about 20 carats of rose-cut diamonds.

Wow-- oh, my goodness.

We put a value on this somewhere around $15,000 to $20,000.

Wow, oh, my goodness.

(laughing) Yeah, that's amazing.

Yeah, it's very nice, but what's nice to see is that the jewelry was handed down in the family.

The picture's dated 1923, but this jewelry probably dates to about 1865.

You're kidding.

Really?

No, yeah.

Wow, I had no idea.

APPRAISER: Well, I thought we'd struck the mother lode today when you brought in possibly one of the world's best-known images, "The Blue Boy" by Gainsborough.

But there's more to this work than meets the eye.

That's right.

Two years ago, we'd gone to an antique street market in Niles, which is near Fremont here.

My husband collects frames, and this man had just boxes full of frames, and he had gone through them and found this one, and showed it to me.

And I thought, "Well, you know, it doesn't even have an old glass in it."

Right.

And so we walked away, and then he decided, "Well, I'm going to go back and get that frame."

And so that's what we bought for $40 at the time.

$40.

I'm glad you went back.

Yeah, well, I'm glad he did, too, and didn't listen to me.

(chuckles) Let's peel him away and see what we have underneath.

Must have been a surprise when you saw this.

Yeah-- several days later, when he went to clean it up a little bit, he took it apart, and that's what he found underneath.

Right, and we can see this is by the artist Jules Tavernier, the French artist who ended up working in America, and is well known for working in San Francisco.

It's a charming little piece by him.

Mm-hmm.

He came to San Francisco in 1874, I think it was, doing illustrations for Harper's.

Loved San Francisco, as many people do, and settled down here, and in fact opened up a studio in Montgomery Street, which became a very popular meeting place for many of the luminaries of that time, including Oscar Wilde.

Oh, really?

He also opened up a studio in Monterey.

He was the first artist to open up a studio there.

But a bit of a cycle developed.

Let's put it this way-- he was no stranger to the bottle.

And started running up debts, and got chased out of Monterey.

He was back in San Francisco.

And he would have been in Monterey around about the time this painting was painted.

And we can see that it's signed there and dated 1877.

We've always wondered where that scene is.

We think it may be Carmel.

Uh-huh.

He had quite a colorful life, and was referred to as a bohemian of bohemians when he was living here.

And finally ended up having to leave and going to Hawaii, after upsetting more people with his drinking and debts, and latterly became famous there for his paintings of volcanoes.

Tragically died there when he was only 45 years old.

Yeah, he was very young, yeah.

Thanks to the booze.

Charming little piece, a real corker of a painting.

I think comfortably at auction this would make $5,000 to $8,000.

Good-- that's great.

That's a good investment.

WOMAN: When my mother was about five years old, in the mid-'20s, she said she got all these dolls, and that her aunt made all the clothes for her.

And I inherited them about 20 years ago-- she let me have them.

They're made by a man in Philadelphia called Albert Schoenhut.

And Albert Schoenhut was German.

Family immigrated to Philadelphia in the 19th century.

He made dollhouses, toy pianos, wooden circuses, and then, around 1914, wooden dolls.

At that particular time period, there were a lot of German bisque character dolls made.

And what Schoenhut wanted to do was produce a doll that was artistic, pretty, and unbreakable.

Yeah.

So these dolls are actually all wood, all jointed.

They have a steel spring in the arm right there.

The heads are gessoed overwood.

And you had a question about the hair.

The hair looks like it could be real.

Well, it's actually goat hair, or mohair.

And this particular doll has a replaced wig of synthetic material, whereas these dolls have mohair wigs.

Tell me something about that one.

This doll was damaged on the leg and her face, so I had her redone.

And that's what they called Schoenhut's dolly face.

It's a very normal face.

Whereas these guys are all character faces.

So she's low man on the totem pole.

Then you got the best face over here, original wig, clothes that, you know, were probably made by your aunt.

Then you have the next best one here, in the union suit, original Schoenhut underwear.

Then you have the little American Indian kid.

You had a question about that, too.

How do I take off the material, the buckskin?

Buckskin?

I'd leave it alone.

Do you recommend putting them in paper, also, acid-free paper?

Acid-free paper.

I mean, you could put them out.

You just don't want them in sunlight.

You have to be very careful with Schoenhuts.

Too much heat, too much cold, that's where you got some of this little bit of chipping.

Uh-huh.

I guess you want to know values on them, right?

Yeah, it would be interesting to know that.

Okay, well, the little dolly-faced girl over there to the left, in that kind of condition, probably $200 to $300.

Maybe a little bit more, because she has some extra clothes.

Uh-huh.

The girl up here with the sailor hat, nice condition, a very low of $1,000, maybe a high of $1,500.

Oh, wow, that's surprising.

The one in the buckskin with the little bits of chipping on there, probably $900 to $1,200.

Oh.

And the other little sailor girl, which is in excellent shape, probably $1,200 to $1,500.

Oh, that's surprising.

I thought they were a couple of hundred dollars apiece.

WOMAN: It belonged to my father, and when my father passed away, my mother had it for a while, and then she gave it to me.

APPRAISER: These herbals, which are very elaborate to produce, very expensive to buy...

Right, right.

were probably done for university libraries, important private libraries, amateur botanists, of which there were large numbers, and physicians.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Because all the plants in this book are of medicinal use.

One of the things that's so unusual about this book-- this one's by a woman.

Right, Elizabeth Blackwell.

Elizabeth Blackwell, right.

And she was the wife of a physician to the king of Sweden.

And she had an interest in medical botany, and was obviously a fine artist herself.

And this book is the result of her botanical drawings over a long period of time.

This is the German edition, with the text both in German and in Latin.

Yes.

Published Nuremberg, 1757.

The nice thing about it is the hand coloring here.

Yes.

This was a common way to produce fine illustrated books in the 18th century.

And there's gilt here.

The lettering is picked out in real gold.

Watercolor is used for the rest.

The effect is quite beautiful.

Yes.

Let's look at an internal page.

And you can tell what that plant is.

Yes, it's a poppy.

A poppy.

And what was done is a copper plate engraving, and then a colorist would carefully hand-color the stems, the leaves, the flower.

Let's look at another one-- a cucumber.

Right.

And cucumbers, of course, had medicinal properties in the 18th century.

I don't know if they do today.

Now, let's talk a bit about conservation issues.

Okay.

Basically, the book is falling apart.

Since it's an important and a valuable old book...

Yes.

You need to have it rebound.

Right, okay.

You need to spend a few hundred dollars at least...

Okay.

to have a good quality binding, have the pages resewn.

In this present condition, I would still say it was worth somewhere in the range of $10,000 to $15,000.

Are you serious?

Yeah.

It's a very important botanical book.

Oh, wow.

Some of the better botanical illustrations of the 18th century are right in this book.

Oh!

It was made in Copenhagen in 1865.

Once it's cleaned up, something like this, it's worth about $1,500.

Oh, great.

These are very popular.

They're sort of a staple of every Judaica collector.

If they were just regular transfer-decorated blue and white dishes that were made around 1900, the value would be probably about $25 apiece.

Because they're Judaica, because they're a rarity and they're collected as Judaica, when these come up at auction, they sell for about $250 apiece.

Wow.

APPRAISER: It's worth about $75.

MAN: Uh-huh.

I didn't think it was worth... Yeah, I mean, and it's made out of cotton fabric, which is a little bit unusual for the type.

They're usually silk or satin.

WOMAN: I went to an estate sale, and it was on the table with many other lovely things, and it was marked $22, and I just had to have it.

I recognized the signature of Cristallerie d'Art which was a French art glass company producing glass from 1880 to 1900.

I'd add a few digits to the number that you paid for it, and maybe a little bit more.

Instead of $22 or $2,200, I think I'd be asking about $2,500 for this vase.

Really?

So I would have to say your $22 investment was a very good one, and you have a very, very good eye.

Oh, how wonderful-- thank you!

You're very welcome.

Thank you so much for bringing it in.

I'm so excited, I could almost cry!

WOMAN: This is from a series of paintings in the Rincon Annex.

This one has to do with the '34 longshore strike.

Harry Bridges, over there in the center.

This is Harry Bridges, in the...?

Right.

Anton Refregier did this whole series of paintings.

This is what things were like before the strike for the workers, and on that side, it's after they got a hiring call.

Things got better.

Things got better.

This is a mural that was painted in a local post office.

One of a series of murals in a local post office.

Now, the artist is Anton Refregier.

Right.

He was born in 1905 in Moscow, and he trained in Paris before coming to New York in 1920.

And he worked primarily in New York.

Did he?

Though he did this post office mural in San Francisco.

The mural was actually commissioned in 1941, and it was completed in 1948.

At the time, it was the most expensive government commission, and the government paid $26,000 for the job.

For the whole series?

Exactly.

Right.

This print, which is a color screen print, reproduces one part of the mural.

The images of the mural were not necessarily pretty images.

As you've referred to here, it's showing the waterfront strike in 1934 in San Francisco.

Yes.

So he wasn't representing very nice images.

No.

And quite a few politicians were upset with that...

Right.

being painted on the walls of this government building, actually, one of whom, Richard Nixon, tried to have it covered up-- did you know that?

I know that, yes.

Basically, the color screen print was first used in the 1940s by artists.

Really?

It's a fairly recent process.

And you can see down here the title is printed, "San Francisco, '34 Waterfront Strike."

And then the artist signed the print in ink in the lower right.

Now, how did you acquire this?

Well, my husband knew Anton Refregier.

They were friends?

They were friends.

He was a longshoreman, and of course, these were... he was also a photographer.

I don't know-- it was before I met him.

So I don't really know, but he gave it to my husband.

Well, the murals were completed in 1948.

Yeah.

This print was made in 1951, so he must have given it to him shortly after that, I would imagine.

The condition of the print is very good.

The colors are strong, as you can see.

Often these prints are susceptible to scratching and fading, and this one has stayed fairly clean.

At auction... Yeah.

I would estimate the print at $3,000 to $5,000.

Really?

Uh, okay.

And expect it to sell strongly within that estimate.

WOMAN: Around 40 years ago I was traveling in Japan, and we were in Kyoto.

And at the time, they had a marvelous collection of antique shops.

And that's where I found these.

They're Kakiemon porcelain, but aside from that, I don't know very much more.

Well, these pieces were made in Japan for the Japanese market, and used in a special form of dinner called the kaiseki dinner.

The Kakiemon family started producing this type of ware in the 17th century.

And you probably know Meissen, don't you?

Yes, I do.

That's the European later version of Kakiemon.

Right, exactly.

These patterns of very, very delicate enamels on a cream background were very, very popular in Europe.

You bought these as a group, I understand.

Yes, I did.

Actually, it's obvious that the bowls don't really go with the plates.

That's correct.

But yeah, I did.

Which do you think is older?

Oh, I think the plates are older.

Well, actually, no.

No?

You're kidding.

The plates, if you look at the back...

Right.

...have a mark on them.

Right.

Which is a mark characteristic of the mid-19th century.

Ah.

These are lovely, lovely, but much more elaborately decorated.

Okay.

And the enamels are a little bit more harsh than these pieces, which are actually 18th-century.

The gentleman sold them to you as a set, right?

Right.

And there were four, correct?

Right, right, four of each.

Well, normally in Japan, these come in sets of five or ten.

Five, right.

Actually, four is not an auspicious number in Japanese.

(laughs): Oh, dear.

The character is actually a synonym with something that means death.

(laughing) Oh-- should I get rid of one?

No, I don't think so.

What's exciting about these is that you have four 18th-century beautiful floral dishes.

And if, in fact, you had brought these to me ten years ago, each of these dishes would have been worth about, oh, $1,000 to $1,500 apiece.

You're kidding.

Now, what happened is, about 1988-1990, before the Japanese bubble, these 18th-century pieces were highly sought-after.

Now they're worth about, oh, I would say $500 apiece.

And the 19th-century examples, which you thought were earlier, are actually worth about, oh, $200 apiece.

The entire collection would now bring, at auction, about $2,500 to $4,000.

Okay.

A little bit more than you paid for them, I think, right?

I think I paid, what, $400?

Yeah.

(laugh) WOMAN: My husband's family lived in Reno, and they had purchased a little house in Carson City, Nevada, that they later on planned to renovate.

And I don't know how they got acquainted with Maynard Dixon, but he needed a place to stay because he was working in that area.

So they said, "Okay, it's empty-- you can stay there."

And as a result of that, they became quite good friends.

And we had the correspondence where he had written to my mother-in-law thanking her for their kindness to him.

My husband has a story about barbecuing in the yard over there, and Maynard Dixon threw his steak right on the coals without a frying pan or anything, and...

I guess that's cowboy style.

That's cowboy style.

He was proud of his cowboy style.

He's an artist who has quite a strong connection to San Francisco.

He studied early on with a famous San Francisco teacher and artist named Arthur Mathews.

He had a studio in San Francisco.

And in 1906, a lot of his work was destroyed in the earthquake.

And this is a picture from Carson City, Nevada, where your in-laws lived.

It's marked here "July 1933," and you mentioned that this building has a special memory for you.

Well, yes, I lived on a ranch west of Carson City as a child.

My father used to take my bicycle down there to this place to be repaired that no longer exists-- they tore it down and put something else in its place.

But it has the granite sand street and the feeling in the painting of the heat.

I can remember that vividly when I look at the painting.

And here you have a photograph showing the same painting hanging in your in-laws' cabin over the fireplace.

And here's a terrific photograph of Maynard Dixon at work, showing him painting.

Dixon was really known for doing desert landscapes and his depictions of cowboys and Indians.

And he traveled all over the West doing paintings.

And he spent a lot of time in Nevada, particularly in the '20s and '30s, and was very fond of that state.

His highest price at auction is over a million dollars, and paintings even in the recent past have sold for $400,000 and $600,000.

But often when people get gifts from artists, they're not necessarily their top-notch works.

But even so, I think this maybe should be insured for about $60,000.

Wow.

The other thing I really love is this Christmas card he sent your in-laws showing, "Hope you have a better Christmas than this."

And even this little doodly sketch should be insured for about $2,000.

(laughs): Oh, my.

Well, thank you.

That's very interesting.

WALBERG: Ca Most people have heard of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941.

Not many people know that in 1933, he had a 61-game hitting streak.

Here we have a relic from that year.

Well, it is an autographed baseball for the 1933 San Francisco Seals, which were a member of the Pacific Coast League, or old Pacific Coast League.

I had an uncle who was the shortstop for the Seals at that time.

Actually, your uncle signed this ball, didn't he?

That's right.

Right there.

Carl Sever.

Did he go on to the major leagues?

No, he didn't.

I think he did some scouting for one of the Eastern teams, I think either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.

Well, we know one guy in particular who definitely made it to the major leagues on the '33 Seals, and that, of course, was the great Joe DiMaggio.

That's right.

And his signature's right here.

Now, Joe was only 19 years old in 1933.

He was in his second professional year of baseball.

Boy, did he make a hell of a debut by this unbelievable 61-game hitting streak.

And I know your uncle was part of that.

Well, that's my understanding.

I think the 61st game, Joe was hitless going into the bottom of the eighth, and there were six batters before Joe would come up for his last at-bat.

And so my uncle was one of the six batters who was able to get a hit, prolong the inning, and Joe came up and got the hit in the bottom of the eighth and made it 61 games.

Unbelievable.

Amazing that someone could do that in the minor leagues, and then do it in the major leagues.

Just incredible-- he was one of the greatest of all time.

Now, we don't usually do minor league baseballs on the show.

In fact, I think this might be the very first one we've ever done.

But I got to tell you something, Dave-- this is the mother of all minor league baseballs.

The Pacific Coast League, West Coast baseball in general in the 1930s, that stuff is so collectible, none more so than the Seals, and none more so than Joe DiMaggio on the Seals.

So here we have it all wrapped up into one baseball.

We also have, of course, the provenance-- this actually came from your uncle, he's on the ball.

This has remained in your family all these years, and you've kept it very nice.

It's not in perfect condition, but it's good enough, because you do not see these baseballs anywhere.

What's also great is, this is actually on a Pacific Coast League ball, which makes it that much more special.

This might have been a game ball, very possibly.

Do you have any idea what it might be worth?

I haven't seen any prices for a Pacific Coast League or minor league ball, so no, I don't.

I know it's a family heirloom and you love it, so I know it ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

But I'll tell you something-- I wouldn't insure this for less than $10,000.

Really?

Wow.

I think it's spectacular.

Wow.

I would have never guessed.

(laughs) It's an amazing piece.

I thought $500 maybe.

WALBERG: I'm Mark Walberg.

Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."