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And, so long as I've forgotten what it is I sat down just now to do anyhow, I may as well recount yesterday's adventure:
I have been, on and off, an Antiques Roadshow fan since my year-abroad program. So when I heard that AR was coming to town, I thought, what the heck, and sent in to the drawing for tickets. Not expecting to be picked, because I'd mailed the postcard right at the deadline, so I was quite surprised when tickets showed up in the mail! So Mum and I rummaged about in the leavings from her grandparents and decided on the required two items a head, and off we went.
We had been sent tickets for the first entry-time, 8am; now, those who know me, of whom there are few, will immediately see the problem here, for the only time I ever see 8am is from the other side after having stayed up all night. So that's what I did. We packed ourselves onto the L bright and early, and, after a scare when the connecting bus wasn't showing up and wasn't showing up and wasn't showing up, we arrived at the AR venue right on time.
The AR staff herd the attendees into a cattle line outside the set, which leads into a triage area (yes, this is what they called it) where ticketholders show their two items and receive markers saying, for example, "sports" or "scientific instruments". A nearby docent then directs the attendee to the appropriate sublines at the appraisal tables.
Things moved surprisingly efficiently; we progressed through the cattle-line in about an hour, perhaps less (I hadn't thought to make a note of it), and at triage I was told to take my great-grandparents' pocket-watches to Clocks&Watches and the photo-cufflinks of great-grandfather to Prints&Photography (after some initial perplexity as to whether they perhaps fell into Jewelry or maybe Memorabilia?); Mum was to take Great-Grandma's china to Pottery and her old marionette to Toys&Games. The docent suggested we visit Toys&Games first, but then spotted that Clocks&Watches was unusually short at the moment...
I had come prepared with a photo of my great-grandparents, and the appraiser was pleased and amused, since it backed up the watches' provenance: both my great-grandparents worked for the railroad. His watch doesn't work, but inside the utilitarian case is a 23-jewel mechanism -- exactly the watch for a railroad man. The face of the watch is chipped, but even so, probably worth in the $200 range, so I would be well advised to try to have it fixed (which is exactly why I brought it, as I have been wondering that for years). Her watch isn't quite as good of a mechanism, but it's fancier and better preserved (and works): $250. Not too shabby.
At Pottery a slightly bored appraiser estimated great-grandma's hand-painted china at about $30 a plate, somewhat more for the couple of matching cup/saucer/dessert sets. Mum was pleased. Behind us a woman was getting filmed with her Tiffany-looking vase thingie; my vast behind may end up on-air yet...
Prints&Photographs thought the cufflinks were "neat" (but not neat enough, sigh); depending on the collector, anywhere from $20 to $75. Interesting, although I had been hoping to learn more about them; evidently they'd never seen this sort of an item either! (My theory that they were some sort of souvenir from the 1904 St Louis World's Fair seemed plausible to them...)
Toys&Games said that this was the second of this sort of marionette they'd seen already today, 1950's, even in this condition maybe $75 (it's heading for eBay! [LOL]); Mum thinks it may be older than that based on when she ended up with it, but can't really remember. Waiting in line here, I managed to drop great-grandma's watch! The loop popped off but it seemed to still be running...
On the way out I headed for the feedback booth. More to Participate, and all that, but I was delighted to discover that it was in fact video feedback, which might end up on the website or even cut into the show, so I leapt upon the release form like a starving dog (did I mention that I'm a bit of a publicity hound? :) ) and pulled out the photo and watch. In front of the camera at last, I held up my treasures and burbled something about being happy to find out that great-grandpa's watch was worth fixing, and exited the event feeling rather better about matters. Remains to be seen what will become of the tape, with MY hideous self in the middle of it...
SO, there's one more thing checked off my life-list of things to try to accomplish: attended taping of Antiques Roadshow, check; passed Jeopardy! test, check; finished novel, check; started religion, check; entered into relationship with male of species... um, well, I'm still interviewing candidates for that one (see 'hideous self' remark above). Not very much left but various portions of the travel itinerary... I have to get myself some new goals. I'll start by completing the application for this CTA art project which is the thing I sat down here just now to do, I think...
I have been, on and off, an Antiques Roadshow fan since my year-abroad program. So when I heard that AR was coming to town, I thought, what the heck, and sent in to the drawing for tickets. Not expecting to be picked, because I'd mailed the postcard right at the deadline, so I was quite surprised when tickets showed up in the mail! So Mum and I rummaged about in the leavings from her grandparents and decided on the required two items a head, and off we went.
We had been sent tickets for the first entry-time, 8am; now, those who know me, of whom there are few, will immediately see the problem here, for the only time I ever see 8am is from the other side after having stayed up all night. So that's what I did. We packed ourselves onto the L bright and early, and, after a scare when the connecting bus wasn't showing up and wasn't showing up and wasn't showing up, we arrived at the AR venue right on time.
The AR staff herd the attendees into a cattle line outside the set, which leads into a triage area (yes, this is what they called it) where ticketholders show their two items and receive markers saying, for example, "sports" or "scientific instruments". A nearby docent then directs the attendee to the appropriate sublines at the appraisal tables.
Things moved surprisingly efficiently; we progressed through the cattle-line in about an hour, perhaps less (I hadn't thought to make a note of it), and at triage I was told to take my great-grandparents' pocket-watches to Clocks&Watches and the photo-cufflinks of great-grandfather to Prints&Photography (after some initial perplexity as to whether they perhaps fell into Jewelry or maybe Memorabilia?); Mum was to take Great-Grandma's china to Pottery and her old marionette to Toys&Games. The docent suggested we visit Toys&Games first, but then spotted that Clocks&Watches was unusually short at the moment...
I had come prepared with a photo of my great-grandparents, and the appraiser was pleased and amused, since it backed up the watches' provenance: both my great-grandparents worked for the railroad. His watch doesn't work, but inside the utilitarian case is a 23-jewel mechanism -- exactly the watch for a railroad man. The face of the watch is chipped, but even so, probably worth in the $200 range, so I would be well advised to try to have it fixed (which is exactly why I brought it, as I have been wondering that for years). Her watch isn't quite as good of a mechanism, but it's fancier and better preserved (and works): $250. Not too shabby.
At Pottery a slightly bored appraiser estimated great-grandma's hand-painted china at about $30 a plate, somewhat more for the couple of matching cup/saucer/dessert sets. Mum was pleased. Behind us a woman was getting filmed with her Tiffany-looking vase thingie; my vast behind may end up on-air yet...
Prints&Photographs thought the cufflinks were "neat" (but not neat enough, sigh); depending on the collector, anywhere from $20 to $75. Interesting, although I had been hoping to learn more about them; evidently they'd never seen this sort of an item either! (My theory that they were some sort of souvenir from the 1904 St Louis World's Fair seemed plausible to them...)
Toys&Games said that this was the second of this sort of marionette they'd seen already today, 1950's, even in this condition maybe $75 (it's heading for eBay! [LOL]); Mum thinks it may be older than that based on when she ended up with it, but can't really remember. Waiting in line here, I managed to drop great-grandma's watch! The loop popped off but it seemed to still be running...
On the way out I headed for the feedback booth. More to Participate, and all that, but I was delighted to discover that it was in fact video feedback, which might end up on the website or even cut into the show, so I leapt upon the release form like a starving dog (did I mention that I'm a bit of a publicity hound? :) ) and pulled out the photo and watch. In front of the camera at last, I held up my treasures and burbled something about being happy to find out that great-grandpa's watch was worth fixing, and exited the event feeling rather better about matters. Remains to be seen what will become of the tape, with MY hideous self in the middle of it...
SO, there's one more thing checked off my life-list of things to try to accomplish: attended taping of Antiques Roadshow, check; passed Jeopardy! test, check; finished novel, check; started religion, check; entered into relationship with male of species... um, well, I'm still interviewing candidates for that one (see 'hideous self' remark above). Not very much left but various portions of the travel itinerary... I have to get myself some new goals. I'll start by completing the application for this CTA art project which is the thing I sat down here just now to do, I think...