Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/03/man-happy-about-watch-appraisa.html
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$120 in 1960 is equal to about $1000 bucks today adjusted for inflation. Tough for a GI to afford something like that.
A new Rolex GMT Master II Series watch costs about $6500 today so a huge return on investment considering the appraised value is 10x that just by saving all the paperwork.
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I’ve rediscovered Antiques Roadshow. They have them on the PBS channel on Roku. It’s always fun when someone has some junk that aunt so and so stored and they discovered and then it’s lifechanging money. And the stories behind the items are fun. I know the show is formulaic, but they find a lot of interesting stuff within that formula to teach about history and art.
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Did they pin the original paperwork and sales receipt to the display using thumbtacks? Won’t that knock a few bucks off the value?
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They use magnets.
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I was totally expecting a heart attack.
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I thought that was going to happen as well.
I always like these stories on Antiques Roadshow. The best one were the people who brought in an old blanket and found out that it was linked to the Ute tribe and ended up being appraised for $500,000
Here are some more: Valuable stuff in the attic
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Good thing he didn’t follow the manufacturer’s directions!
“use box for cigarettes after removing this card and watch support” at 1:21
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I was hoping he was going to exclaim “SON OF A BITCH WHY DID MY DAD THROW HIS OUT!!!”
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I was selected via a lottery a numbers of years ago to attend – you get to bring two things. I bought this duck decoy I had paid a couple hundred bucks for (and it wasn’t even worth that much) and also a family heirloom … they were all excited about the family heirloom (something akin to a silver platter) and had me bouncing around booths to get it properly appraised. In the end, they appraised it at about $2000. It was a relief, honestly, that he didn’t say $100,000 or anything. I don’t want to sell it, and $100,000 would be tempting.
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I thought the appraiser said he had brought the other one in, but it wasn’t as special so they were just highlighting this one. I’d imagine that once dad died, son got to keep the watch he had given him.
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No, the BEST one was the person who came in with a dresser and she got evaluated by the SPORTS guy. Why? Because stuck in a drawer was a ticket from the first game at one of the famous stadiums. The thing ended up being worth like $50,000 - it was something she didn’t even know she had, junk at the bottom of the drawer she just happened to bring to the Roadshow.
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I hadn’t seen that one. The one with the blanket was just the first one I thought of. But that is a good one.
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this reminds me of one of the early roadshow episodes, when they first seemed to hit upon ending the episode with a mind-blowing surprise like this one. this old man, you could just tell he didn’t have a whole lot of money, brought in this beer stein that he used to hold bits of string in his kitchen. had it for ages. i can’t remember how much it was worth, but it was incredible, and the man was so speechless that all he could do was sit there and cry.
shit, i’m crying now just typing about it. T_T
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I will see if I can find the episode. For some reason there isn’t a clip of it online. I don’t know why. I saw the blanket one and that is so nice, too - especially because the history of the blanket was so interesting and it was such a beautiful object. The dresser baseball ticket was so neat to me because it was so unexpected.
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While researching the video, I found another clip about a first phase Navajo blanket,
known as a Chief’s blanket from circa 1840…
There are a few of them out there and they are quite valuable. More than you would assume, the interviewer called it a national treasure. prob worth at least $300K. The very next video starts out “You remember that Navajo blanket?” and goes on to show a second blanket appraised at maybe $50K and which stunningly brought $1.4 million at auction.
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If I’m mathing correctly, $120 to $75K over 55 years is ~12.7% compounded interest.
That is good.
Many times people on the show are excited at windfalls that are much less than a reasonable interest rate.
Sincerely, Debbie Downer
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In truth, the American Antique Roadshow feels like a transitional form, a bridge to the newer, reality-style programs that take for granted the marketisation of sentiment. The most prominent example currently screening in Australia is Auction Hunters, a program that chronicles the doings of Allen Haff and his partner Ton Jones, as they bid on abandoned storage units and sell their contents.
It’s just so bourgeois!
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I swear, the simplicity and utter wholesomeness of Antiques Roadshow should be hokey and boring but… there’s just nothing like it on TV. It’s the dumbest possible formula and they hit it out of the park every time. It’s perfect.
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Yep, leave it to PBS to do it right. Contrast it to History Channel (gack, cough, cough) and their American Pickers show. I can’t imagine these guys know enough to talk about all the crap they find in America’s barns. I’ve watched probably too many episodes of it, probably because of a voyeuristic urge to dig through a lot of junk and see if there’s anything good in there. And to see how much Mike Wolfe and his buddy offer for some of that junk. Seriously, I think they pay too much, given they had to go in and breathe in all that rust and dust. Mike seems like a good guy, I think he could do better.
But yeah, Antiques Roadshow, ftw!
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