Antiques Roadshow

I was watching Antiques Roadshow the other night and they had a segment called “Roadshow Treasures” on that episode.

An older lady brought in a federal style game table to be appraised and my two favorite appraisers, Leslie and Leigh Keno got all excited. She explained that she bought it at a garage sale a while back for $25.00. It was all black and moldy so she brought it home and cleaned it with turpentine and some type of oil. As she cleaned it she noticed that it had a nice flower vine and bow inlay on it. Leslie and Leigh were so relieved that she didn’t damage the original finish when she cleaned it.

I thought she was going to have a heart attack when they told her that they thought she could get $225,000.00 to $300,000.00 for it at a well publicized auction. Next they flip to the actual auction and the lady’s face as the auctioneer calls out bids that are being submitted. 100, 180, 200, 250, 350, 400, 440, 490.

Yep - $490,000.00! How rich do you have to be to spend almost a half a million dollars on a table no larger than an office chair? Wow, can you even imagine being that poor person who sold it to her for $25.00?

I love Antiques Roadshow and every time I watch it I think of what I have that might be super valuable 200 years from now.