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.

KATHLEEN HAMILL: Coming up on Chesapeake Collectibles... G. AMORY LECUYER: When you opened up your guitar case, I, I got really excited because this was, this is just absolutely beautiful.

ROSS KELBAUGH: Now, some of you might recognize these sneakers, uh, particularly you sneaker-heads out there.

Yes, these are Air Jordan number one's.

ALLAN STYPECK: You played catch with a Babe Ruth-signed baseball with your father?

KATHLEEN: So, what we are looking at here is a perfect example of Dutch portraiture from the 17th century.

GUEST: I brought you a rocking horse that I bought about 35 to 40 years ago at an auction in Catonsville.

ROSS: You've brought in an incredible collection, of which this is just a small portion of, that really documents such an important part of Maryland history.

ALLAN: There's a rule of thumb; Thy shall not throw a baseball signed by a Hall of Famer, okay?

(theme music plays).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ALLAN: Hi, welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

What did you bring us?

GUEST: I brought a Babe Ruth, uh, baseball, and a Joe Marty baseball glove.

ALLAN: Now, how did you get in possession of these items?

GUEST: Well, the baseball was my grandfather's.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And, uh, it passed down to my father then to me, um.

The baseball, actually, was on this baseball stand and, um, the... so, the baseball does have a hole in the bottom because it was screwed in.

When, uh, my, uh, grandfather had a summer place in, uh, Hallowing Point, Benedict.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: And, uh, when I would go and, and stay, uh, this was up in the attic.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: So, I would play with the ball up in the attic on my own, and then, uh, as I got older, my dad and I would throw it in the yard.

It was his baseball glove.

So, uh, that's the age of that and, uh, I had fun with it.

ALLAN: You played catch with a Babe Ruth signed baseball with your father?

GUEST: I did.

ALLAN: Right.

Do you have any idea how your grandfather originally, uh, got possession of the ball?

GUEST: My father told me that he had caught it, uh, so I don't know, uh.

It was before, uh, they went to Memorial Park all the time but that doesn't really line up with Babe Ruth.

ALLAN: It doesn't.

GUEST: But they did go to Terrapin, uh, Camden Terrapin Yards.

So, I don't know if there were ever games there.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: I just don't know.

ALLAN: That doesn't, that doesn't really, uh, line up, as you say, date-wise.

So, if your grandfather caught the ball, how old was your grandfather, do you think, when he caught the ball?

GUEST: Uh, well he was born in, of the late like 1890s, I believe.

ALLAN: So, there's a possibility that he caught the ball in the '20s or the '30s...

GUEST: Right.

Right.

ALLAN: When Babe Ruth was playing baseball.

Now, if he caught the ball during that time period, has anybody in your family told you how he got Babe Ruth to sign it?

GUEST: No.

ALLAN: So, this is a mystery.

GUEST: It, it is a mystery and like I said, all I know is what my father said.

ALLAN: All right, and your father is an honorable, honest man...

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: Who would not change the story, right?

GUEST: I, uh, no.

No.

ALLAN: Okay.

So, we're saying that your grandfather caught the ball and somewhere got the opportunity to get Babe Ruth to sign it.

Any idea if Babe Ruth hit the foul ball that he signed?

GUEST: I have no idea, so.

ALLAN: If that was the case, we would be...

GUEST: It would be worth a lot more money, right?

ALLAN: Right, exactly.

But that's a very interesting, uh, story.

Now, one of the issues that I have with the ball is the hole on the bottom of the ball which was where the screw indented into the ball, um.

GUEST: Right.

ALLAN: This, this, this basically depresses the value because the ball has been damaged.

Also, there's a rule of thumb; Thy shall not throw a baseball signed by a Hall of Famer, okay?

And I think you were probably unaware of that when you were a kid.

So, you do, it's not, it's not going to be held against you, okay?

It does show, because of that there's obviously been hand-soiling on the ball.

The signature itself is still pretty legible.

I mean, it does have a little smearing and that could've been because of the handling.

You've never had this ball, um, uh, it's never been graded, has it?

GUEST: No.

ALLAN: Okay.

This is an ungraded baseball and ungraded baseball, Babe Ruth baseballs will range anywhere from 500 to $1,000.

If this ball was graded, it would probably increase in value by at least double depending on what the grader would say.

So, you could have potentially a two, $2500 baseball, except the fact that you have a baseball which has a hole in it and has a lot of hand smearing, because of that, and the soiling, I would have to drop the price back down to the original signature value which would be somewhere between 500 and $1,000, and I would add about $250 for the baseball glove.

So, let's say, in real time, it's about $1250 for both.

GUEST: Well, thank you!

ALLAN: Oh, thank you very much for coming.

Very interesting story.

GUEST: Okay.

♪ ♪ KATHLEEN: Hi!

Welcome.

GUEST: Hello.

KATHLEEN: Thank you for coming today.

GUEST: Sure.

KATHLEEN: What a gorgeous painting.

What can you tell me about it?

What do we have here?

GUEST: Well, it's a portrait of, he was, uh, Second William of Orange, in Holland.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: It's a Dutch painting, uh... KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: From 1679.

KATHLEEN: Wow.

GUEST: Um, he's...

The main thing is, he's a historical figure, uh, he's, he became William the III of England.

KATHLEEN: Mm-hmm, right.

GUEST: This was painted nine years before he became King, or co-King.

William and Mary... KATHLEEN: William and Mary.

Yes, yes, of course.

GUEST: Everybody's heard of William and Mary.

He's the William of William and Mary.

KATHLEEN: And the namesake of the college.

GUEST: Yes, he is, exactly.

KATHLEEN: In Williamsburg.

GUEST: Same thing, exactly.

KATHLEEN: Fabulous, mm-hmm.

GUEST: But, he was an important part of Dutch history, when Holland, basically, pulled together.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: And so, this portrait sort of memorializes that.

But it, from my research, I think this was a marketing photo or painting.

KATHLEEN: Like a PR piece kind of thing.

GUEST: Because he knew that he was in a possibility of becoming King of England.

KATHLEEN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Which did happen, 'cause, for instance, the medallion he's wearing here is part of... KATHLEEN: Saint George.

GUEST: Yup, that's Saint George.

That's part of being, was it the Order of the Garter?

KATHLEEN: Probably, mm-hmm.

GUEST: And his uncle had made him that years before.

So, when he's wearing this English medallion, it's not meant just for the people in Holland.

KATHLEEN: Right, right.

And do you know who painted it?

GUEST: Yeah, Lambertus Jans de Hooghe.

KATHLEEN: Oh, Jans, Jans de Hooghe.

And then, show us where the, um...

The signature's so faint.

GUEST: The signature is down in this area here.

KATHLEEN: Right here.

GUEST: The, the date is 1679 and the signature is down there.

It's got much, many years of varnish and whatnot on it.

KATHLEEN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Um, but... KATHLEEN: And William was living in Holland at the time, right?

GUEST: He was, yes.

KATHLEEN: And was he the stateholder?

GUEST: Yes, he, he was called the stadtholder.

KATHLEEN: The stadtholder, okay.

GUEST: And, uh, and he was for...

But, he was very prominent, there's a lot of politics that gets into it, like Maryland history.

KATHLEEN: Right.

GUEST: Um, he was a big deal Protestant, which is why the English wanted him over there.

KATHLEEN: Got it.

GUEST: And, he's, he's a Stewart, he's a part of the Stewart family.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: And they had history back and forth, back and forth.

So, the English wanted him and his wife to come over.

KATHLEEN: And how did you come to acquire this?

GUEST: I inherited it from my brother.

KATHLEEN: Do you know where he got it?

GUEST: No, I don't.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: He was in the art and antique business for a while.

KATHLEEN: And where was that?

GUEST: Up in New York.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: And somehow, I'm sure if I put myself in my brother's place, he saw this and he was interested in it.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

So, what we are looking at here is a perfect example of Dutch portraiture from the 17th century.

It's so beautifully done.

I mean, look at the luminosity in the face.

Even the lace is so exquisite, you can see like almost every stitch in that, the detail is wonderful.

And the way the highlight catches his, um, I guess he's in a coat of arm...

GUEST: Yeah, it's armor.

KATHLEEN: He's in a suit of arms, yeah.

It's beautiful.

I do see why they say it might be cut down, it looks like a, there's something here that might be an addition.

And it is on canvas but the canvas has been relined in the back, uh, for some durability.

And the signature, over here, is so fun to try to find it.

(laughter).

KATHLEEN: And the date.

Have you ever had it appraised or have you ever looked into it further?

GUEST: No.

I've, I've done a lot of research trying to figure out about him and maybe the history of the painting, but that's about it.

KATHLEEN: Yes, yes.

Well, it is, it is lovely.

I'm so glad you brought it in today.

And it, we can't show the back right now, but the back is all original; the stretchers and the, the bars across the back, it's just gorgeous.

I would give this, um, an estimate somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: My goodness!

KATHLEEN: Yeah!

It's really, really lovely.

GUEST: Yeah.

KATHLEEN: I'm so glad you brought it to us today.

GUEST: Well, it's been nice, uh, having it here.

KATHLEEN: Yeah, thanks.

♪ ♪ ROSS: Hello, I'm Ross Kelbaugh, a veteran of ten years here on " Chesapeake Collectibles".

I, uh, my responsibilities are memorabilia and ephemera.

And over the years, I've had a lot of people ask me about, "What is ephemera?"

Well, I brought in some things out of my collection today, a group that, uh, be able to interpret just the meanings of these terms.

Now, some of you might recognize these sneakers, uh, particularly you sneaker-heads out there.

Yes, these are Air Jordan number one's, originals, uh, of the, the red, white, and black, of the first ones that were being made by, uh, Nike, uh.

Air Jordan, Jordan's were made a, uh, actually worn by Michael Jordan, this style, and also the ones with the black toes.

So, what makes these particularly interesting, yes, these are originals.

These were produced between, uh, April and June of 1985.

You can tell by the serial number that is in them and they are a size eight and the fact is, they've never been worn.

These are absolutely mint.

So, you can spin them around for you.

They were designed by Peter Moore and who also was a person who came up with the design for the, the wing Jordan.

One of the things that helps tell these from being, uh, being originals and not reproductions, is the hourglass shape of the back.

And these also came with, came with two sets of shoelaces, black and white.

These, particularly, have an interesting story because not only are these, are they mint, but in fact, they came with the original box, was saved, uh, even the wrapping paper that these were wrapped in, and the original hang tag.

Now, these hang tags, of course, are quite, uh, uncommon.

I like to point out because there's not many of the originals have been around that on the back you can see a just, it is a plain back.

Now, this one you can see a line where it, in fact, had been folded in half, that would've had effected its value a little, uh, a little bit.

But nevertheless a very interesting piece.

And also, you can see on the box that the price of this had been reduced three times, on the box.

And in fact, it was, uh, even reduced again to finally be sold in January 1987 at Todd & Moore, down in Columbia, South Carolina, a sports, uh, goods store.

And there on the right, is the original receipt from when these were sold for $10.50.

So, the shoes are collectible items that, in fact, that there are other ones that are similar that you could build a collection around.

There have been over 35 different styles of the Air Jordans have been done in hundreds of color combinations.

But to make these even sweeter, are the ephemera, the things that were meant for a short life, that were usually thrown away.

So, this would be the completest collection of these that you could put together.

Only way you could better it, yeah, if you had the pair that was signed by Michael Jordan and game-worn, but you better be ready to spend maybe even several million dollars for something like that.

So, the ephemera coming along with the shoes would probably be in a evaluation, low would be 10 to 15,000.

And in fact, there is just a, right now, a, a pair on Sotheby's Auction House, of originals that have never been worn for 32,000.

So, build a collection, when you have your collectible, if there's any related packaging and documentation, the ephemera to be able to go with your collectible, put it all together, and you will end up with a star collection.

♪ ♪ MICHAEL STANTON: Welcome to " Chesapeake Collectibles".

GUEST: Thank you.

MICHAEL: What have you brought us today?

GUEST: Thank you.

I brought you a rocking horse that I bought about 35 to 40 years ago at an auction in Catonsville.

Which my husband and I used to frequent on Friday nights, just for fun.

MICHAEL: Date night.

GUEST: Date night.

No money but we could go in the auction and have a lot of fun.

MICHAEL: Auctions were fun, in the live auctions back in the day.

GUEST: They were fun, they were, were.

And I knew, the only thing I know about it is when we put it in the car, my husband, who's allergic to everything, started sneezing.

So, I... MICHAEL: Because of the horse hair?

GUEST: Because of the horse hair.

MICHAEL: It does have a original horse-haired tail.

These items are back, early 20th century, made in the Philippines and some in Germany.

They're all hand-carved.

This one has, as we said, the horse hair tail, the metal stirrups.

The interesting thing about this, it can be removed from the rocking base and converted into a pull toy, which is interesting, um.

Yours is missing one of the braces up front and it's cracked here on the side.

But it is hand carved and they're pretty interesting.

So, where do you keep it now in the house?

GUEST: It's just in my living room, in a corner.

I've never done one thing to it.

It's just sat there.

MICHAEL: You had no idea what the value would be, did you?

GUEST: None, none.

MICHAEL: Well, if it had this piece and it was complete, you have a little crack here... Mm, they've been selling somewhere between 1,000 and $1200.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: In your condition, you're looking at probably 500 to $600.

GUEST: Okay.

That's a good investment.

MICHAEL: I appreciate you bringing it in.

GUEST: Thank you, and thank you for having me.

I really, it was really fun.

MICHAEL: Well good.

GUEST: Thank you.

♪ ♪ AMORY: I wanted to tell you, when, when you opened up your guitar case, I, I got really excited because this was, this is just absolutely beautiful.

Can you tell me a little bit about what you brought in today?

GUEST: Well, this is a, a 1969 Gibson ES-345 TDW, electric guitar, so... AMORY: And, um, how many owners has it had?

GUEST: One.

AMORY: One!

GUEST: Me, yeah.

AMORY: You bought it in 1969?

GUEST: In 1969, yes.

AMORY: Now, why were you inspired to buy this particular guitar?

GUEST: Well, at the time, that was in my Jefferson Airplane fanboy phase and... AMORY: Absolutely!

GUEST: Jorma Kaukonen played this model, so that's why I bought it.

AMORY: Well, and it, it is, it's, it's reminiscent of, uh, B.B.

King's, uh, Lucille, isn't it?

GUEST: That's exactly right.

Although his, his guitar, Lucille, is the next model up... AMORY: Okay.

Okay.

GUEST: The 355.

Yeah.

AMORY: Well, you know, as we were talking earlier, the, the, the, when you see musical instruments come into a show like this, they're so often, um, they, they've, they've been through two or three hands.

You rarely find the original owner owning the guitar all the way through its life.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: I mean, we are talking about a guitar that, I mean, it's, it's, what is it, 50 years old?

GUEST: 53 I believe it is, yeah.

AMORY: 53 years old.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: Um, and you've had it all that time.

Now, do you still play it?

GUEST: Not that much.

I play acoustic mostly these days, uh.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: My wife and I are in a Celtic band and we do Scottish and Irish traditional music and so... AMORY: So, from, from, from Jefferson Airplane to Celtic band.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: It's quite a repertoire.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: Um.

What do you think it's worth?

GUEST: I have no idea.

I think it's worth may, maybe three or $4,000, but, uh, I look it on Reverb and it's everything from three grand to 20 grand and... AMORY: And, and that's the thing is that when we were looking at it, um, one, the condition is impeccable.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: There's one little mar on the, uh, surface, uh, that I'm not sure couldn't be buffed out.

But other, looking over the guitar, it's absolutely as if it came into the shop in, uh, 1969 and you've owned it the whole time.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: So, you know, I'm thinking that that three grand is a low number.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: I'm thinking more in the five to $8,000 range and given if it was in a good, uh, Rock & Roll auction, um, you could see even more than that.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: Uh, I want to thank you for bringing it in today because it is an icon of music history, particularly in the Rock & Roll era.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: Thanks for coming out.

GUEST: You're welcome, I'm happy to be here and I had a lot of fun.

♪ ♪ ROSS: I'd like to welcome you to " Chesapeake Collectibles."

You've brought in an incredible collection, of which this is just a small portion of, that really documents such an important part of Maryland history.

What did you have?

GUEST: I have a collection of the Baltimore and Ohio centennial celebration that they called the Fair of the Iron Horse.

This celebration was the idea of Daniel Willard who was President of the B&O Railroad, um.

Daniel Willard is my great-grandfather.

They are many things that the family is proud of, like the Time Magazine.

I have a large collection of B&O china.

ROSS: How many pieces of the china do you have?

GUEST: Probably have about 25 pieces.

These are some of the small pieces I have.

I have the larger platters and I have the individual teapot.

There are only two pieces that I do not have.

ROSS: Mm-hmm.

What are they?

GUEST: Uh, they are an egg cup and a food cover that goes over the top of your plate.

ROSS: Hmm.

GUEST: And this is the full set of stereoscopic and slides from the Fair of the Iron Horse.

ROSS: And there are, there was 100 the stereo-views in that set, excellent.

Now, you have several piece, well this piece of jewelry.

Now, can you tell us about that?

GUEST: Um, Daniel Willard designed it for, specifically, the centennial of the B&O Railroad, um.

There were brass paperweights that were sold with this design, um, but this was for his wife.

This is a 14-karat gold necklace and on one side it is, it shows the railroad and a, uh, figure flying above and it is success to the railroad.

And the back has Tom Thumb, the original Baltimore and Ohio train that ran from Camden Yards Station to Ellicott's City Station.

ROSS: And you have these little, uh, medallions here, look like they hung on a keychain or something.

What are those?

GUEST: Daniel Willard's wife, Bertha, would carry these because she didn't need a ticket, she showed her medal tag that said, it was signed Daniel Willard on the back, on the front it said, "Family, children, and servants."

And one is from the Erie Railroad, the larger one, and the other is from the B&O Railroad.

ROSS: Hmm.

So, they could show that and ride free?

GUEST: Yes.

ROSS: The refined life to which is the very well-illustrated by the painting here.

Can you tell us about that?

GUEST: It was somewhere in Goodwood Gardens.

My father really didn't remember which room it was in.

The name of it is, "Tender Moments," by Emile Munier, and Daniel Willard liked it because it had the black chicken in it and, uh, he was raised on a farm in Vermont and he liked rural scenes, pastoral scenes.

ROSS: Hmm.

So, have you ever had it all appraised?

GUEST: No, I've never put it all together and had it appraised.

ROSS: Well, I would say at least probably 10 to $15,000 for all of that story together.

Now, for a second, separate evaluation for your painting, being a very, very well-known French artist that, uh, the values of something in this size would probably be in the neighborhood of about $20,000.

So, we have, in the entire collection here, about, uh, 30,000, 30 to $35,000.

GUEST: Well, my daughter has good taste.

That's the painting of the multiple paintings that we have from Daniel Willard that she said, "I like the one with the black hen."

ROSS: Well, it's very interesting group that your family has been able to save of heirlooms and what you've been able to come up with to supplement the collection to be able to document an important person, uh, connecting with a very important, uh, role of the transportation in Maryland.

And, uh, I want to thank you for bringing it all in for us to share with viewers at home.

GUEST: I hope to share it with the B&O Railroad because their 200th celebration is coming up in 2027.

ROSS: Okay!

Well, good luck with that.

GUEST: Thank you.

ROSS: Thank you.

ALLAN: Next time on "Chesapeake Collectibles"... PATRICK REDDING: Can you tell me what you brought in today?

GUEST: Well, these are walking sticks but they're in the form of a, a weapon, a gun.

ED MORINO: This is a wonderful, wonderful piece Rococo Revival has everything that you want in a Kirk piece and it's a fabulous, fabulous piece.

Have you ever had this appraised?

GUEST: Never.

P. RAAB CHRISTHILF: Obviously, you have, this guy has gotten the better of this guy...

GUEST: Yes.

RAAB: Right here, and he's dropped his gun.

GUEST: Yep.

GUEST: But the heart of this bracelet are, the Oriole charms from '69, '70, and '71.

AMORY: It's part of what this show is all about.

You just get crazy stuff coming out of the woodwork and that's exactly what we have here.

GUEST: Yep.

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: Today's experience was great and I would encourage people to bring in any items that they have questions about.

GUEST 2: They got a lot of friendly people wearing distinctive t-shirts, uh.

They all seem like they enjoy what they're doing and there was a lot of stuff going on in here to watch.

A fantastic amount of things that people are bringing in.

It was great.

GUEST 3: I had so much fun.

Yes, I would encourage anybody to try this.

It was great.

Everybody is so nice and it runs so smoothly and everything went great.

Better than I ever hoped for.

GUEST 2: I'm gonna put it back on the wall in my office, looking over my shoulder, and think about it for a while, um.

It's fun to have it, uh, I'm a history buff.

But truthfully, the thing probably belongs back in Europe.

GUEST 4: It was, yes, valued at much more than I expected.