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.

ROSS KELBAUGH: Coming up on Chesapeake Collectibles... G. AMORY LECUYER: When, when you came up to my table, it's like, oh my god.

What, what is this?

What is this?

And how did it come to your possession?

GENICE LEE: These pilot profiles give us a better understanding of who these men were, where they were born, and when they served with the Tuskegee Airmen.

LISA JONES: Now why do you suppose these plates were made in England?

Because the last time I checked the B&O was not in England.

GUEST: Originally owned by my great-great-great- great-great uncle, who the story goes, rode shotgun on a stagecoach in Colorado.

ROSS: There's an old saying that the British fought for king and country, that the Germans fought for the Fatherland, that the Russians fought for the Motherland and the Americans fought for souvenirs.

(theme music plays).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ LISA: Well, welcome to Chesapeake Collectibles, and thank you so much for coming in, because you unpacked a very interesting collection of plates at my station.

And all I had to hear was "B&O Railroad" and even I understand that that stands for Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

Which is certainly relevant to this part of the country that we are in.

And so you've brought a collection of six of your plates, and I know that you have more plates at home, so this is really just a part of your collection.

But these seem to be six plates that you know a lot of history about because I know you told me you've been collecting them since 1979, is that correct?

And we won't go into ages or anything like this, we're all perpetually young.

But I did want to ask you, because of the important historical significance of the B&O Railroad, of these six plates, they really have a special history.

What can you tell us in particular that we might be interested to know about these two plates here?

GUEST: Well they were done in 1828.

LISA: Oh, wow.

GUEST: To commemorate the founding of America's first railroad the B&O.

LISA: Okay.

GUEST: By a guy in Staffordshire England called Enoch Wood.

And you notice that they had no locomotives at the time so these are artist's representation of what they thought the railroad was going to be about.

LISA: Oh, so that's fascinating, so they really had no you know concept or picture in, except in their head.

And they were like we're going to put what we think that these will look like on these two plates.

Now why do you suppose that these plates were made in England?

Because the last time I checked the B&O was not in England, it was here.

GUEST: They had the factory set up, they the infrastructure, they were into the business of making plates at that time.

LISA: Okay.

GUEST: And the Staffordshire... excuse me, the Staffordshire name in the early 1800s was the thing to have.

LISA: Fantastic.

So it wasn't just for the B&O Railroad that they probably made plates.

They made them for other places and like views of America and that type of thing.

GUEST: Yes.

LISA: So were these plates ever used in the dining car on the B&O Railroad?

GUEST: No, at the time the B&O had no dining cars.

LISA: No dining cars.

GUEST: No dining cars.

LISA: And so how did people take meals?

GUEST: They'd pull up to a station, stop the train, everybody run into the eating houses, grab and go, off you went.

LISA: Oh my goodness, very much like lunch today, because we're all so busy.

Now the other four plates that you have brought with us today are different than these two.

And what makes these four different and these two?

I know that there are a few reasons, if you would like to point out a few for us.

GUEST: Okay, let's fast forward 100 years.

LISA: 100 years.

So 100 years from these two to these four?

Wow.

GUEST: Well to this blue one.

LISA: Oh, to this blue one.

GUEST: Uh, Daniel Willard was president of the railroad, he decided that they were going to celebrate 100 years of railroading in America with his railroad, the first.

So he decided to throw the Fair of the Iron Horse.

Now he was very progressive and looking forward, and he hired women at the time.

LISA: Now why did he hire women at the time?

GUEST: Well...

GUEST: Well, because... LISA: Please tell me.

GUEST: He knew that women had a unique perspective.

LISA: And so he hired her and then what did she end up bringing to this arrangement, it must've been a successful arrangement after he hired her.

GUEST: Yes, she became chief engineer of design.

LISA: Wow.

GUEST: Designed this plate, got the patent for it.

LISA: Okay.

GUEST: And the B&O Blue, or Centennial or Colonial pattern, has a bunch of names... LISA: Right.

GUEST: Went on till the end of service in '71 when Amtrak took over.

Another run was done for the 150th anniversary in '77, and CSX I understand did another run for their dining cars, for the private cars, in the 90s.

LISA: Alright.

GUEST: So the B&O Blue has had a long and very colorful run, lots of fun to collect.

LISA: That's fantastic.

But this is also different though than these three in the front.

GUEST: Right.

LISA: And, and, and why is that?

GUEST: So, back to Olive.

LISA: Back to, back to Olive, yes.

GUEST: Yes, so she designed a train of her own, it wasn't just the plates, she did lots of designs.

But they developed a color scheme and thought that the blue was boring.

LISA: I think Olive might've been right.

GUEST: Yes.

GUEST: So they tried different colors on the plates, different patterns, different jobbers.

It's Scamell's Lamberton, Shenango, Buffalo, all the big jobbies uh, make these plates and send them in.

LISA: But this time these factories were in America, were they not?

GUESTS: Yes, yes.

LISA: So there's a major difference, so by this time 100 years later we have factories in America that are willing to make these plates.

GUEST: And they're also on the B&O Railroad line.

LISA: And why the different colors?

Because I'm seeing now, 100 years later, all of her influence was the blue is not so interesting, maybe we want to take a look at other colors.

GUEST: To try things.

LISA: To try things.

GUEST: What works, what doesn't, and designers always fiddling with stuff.

She was a genius.

LISA: So were these ever produced and used in the dining cars?

GUEST: No, they're sample plates.

LISA: They are sample plates.

So never used, never probably have even been on the train.

And so, why were these ultimately not put into production and used?

GUEST: Well, you know, just like today a lot of things are decided by committee.

LISA: Okay.

GUEST: And ultimately it came down to money I'm sure.

The blue was cheaper to make than a whole bunch of different colors.

LISA: Right.

GUEST: Cheaper to run through the commissary, and supply the trains.

LISA: Okay.

GUEST: Sooner or later everything comes down to money.

LISA: So, most likely because these are samples, maybe not a lot of these were produced, is that...

GUEST: That's true.

LISA: That is based on the research that you've done.

Because only a few would've been made...

GUEST: Correct.

LISA: And if the committee chose not to do them, then they were not produced and so there's only a few out there.

GUEST: Yes.

LISA: Because we had recently learned that a couple of these had gone up for auction, um and had brought $8,000 each.

GUEST: Yes.

LISA: So truthfully, what we're looking at on this table, based on the information that you've told me what you've invested in just these six plates, comes to a lovely number of $36,000.

GUEST: Yay!

LISA: And I think that's really fantastic, you've done your investing very well.

And I know that it's just something that you're passionate about.

And I think that's really lovely.

And I wanna thank you both.

GUEST: Oh, thank you.

LISA: For showing up with these because this was a real learning experience, for me and for our audience, and I know we've all appreciated it, so thank you so much.

GUEST: Thank you!

LISA: You're welcome!

You are certainly welcome.

(cash register cha-ching).

(inaudible chatter).

AMORY: I want to thank you for coming in to Chesapeake Collectibles today, and when you came up to my table it's like... Oh my God what, what is this, what is this and how did it come to your possession?

GUEST: Okay so it came into my possession from my father.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: Who was in the Army in World War II.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: He um, enlisted, he got out of college in 1940, and he knew what was kind of happened so he enlisted and he's from New York and he managed to enlist in the unit that was doing anti-aircraft on Staten Island.

And then he went to various schools, went to OCS, managed to stay Stateside till close to the end of 1944 when they just... when the Army just said... AMORY: Everybody's going.

GUEST: Everybody's going.

AMORY: Everybody's going over.

GUEST: Right.

So he wound up as a, as a replacement second Lieutenant with the 10th Mountain Division.

AMORY: And they were part of the invasion of Italy, weren't they?

GUEST: Yes, so he was in the Po Valley.

Um, among other people who were in the Po Valley at the same time were Bob Dole and Senator Inouye.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: And he was a unit that, his unit captured Mussolini's Castle, they missed him, according to the story by a half an hour.

Uh, it probably he should have stuck around 'cause he wound up getting uh, hung up in Milan.

AMORY: Right.

GUEST: And they, he brought this back.

And they've had in the family ever since.

AMORY: This is Mussolini's admiralty hat.

GUEST: Correct.

AMORY: 'Cause he was head of that as well as everything else.

GUEST: Everything else.

And we have a, there's a picture of him.

AMORY: From Anna, Anita, Anita Loo's album, yes.

GUEST: Right, right.

Of course she wrote "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" among other things.

AMORY: Among other things.

Um, fascinating piece.

There, there would obviously be some authentication and verification required.

But have you ever had anybody look at this?

GUEST: No.

AMORY: And value it?

GUEST: No.

AMORY: Well, let me just say, it's a difficult subject to value because there's only one of them.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: But when we look, not only at Mussolini comparables, of which there are fewer.

Um, there are more, uh, his counterpart Mr. Adolf, uh, there're more relics that come from World War II that surround his line, but utilizing sort of a comparable uh, dress, if this were to come up at auction, and I think it's the only way you can seriously identify its value, it would not be at all surprising to see it sell in the $35,000 to $50,000 range.

But you were also asking me about the insurance value on this well, insurance is insurance replacement value.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: This can't be replaced.

It is a, in that sense it is almost priceless in its value.

But you would easily want to be replacing, uh putting a value of $100,000 on it.

Now the, the thing is what if it were to ever come up at auction, and I know you don't want to sell it, but if it ever were, it would establish its new record.

And a collector, you know, I've given you what I think it would do based upon some other Hitler memorabilia, but it could be 50, 75, 80,000 or 100,000 on sale itself.

There, this is a unique object, and we fairly rarely see unique objects come across uh, through Chesapeake Collectibles.

GUEST: Right, right.

AMORY: I want to thank you for bringing it out today.

GUEST: I appreciate it, thank you.

AMORY: Absolutely.

(cash register cha-ching).

(inaudible chatter).

ROSS: Well, welcome to Chesapeake Collectibles, you brought in quite a large collection of memorabilia and ephemera relating to World War II.

Now what can you tell me about all this?

GUEST: Well, my uncle served from December 7th 1942 till in 1945 he was discharged, probably in the summertime.

And he, he was in Europe, in England and France and Luxembourg and Belgium and Germany.

And when he was in Germany he captured a German officer that these things apparently belong to.

And he got permission there's a certificate there says to bring all this stuff home.

And this is a photograph of him, I'm named after him.

And he, he wrote letters constantly.

ROSS: Was there any interesting comments that he made in any of the letters that you looked at?

GUEST: Oh yeah, one of the letters, this particular one, to my aunt, he's he was a signal man and he's on radio duty, and he's writing a letter at 3:00 in the morning, and he's right in the middle of the letter he says, "hold on the Germans just surrendered".

ROSS: Did he ever tell you about this dagger, or hear a story in the family about the dagger?

GUEST: Yeah, he told my uncle he captured the German officer, he was hiding in an outhouse, and that's where he found him.

So that's about all I know about how he came into the possession of this stuff.

ROSS: Well of the artifacts that you brought in, this really is a pretty rare uh, example of a dagger that was uh, issued or actually purchased by members of the SS.

Which was the first political army ever organized, and notorious SS.

And everybody who had been a member of the SS early on uh, received a dagger once they had become a member.

And this one is particularly special because of the etching on the back, where it was actually obtained while he was at a special sports school for young SS members.

So these with the etching are actually pretty rare.

And to take it even a step further is that underneath the cross guard is a number.

And everybody who in the 1930s was a member of the SS, most received a unique membership card, a number, and based on those numbers it is possible today to sometimes identify who these items particularly brought belong to.

So actually this is one of the few SS daggers that I have seen that was, had been a souvenir of the sports school, that is potentially identified with the number that is on it.

And then to take that a step further, usually these souvenirs have lost their documentation when the GIs brought them back.

This is one of the few that I've ever seen that has what's generally referred to as the bring-back paper.

Where he got his permission to be able to bring back his souvenir, and documented on there actually has the number there, 55187.

Now I hadn't had a chance to be able to look to see if that's identified, but there is an adventure there.

You know there's a there's an old saying that the British fought for King and country, that the Germans fought for the Fatherland, that the Russians fought for the Motherland, and the Americans fought for souvenirs.

(laughing).

And he certainly followed in that tradition with what he brought back, and he brought back for, amongst people who are collectors of, of daggers, one that would receive quite a bit of attention.

Have you ever had anybody place an evaluation of all of this?

GUEST: Uh, few years ago I took photographs and sent them off to a guy, and he said he'd give me $500 for them, that's it.

ROSS: 500, well he was very generous.

I would put with the dagger, and everything going along with this, I would say at least 15 to $20,000.

GUEST: Whoa, you're kidding.

ROSS: Yes, I am not kidding.

GUEST: And how, how would I find out about using the number... ROSS: Well, I'll give you some information later...

GUEST: Okay, alright.

ROSS: To see if that is possible.

If it is, if it is identifiable it could up that value.

So it's uh, his service is priceless.

GUEST: Oh, yeah.

ROSS: And his letters and everything like that, it would be interesting then to have all those transcribed and published.

It could make a very interesting book for the family and others who are interested in World War II.

And then the clincher is the memorabilia that he happened to pick up, uh acquire, and be able to bring back.

GUEST: I'll, I'll say that this dagger and other things were in the trunk in his bedroom, and in the bottom of that trunk there's a Kansas City Star dated 1942.

And that dagger was probably in that trunk from when he came home in '45 until we took it out in, in 2010.

ROSS: Okay.

GUEST: Cause that's when he moved into a nursing home and gave up living.

So, this thing's... my siblings didn't want it, my cousins didn't want it.

I'm not a collector but I said I'll just take it just, just in case it's worth something.

ROSS: Well as the World War II generation passes into history, a lot of people are now going through things that Dad or Grandad or great uncle or whatever had brought back and making discoveries.

Very interesting discoveries of the type of, particularly the souvenirs that got brought back both from uh, Japanese and the German.

So I want to thank you very much for sharing all of this, a very interesting story, a story yet to be done, and I hope that you would be able to get the letters transcribed and be able to get his story uh, put together.

GUEST: Okay, and I thank you for your knowledge and telling me what I have.

ROSS: Yes, thank you very much.

GUEST: Thank you.

(cash register cha-ching).

(inaudible chatter).

PATRICK REDDING: Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Collectibles, we appreciate you coming in today.

Can you share with me today what you might have brought in?

GUEST: Uh, yes I brought in a Colt Dragoon that's been in the family since it's inception.

It was orig, originally owned by my great-great-great- great-great uncle who, the story goes, rode shotgun on a stagecoach in Colorado.

PATRICK: Very good, very good.

So it has some unique family history with it.

GUEST: Yes it does.

PATRICK: Very nice, very nice.

What you have here is a very unusual Colt.

It's a Colt Dragoon, now they made 19,000 total Dragoons, and of the 19,000, 700 of them were designed for the foreign market.

This is serial number 487, it's a three-digit serial number, and all numbers are correct on the gun.

The numbers underneath the barrel to the trigger guard to the butt grips to the cylinder, all match.

That's truly makes it a great find too, being that it's an all-matching numbered gun.

So it's very unusual that, to find these here 'cause they were designed for export, and that they're back in the United States.

And it was when you and I were talking earlier, we were discussing about the sights on this.

The original Dragoon the rear sight is on the hammer, but this one has a modification which would be on the barrel.

Which leaves me to believe with your story about the stagecoach, that maybe they had that addition done in order for more quick draw and sighting on the go.

So it's a very interesting Colt, has a lot of unique history obviously with your family and the fact that has a lot of foreign history, that it was designed for the foreign market, as only 700 of them were manufactured of the 19,000.

And accompanying the gun is a fine holster, which no doubt fits the gun.

And it's uh, so period correct.

We really appreciate you bringing it in.

Have you ever had it valued at all?

GUEST: No I haven't.

PATRICK: Well in current today's market I would range this Colt anywhere between $8,000 and $12,000 range.

GUEST: Wow that's nice to hear.

PATRICK: Very nice, isn't it?

GUEST: Yes it is.

PATRICK: Great piece for the family, and I appreciate it, hopefully stays in your family for a long time to come.

GUEST: That's my plan, yes.

PATRICK: I appreciate it, it was very nice having you today, GUEST: Thank you very much.

PATRICK: Thank you.

(cash register cha-ching).

(inaudible chatter).

GENICE: Hello and welcome to the show.

What did you bring in today for us to take a look at?

GUEST: I brought in four, I guess you'd call them posters, relating to the Tuskegee Airmen.

GENICE: How did you acquire these posters, as you've called them?

GUEST: Well, over the years I've been really concerned about the failure of this country to recognize what the African-Americans have done for us.

And back in I guess 1995, I became aware of the Tuskegee Airmen.

And I found out they were publishing these prints, and I thought to myself, best way to recognize them would probably be to purchase the prints.

GENICE: Okay.

GUEST: So I did.

GENICE: Alright and have you ever have these looked at before or appraised?

GUEST: They've never been appraised, they've been out of this container now about four times before I came today.

GENICE: Okay.

GUEST: So I have no idea.

GENICE: Okay, well let's talk a little bit about what you brought in.

You brought in a beautifully contained portfolio of four prints that are actually signed and numbered, and they're signed and numbered here.

Which is amazing, this lovely presentation portfolio that you store them in.

And also when you purchased these prints and this portfolio it came with something that I thought was phenomenal, and that is that each one comes with this pilots' profile of all the pilots that signed all of the prints.

So I think that is fabulous, that adds to the provenance.

So when we talk about provenance we're talking about understanding the history of those who it's about.

And so these pilot profiles give us a better understanding of who these men were, where they were born, and when they served with the Tuskegee Airmen.

And so one of these books, this one here, has Melvin T. Jackson from Warrenton, Virginia.

Right here in our own backyard.

And we have another regional representation, of a gentleman who signed here.

And that was Roscoe C Brown Jr, PhD born in Washington DC.

And so the Tuskegee Airmen served this country and they were from, trained from all different parts of the country, and so to have this portfolio with the signature of these gentlemen and as you said we didn't know a whole lot about them, they weren't spoken a lot about, and then we begin to see movies about the Tuskegee Airmen.

And so these prints are just another way to capture that history, and to honor the service that they've given this country.

So when we look at this portfolio in the marketplace, what Tuskegee Airmen memorabilia is doing, this portfolio ranges from $400 to $600 in today's market.

And so thank you so much for bringing it in with us, for supporting the African American history of serving this country, and um, for sharing it with us.

GUEST: I'm glad I could do it.

GENICE: Thank you.

GUEST: Well thank you.

(cash register cha-ching).

(inaudible chatter).

PATRICK: Next time on Chesapeake Collectibles... FRANK SHAIA: You brought something very interesting, what do you think you have here?

ROSS: This is the only photograph of US Colored Troops where all the men in the photo are identified.

GUEST: Somebody said that first Barbies were worth something, but I, I don't know.

ALLAN STYPECK: First thing you have to do after this show is you have to contact a legitimate grader.

AMORY: You found this sitting in your uncle's basement in a box.

GUEST: Sitting in his basement in a box.

AMORY: Wow.

NARRATOR: Major funding was 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: We brought in a collection of china from the B&O Railroad.

GUEST: Today I brought in a Colt Dragoon from the 1860s.

GUEST: People think they're as pretty as we do.

GUEST: It's been in the family for generations, well, well over 150 years, that's my intent, to keep it in the family.

GUEST: We're gonna keep it in the family.

My son wrote a story about it when he was in grade school.

GUEST: The appraisers were very knowledgeable, very helpful.

GUEST: There were so many interesting people besides the stuff that we brought in, there was all kinds of interesting things.

GUEST: The experience today was lots of fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.