TOUGH SLEDDING

This classic 1930s Art Deco sled, still in relatively good condition considering its age, brought a four-figure price at auction in 2014. Below is an alternate view showing the steering handle under the “hood.” (Photo courtesy of Treadway Galleries)

Remember when winter brought out the daredevil in us? A snowstorm, a hill (the steeper the better), and a sled was all we needed to get us out there making high-speed runs over and over again. Sure, the snow would start creeping down our boots and into our gloves/mittens. And our hats would invariably get caked with ice particles. And we knew we’d be facing a few days of chapped faces. But we’d sled until we couldn’t anymore, or until the threat of frostbite got too serious.

The type of sled we used didn’t truly matter—or maybe it did. If we were lucky, we’d have something really nifty and unusual—like the beauty shown here. This Art Deco sled dates to the the 1930s, so the style may have eluded most of us. Too bad—it looks like a fast one. It’s definitely valuable, too: It turned up at Treadway Galleries in December 2014 and sold for $7,320. Made of aluminum, enameled steel, and vinyl fabric, the sled measures 54 inches long and 18 inches wide.A similar sled sold in 2013 at Wright Auctions in Chicago. Made around 1935 and bearing the same sort of Art Deco design, the one pictured below has measurements of 55.5 inches long and 16.5 inches wide. It brought $3,000 despite missing a side handle and showing heavy use. Somebody had a lot of fun on this one over many years, judging by its dents and nicks on apparently rough slope.

These vintage Art Deco designs sure look like they could break speed records, if we could just take one of ’em out for one more run….

This similar Art Deco sled, bearing evidence of innumerable joy rides down tough slopes, fetched $3,000. An alternate angle appears below. (Photos courtesy of Wright Auctions)

HONEST ABE… A CHICAGO SHOWSTOPPER

Having covered more than 30 Antiques Roadshow events over the past 12 years, I’ve learned to keep my eyes open for newsworthy scenes while on site. During a long day of wall-to-wall appraisals at any and every venue, the opportunities are nonstop.

An artist’s rendition of Abraham Lincoln as he appeared during his 1860 presidential campaign.

It was no different in Chicago this summer, when Antiques Roadshow visited McCormick Place. In the midst of a typically busy day, I noticed a large, striking poster in the center taping area.

Created before the 1860 presidential election, the poster features illustrations of candidate Abraham Lincoln and his running mate, Hannibal Hamlin. Their images are accompanied by short biographies and surrounded by a graphic rendering of a rail fence.

Above the Lincoln/Hamlin illustrations is one of George Washington along with the words “National Republican Chart/Presidential Campaign, 1860.” Underneath Lincoln and Hamlin is a map of the United States that had been color-coded to show which of our 31 states at the time were free and which allowed slavery.

Encircling the portraits and map were smaller illustrations of all 15 men who had served as president up to that point. All kinds of detailed information also had been shoehorned onto the poster, from statistics on slavery to the total area of each state, and from the birth date of each president to the results of each presidential election between 1796 and 1856.

The poster itself was impressive enough, but I also was struck by the way appraiser Christopher Lane stood like a statue, staring at it, for what seemed like an hour (it was really only a few minutes). He was deep in thought, clearly soaking in the poster’s enormous display of American history.

Appraiser Christopher Lane of Philadelphia Print Shop absorbs early American history as presented on a rare poster he was about to appraise at the Chicago Antiques Roadshow on July 26.

Within 10 minutes, the cameras were rolling as Lane told the poster’s owner that it has a value today of around $14,000.

Afterwards, I asked the appraiser about those moments before the taping, when he seemed to be “zoned out” while studying the poster. It appeared to me, I told him, that he was half planning out the points he wanted to make during his appraisal and half marveling at the piece.

“Actually, you got me on that,” he said. “I was admiring it as well as thinking about how to best convey what a great piece it is in a three-minute appraisal.”

Understand that Lane—even though he’s been running Philadelphia Print Shop for three decades and has been an Antiques Roadshow appraiser for nearly two decades—has never seen this poster in front of him before.

“It has come up at auction a couple of times since 2000, but in worse shape than this,” he said. “I have never seen one in person, though I had seen the listings of the ones at auction. This was a poster that people would pretty much just stick up on the wall in their homes or at a bar or club, and so most were destroyed.  I doubt anyone bothered to frame it at the time. So it’s quite a bit rarer than the typical ‘frameable’ prints of the period.”

Lane also explained that it “wasn’t really a campaign poster put out by the Lincoln campaign. Instead, it was a commercial poster put out by the publisher, H.H. Lloyd, basically to sell and make money for [his company]. He also issued a Democratic poster [Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel Johnson] to sell to the Democrats .”

The poster’s jam-packed appearance commands attention. “The Lincoln poster is, just on a graphic basis, really striking,” Lane said, noting the illustrations of the rail fence encircling a beardless Lincoln. “But it’s also chock-a-block filled with details that show all the concerns and plans of Lincoln and his party.

“It really is so full of incredible information about Lincoln and the Republican party at the time,” he added. “That party was founded just four years earlier, basically over the issue of the expansion of slavery into the territories of the west. The inclusion of the map on the poster was specifically to make that point. In sum, it has everything I love about historical prints.”

A close-up look at the H.H. Lloyd Republican party poster from 1860.

BASEBALL BONANZA: AN 1870s REVELATION

The “other” Wright Brothers as captured on 1871-72 cards: professional baseball pioneers and Boston Red Stockings stars Harry Wright (captain, outfielder, and occasional pitcher) and his brother George Wright (“short stop”). [Photos by Larry Canale]

Leila Dunbar has been serving as an Antiques Roadshow appraiser for 19 years and has been a dealer, auction-house director, and auctioneer for nearly three decades. The daughter of a salvage-yard owner in Maynard, Mass., she grew up around antique and collectible “stuff,” got involved in the family business as a teen and while in college, and went on to serve around 10 years at Sotheby’s coordinating major sports and entertainment auctions.

But Dunbar had never seen anything like the 1871-72 Boston Red Stockings baseball cards that landed on her table during Antiques Roadshow‘s stop in New York on Aug. 9. Dunbar appraised the cards along with several related artifacts at a cool $1 million.

It’s a monumental find—the biggest sports item, dollar-wise, ever to get taped for television at an Antiques Roadshow event—and a reminder that even when you think you’ve seen everything, an undiscovered relic can turn up. “No one could have ever expected that something like this would exist,” Dunbar says, “but I have found that even today, rarities are being discovered. That is the beauty of Antiques Roadshow.”

The million-dollar appraisal figure, she emphasizes, is based on insurance value, rather than auction or retail estimates. “We determined an insurance value because the guest has no intention of selling,” Dunbar explains. “She  wants to keep the archive in the family. The  archive was valued as one group because, given the provenance, the total value is greater than the individual parts. It is unique.”

The 1870s stash centered on 12 paper-thin cards hand-cut — though not very well — from scorecards published by Mort Rogers, a former player. One of them is a collage of players — “The Boston 11.” The other 11 cards of are single-player issues featuring a sepia-toned image topped by a banner reading “Photographic Card.” (Mort Rogers’ name originally appeared above those words.)

The lot also included an album that housed the cards; the earliest known cabinet card of Albert G. Spalding; a game pass; and a handwritten letter.

The latter document may have the most value: It includes notes and signatures from future Hall of Famers Spalding, Harry Wright, and George Wright, among other players. The double-sided letter’s content involves the meals the players were getting while on the road playing in Washington. Apparently, it wasn’t as inviting as the meals they were used to at their Boston-area boardinghouse, run by Mrs. Parker. Harry Wright wrote: “I am just going up stairs to supper and feel awful hungry but do not expect much, poor meals here. Too hungry to say more.” Spalding: “‘Would that we were home again.’ My sentiments have been expressed in the above paragraphs….”

Sports appraiser Leila Dunbar and Antiques Roadshow supervising producer Sam Farrell flank the owner of a collection of virtually unknown 1870s baseball cards and related memorabilia.

Dunbar was visibly wowed by the find, as were her fellow sports memorabilia appraisers at Antiques Roadshow. The owner of the collection (her name was withheld) was, naturally, excited as well, but also surprisingly calm considering the seven-figure valuation. She had been offered $5,000 for the collection a while back but declined. Smart move. She said she inherited the collection from her great-great-grandmother — the same woman who ran the Boston boardinghouse where the Red Stockings stayed in the early 1870s. Charlie Parker, her son, was the baseball fan who owned the season pass and collected (and trimmed and stashed) the player photographs from the scorecards.

The find, Dunbar says, “is extraordinary in that it combines some of the earliest known photo cards of the pioneers of pro baseball, the earliest photo cabinet card of Spalding, and a letter that shows the human side of the players — an intimate glimpse into their lives and their relationship with the owner of the boardinghouse, which really was their home during the season.”

The website Baseball-Reference.com shows that the 1872 Boston franchise finished first in the old National Association with a 39-8 record. The team’s leading hitter was second baseman Ross Barns (.430).

On the mound, Albert Spalding was the man. In those days, pitchers tended to throw complete games almost all of the time. There were no five-man rotations or bullpens packed six or seven deep with relievers. So Spalding pitched — per baseball’s record books — 404 innings in the Red Stockings’ 47-game season and compiled a 38-8 record. Harry Wright is the only other name to show up in the team’s pitching stats: He tossed 25 innings, won one game, and saved four others during the season. Both men were tough to hit: The rubber-armed Spalding had an ERA of 1.85 and Wright’s was 2.10. Boston’s starting lineup usually went the distance, too. After all, the team’s bench included just one utility man — in this case Dave Birdsall, who played in 16 games. (The 11th player to be pictured on a card in this collection never actually got into a game for Boston.)

The National Association was one of a number of professional baseball leagues to sprout up during the era. It disbanded after the 1875 season, which featured a fourth straight title by the Bostons. The following season, the Red Stockings moved on to the fledgling National League and ultimately would become, yes, the Atlanta Braves. In between, they were the Boston Beaneaters (1883-1906), Doves (1907-1910), Rustlers (1911), Braves (1912-1935), Bees (1936-1940), and Braves again (1941-1952). They moved west to Milwaukee in 1953 and played as the Braves until moving to Atlanta in 1966.

So the biggest story during Antiques Roadshow‘s visit to New York, ironically, involved Boston baseball. What are the odds?

For me, personally, the find ranks among the most memorable I’ve seen at Antiques Roadshow events over 13 years (see earlier blogs). To be honest, there was another big-ticket, eye-popping baseball item that was about to land in this space, but… as I wrote last time, it’ll have to wait.

The million-dollar baseball collection, with “Photographic Cards” and a letter signed by two future Hall of Famers leading the way.

BEGINNER’S LUCK

Are you a treasure hunter? If so, you’ve probably spent countless hours scouring antiques malls and shops, estate sales, flea markets, and yard sales in search of the elusive “big find.” Two decades ago, it seemed like our chances were better than they are now. Television and the Internet have made all of us more aware of what has value; a more educated public makes that “eureka!” moment more difficult to stumble upon. But there are still worthy finds out there.

Since 2001, I’ve been editing Antiques Roadshow Insider, the monthly newsletter licensed by the popular PBS program Antiques Roadshow (www.pbs.org/antiques). Over the years, I’ve attended more than two dozen Antiques Roadshow appraisal events, and every city produces newsworthy finds, as the program’s longtime viewers know.

Sometimes, the finds are in your own home. And what better way to illustrate the point than with a story from Antiques Roadshow‘s (and Insider‘s) archives?

It was June 2001, and our premiere issue of Insider had just shipped to readers. On a hot and sunny day in Tucson, Arizona, I nosed around the city’s crowded convention center. It was my very first Antiques Roadshow event, and a great way to get started. In the middle of the day, I happened to be in the center taping area, listening from a few feet away as Tribal Arts expert Donald Ellis told a guest named Ted that his Navajo weaving was worth $350,000–$500,000. “You, sir, have a national treasure,” Ellis said in a prototypical “Antiques Roadshow moment.”

Moments after the big revelation, appraiser Donald Ellis (right) poses with Ted, owner of a very special Navajo weaving.

What made the textile so special? The condition, the weaving, the fact that it was a Ute first-phase wearing blanket made for a chief. “This is Navajo weaving in its purest form,” Ellis said. “All of these [design] things that we see later, with diamonds and all kinds of different patterns, come much later than this. This is just a pure linear design. This is the beginning of Navajo weaving.

The texture, too, wowed Ellis (shown at right in the photo here). “This is almost like silk,” he said. “It’s made from hand-woven wool, but it’s so finely done, it’s like silk.”

Immediately after the taping, I found myself interviewing Ted. He was trembling, understandably, and smiling from ear to ear, as was his wife. They said they had no idea that their weaving was a six-figure piece. To them, it w as just a blanket they had hung on the back of a kitchen chair for 20-plus years. I asked if they’d likely keep it or put it up for sale. Ted said he didn’t know for sure, but it was awful tempting to test the waters. A couple of years later, he did just that, surrendering their “national treasure” to the auction block. It did even better than expected, reeling in $550,000.

You can still view the original appraisal at Antiques Roadshow‘s website (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200101A48.html), and it’s still a thrill to see it play out. We should all have such a treasure hanging around our homes….

Pictured: Ted and his wife hold the surprise of their life: a six-figure Navajo weaving that had been hanging out in their kitchen for decades. [Photos by Timothy Cole.]

 

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