Antiques Roadshow in Raleigh

On Saturday, June 27, the Antiques Roadshow came to Raleigh and we were one of the lucky few who received tickets to attend and have our precious items valued by the experts. After weeks of searching the house for the best stuff to bring, we arrived at 10:30 and joined a few thousand other hopefuls at the Raleigh Convention Center. We stood in the entry line for about 45 minutes while talking with other folks. Then we reached the tables where our items were classified and we were given tickets to the Toys and Games table (for our train set and magic lantern) and the Decorative Arts table (for our glass paintings). Off to another line... Toys and Games were first. When we finally got to the table, we met Noel Barrett who loved our old American Flyer train set and valued it at $300-$500. Then, he looked at the toy magic lantern that used a small kerosene lantern to project glass slides on a screen plus a box of old slides. He said it was from the early 20th century and originally sold for. . . are you ready for this?. . .about twenty-seven cents! It's current value is $35-$50. Oh well, that European vacation will just have to wait.

Then on to another, much longer, line for Decorative Arts. Here, we met J. Michael Flanigan who evaluated a pair of old, turn of the century, round glass paintings with metal collars made to hang on a wall. We thought these would be our "big find!" Nope! Printed on paper, then transferred to the back of the glass. Value: Worthless! Poo! Another, oh well!

Bottom line is that we won't be on TV unless we're seen in line behind someone lucky enough to have brought something a lot nicer than our stuff - like the lady with a jade collection valued at over $1.5 million! Regardless of the evaluations, it was a unique and fun experience and we really enjoyed meeting some nice folks and seeing some of the stars of the Antiques Roadshow. At least we came home with a nice picture of us.