EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Opening up its 16th touring season looking for America's greatest hidden treasures, a huge surprise in Eugene for the crews of PBS' “Antiques Roadshow,” as appraisers discovered one man's half-million dollar painting from a classic American artist.
The hit PBS show, “Antiques Roadshow” made its stop in Eugene on Saturday, June 4th, 2011, at the Lane Events Center. Around 6,000 people packed the Convention Center building for the event, which handed out 3000 pairs of randomly drawn tickets.
Saturday afternoon, appraisers found one of the most valuable treasures in Antique Roadshow history.
One of the day's participants brought in an original 1919 Norman Rockwell painting valued at $500,000. The find is tied for second place in the all-time most valuable appraised items in “Roadshow” history.
“We are surrounded by crazy, geeky individuals with an extraordinary depth of knowledge in very specific fields. It's kind of wonderful,” says Nicholas Lowry, one of the 70 appraisers who travels with the Roadshow.
For the last 11 years, Lowry has been traveling with the tour as a volunteer. At Saturday's event, Lowry likely saw one of the highest totals of antique collectors.
“If by non-stop you mean talking from 7:30 in the morning to 8 at night, yes I would say it's non-stop,” says Lowry.
Lowry appraises posters for the Antiques Roadshow, which he says is the most popular table.
“You never know what's going to happen,” says Lowry.
“It can be fun... It can also be really hard work,” says Lowry. "The real indication of how good it is is how we all come back so regularly."
Inspecting Oregon's collection, Lowry says there are trends to what people brought to Eugene.
“Some great Pacific Railway calendars from the 1930's. Excellent World War I posters, and some wonderful turn of the century advertising material. So so far so good!” says Lowry.
Figuring out the mystery behind that old stuff pulls some people the distance. At Saturday's event, one man drove a stain glass window in from Wyoming.
Mike Little made the trip to Eugene from Sacramento, California. Little brought an Asian print and doctor doll with him. He found out each were valued around $200.
For Tyler Carlson from Vancouver, Washington, the news wasn't as good on his model wooden carriage.
“This thing he said wasn't worth anything,” said Carlson, who's grandmother bought the model carriage from a gas station trift store in the 70's. Soon after, his grandfather carved some wooden statues to match the carriage. In time, those statues could pay off.
“But he really liked these.. He said bring 'em back in about 50 years and they'll be worth something,” said Carlson.
Whether it's worth something or not, for many, taking part is the biggest treasure.
“We don't have our heart set that really any of this will be worth a lot and mainly were just here for the experience to say that we were a part of this,” said a Camp Creek resident, as she was getting several old toys appraised.
Other big finds at the Eugene show on Saturday included a 1935 Birger Sandzin, a notable Swedish-American oil painter, canvas painting. Sandzin was an impressionist artist. The painting is still in the original frame, and was appraised between $40,000 to $60,000.
Appraisers also found an early 20th century Russian imperial officer's sword from the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. The enamel over silver sword, set with diamonds, and engraved with the cyrillic monogram of the Tsar was appraised by Mark Schaffer between $75,000 and $100,000. The Eugene guest purchased the sword from a friend for $500.
The most valuable find in ROADSHOW history is a Chinese Jade Collection discovered in Raleigh, NC in 2010 and valued between $710,000 and $1,070,000. Saturday's Eugene Norman Rockwell discovery ties for second place at $500,000 with a Palm Springs discovery from 2009: a Clyfford Still oil painting.
Antiques Roadshow will produce 3 hours of television broadcast material out of the Eugene taping. Those episodes will air between January and June of 2012. More finite air-dates will be released when PBS put out its future broadcast schedule in September 2011. For more information on the air dates, check the show's website at the following link:
http://www.pbs.org/antiques.
