ANNOUNCER: Major funding is provided by... Alex Cooper Auctioneers, appraisers and auctioneers of fine art, jewelry and collectibles online and in person gallery auctions every month, serving buyers and sellers in Maryland and around the world for over 100 years.

♪ ♪ Second Story Books, celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

AMORY LECUYER: Coming up on “Chesapeake Collectibles.” MICHAEL STANTON: What have you brought for us today?

GUEST: My childhood reacquired from the era of TV Westerns.

AMORY: “To Annabelle with love and dinner, John Lennon.” What an absolutely fabulous inscription you have here.

GUEST: I have a pen and ink drawing, uh, that was drawn by Tony Bennett, uh, when he was in Baltimore and was staying at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

GENICE LEE: You opened up this quilt, and the appraisers came running.

(laughter).

ALLAN STYPECK: You, in your quest for finding interesting stuff, found an incredible piece of not only Hollywood memorabilia, but of historical literature.

(theme music playing).

♪ ♪ AMORY: You know, I want to thank you for coming out to “Chesapeake Collectibles” today and, and as you begin to peel out some of the things that made up your collection, I was, I just kept getting more thrilled.

Tell me a little bit about, particularly, we're gonna start it with a little bit of this history of the association that you had to...

GUEST: WFIL Radio AM.

AMORY: In, in Philadelphia?

GUEST: In Philadelphia.

AMORY: A classic radio station from in the mid-70s?

GUEST: Yes.

AMORY: You were in high school?

GUEST: Yes, 50 years and 50 pounds ago.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: I was a senior in high school.

AMORY: It's a 50/50 club.

GUEST: It's a 50/50 club.

Um, and I was close to graduating, and I was hired by WFIL back then, like the preeminent AM radio station in the country.

AMORY: Right.

GUEST: One of the top markets, uh, as what they called at the time, and excuse me, because I know it is 20, you know, 2020s.

AMORY: Go for it, baby.

GUEST: But it is, uh, we were called “The Boss Chicks.” AMORY: “The Boss Chicks!” GUEST: “The Boss Chicks.” AMORY: This played well in 1975.

GUEST: Oh, heck yeah.

AMORY: Are you in this photograph?

(laughs).

GUEST: Again, 50 years... AMORY: Is this you down here?

GUEST: ...and 50 pounds later.

AMORY: Is this you down here on the end?

GUEST: This is me down there on the end.

AMORY: No, wait a minute, does that mean, what is this?

GUEST: Those were my original “hot pants” as they were called back in the day.

AMORY: Damn right.

That is fabulous.

But one of the, one of the things that you told me you worked on, was this Helping Hands Marathon.

GUEST: Yes, it was, um, after the fact, a very iconic three-day weekend in May of ‘75.

AMORY: Right.

GUEST: Uh, WFIL historically did this marathon for three days every year, raised lots and lots of money for multiple charities in the greater Philadelphia area.

AMORY: Right.

GUEST: But this year, 1975... AMORY: You had somebody special show up.

GUEST: Somebody special, a special guest by the name of... AMORY: John Lennon.

GUEST: John Lennon.

AMORY: That's fabulous.

Now, I thought the story stopped there until you went out to dinner.

GUEST: We did.

AMORY: And I'm gonna move over to this for just a second, because The Empire Room was that, I mean, I actually know things about Philadelphia, that was over at the Holiday Inn.

GUEST: It was.

AMORY: And it was like one of the premier restaurants in town at that time.

GUEST: It was.

AMORY: Philly didn't have a lot of choice back then; it's grown up a lot.

GUEST: Yeah.

AMORY: But I'm just gonna first go to the inside of the menu, if you would grab that side, and we see...

GUEST: Yes.

AMORY: ...all the menu offerings that were backed then, and boy, don't we wish these prices were in effect today.

GUEST: Absolutely.

AMORY: But to top it all off, I'm gonna ask you to send back the, this part of the menu.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: Because on the other side of this menu, we have... "To Annabelle with love and dinner, John Lennon."

And John's iconic little face drawing, and the date of 1975, what an absolutely fabulous inscription you have here.

That is, that is fabulous.

I mean, these are, these are the things that come out of personal collecting and memorabilia and, and it's in the broader sense, a scrapbook.

GUEST: Yeah.

AMORY: Of one particular icon in, in life.

GUEST: He was amazing.

He was he funny and smart, a little naughty, but we, you know, it was, it was the ‘70s.

AMORY: We all are!

GUEST: Right?

Uh, but an, uh, an incredibly generous... AMORY: Honey, you're running around in these shorts, don't tell me, you know.

GUEST: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Again, 50 years and 50 pounds ago... AMORY: Oh, right.

GUEST: Right?

A little bit different.

So, uh, yeah, it was, it was a incredible opportunity, a wonderful memory.

AMORY: Now, did you recognize who he was in his stature while you're having dinner with him?

GUEST: Absolutely.

But he was so kind and so genuinely authentic.

It, you kind of just didn't think about it because he was so real in connecting, so, so, you know, realistically with you.

AMORY: Well, I know that this is only a part of the memorabilia that you have, but this is the, the icon in the, uh, memorabilia.

Have you ever had anybody appraise it?

GUEST: Never.

I couldn't even, it's been laying in a box.

I didn't even know how to like, put it together, you know, like, like display it.

AMORY: There are ways that, that, that you could, you could display it, but it obviously has such a high personal value.

GUEST: Yeah, yeah.

AMORY: That it's, that's irreplaceable.

GUEST: Yeah.

AMORY: Um, and, and particularly these, you almost have two different values here, you have sort of a 1975, uh, radio history value, uh, relating to Philadelphia, but then you have separately from that one of the great all-time rock and roll heroes of a lifetime.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: The menu by itself, uh, if it were to come up at auction, um, with the personalization probably in the $4,000 to $6,000 range, um, the other memorabilia sort of a larger part, it adds maybe another 500 to 1,000, um, particularly if it's in done in connection with, with this, the Helping Hands and the of a real flow of things.

But it is wonderful.

Now, the prices on the menus those are priceless.

GUEST: Yeah, those are priceless.

AMORY: But I wanna thank you for coming out this afternoon.

GUEST: Thank you so much.

AMORY: It's a wonderful, it's wonderful to see treasures like this.

GUEST: Oh my God, it's been so much fun.

Thank you so much.

AMORY: Good.

GUEST: That's amazing.

AMORY: Good.

GUEST: Thank you.

AMORY: Thank you.

♪ ♪ KATHLEEN HAMILL: Hi.

GUEST: Hi.

KATHLEEN: Welcome to “Chesapeake Collectibles.” GUEST: Thank you.

KATHLEEN: What have you brought for me today?

GUEST: Um, I have a pen and ink drawing, um, that was drawn by Tony Bennett, uh, when he was in Baltimore and was staying at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, um, it's drawn on Hyatt Regency stationery.

KATHLEEN: Isn't that fun?

GUEST: Um, apparently looking out the suite or the window of his suite at the Baltimore Harbor.

KATHLEEN: Right.

So I, I think I see the aquarium right here and the harbor and the boats that's...

GUEST: ...There's a water taxi and... KATHLEEN: That is so amazing.

GUEST: Yes.

KATHLEEN: And were you aware that, in addition to being a singer, that Tony Bennett was an artist?

GUEST: Uh, not as much, uh, extensively as he was.

I knew he did some artwork, but apparently, he's trained; he started as an art student and has quite a bit of background in art.

KATHLEEN: Yeah, and does a lot of, um, pen and ink drawings, little quick, like city sketches.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

KATHLEEN: He also does a lot of oil paintings.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

KATHLEEN: And how did you come to acquire this piece?

GUEST: Um, I was looking for an anniversary present for my wife for our 39th anniversary... KATHLEEN: Oh, that's so nice.

GUEST: And she's a huge Tony Bennett fan.

KATHLEEN: Aw.

GUEST: Um, and I happened to go online, and I found his brother, who runs the entire artwork business.

Um, and this piece was there, and I acquired it.

KATHLEEN: Right.

Because Tony Bennett goes by his full name, his full last name, so Benedetto.

GUEST: Yes.

KATHLEEN: And then the com, the company that sells the art is Benedetto's Fine Art.

GUEST: Correct.

KATHLEEN: Yes.

He is a very prolific artist.

A lot of drawings, you know, he passed away last year, which has only made his work more interesting, collectible.

Have you ever had it valued or?

GUEST: I have not.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

Um, what did you pay for it?

GUEST: 1500.

KATHLEEN: Uh, $1,500, okay.

So I think, um, at auction today it would be around 3,000 to 4,000, so that's a nice return on your money.

But I will, I will say if you ever sell it, you should sell it in Baltimore because that's where your market is for this one.

GUEST: Right, very good.

KATHLEEN: And did she like her present?

GUEST: Oh, she loved her present, it's a lifetime “get outta jail free” card.

(laughter).

KATHLEEN: Congratulations.

GUEST: Thank you.

KATHLEEN: Well, thank you so much for bringing it in.

GUEST: Thank you, Kathleen.

♪ ♪ GENICE LEE: Hi, and welcome to the show.

Can you tell us what you brought in for us today?

GUEST: Well, I have, uh, my great, great, great-grandfather's, aunt's Victorian Crazy Quilt.

I know it was made by Emma Young in 1887.

Uh, and it's made of, uh, different materials, mostly fine materials like velvet, satin, brocade.

Each one of the connecting stitches to the different individual pieces is a different, uh, design.

GENICE: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: It's done differently; it has oil painting in it.

It has... GENICE: So there's the oil painting, right?

GUEST: Yeah.

GENICE: There's that.

GUEST: There's the oil painting.

GENICE: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Um, it has things related to Baltimore, she was from Baltimore, Maryland, and it has, uh, like horseshoes, uh, there are anchors that made me think maybe some of the design was based on Baltimore.

And it has what I love the best, it has this, what she made to look like, a book, an open book with a bookmark, and a pressed flower.

Uh, and then it has her name, Emma Young, and Baltimore, Maryland.

And it's March, um, 1887.

And then she has hand-stitched a, um, poem that she wrote.

And every time I read the poem, it brings tears to my eyes.

Would you like to hear it?

GENICE: Okay.

So yeah, let's see if we can, if we can get through the poem.

GUEST: Okay.

GENICE: Without any tissue.

GUEST: Okay.

“I have spared no pains, to make my quilt, to look right nice, and fine.

In course of time, I know twill go in other hands than mine.

And when amongst the other scraps these lines you chance to see, then will you kindly, let your thoughts, turn back once more to me.” GENICE: Oh, that is just so sweet.

GUEST: Yeah, so sweet, yeah.

GENICE: Yes.

GUEST: Yeah, it is.

GENICE: Well, we, as I said before, just this, you opened up this quilt, and the appraisers came running.

I mean, just look at all of this beautiful hand stitching, the flowers, as you said, horseshoes.

Here we have a spider in a web, and it goes on and on.

Mushrooms, uh, children on a seesaw.

GUEST: Seesaw, right.

GENICE: It just, it's just, it's just amazing.

And so, as I mentioned, the appraisers came running and they agreed this is one of the best...

GUEST: Oh wow.

GENICE: Crazy quilts that they have seen.

GUEST: Wow.

GENICE: So that's pretty impressive.

GUEST: It is.

GENICE: So when we talk about, um, care, let's talk about care a little bit.

GUEST: Yes, please.

GENICE: You have been able to keep this in great condition.

GUEST: Thank you.

GENICE: It's been folded and in a cedar chest out of the sunlight, which is good, but we know that there are, um, materials or, um, hanging apparatuses that you can purchase.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

GENICE: So that you can actually display them on a wall.

GUEST: Okay.

GENICE: So once you are able to get one of those, we wanna make sure that we don't have it in direct sunlight.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

GENICE: You wanna keep it in the correct temperature so that it's not too hot, not too cold.

GUEST: Okay.

GENICE: To make sure that, um, you're taking care of this quilt.

GUEST: Right.

GENICE: Which you have done an amazing job.

GUEST: Thank you.

GENICE: So, do you have any idea what something like this might go for?

GUEST: No, that, that, you answered one of my questions, how do I display it and still preserve it?

And then the other is, what is it worth?

GENICE: Well, a conservative fair market value for this quilt would be $3,500.

GUEST: Oh wow, that's great.

GENICE: But at the appropriate auction...

GUEST: Yeah.

GENICE: ...It could go for more.

GUEST: Oh.

GENICE: And we're so glad that you brought it on the show...

GUEST: Well, thank you so much.

GENICE: ...to share with us, and we hope that you continue to enjoy it.

GUEST: Thank you very much.

Thanks for having me.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ALLAN: Welcome to “Chesapeake Collectibles.” What did you bring us today?

GUEST: Um, I have a film script from the movie “Lawrence of Arabia,” um, I found in a house that was being cleaned out.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And everything in the house is, uh, supposed to be taken to the dump.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And I found a stack of books, and this was in the stack of books that I found in the house.

ALLAN: Do you have any idea who owned the stack of books?

GUEST: Um, not really.

I'm not sure who owned them.

ALLAN: Did you ever try to find out how this script was in the house?

GUEST: Um, no, I, I had no way of doing that.

I'm not sure how it got in the house; it did come out of a house in Baltimore City.

ALLAN: How long ago?

GUEST: About 15 years ago.

ALLAN: 15 years ago.

You know, know the occupants of the house?

You have no idea who lived in the house at any given time?

GUEST: Um, no, I was just hired to clean it out, and we went in there and we were taken everything out and put in a big dumpster.

And some of the things I found in there I thought was interesting, and so I just put 'em aside and kept them.

ALLA: Wow.

There's a term in our profession called “dumpster diving,” and you just like won your wings, I mean, this is one incredible find.

Uh, are you aware that this script that you found is the original hand annotated last draft of the movie script before it went to production, which was written by Robert Bolt, who is a two time Academy award winner for screenplays for both “A Man For All Seasons,” and for “Doctor Zhivago” and was nominated for the Academy Award for “Lawrence of Arabia,” but lost to a Horton Foote who won it for uh, “To Kill A Mockingbird.” So not only is this script important because of the movie, which also won the Academy Award, it is because it is hand annotated by one of the 20th century's greatest screenwriters.

So, not only do you have the annotated last draft, but you have the original shooting copy from this annotation from the typewriter paper to the bonded paper, which would be how the script would be distributed to the cast and the production team.

So you have the last draft in hand by Robert Bolt, and you have the original shooting script for the Academy Award winner of 1962, “Lawrence of Arabia.” Now, if you're collecting Hollywood memorabilia, these are two of the most important areas of collecting.

You know, they're not as important as the Oscars, but they're highly desirable.

Everybody who collects wants the key portions of a movie being made, and nothing is more important than the script.

So you, in your quest for finding interesting stuff, found an incredible piece of not only Hollywood memorabilia, but of historical literature.

Have you ever had this appraised before?

GUEST: Well, I had, um, two people look at it and one person offered me $2,000.

ALLAN: How much?

GUEST: 2,000.

ALLAN: How long ago?

GUEST: Um, like seven years ago.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: And then a couple years ago, another person offered me 2,800.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: Which I thought was kind of low.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Considering its unique item.

ALLAN: It, well, we don't use the term “unique,” it's, there are other manuscript, uh, copies or annotated copies of movies.

But this is certainly a very scarce piece of Hollywood memorabilia.

You were very wise not to take either offer.

I would assign a value currently of somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 in the current marketplace for the two scripts together.

Thanks very much for coming.

This is a great op, opportunity for me to see some, something related to a movie I've loved for the last... '62 that's going on, uh, that's 60 years ago.

GUEST: Yeah.

ALLAN: Yeah.

GUEST: It's been a while.

ALLAN: It's been a while.

GUEST: Right.

ALLAN: Thank you for coming.

GUEST: Alright, thank you for appraising the items.

ALLAN: Thank you.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ MICHAEL: I'd like to welcome you to “Chesapeake Collectibles.” GUEST: Thank you.

MICHAEL: What have you brought, what have you brought for us today?

GUEST: My childhood reacquired from the era of TV Westerns.

This, these are my, well, this, I remember what clarity as owning the Fanner-50 in holster.

This is, was a collectible buy.

This was represented to me, and I think it's true that it is a never-opened mint in box version.

MICHAEL: Well they're very nice pieces, they both were made by Mattel in 1958 era.

They're Fanner-50s, that's the toy gun that they made back then, very popular gun in that timeframe.

Uh, this one is the holstered version with the bayonet-style holster with your bullets.

So we're gonna talk about the one that's mint in the box first.

Alright, the mint in the box one, it's a beautiful box.

I mean, it is pristine.

I'm gonna open it up and see what's inside.

Wow, you have a beautiful deal with the bullets still in the package with the instructions, and it is like, it's just came off the production.

It does have a little discoloration here.

GUEST: Maybe humidity sitting in the box.

MICHAEL: It just time, like we all have time problems.

GUEST: I relate.

(laughter).

MICHAEL: So you bought this at auction?

GUEST: I bought it online.

MICHAEL: You bought it online, it was said to be original mint in the box, with everything is clear about it.

The problem is things have in the toy market have declined a little bit.

Current generations do not have the “collector gene,” I call it like we do.

GUEST: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Um, in the market today, do you have any idea what you may have paid for it?

GUEST: Too much?

MICHAEL: You think so?

GUEST: I think I'm... MICHAEL: Was it, it wasn't an auction, so it was a set price.

GUEST: And I went big.

MICHAEL: And you went big.

Real big?

GUEST: I paid 800.

MICHAEL: You paid 800 for it.

GUEST: I figured one like that.

MICHAEL: I understand.

As nice as it is, your box is awesome at auction.

If we put it in an auction, I would estimate the value somewhere between 450 and 500.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: So you didn't lose out too bad.

GUEST: I bought it from the heart.

MICHAEL: And you bought it for your heart.

It's beautiful piece for a collection.

GUEST: Right.

MICHAEL: Alright, let's talk about the other item you just recently purchased.

Do you use it a lot?

GUEST: No, I bought that, I, I not recently, but well after that one.

MICHAEL: Okay, well, after this one.

GUEST: Right.

MICHAEL: And this one you bought because this one you didn't want to open and...

GUEST: Right.

MICHAEL: ...mess with.

This one, you're gonna run around the room shooting people, right?

GUEST: Well, I've been challenged to learn the twirl it forward and then put it in the reverse into the holster.

MICHAEL: Oh, good.

GUEST: But the holster... MICHAEL: How are you doing with that?

GUEST: Well, the holster doesn't fit.

MICHAEL: The holster doesn't fit?

It just hasn't been worn in yet.

That's the problem.

GUEST: And I'm not doing too well with the reverse, the reverse twirl.

MICHAEL: Has it gone behind your back a few times?

I understand that.

Alright, this one is a very interesting piece, has the holster is the same Fanner-50, made in the same timeframe, 1958.

Um, and you bought this at auction or online?

GUEST: Online, $56.

MICHAEL: Ooh, so we have a loss, and we may have a win.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: Okay, if this one went to auction at this time, I'd put a $200 to $300 price tag on that estimate.

GUEST: So it's a push!

MICHAEL: You won on this one, you lost a little on this one, so overall, you evened out.

This is a very nice piece, though.

GUEST: If I can get it to twirl back.

MICHAEL: That's the main thing.

It may even add value if you show that move when you're trying to sell it.

Thanks for bringing it in.

GUEST: Thank you, great conversation.

(cash register bell).

(gunshots).

(exhale).

(gun chamber clicks).

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: You are watching a demonstration of the most authentic cap pistol in the world.

(gunshot).

It has exclusive fanning action and shoots safe shooting shells with Greenie Stik-M-Caps.

The gun and hip-slung Mattel holster are specially made for a fast draw.

All of Mattel's shoot and shell fanners and holsters carry the true stamp of the old West.

And every boy will walk tall when he wears a holster and pistol with a Mattel brand.

You can tell it's Mattel, it's swell.

LISA JONES: Next time on “Chesapeake Collectibles.” AMORY: I knew when you opened up your item at my table that I had somebody who had unusual tastes.

PATRICK REDDING: It's a very unique, um, over time I've been blessed to appraise a lot of unique things, and I must say this is the first ever machete.

ROSS KELBAUGH: Well, I think in the world of collecting, you got what we call a “sleeper.” Congratulations.

GUEST: Thank you so much.

LISA: This is amazing.

When you put this on my station, I think my jaw dropped.

It still is.

ROBERT HARRISON: Interesting to note that each one of the pieces that we see on this table was hand-cut and then glued into place to form these designs.

ANNOUNCER: Major funding was provided by Alex Cooper Auctioneers, appraisers and auctioneers of fine art, jewelry, and collectibles online and in person gallery auctions every month, serving buyers and sellers in Maryland and around the world for over 100 years.

♪ ♪ Second story books celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

GUEST: Now that I've learned more about the item, I absolutely will take much better care of preserving it, uh, rather than it sitting for almost 50 years on the top of my bookshelf.

GUEST: Uh, Chesapeake Collectibles experience was absolutely terrific.

Um, everybody was incredibly accommodating, we felt very well taken care of, um, very, uh, intelligent appraisers.

GUEST: Oh, it's wonderful.

I have my, I brought my friend, we had such a good time.

We were talking to other people that brought their things, and so interesting, everybody was so kind to us.

The appraisers were wonderful.

GUEST: Um, I'm definitely coming back next year and I would highly recommend, um, that other people come here.

GUEST: 100% I would encourage everybody to register for "Collectibles."

Uh, they made it so easy, uh, so well run, and met some great new friends in the process.

Uh, the crew was phenomenal.

GUEST: I would encourage anybody that has something they think might be of value, um, to stop by and bring it into Chesapeake Collectibles because you absolutely never know what it's gonna turn out to be.

And, um, if we find something else along the way, yeah, we would be back next year.

I would be happy to come back.

ANNOUNCER: Stream anytime, anywhere with the free PBS app.