Leila Dunbar (right), well-known appraiser on PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow,” evaluates a treasure.
By Luaine Lee / Tribune News Service / Posted Jul 3, 2019 at 6:59 AM
PASADENA, Calif. — Ever since “Antiques Roadshow” premiered on public television, grandma’s cracked teapot, that dusty painting in the attic and the wobbly chair in the basement have taken on a new shine. People realize they might be harboring a real fortune and not even know it.
The show has traveled across the nation for the past 23 years, working with 500 appraisers who donate their time to pore over the autographed baseball, the Tiffany lamp, the Civil War uniform.
Since the series began, it has hosted 1.4 million appraisals, and next Monday it will conquer space with its “Out of This World” event. In keeping with PBS’ “Summer of Space,” which commemorates America’s journey into the outer limits, the “Roadshow” will scrutinize space-themed booty collated from shows across the years.
It will include items such as autographed NASA space program photos; an aviation autograph collection with signatures of Amelia Earhart, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong; a celestial atlas dating to the 1700s; and artifacts from the world of science fiction, such as “Star Trek” memorabilia.
It’s not so much the value of the item that makes the show interesting, executive producer Marsha Bemko said; it’s the story and the history.
“I think the magic is that it’s smart reality television,” she said.
Appraiser Leila Dunbar, who has appeared on the show since it premiered, is an expert on sports memorabilia, entertainment, posters, comic books and art.
“The whole premise of the show is an exchange of information,” Dunbar said. “You come in and you tell us your story, and we try to fill in the blanks for you.”
But the show has changed over the years, Dunbar noted.
“When it started, I feel it was a very object-driven experience — both for us and for the guests who came in — because face it, ‘Roadshow’ is the History Channel meeting ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,’ right?′ she said. “Now I think we’re probably in another generation, we’ve become friends to these folks. … It’s a much more human-driven experience.”
Often that interchange can be well, priceless. Like the time twin experts Leigh and Leslie Keno discovered an invaluable relic.
“In one lady’s home we found a bronze Minoan bowl, 1600 B.C., worth thousands of dollars,” Leigh Keno said. “She’d used it outside as a bird feeder. And she had a pet ferret who’d actually used it a lot.”
Dunbar remembers one of her favorites: “I had a lady come in … with a giant Green Bay Packers wooden sign, figural. And it turned out that it had been a stadium sign. And she brought a photo of it in the stadium.
“But then she told the story. And the fact was she was there at the Ice Bowl, which is one of the most famous games in football history. It was the (1967) NFL championship on New Year’s Eve. It was minus-48 degrees (wind chill).
“And her parents were there, and they had front-row seats to this game. So it’s going on, and the famous play from that game is when Bart Starr … calls the wedge. And he runs in behind Jerry Kramer, who blocks. … They score the winning touchdown, and pandemonium ensues,” Dubar continued.
“All these people start running out on the field, probably to get warm, and they’re pulling down the goal posts. But her father, who’s in the stands, calmly runs out to the parking lot to his car and gets out his Craftsman tool set and saunters back in and unbolts this giant Green Bay Packers sign from the wall.”