Antiques Roadshow

I was fortunate enough to win two tickets to the Antiques Roadshow in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, July 25th. It was held at the Colorado Convention Center. I took my sister Jackie with me, and we were allowed two items with each ticket. We had a difficult time deciding what we should take, and maybe we didn't make the best choices, but we certainly did have a good time.

We had an entry time of 9 a.m. and were asked not to arrive more than 15 minutes early. We arrived at the Convention Center a little before 9 and were directed to the area where the Roadshow was. Upon our arrival, our tickets were checked, and we were sent on to another person who also checked our tickets and placed us in a long line. The room was huge, and the line snaked around to go the length of the room 8 or 9 times. Now we played the waiting game. At first the line advanced slowly. It was interesting to look around to see what everyone was bringing to the show and visit with a few of the people. Once the line started to move, we moved forward fairly fast until we came to a table where they checked our items and our tickets again and gave us another ticket to guide us to the area we needed to go for our appraisals.

A guide was again with us and took us to the prints and poster area because we each had an item that fit that description. Jackie went first with her World War I cartoon that Darrell had picked up in Texas out of a trash bin. After hearing her story of how she obtained it, they told us about the item and said it was worth about $100. Next, I placed my item on the table for the appraiser to look at. I had a picture that my parents had bought for $50. It is of an angel in a forest with little animals that you could see pop out at you as you moved. The appraisal on this religious picture was $75 to $100, if presented to the right group of people.

At this point, Jackie took her son's machete that had Spanish writing on it to the weapons area. She discovered that the machete was made for tourist trade and was worth $25 to $35.

While Jackie was having the machete appraised, I took my painting, shown above, to another appraiser. She asked me the story of the picture and I explained that in the 80's I had a foreign exchange student from Sweden. Out of appreciation for keeping her son, his mother Anna gave me the picture saying that it had been in the family for many years. It came from Hungary where they had smuggled it out of the country to Sweden during the time Hungary was under Communist control. The appraiser stated that it could be a gypsy, or a picture of a woman attending a special event such as her wedding. The painting itself wasn't high quality, and during a certain period, artists were painting pictures of family in traditional attire. She stated that it could be a picture of a family member, or it could just be a picture they picked up. She said that it was signed, but that she didn't recognize the signature. At any rate, she appraised the picture between $500 and $800. Needless to say, I was pleased to hear that my item was the best we had taken.

We left the area after we had spent over an hour going through the line and getting our appraisals. We had a great time. Now I'll have to watch for the Roadshow to come close to home again so I can try for another set of free tickets and watch for the television broadcast to see what they chose to film. I'm sure we can find some more interesting things to take if we ever have another chance. The tickets are given through a drawing. Jackie and I both put our names in for the drawing. I was lucky enough to win the tickets. I wonder if it will ever happen again.