Filoli, Hour 3

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: The treasures turning up at Filoli for our "Roadshow" event today are not to be missed.

Prints and editions are very frothy right now.

That's fun... (laughs) ...for an ugly vase.

I've got goosebumps.

(laughing) We like goosebumps-- goosebumps are good.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: "Roadshow" has taken over Filoli.

And though the house is very grand, with a landscape as beautiful as this, one can hardly imagine staying indoors.

Filoli today is a 654-acre estate, with 16 acres of formal gardens that are a blend of two English landscape styles.

The first style, found in the terraces surrounding the house, mimics 18th-century Georgian landscapes, highlights the mountain views, and is meant to complement the Georgian architecture of the mansion.

Meanwhile, the southern gardens are in the formal Renaissance style that shows a strict attention to geometry, with hedges that create outdoor rooms containing precise floral plant groupings.

It's a gorgeous backdrop to our production today.

Though the art and antiques that have come in have our full attention.

♪ ♪ Me and my then-boyfriend, now-husband, found this in Chicago, in Chinatown, and I fell in love with it.

When I asked how much it was, they're, like, "$300."

I'm, like, "That's a little too much money for me."

And then they go, "We have layaway."

And I was, like, "I'm doomed."

(laughs) A few months later, I managed to pay it off, and this is what I got.

I think it's a doll cabinet?

My father and this artist, Wayne Thiebaud, they used to trade art back in the early days of their careers.

Thiebaud is best known for his confections and Pop Art, but this is an example from the '50s before he got into his, um, you know, best-known style.

Because Thiebaud passed away within the last year, there is quite a bit of interest in his market.

WOMAN: I got this at a yard sale maybe five or six years ago.

I bought it because I thought it looked really old.

I think it's, like, a Chinese Buddha.

Was the yard sale in California, or your neighborhood, or elsewhere?

California, yeah.

And what did you pay?

$40.

You're correct, it's a Chinese Buddha.

It's a bodhisattva, it's a diva.

It's a female form of Buddha.

It is a, uh, an image that was influenced by Tibetan and Nepalese Hindu tantric figures identified as a bodhisattva of light or dawn.

She's a multi-armed deity.

There are some, some small losses.

These are all attributes, and they're mostly Buddhistic symbols.

You have a sword here with no blade.

You have a hand.

Mm-mm.

An attribute missing from my right.

Yup.

In the whole, they're mostly present.

She's seated in a full lotus position...

Yes.

...a tantric position, with hands in mudra, to the center, in blessing.

Did you like the, the image as a decorative work of art?

Does it... No?

No.

I have to admit, no.

(laughs) I just thought it looked really old, so it might be something.

It's cool, but I wouldn't put it in my house.

Okay, where does it currently reside?

In a box in the garage.

These are religious objects.

These attain merit with worship.

These are used by practitioners during worship and meditation...

Okay.

...for transcendence.

So these are often cast to be elevated.

They're to be looked at from below.

I suspect you think it was worth more than $40 when you bought...

I do think it was more than $40, but I couldn't tell you.

When do you think it may have been made?

I want it to be made in, like, the 1600s?

Oh, good, well, good, uh, assumption, or guess, or... Is it?!

Yeah, yeah.

So made probably about 1650.

Oh, wow.

In China-- this is a late Ming casting.

It's gilded bronze.

Okay.

A bronze alloy.

It would have been cast by an artisan.

These were expensive objects.

It was likely not an object middle-class Buddhist practitioners could afford in China.

It was an upper-class middle family, and it was probably a stretch then.

It's actually nicely cast.

Okay.

You know, if I was to put a numerical, uh, ranking, it's a six or a seven out of ten.

So during the 17th century, they were, they were good, but not great.

Mm-hmm.

But this is a better- than-average example.

Oh, really?

And I will just point out the, the lovely Indian lotus to the drapery.

Mm-hmm.

The feet are nicely cast.

The expression should impose or transfer transcendence, compassion.

In my opinion, this expression does.

You'll see remnants of polychrome.

So this sea would have been a blue.

As I turn this again, the counter-polychrome to the crown would have been an orange.

You had a great eye, you bought well.

So it's legit.

It's legit.

Wow.

Yeah.

So this is hundreds of years old.

300, 350 years old.

Right.

Often they become separated.

Lotus throne, they're separately cast.

This is a great base.

This is a great figure.

They look great together.

I'm not certain they were done together.

This gap on either side?

Uh-huh.

Usually the fit is a little bit better.

I'm certain they were made in the same time frame.

I think in a auction setting, a value of $15,000 to $20,000 would be conservative.

Okay.

Wow.

That's awesome.

And in a retail setting, I would imagine it to carry a value of $30,000.

Wow.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Well-bought.

(laughing): Yeah, apparently.

It surprises me that these are still available at yard sales.

It was my great-aunt's doll.

My aunt was born in Oakland on Fruitvale Avenue in, I believe, 1909.

Uh-huh.

And she was the youngest of seven sisters, and my grandfather was the oldest in the family.

This doll came to me in the '80s.

The dress is the dress she came in, and she's got pantaloons underneath, and a petticoat.

And unfortunately, her leather high-top shoes have fallen apart, but the socks are original.

The doll was made by Kämmer & Reinhardt.

The company is German.

It was made about 1917.

Okay.

That's a little later than I thought.

It would be marked on the back of the head with a number.

And that number signified the model or the style of the face.

And this is a number 117.

It was a very popular doll because it...

It was a pretty doll, it wasn't...

It was not a scary-looking doll.

She's known for her very serene face, and her mouth is closed instead of open with teeth.

That makes her very special.

The body is made of composition and wood.

And composition is a recipe of sawdust and glue and other materials that becomes liquid and they pour it in molds.

She's in wonderful condition.

Usually you find dolls of this age with fingers missing or unstrung.

It's her original wig, it's mohair, and it's got kind of matted, but it, that can all be fixed and rearranged.

Okay.

I don't know if it's a significant family heirloom that I should be passing it on.

I don't think it's ever really been played with.

Hm.

Obviously, I didn't play, play with it.

Right.

I don't even have a name for her.

(chuckles) That's how unattached...

Right.

...the relationship is.

Well, this doll came in many sizes.

It came from as small as a ten-inch doll up to, like, 35 inches.

I, I believe this doll is about 26 inches, if we measure it.

Mm-hmm.

The value of the doll in a retail setting would be between $3,500 and $4,500.

That's nice.

(chuckling) Yeah, good.

I think you have a treasure here.

Thank you.

You might, you might want to keep it.

So I should keep it.

I think so.

Maybe I'll get a great-granddaughter one day.

One day.

(laughs) Now the whole family is going to go, "Oh, my gosh.

(both laugh) How did she get the doll?"

Right.

PEÑA: Filoli's first owners, the Bourns, were able to bring a little bit of their beloved Irish estate, Muckross, back to Filoli by planting more than 200 Irish yews here, creating a walkway that leads to a garden called the High Place.

It was said to be William Bourn's favorite part of the Filoli estate.

With the rows of Irish yews and the semicircle of Vicenza stone columns, a Greek or green theater space was created.

♪ ♪ We call it the ugly thing or the ugly vase.

I bought it about 15 years ago.

I'm never sure if it's a pregnant woman.

If she's getting to topple over.

(chuckling): It's a weird little piece.

I liked it when I saw it.

It comes from a Dutch dealer, so... And do you remember how much you paid?

Yes, $580.

It is such a wonderful, Modernist, bizarre piece.

It has animal, it has bird, it has female figural.

All of this happening in this piece of glazed ceramic that was done by a very famous artist called Jean Cocteau.

Okay.

Jean Cocteau was French, and he was a fine artist, a painter, a draftsman.

He was also a poet.

Mm-hmm.

Picasso, a painter of great renown, wanted to move to a different type of medium.

Okay.

And had visited this pottery in the town of Vallauris... Mm-hmm.

...and was taken by their operation and wanted to do some ceramics, in, in editions.

Picasso started that in '47, and his good friend Jean Cocteau... Mm-hmm.

...who did this, could see the pleasure... Mm.

...that Picasso had from making these pieces.

Yeah.

Picasso actually warned him.

He said, "Be careful... Mm-hmm.

"...about ever starting to do anything in clay, because it will steal your heart and you'll never want to stop."

Okay, yeah.

So apparently he did that.

Picasso did this, uh, for longer, and he did over 600 different forms.

Mm-hmm.

Cocteau, who started in '57 and did that until his death in the '60s, did about 300 different forms.

This would probably have been done circa 1960s.

We see often Modernist, simple, fun designs, but they're often on plates.

Mm-hmm.

This is so crazy.

The horns come off.

They're just in there perfectly.

It's not like...

This is not a mistake.

But he thought of this.

Mm-hmm.

"Let's put horns, and let's just have them loose," which is so bizarre.

(chuckles) And then you can see on the bottom, it says here "Original edition from Jean Cocteau, Studio Madeline-Jolly," and six out of ten.

Marie Madeline Jolly and also Philippe Jolly, the two of them, were artists and had this ceramic studio.

They were in Villefranche in France.

This is a very small edition.

Mm-hmm.

But this is the first time I've seen this particular one.

Picasso editions are often much bigger.

He made, like, a first one, and they made more of it?

That is what happened in Madoura with Picasso.

Mm-hmm.

He made the, the first one and then there were artists... Mm-hmm.

...there that made the other ones.

Okay.

I don't see Cocteau there making every piece by hand.

Okay, mm-hmm.

So I would think that he made the prototypes... Yeah.

...and then somebody was, was doing them after.

Prints and editions are very frothy right now.

Okay.

If we were to put this at auction-- though it is an edition-- easily we would put this in at $10,000 to $15,000.

(laughing): Sorry.

That's fun... (laughs) ...for an ugly vase.

Perfect.

Wonderful, thank you.

Very good.

MAN: I know that it was my aunt's originally, and my mom as a child always had her, her eye on it.

And then when my mom was 16, I believe she had it gifted to her.

It's Gorham and it's sterling.

It's American.

However, I love young people learning something.

(woman chuckles) You mentioned the word Webb.

It is Webb, but not the silver, just the glass.

MAN: Oh.

And it's a perfume bottle.

WOMAN: Thank you so much.

MAN: We love it.

I'm proud of your research.

BOTH: Yeah.

Little tiny bit of research.

MAN: Just a little bit.

Little tiny bit.

WOMAN: Yeah, thank you so much.

WOMAN: This is my grandma's.

She did, uh, immigrate from Russia in 1920 to Iran.

This was part of her dowry.

And this is, eh, uh, from Turkmenistan, uh, Russia.

And it's part of the bride's outfit that they put it on top of their hat.

It's supposed to have a hat right here, and they just wear it like that.

So it doesn't surprise me that your grandmother came with this from Russia and also into Iran.

Both Iran, Persia at the time, and the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union, laid claim and, and colonized parts of Turkmenistan.

Mm-hmm.

So it would have been just the moment where that transition was happening.

Uh-huh.

When it was a Russian territory at that point.

Oh, mm.

This is what they call a chyrpy.

Uh-huh.

That is the, the Turkmen term.

So this is from Turkmenistan, and specifically it would have been used in the Tekke tribe.

And like you said, this would have been worn on the head and shoulders from the front here.

But if I turn it just to show the back, you get a sense of a really important part of Turkmen garments, and that is this false sleeve.

There are armholes that fall through, but this is actually just a panel, two panels, and they're usually connected by a smaller panel here, sometimes with fringe, sometimes not.

And these would have fallen across the back of the head and the shoulders.

These were worn ceremonially, so I'm not surprised that it was part of a dowry.

Mm-hmm.

That's quite, quite common.

This is interesting as a dowry piece, because these dark-ground silk-embroidered chirpies would have been worn specifically by married women in times of ceremony.

Mm-hmm.

And it's in immaculate condition.

Oh.

Probably late 19th, maybe early 20th century, but I'm going to say about circa 1900.

Uh-huh.

This is all hand-embroidered on silk, in silk.

And it's a technique, uh, the stitch is called kesdi, and there are different variations of the tulip all throughout.

Uh-huh.

And this was a symbol of fertility.

Uh-huh.

So this is why you see it attached to dowries, to marriage garments, so often.

I see.

And the lining on the full interior is a really beautiful pattern of block-printed cotton.

A chit is what they would call these fabrics.

C-H-I-T. Uh-huh.

They do come up on the market.

Uh-huh.

But they often have condition issues.

Uh-huh.

And those tend to go in the range of anywhere from $500 to $1,500.

But I think that, given the condition of this... Mm-hmm.

...in a retail setting, I think you're looking at about $2,500 to $3,500, um, conservatively.

Yes.

All right, all right.

It's a really wonderful piece.

Thank you so much.

So your grandmother never wore it.

It was just...

Yes, it was just... ...part of this, and... ...part of the dowry, and it was very special.

♪ ♪ It's a Japanese poster for "The Magnificent Seven."

I don't know if it's an original vintage one or not.

I bought it from a record store in L.A. for my dad for Christmas because my dad thinks Steve McQueen's the coolest guy in the world.

I think I paid $45.

So, yeah, it came in the frame.

The frame itself is probably worth $45, right?

My wife's great-uncle was kind of a collector.

He left her several rugs.

This was one of many.

There's actually several others that are larger, but I thought I'll bring this one in because I could fit it in my backpack.

(laughs) WOMAN: It was a gift from my grandmother.

She moved to California in the middle '50s.

And she sent one of these cels to, one to me and one to each of my brothers.

I don't know where the others are.

Mm-hmm.

This is the one I saved, it was my brother's.

But... What year was this?

1956, I think.

And there was a Donald Duck.

Mm-hmm.

And there was a Cinderella.

Um...

It was '56 or '59, I can't remember.

Well, it would have had to have been 1959, be...

Okay.

Um, because you know what movie this is from?

No.

This is from 1959's "Sleeping Beauty" by Walt Disney Studios.

This is the character of Maleficent.

When "Sleeping Beauty" first came out, it was an abject failure.

It just didn't do well in the theaters.

So this is an actual animation cel used in 1959's "Sleeping Beauty" by Walt Disney Studios.

We also know where she bought it.

Where?

We know that she bought it at Disneyland.

Because if you look on the back of it, behind this chipped frame and cardboard, you've got, "This is an original hand-painted celluloid drawing actually used as a Walt Disney production," et cetera, et cetera.

These were actually sold at the Art Corner at Disneyland in the 1950s.

And you could literally go into Disneyland on Main Street, stop in the store, and buy a cel from your favorite Disney film.

This is important.

If you didn't have this sticker, you wouldn't know exactly where she had purchased it from.

When you're valuing cels, there's a whole range of values.

It's based on the importance of the movie.

The popularity of the character.

How good of a scene is it?

What does the art look like?

Is it original background, is it a hand-painted background, or is it a printed background?

Well, on this particular one, it is a printed background.

It's not hand-drawn by an, a Disney artist.

And it's just a great character scene.

The character she was based off of was the 1950s camp icon Vampira, whose shows been, like, "Plan 9 in Outer Space."

It was based on that same actress.

And it's just a great smiling scene for the Mistress of Evil.

It's in wonderful condition.

Got a little bit of wrinkling on it, which is typical of cels.

That's just the way they are.

The frame itself is kind of in rough shape.

(laughing) It's all falling apart.

I highly recommend that you get it reframed on acid-free paper, acid-free matting, to keep it preserved for the next few generations.

Okay.

Maleficent, because of the recent Angelina Jolie movie, has become all sorts of popular all over again.

And that's why this one has particularly high value.

If this came up at auction, in this current condition, I give an auction estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.

Thank you.

You should thank your grandmother.

Yes!

(both laughing) And what would your brother say, knowing that you'd stolen this?

I might not tell him.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Ivy is a plant that has a long history here.

And today, Filoli has one of the largest collections of ivy plants in the world, with approximately 400 varieties.

♪ ♪ Well, I brought you some pieces from my great-aunt Charla Ilgner.

She was a female silversmith and pewterer in the '30s into the '60s, first in Portland and then in Southern California.

She got into this kind of by accident.

She took an art class for her mother because her mother had to go somewhere, and so she took a metalworking class, and found out that she could work metal very well.

When she won a few golf championships, she then put in a couple of bids to create a golf trophy for them, and they liked it.

People started being interested in these pieces that she was making, and one of them happened to be a buyer for Bullocks Wilshire in Los Angeles.

With the advent of World War II, when you couldn't get precious metals, she put it aside for a little bit and went to work in an airplane factory as an inspector.

And eventually, in 1947, she moved to Laguna Beach.

She really kept producing almost until her death.

What a phenomenal life she led.

And especially in the '30s, before World War II, to have a female metalworker.

Right.

And then especially in silver.

And so amazingly talented.

And you very kindly brought along several news articles, one of which we have here today, which outlines her life and actually has her together with a drawing of, it looks like a teapot and, and also a trophy that she's doing.

Yes.

And you have this wonderful book.

And first of all is this really exceptional photograph of her standing with pieces that she had made herself.

And the silver tray in the shape of a pear is, like... Yeah.

...to die for.

And you've got two more images here of her.

She's physically working the silver here.

Yes.

And also, ironically, in her probably same, same uniform that she wore, she's just finishing off at what looks to be a punch set here.

Yes.

Which is so beautiful.

And then perhaps just one of my favorite pages in this entire group is this page here, for the drawing.

Whenever you see an artist's rendering, this is her imagination, her first initial thoughts on a piece being laid down on paper, is so great to see.

Then we have the real thing.

We've got objects here.

(chuckling): Right.

We have two very nice small silver examples, but the pièce de résistance, and this centerpiece here, is this bowl, which is just amazing.

You can see its fabulous, hand-hammered nature all the way through.

Mm.

And you can also see here these floral rosettes pierced at the bottom.

There's a real strength and robustness to it.

It's not delicate.

This is actually signed, as well, by the maker.

It says "Hand-wrought, Charla Ilgner," right here on the base.

And the other pieces are similarly signed, as well.

It's heavy.

Yes, it is.

It's got a lot of weight.

(chuckling) Each one of these pieces would have been hand-wrought...

Yes.

...and likely commissions.

The silver bowl, which lines up with the photographs, we date to the mid-1930s.

The smaller examples here could possibly have been after the war, so dating to the '50s.

Very few, like, maybe less than five examples... Mm-hmm.

...have come up for sale of her work.

And they're all very small and quite modest in value, less than $500 kind of thing.

Yeah.

But nothing of this magnitude has come up for sale.

But it's important when we're looking at the value is, we're looking at the entirety.

If I were placing a value for insurance purposes on the entire group, my colleagues and I feel very confident that we would place a value of $10,000 on the entire set.

(gasps) (sobbing, laughing): You're... (voice breaking): Wow.

I, I mean, she just was another grandparent to me, so we just treasure it.

But that's mind-blowing.

We just love it, and we loved her, and I'm just so blessed to have it.

MAN: This was my grandfather's violin.

APPRAISER: The bird's eye maple back is fabulous.

So is that date around 1910, 1920s?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, great.

Yeah.

And then in terms of value, it's not going to be a great value.

That's just a good playing instrument.

Sentimental value, definitely.

Right.

If you commissioned Salvador Dalí to illustrate a book for you, you got exactly what he wanted to draw.

MAN: Of course.

This is the correct first edition of it.

It came in a box rather than a dust jacket, and the box is pretty tattered, but it's done a good job of preserving the condition of the book.

Well, I inherited the lamp a year ago when my father passed away.

Back, um, in the '50s, my grandmother worked for wealthy people in Atherton and Menlo Park area, and apparently she found this lamp that was down in the basement-- it was a dirt basement-- crusted with dirt, and she brought it home, cleaned it up, and she gave it to my mother.

I did some research on it.

I, uh, found out it was a, a Tiffany Lotus Bell table lamp.

You're correct.

This is a Tiffany Studios Lotus Bell table lamp.

The lotus shade itself is supposed to resemble a lotus leaf opening up.

And the lotus design came in two different forms, the bell shape-- as you see here-- and then a nice flat shape, and that was around 25 or 26 inches in diameter.

And this is an actually, kind of an early one.

I try not to stress the importance on a signature, but in this case, it does matter.

The underside of the base is stamped with the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company monogram, as well as "Tiffany Studios, New York," and a five-digit number.

The five-digit numbers indicate that this was made between 1902 and 1904.

And after that, uh, as we were going towards 1906, when they started to publish catalogues, the catalogues usually had, uh, three-digit numbers or four-digit numbers that corresponded with the numbers on the lamps.

And, and so we know this is an early one.

Additionally, on the shade, there's a teeny little tag that is stamped "Tiffany Studios, New York."

That tag was usually applied to a shade between 1902 and 1904.

The patina on the leading on the shade does not match the patina on the base.

This, this kind of finish is something that you'd see early on.

We called it a statuary bronze finish.

But the leading on the shade has a brown patina on it.

But nevertheless, this is an original.

You see this switch here.

That's not an original Tiffany switch.

What you would normally find on this kind of base would be a matching little ribbed switch, which basically echoes what's going on in the fluted design on the base.

Mm-hmm.

The socket's been changed.

That does affect the value of the lamp, although it can be put back.

People do have original parts.

It's been very elastic with this.

In 2020, a lamp like this sold at auction for $17,000.

In 2019, a lamp like this sold for $37,500 at auction, which makes you worry a little bit.

(chuckling): However, however, they are going up because this is a very desirable kind of lamp.

Collectors today are very drawn to the more geometric lamps, which this is.

Mm-hmm.

In the condition it's in, I would say $35,000 to $45,000 retail.

Wow.

If you were able to ch, get the switch and the socket back the way it should be... Mm-hmm.

...it would be on the higher end, maybe $45,000 to $50,000.

Wow.

That's exciting.

I love buried treasure.

Me, too.

(laughs) So this picture is my great-grandfather, who was a Naval surgeon.

He went to City College of New York, and then enlisted in the Navy, and served in World War II.

After he got back, he started doing surgeries in Harlem.

And in the time around the 1940s, he was trading surgeries and medical practices for art and art pieces.

There's a little inscription on the painting that says "To Skip and Florence, with love from Spinky."

It's also written "Charles H.

Alston."

How did your great-grandfather wind up practicing in Harlem?

I think they moved there before or after the war, or some, sometime around then.

We don't know that much about what they were doing day to day, but just that Florence was an art collector, and, uh, had a huge appreciation for art, and that Skip was a general surgeon.

My family received it probably less than ten years ago.

We put it in our guest room in the back of the house because we didn't know anything about it.

I'd love to know what the money exchange was there at that time, back in the '40s or '50s, but I guess we won't know that.

Charles Henry Alston was an African American artist.

He was born in 1907 and he died in 1977.

He was born in Charlotte, and he wound up getting his undergraduate and his graduate degree at Columbia University.

His whole life, he was an artist.

He participated in the Harlem Renaissance movement.

He was very experimental.

This particular scene here is a landscape, and the medium is gouache and watercolor.

Gouache is, like, just a thick version of the watercolor.

Mm-hmm.

And that would have been something that he probably would have done earlier in his life.

As he went along, he became more experimental and he started doing Abstract Modernism.

He was the first African American teacher at the Museum of Modern Art.

Wow.

In the 1950s.

He designed an album cover for Duke Ellington.

(chuckles) So we're talking about a pretty famous guy.

Yeah.

He was a huge proponent for equality, for equal rights and civil rights.

In 1971, the Whitney did a, an exhibition of Black artist, and he refused to participate in it because he said he would never participate in an exhibit just because he was a Black artist.

Wow.

He would only do it because people loved his art and it was great.

Wow.

The market to date has probably gone with more interest in the Abstract Modernism than in the Realism.

Mm-hmm.

This piece of sculpture is a motif, the mother and child.

I think it's made out of mahogany.

It's not signed.

I couldn't find any of his sculptures that were signed.

As these things have come down through the family, was the knowledge out there that this particular sculpture was by this artist?

Yes, they were always well-known throughout the family as a pair from Charles Alston.

I have no trouble believing that this is by him.

And I think the fact that it's been descended in your family helps with that, also.

Mm-hmm.

I would say they're post-World War II, probably in the '50s or the early '60s.

When I started doing research, I found examples similar to this watercolor and gouache.

A retail price on this would be around $3,000 to $5,000.

Wow.

(breathes deeply, chuckles) And I talked to a modern specialist, and he thinks this sculpture would be worth $15,000 to $20,000.

(laughing): Oh, my gosh, wow!

It's just been hanging around our house.

(laughs) That's amazing, wow.

PEÑA: Above this gate is the Bourns' Filoli crest.

There are five wrought-iron gates throughout the gardens that, in addition to being aesthetically pleasing and separate the various outdoor rooms, help keep out hungry deer.

WOMAN: My mom passed in 2003, and only maybe a year before that, we were aware that she had th, these Levi's in her closet.

Mm-hmm.

And she tells the story of how she saw them out in the street being discarded by her uncle, who lived next door... Mm-hmm.

...who was a salesman.

So we've always kind of assumed that he may have worn these.

I think these are mostly children's coveralls.

Mm-hmm.

I'm not sure.

Yet my mom saw them, I think, as a great costume.

She was, loved to perform.

Ah.

Full of antics, and she'd be thrilled today to be here with me, this is a lot of fun.

Yeah.

Well, they are made by Levi Strauss, California company.

It is a large adult-sized version...

It is adult-sized!

...of a child's romper, so you're correct in that it really would have been for a child.

And let me see if I can show you the label, which is back here.

It says "Levi Strauss and Company, San Francisco, California."

There would have been a lot number here and an age if we were looking at the ones that were actually made for children.

It buttons down the back, and then it has the buttons across for the drop seat, like a little child's outfit would have.

That's right.

But this one was probably used in the store as an advertising piece.

Ah!

It's styled like a woman's garment, with the square neckline and the shorter sleeves and the one breast pocket.

But they probably hung it up from the ceiling or high up on the wall, and then the, the woman would find that there were children's outfits to match.

Your jumpsuit, because it's obviously Levi Strauss, is made from denim, blue denim, and then accented with a red trim, in denim, on the waistline, the pocket, the neckline, and on the end of the sleeves.

It dates probably 1920s, possibly as late as 1930s.

It's a piece I've never seen.

Very rare.

And I would put a retail value on this between $4,500 and $5,500.

That is terrific, that's great, yeah!

(laughs) It, it really is a terrific price.

Yeah, that's wonderful.

Yeah.

I have a lot of people in my family... Mm-hmm.

...who will thank me for not throwing them away, which I tend to do.

Yeah, no, they're terrific.

That's great.

This is my grandmother's ring.

It was given to her on Christmas by my grandfather.

I was told it was a green diamond.

She was actually really upset that she received it because of how much money she thought he spent on it.

I got good news.

Okay.

It's a green diamond.

It's a green diamond, okay!

(chuckles) Not all green diamonds are created equally.

Okay.

Back in the '50s and '60s, they would take kind of okay diamonds and they would treat 'em, and it would change the color of the diamond.

So this is a radiated green diamond.

If this was an intense green diamond, I'd be holding at least half a million... (chuckles) ...to three-quarters of a million dollars in my hand.

Okay?

(laughing): Oh, my God!

But it, it's not a natural green diamond.

Uh-huh.

So, retail.

The value today is more in line of $2,000 to $3,000.

(chortling) (laughing) That's a big price difference.

But we're still excited that it's a green diamond.

In all the years I'm doing "Roadshow," I have not had a radiated green diamond walk in here-- you're the first.

Oh, okay!

So I have this collection of T-shirts that I've been collecting since the late '90s of gay bars, uh, gay events, gay artists, various gay things, I guess.

(chuckles) The big gay T-shirt collection.

The big gay T-shirt collection.

Uh, where did you find them?

Most of them come from thrift stores.

And how much do you pay in general?

99 cents, a dollar, five dollars.

Never more than, like, $30, $40.

You came in to the show today with a suitcase filled with these T-shirts-- how many...

I did.

How many were in that suitcase?

Probably, like, 50.

So... And I've got a couple hundred more at home.

So we have a total of 15 T-shirts here on the table.

The 15 shirts range in date from the 1970s through the 1990s.

They encompass important events in the history of the LGBTQ-plus experience in America.

Bars in both San Francisco and New York, competitions, and all sorts of different matters, uh, involving the gay community, even the work of some famous artists.

We have Rex, we have Etienne.

I know there's some Tom of Finland in here.

Artists whose names are just intertwined in the sort of visual canon of the gay experience.

In my mind, the most important and the most valuable of these is the T-shirt closest to me, for the Gay Freedom Day parade in 1978.

1970 was the first Pride parade.

And at that time, it was referred to as the Gay Liberation March.

The parade was still held every year.

A few years later, they referred to it as Christopher Street West in San Francisco, from the Christopher Street in New York...

Right.

...where the, where the Pride parades began there.

And then finally, in the mid-1970s, they called it Gay Freedom Day.

So in 1978, on June 25, was the Gay Freedom Day parade in San Francisco.

And it was an important day for two reasons.

It was the first time in America that the rainbow flag that, uh... Oh, really.

...designed by Gilbert Baker, was flown publicly.

And at the end of the parade, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay, uh, politician, councilman elected, uh, in S, California, spoke at the end of the parade.

The parade was in June.

Several months later, in November of 1978, Harvey Milk was assassinated, so this really is not so much a T-shirt, but just an incredibly important and rare historical document.

Recently, and I mean very recently-- we're in, we're in 2022 now.

In the last three or four years, LGBTQ-plus history, art, material culture, and historical items have begun to be collected more and more.

Right.

Because this is such a new market, there are not a lot of comparables, so we're sort of floundering our way around.

The Gay Freedom Day from 1978, in my opinion, at auction, an estimate for that one alone would be between $600 and $900.

If it sold for a lot more, it wouldn't surprise me.

The National Lesbian Conference shirt from 1991 and the Proud Gay American from 1993, each, I think, I would estimate them between $300 and $400.

The pieces that we have lying flat are all from various clubs in San Francisco and New York.

Uh, you told me, I didn't know, that the Stud actually closed during the pandemic.

Unfortunately.

My estimation is that each one of them, by and large, would be worth between $100 and $200 apiece.

So I did a little bit of napkin math here.

(chuckles) And the, uh, 15 pieces that we have on the table, I would estimate between $2,400 and $4,100 for the collection.

It's pretty good.

I mean, it's... For 99 cents a pop.

It's, it's pretty good at any price, actually.

Yeah.

I mean, this is such a new and exciting area of collecting, the market is only growing, and it's only going to go up.

♪ ♪ Well, when I was living in Carmel, California, I found it at a garage sale way out in Carmel Valley.

And I've had it for probably about 30 years.

And I love it.

I probably paid about $15.

I feel like it's from the Netherlands.

This is from, uh, my wife's aunt, and they gave it to us.

I think it's from Germany or Italy.

MAN: Any guess how old it was?

No, I don't.

(blows softly) I know that it's dusty.

(chuckles) It's old, I don't want to mess with it.

(chuckles) It's a family piece, and we think it came from my grandfather's family.

He was born in Portland, Oregon, and his family owned a lumber mill.

Supposedly, they had good relations with the Klickitat Native American tribe in that area.

I don't know how much of that is true, but that's what we heard.

Did you ever play with it as a child?

We were allowed to look at it.

(chuckles) But we weren't allowed to play with it.

I think it is Klickitat Indian.

Great!

There's another possibility.

Yakama.

Okay.

So these are tribes that are up on the Upper Columbia River.

What's your sense of when this came into the family?

I, I'm not sure.

My granddad was born in 1913.

It could be anywhere around then.

If I had to guess, I would have said first quarter 20th century, circa 1900-1925.

If it was new when it came into the family, then 1913, thereabouts, would make perfect sense.

The beads reflect the first part of the 20th century.

Earlier beads were made in Venice, Italy.

I think these beads, the yellow, the red, were made in Czechoslovakia.

This was made as a model of a child and a cradle.

There was never a, a living child in this.

The doll was made to fit the cradle, and they all would have been made at the same time.

But it's an exact replica of what would have been utilized for a young child in the tribe.

I don't think that this doll was made for trade.

I think it was made for a Native child.

And moms, grandmothers were making dolls and presenting them to their daughters for a variety of reasons: a toy, but also as a teaching aid.

This is a young child learning to become a mom.

This is all about protecting the child.

This hood would be up, like so.

This would be covering it.

It would protect the child from sunlight, rain, the elements.

But also, should the baby fall forward, this would catch it and protect the child.

You have red stroud cloth, you have cotton cloth, printed calico, green felt.

The hair is probably horsehair.

Native-tanned deer hide.

Mm-hmm.

The face is hide.

The facial features are very, very simple.

The earrings are abalone, which would have come down from the coast, traded up the river.

The form in the back is this piece of long-grained hardwood.

This shape is very, very distinctive of Oregon, Washington.

It's the only area that has this very, very distinctive upper panel.

And the condition is good-- it's a little tired, it has a little bit of fraying, but basically, the condition is quite good.

It is a treasure.

A doll from, uh, the Yakama, the Klickitat, the Upper Columbia River, not particularly common.

So you have something that's also rather scarce.

On a, uh, retail basis, this cradleboard and doll would be valued at about $4,500.

(softly): Oh, my goodness.

If you want to keep it in the family and you were thinking of insuring it, you might appraise this for $5,000, $5,500.

I think that would be very appropriate.

Great.

PEÑA: There are 16 acres of formal gardens at Filoli.

There are over 850 fruit trees on the estate, and over 75,000 bulbs are planted annually.

This is a California artist named Granville Redmond.

He was born in the 1870s.

He, unfortunately, at the age of two, had scarlet fever, and he was deaf for the rest of his life.

After he attended some art schools and, and went to Paris, he went to Southern California, to Los Angeles, and he met Charlie Chaplin.

And Charlie Chaplin was at the height of his career, and he hired Granville Redmond to act in some of his films.

Charlie Chaplin became sort of a patron and he let him open a studio on the lot.

But he eventually moved back to Northern California.

And that's why I love this painting, is because it's of Mount Tamalpais.

This is an early painting by Granville Redmond, probably done, uh, in the early part of the 20th century, maybe 1905, 1910.

Obviously, it's signed, uh, lower left here.

And it's a nice oil on canvas.

It's a painting of Mount Tamalpais, which is just north of San Francisco.

So Granville Redmond was one of the earliest of the California Impressionists.

He was also one of the first painters here to be painting in the Tonalist style, which was a style that started in the 1880s where they would try to use a similar tone, then use atmospheric effects like mist and fog to give a certain effect.

Okay.

And he was one of the first painters here in California to, to paint in that style.

So this is from that period.

It's in various shades of green.

Yes.

It's in pretty good condition.

There's a couple of areas where it looks like something may have poked through the painting at some point, and it might benefit from a little cleaning, but otherwise, it's a beautiful example of that period of his work.

And it's great that it's Mount Tam here.

Where did you acquire this painting?

I bought it in a local shop in the early '80s, mid-'80s.

And do you remember what you paid for it?

Yes, it's right on the back of the painting.

$250.

He's very well-known for doing landscapes that also have fields of poppies...

Right.

...or very lush flowers that are very colorful.

Those were done a little bit later.

Some of those paintings can bring as much as half-a-million dollars.

The earlier Tonalist paintings bring less.

I think that if this were to be sold at an auction, the estimate would be between $15,000 and $25,000.

Okay, good-- thank you.

That's nice to hear.

WOMAN: This was my mother's piece.

APPRAISER: You know this is Natzler, it's signed Natzler on the bottom, and let's take a look at this signature.

Gertrud and Otto met in Austria.

They fled Austria and Germany from the Nazis.

Uh-huh.

Came to America, settled in Southern California.

They made beautiful pottery together until Gertrud's death in the early '70s.

Gertrud threw the pots and Otto played with glazes.

He did more than play with glazes-- he was a master.

And the two of them made these sublime creations.

It's a perfectly thrown piece.

It's got three or four different-colored crater or volcanic glazes-- it's a real tour de force.

I've never seen this glaze before, and, and I've probably seen a couple of thousand pieces of Natzler.

They are standard bearers of mid-century ceramic design in America.

Well, you're helping me look at it with a fresh pair of eyes.

Oh, I'm, I'm just tickled about this thing.

Absolutely!

It's just a beauty-- at auction, I would estimate this for $15,000 to $20,000.

Wow.

But what of my remaining family, my children?

I hope they like pottery like I do.

It's not likely, but that's okay.

It's gonna go to them!

We can live with that.

(laughs): Right.

Of all the glazes that Natzler perfected, his blister glazes or crater glazes have been the most popular.

APPRAISER: You brought in this wonderful Walter Johnson-signed ball.

How did you get it?

From my friend Big Dick, who had it.

He was a toy salesman and a sports salesman, and after his death, his daughter gave it to me.

How do you think Big Dick got this baseball?

I'm sure he acquired it and took it to a game, perhaps.

I know he worked all over the United States.

Are you a baseball fan?

I like the Giants, I have to admit.

What do you know about Walter Johnson?

'Cause he was not a Giant, he was a Senator.

Yeah...

So actually, nothing.

Really?

Yes, I'm sorry to say.

So what attracted you to this ball?

I think the age.

We've done a lot of Babe Ruth- signed baseballs on this show.

Mm-hmm.

Walter Johnson was really his equivalent as a pitcher.

Ah!

He was known as the Big Train, because he had this blazing fastball.

And in fact, when he debuted as a rookie way back in the early 1900s, Ty Cobb said that his fastball hissed like danger.

Walter was actually born in Kansas, moved to the oil fields of California with his family, but got discovered pitching semi-pro ball in Idaho.

Ah!

The manager of Washington at that time kept getting these telegrams about this kid who was striking out everyone.

He had 77 scoreless innings.

So he sent out a second-string catcher to scout him, and they signed him that day.

Wow.

Well, Walter went on to pitch for the Senators for 21 years, starting in 1907 and retiring after the 1927 season.

He actually had ten 20-win seasons.

(softly): Wow.

And that's a major marker for pitchers.

He also had in his career 110 shutouts and over 500 complete games.

Today, you're lucky if you have a pitcher in a season that has one complete game.

Right.

He built up the Senators so much that actually, when he was getting ready to retire in 1924, the team was so good, he stayed and they made it to the World Series.

(chuckles): Wow.

And they won!

Crowning achievement for them.

That is great.

He's the second-winningest pitcher of all time, with 471 wins.

Yeah.

The only one who has more wins is Cy Young.

Oh!

He was inducted in the first class of the Hall of Fame in 1939 with Ruth and Ty Cobb.

He wouldn't throw at p, players.

He let his fastball and then his curveball do the talking.

Oh!

We see very few Walter Johnson-signed balls.

And you say, "Well, why is that?"

Two reasons.

One, in Washington, he was probably not as well-known as Ruth was, in the epicenter in New York... Oh.

...during his career.

Right.

And the second thing is, unfortunately, he passed away at a relatively young age in 1946.

He had a brain tumor.

Oh.

This is a special ball.

I've seen a number of balls over the years, Walter Johnson, and they generally sell for $5,000 to $15,000.

Wow.

We've never seen a single signed Walter Johnson ball like this ball.

This is spectacular.

If we were going to grade this ball on a scale of one to ten, the ball itself and the signature, I would say, would have to grade out at least a nine.

Oh, my gosh.

So now you've...

I, I've got goosebumps.

We like goosebumps, goosebumps are good!

(laughing) Yeah.

And you have the original box.

I would put an auction estimate of $60,000 to $80,000.

(laughing) Oh, my God.

(laughs) I cannot believe that-- that is crazy.

I believe this would sell for at least $100,000.

Oh, my gosh.

That is insane.

It's just insane.

Well, I'm thrilled, obviously.

Just shaking.

(laughing) That is crazy, thank you so much.

If you're keeping the ball, you've got to insure it for at least $150,000.

(gasps): Okay.

It is the best Walter Johnson-signed baseball that we have seen.

I'm astounded-- I could cry, truly.

That's, thank you so much.

I thought five-- I thought $5,000.

You thought $5,000?

Yeah, maybe, at the most.

PEÑA: You're enjoying "Antiques Roadshow" PEÑA: And now it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

We got a vase today that we brought in.

It got a estimated value of $110.

It's from Egypt, they said she was hand-painted, and it was meant as a gift for tourists.

So we're up $110.

Yeah, we've been all panicky!

(laughs) This is a painting that's been in my family for a while.

It's a twofer, um, there's two sides to it.

Um, it was painted by the founder of the Jefferson Airplane, um, and he was my mom's babysitter back in the late '50s- early '60s.

We found out that my mother's jewelry, her rings, she had really nice taste in gold, but, um, the gems inside were glass and quartz.

Quartz.

So she was a little on the... cheap side?

Good taste, though.

Good taste, good taste.

Fooled us both.

Good taste.

It was my grandmother's cigarette holder, and I use it to put my jewelry in.

Um, and it's very special to me because my grandmother's name was Michi, and my daughter's name is Michi.

What about me?

And you're named after my dad.

(laughs): And we had a lot of fun.

We're die-hard "Antiques Roadshow" fans.

We've been watching for years and years and years.

(laughs and exclaims) So to be able to come here and share this with her has been amazing.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."