NARRATOR: Major funding is provided by, Alex Cooper Auctioneers, since 1924 has been serving the Mid-Atlantic states, featuring monthly gallery antique auction sales, our staff can assist clients with the disposition of their valued possessions.

Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

AMORY: Hi, Amory LeCuyer, I'm a lead appraiser for "Chesapeake Collectibles," welcome to our 11th season.

I'm glad to be able to welcome you all here and I'm starting off this season with a priceless treasure, Rhea Feikin.

RHEA: Thank you very much, am I here because I'm antique?

AMORY: You're here because we can't put a value on the years that you've been here.

RHEA: Well I just have to say that the ten years that we did the show were so much fun.

AMORY: Ten years?

RHEA: Yeah.

And, and, but to be in this incredible new, huge studio and to be here with you, Amory, is a joy.

AMORY: Well it is a treasure for me to be doing this with you as well, because it's been a dynamic three years since we were doing this.

RHEA: Yeah.

AMORY: But it's just a, it's just a wonder to have you back.

What have you brought me?

RHEA: Well, I'm not exactly sure, this uh, belonged to my husband.

AMORY: Okay.

RHEA: And was in his family for a long time, he said.

And when he brought it to live with me it came in a big wooden box with a glass front and it was in there and I couldn't understand why it was in that box and I said, "Well why don't we just take it out of the box?"

So we did and here it is, I've always enjoyed looking at it.

AMORY: The unboxing of the woman.

RHEA: Yeah, I know nothing about it.

AMORY: Well you know it's, it's difficult, it is signed in the lower right-hand corner but it's been difficult to make clear the signature which always amazes me when an artist will put this much effort.

RHEA: Uh-huh.

AMORY: Into a work and then kind of hide their signature.

RHEA: Yeah.

AMORY: But what this appears to be is a late-1800s, early-1900s, probably um, uh, a portrait probably done of a young woman in New York or one of the major metropolitan in the northeast, because of the costuming involved.

Um, the hat is a little bit more timely for, for that period and it's, it's, it's very well done.

RHEA: Well you know, I looked at it and because of the frame, I thought, well it's great.

I don't know if the painting is valuable but it probably is valuable for the frame.

AMORY: The, the auctioneer's favorite line is, "The frame alone is worth that."

RHEA: I think that's the case with this painting.

AMORY: Well you know it's funny because portraiture occupies a, a particularly, uh, uh distinctive part of art collecting.

There are people who have nothing to do with portrait uh, there are people who just avidly want to fill their walls with good portrait work, this is an above average painting.

Way above average.

Um, we can see a lot of structure in the face, the eyes, the cheekbones have been brought out, so the, there is a great deal of effort and talent that went into this.

RHEA: Well, I just can say that I have enjoyed living with her.

AMORY: Right.

RHEA: She's been a part of my life for a long time, now.

AMORY: Did you ever have it, did you ever have it appraised?

RHEA: No.

AMORY: Okay.

RHEA: This is it.

AMORY: Well if it were to come up at auction, without being able to solidly identify who the artist is, you're probably looking at the $800 to $1,000 range, just off technique alone.

RHEA: Right.

AMORY: Um, if the, if the artist were identified um, then that could raise, raise it quite a bit.

If I signed it, it's worth $10.

If Andy Warhol signed it, it's worth a lot more.

RHEA: Right, I get that.

AMORY: Yeah.

RHEA: Well I, I've really have enjoyed being here with you.

AMORY: Well, but you know, nothing holds the value, to you.

RHEA: Well all I want to say to you is, I am so happy that you're continuing with this incredible show, you've been such a big part of it always.

AMORY: Well, thank you.

RHEA: You've managed to get great appraisers and I think everybody who's ever come here with anything has left feeling really good about themselves.

AMORY: Well I hope you do today!

RHEA: I do, I feel great.

AMORY: I'm so glad you are back and helping us kick off this season.

RHEA: Well thank you.

AMORY: It didn't feel right without having you a part of it in some way.

RHEA: It is my pleasure and good wishes to you Amory.

AMORY: Thank you all and thank you all for being here for the 11th season of "Chesapeake Collectibles."

(theme music playing).

♪ ♪ LISA: Well, hi, thank you so much for coming in to "Chesapeake Collectibles" today.

You brought something in that as soon as I saw it, I was exceptionally intrigued.

So obviously, the first question I'm going to ask you is where did you come up with this, before we talk about what it is.

I'm just curious how you found it.

GUEST: Well Lisa, I, I go to a lot of auctions because I like stuff and I was at an auction one day and there was this box of ceramics and stuff and so I'm rooting through it and well, there's this cup and it's got this nice eagle and I was like, "I really like that."

So I said, "Well, I'm gonna try to get that box" and I ended up winning the bid of course, so.

LISA: Okay, and fantastic and so when you got home you started to take a closer look at it and you thought, "This might be something," and when "Chesapeake Collectibles" started filming again you were like, "I'm going to take this in and see what I can find out about it."

GUEST: Oh, absolutely.

LISA: Which is how we met, which is how I have had the fortune to take a look at this fantastic cup and saucer.

So, as you'll remember, I took a look at it and I was like, "This is fascinating."

So I immediately turned it over and I could see that it was made by Limoge, which is interesting because it has this lovely American emblem on it.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: So why is there an American emblem on a French piece of porcelain?

Things became a little bit clearer when I turned the saucer over and it revealed a lot more information.

Notably, that this was presidential china for President Benjamin Harrison who was our late 19th century president he would have been I think 1891, is that correct?

GUEST: Yes, yeah.

LISA: And so, as was the case with a lot of presidents, their wives as First Lady, ordered china to be used for official dinners and state services at the White House.

GUEST: You got to look fancy at the White House.

LISA: You need to look, you're, you're president, you're entertaining, let's do this right.

GUEST: Yeah, absolutely.

LISA: So his wife, Caroline, designed this porcelain, and she chose, as a really interesting focal piece, stalks of corn and goldenrod.

GUEST: Okay, so that's what the little things are.

LISA: That's what the little things are!

GUEST: I didn't know what those were.

LISA: It's goldenrod!

The, the certainly the corn stalks, will really stick out.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: And, and we were like, why?

Well as it turns out, uh, President Harrison was very fond of goldenrod.

GUEST: Huh!

LISA: He just thought it was a beautiful flower, but it's also to go with the corn stalks which was emblematic of their home in Indiana.

GUEST: Okay.

LISA: So it was a lovely nod to where.

GUEST: Where they come from, yeah.

LISA: Where they came from.

So she designed this, and Mrs. Harrison had an interest and an active hobby in painting porcelain herself.

GUEST: Oh wow.

LISA: And she'd even taught that to other young ladies.

So that was a thing at the time, it was a very respectable hobby for young women to partake in and so it's no wonder that she had a really thrilling time, probably had a very creative opportunity.

GUEST: I, I can imagine, you know.

LISA: Had the shot to do this.

So, what we also learned from the bottom of the saucer, is that, in addition to the mark for Limoge, that this was made and sold through M. W. Beveridge in Washington, D.C.

GUEST: Mm-hm.

LISA: So a local company.

GUEST: Company, yea.

LISA: Because Mrs. Harrison was looking for someone to make these pieces and could not find a manufacturer in the U.S. who was willing to make these.

GUEST: Wow.

LISA: So, she contacted Beveridge, who contacted Limoge and had the pieces made.

GUEST: Nice.

LISA: And brought in.

Do we know if this was part of that original set?

I don't know.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: Right?

Because we know there were 288 pieces.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: That were brought in as a part of the original set and more were ordered over the years.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: Between you and me, because no one else can hear us, what did you pay for this at auction, if you don't mind disclosing.

GUEST: It was, all in it was about 50 bucks.

LISA: Okay, so I think you'll be happy with your investment.

Teacups and saucers are fairly 'round the market.

I didn't find one.

What I found were dessert plates, and other plates.

And a fair market value for those, was about $10,000 for a single plate.

GUEST: Okay.

LISA: I think for this wonderful teacup and saucer, we might be looking at $3,000.

GUEST: Mm-hm.

LISA: We might be looking at $5,000.

GUEST: Mm-hm.

LISA: We might be looking at more than that, certainly because of the rarity that this has not come up.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: At market.

So, thank you so much.

GUEST: Oh, you bet.

LISA: This was like a fantastic learning experience, a piece of American history, on a French teacup made in Limoge.

It was really fantastic.

GUEST: From the highest office in the land.

LISA: From the highest office in the land, exactly.

GUEST: Yep.

LISA: So thank you so much.

GUEST: Oh, it was great, I was glad to be here Lisa.

LISA: Thank you.

GUEST: Thank you for having me.

LISA: You're welcome.

GUEST: And thank you for telling me about my cup.

LISA: You're welcome, my pleasure.

(cash register ca-ching).

♪ ♪ (inaudible studio chatter).

WOMAN: Never use rubber bands.

WOMAN 2: Paintings and then books... PATRICK: Hello and welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Yeah, thank you for having me.

PATRICK: Absolutely.

Can you tell me what you brought in today?

GUEST: Well this is a, uh, riffle that I found while I was actually metal-detecting a property in Frostburg, Maryland, earlier this week and I went to the basement of the house, the owners just let me explore around and I found this just hidden in the back.

Um, I pulled it out, asked them about it and then just said it's been in the family forever and they had no idea anything about it.

PATRICK: So the family didn't know how they acquired it or just it was, have they been at this residence for a long time?

GUEST: Um, so they've, they talk and they think that they've, the, their riffle was uh, either brought early in the early 1900s or it was from a family member that did serve uh, in the Union Army, but beyond that they didn't really have any other information.

PATRICK: So the family does have descendants that possibility could have been in the Civil War?

GUEST: Yeah, that's correct, the family does have some descendants, some of the great ancestors uh from the Massachusetts area actually, served.

PATRICK: Well what you brought in today is a U.S. Springfield model 1861 musket.

And the lock is dated 1862, so it's a model 1861 made in 1862.

And so this you have here is a true wartime, Civil War weapon here.

GUEST: Wow.

PATRICK: And it's kind of interesting that when you brought it in and I saw it, what I thought was interesting about it was the fact that is, the condition of it.

A lot of them you know can be in really, really, good shape and a lot of them can be in this shape.

But there's a specific collecting field out there, like collecting, "as found" guns.

And what you have here we call, you found it in the basement, we called 'em, "attic found guns."

And what's interesting about it is you know it has the, the wear and tear that can explained you know where it was kept and stored.

Uh, out here at the front barrel band, this barrel band's supposed to be back here, but being that it was in the basement, the wood had swelled so we can't slide that back.

GUEST: Okay.

PATRICK: So, what you have here is a genuine Civil War musket, U.S. Springfield model 1861, now they made a million of them for the Civil War and so this one here was, you know, is obviously saw a lot of usage and obviously you know, obviously participated in the war, so what the uniqueness of it is is the fact it's an original, untouched gun that you have here today.

And uh, you know, when you look over at the overall condition it just stands out, "as-found" condition.

GUEST: I love it, I mean it's so cool and I'm so excited to be able to tell the family like the history and I'm glad I really brought it here today.

PATRICK: Absolutely and, and uniqueness, you know, had the family or anybody had any evaluations done on it?

GUEST: Not that I know of, no, they just uh, I believe the actual mom of the family played with it as a kid, that was about it.

PATRICK: Well, that's neat.

She had an interesting toy to play with.

GUEST: Yeah.

PATRICK: In today's market, in "as-found" condition, a U.S. Springfield model 1861, uh, 58-caliber musket, three band, in "as-found" condition, you're looking at between 18 and $2500.

GUEST: Wow, wow.

PATRICK: Pretty exciting, isn't it?

GUEST: That is amazing, I know they're going to be happy to hear that.

PATRICK: Absolutely.

So maybe they, they won't put it back in the basement.

GUEST: Yeah, hopefully, they hang it over the mantle or something.

PATRICK: There you go.

(laughing).

Well we really do appreciate you bringing it in today.

GUEST: Yeah, thank you.

PATRICK: It was nice having you.

GUEST: Thank you so much for having me and telling me all this, this was an awesome time.

PATRICK: Thank you, absolutely, thank you.

(cash register ca-ching).

♪ ♪ GUEST: In the television set for many years.

GUEST: The Stradivarius market can vary... (inaudible studio chatter).

ROBERT: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles" uh, what'd you bring us today?

GUEST: I brought you a French clock that's been in our family for at least 80 years, 75 or 80.

ROBERT: So who owned it before you did?

GUEST: My father owned it and my Uncle Gordon might have had some partnership with my father when they found the clock in the store.

ROBERT: Okay.

GUEST: It was my fathers, he passed away and he left it to me.

ROBERT: And was it exhibited in his home at some point or did he just kind of put it away?

GUEST: Always exhibited.

Always out of place in our home.

ROBERT: As they would be in most homes probably at this point, ok.

GUEST: Yes.

ROBERT: And where, was it on the mantle?

GUEST: It was on a table that my father made for the clock.

ROBERT: Ah.

GUEST: I have a picture of it.

ROBERT: Okay.

GUEST: I'll show you later, but he made a special display table for this piece.

ROBERT: That's good.

Well for something this monumental it should have a special table, all of its own.

So, you know it's a French clock, do you know much more about it?

GUEST: No, somebody had told us it was a Frappé, a Frapé, but apparently, he had died before you found out this clock was actually made so.

ROBERT: Right, right, yeah.

GUEST: That was bad information.

ROBERT: Well, um, they take on stories all their own and something like this, it's a nice, Victorian, mid-century to about 1870 clock.

And by mid-century, I mean 1850s to about 1870s.

It's made by Maison Marquis who was a late 19th century, mid to late 19th century French clockmaker, his name is on the front of the dial, that you can see, which is the Maison.

It was made in Paris, it's part of the Napolean III period and that's when we see all the kinds of things that we see on this particular clock.

Um, it's kind of overdone but that's the way the Victorians liked it.

So you'll see garland at the top, a little rosette, some bows and ribbons, you've seen all your life by looking at this.

GUEST: Yep, I have.

ROBERT: It's really distinctive where on the sides, both sides of this, are these huge ram's head decorations.

GUEST: Yeah, pretty incredible.

ROBERT: It is incredible and um, sort of a wreath made of um, laurel on the side and you can't see it here at this point, but the back is just as decorated as the front.

And it sits on this great plinth um, that's further decorated with these little scrolls on the sides, so really what we think of when we think of French garniture clocks.

And that's generally what these were called.

Many of them came with two vases that sat on the other side, so would take up the entire mantle if that's where you were to exhibit it.

GUEST: Wow.

ROBERT: Um, it's quite heavy.

GUEST: It's quite heavy.

ROBERT: Yeah, it took a couple of us to lift it here.

And that's because it's bronze and it's gilt applied bronze.

So all of this was hand done and applied by the manufacturer, um, Maison Marquis.

Um, I looked at the works, uh, the works need a little work, but the works look like they're Languereau works from Paris and that's stamped on the inside which also would be consistent.

GUEST: Mm-kay.

ROBERT: Now it does have a few little issues, and we've talked about some of those, um, the bez on the front's loose, so that would have to be repaired.

GUEST: Yep.

ROBERT: And what really stands out is this blue, all the way around.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

ROBERT: I think the blue was added later, I can see parts of where the blue actually goes on to the ormolu.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

ROBERT: And onto the decoration, and it's got a sort of dull, uneven appearance, which is an indication that it was probably done at some later date.

But with that said, you still have a, what it's called, a Monumental Clock.

GUEST: A Monumental Clock.

ROBERT: Do you have any idea of what the value is, or have you ever had it valued?

GUEST: No, I have no idea in the world.

ROBERT: Okay.

So, it's a family piece, I don't assume you're gonna be getting rid of it any time soon.

So we're gonna...

GUEST: All depends on what the value is.

ROBERT: Oh, okay!

I've heard other people say that.

So what we're gonna look at is the insurance value for this.

GUEST: Okay, alright.

ROBERT: In this condition, uh, the insurance value, if you were to go out and buy it in a, in a gallery, would be somewhere between $5500 and $6,000.

GUEST: Okay.

ROBERT: Uh, so that would assume that some of these repairs were made, that's exactly what you'd be looking, by repair I mean having somebody clean up the blue, where it's been applied.

GUEST: Yeah.

ROBERT: Reattach this, but it's still in running condition.

GUEST: What color should it be?

ROBERT: Um, it probably was originally blue, but it looks like somebody painted over it when it started to flake off.

GUEST: Okay.

ROBERT: So it's a, sort of an amateurish job.

It's trying to reproduce sévre porcelain so that's why we see this deep, deep blue.

GUEST: Alright.

ROBERT: Um, so if the repairs are made, I think that's what we're looking at.

If it were to sell at auction, in this condition, we're talking in a different thing altogether, then you'd probably be seeing it sell for about $1500 to $2,000.

So I think with what you have it would be well worth the time to have a clock specialist look at it and replace it.

But it does still run and you were saying you've got the key and it's wound.

GUEST: Yep.

ROBERT: Yeah.

It is, it is a magnificent clock and I appreciate you bringing it in.

GUEST: Well thank you very much.

ROBERT: Sure, thank you.

(cash register ca-ching).

♪ ♪ (inaudible studio chatter).

ROSS: I wanna welcome you to "Chesapeake Collectibles" and uh, you have stunned me today.

You have brought in legendary items that I have heard about, that I have read about, but I have never seen, could you tell us about what you have brought in here today, just go down the table.

GUEST: Sure, so right here is an Apple-1, in 1976 Steve Jobs went to The BYTE Shop, a computer store with a prototype Apple-1, um, Paul Terrell surprised them and ordered 50 of them.

The boys went back and said, "Oh no, how are we going to find the money to buy all the parts for this," it's a whole 'nother story.

A fellow named Rick Conti bought this Apple-1, when you bought the Apple-1, it was not, it's just this.

It was up to you to provide a case, they all looked different.

Rick Conti who bought this one, made it into the first Apple portable computer.

So this motherboard fits down here under the keyboard.

We have the power supply here, we have the cassette interface and then you would just plug this into your television set and have one of the first Apples.

ROSS: And portable to boot.

GUEST: And portable to boot.

ROSS: And then you had this document?

GUEST: Yes, so interesting story, uh, there were three founders of Apple, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 21 and 25-years-old at the time.

They decided to hire Ron Wayne, 41 years old, some business experience.

ROSS: To be the adult.

GUEST: To be the adult in the room.

Specifically um, there were some tempers.

When they went to get a $15,000 bank loan, to buy parts for this, Ron Wayne thought he might lose his house if it didn't work.

12 days into Apple, he sold his stock, 10%, for $800.

Apple today is worth about 2.9 trillion had he held onto his stock, he would have about $290 billion.

ROSS: Is he still alive?

GUEST: He's still alive, 89-years-old.

ROSS: He hasn't hanged himself yet?

GUEST: He says, "Look, I made the best decision at the time given the available information."

Very hard to predict that this would have led to your new iPhone and your new.

ROSS: My Apple PF Pro, yeah.

And then the last piece here?

GUEST: Uh, that's the instruction manual for it, so um, no one knew how to use it, we have a replica in our museum, when we do that, we use a copy of that to turn it on and show people what computing was like in 1976.

ROSS: Hmm, so have you ever had the whole collection appraised?

GUEST: No.

ROSS: Well there's, it always uh, in the news particularly recently, any time the sale of a Apple-1 occurs.

Let me put a value on everything here.

Considering what I have seen in sales from the motherboard, the portable computer, this to be able to make some comments about is it actually is an official copy of that contract uh, of which has been certified, how many of those he's made up, you don't know.

But I would suspect that in the interest today in computer history and as we with AI and everything coming down the roads, we get increasingly our lives intertwined, I would put an estimate of this of probably half a million dollars.

GUEST: Yeah.

ROSS: And more.

That's, it's, it's only ever going to go up, they're not going to make anymore.

GUEST: Right.

ROSS: Did they number the motherboards?

GUEST: This does have a number on it, it's around the back here and I have, it's been authenticated that Steve Jobs wrote that number on the back.

ROSS: Really, really?

Well, it's one of the most valuable groupings that has ever been brought into the show as far as I'm concerned.

And it's been exciting for me to be able to see it in the flesh and I did buy some Apple computer uh, stock and did hold on to it, a little bit.

So uh, I've always been supportive 'cause I've always found uh, it been the easiest to be able to work with and all the publications and books I do now are all basically done on Apple computers.

So to be able to see where they came from has been particularly important and, and exciting for me and I'm sure our viewers at home kind of open their eyeball, eyeballs wishing that they had uh, they had been there at the, because wasn't it a computer club that they used to meet in California to everybody show off what they were doing.

GUEST: Yes, they met at The Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto.

ROSS: And you've gone to a lot of effort to be able to bring all of this in and so we thank you profusely for being able to share this with the show and with our audience.

GUEST: My pleasure, thank you.

ROSS: Thank you.

(cash register ca-ching).

LISA: Next time on "Chesapeake Collectibles."

ROBERT: Tell me what you brought in today.

AMORY: You know we see a lot of Titanic collectibles but not on this level.

AMY: For someone to say there isn't a lot of value, I would, I would disagree.

GUEST: This is a Marconi gram, sent at about 1:37 in the morning, the Titanic, had hit an iceberg two hours earlier.

MICHAEL: What are we going to talk about today Ed is the new collectibles.

Lego and figures from internet games, the collectible card market.

ROBERT: To find some decoration on something that was supposed to be this basic really makes it unique.

GENICE: As you said this is a painting, I know when I initially looked at it, I thought, is that a photograph, the detail is just so amazing.

AMORY: It's a fascinating collection and one of the best we've ever seen of any topic coming through "Chesapeake Collectibles" and I want to thank you for bringing it out.

NARRATOR: Major funding is provided by, Alex Cooper Auctioneers, since 1924 has been serving the Mid-Atlantic states, featuring monthly gallery antique auction sales, our staff can assist clients with the disposition of their valued possessions.

Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

GUEST: I was very surprised about what I learned about the musket.

GUEST: Actually I was pretty surprised because it was quite interesting.

GUEST: It was a lot of fun to, to show off one of our museum's prized possessions.

GUEST: Can't have more fun on a Saturday morning than this.

GUEST: The experience I had today was amazing, this was the first time I've ever been to "Chesapeake Collectibles" and I hope that I can convince other folks to come out here.

GUEST: The Apple-1 is on display at the computer museum at System Source it's in Hunt Valley, Maryland we're open five days a week.

GUEST: It's a lot of fun, met a lot of interesting people, talked a lot, and had a good time.

GUEST: So my plan with the item is to take it back to the family that actually loaned it to me.

GUEST: Put it back in the cabinet at the house.

(laughs).