Comments on: My Antiques Roadshow Experience Part II

By: michelle ann

michelle ann — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:10:19 +0000

Hi, I went to the Roadshow here in Poenix and have to agree with you 100% on all aspects of your blog. It was a fun day though, I just wanted to see it up close and personal and prove to myself I am just a smart as the television appraisers.

By: PJ

PJ — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:05:54 +0000

Hi,
I looked at the painting and it looks Indian to me..(as in from India)

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:10:17 +0000

I read your roadshow review and I must say, after the part about that Twilight Zone episode, I was getting a serious case of cold feet about going to the Raleigh Show. But since a friend gave us his tickets to use, I felt I couldn’t bail out at the last minute. Now, first I just want to say that my tickets were for the very first hour. I swear we didn’t wait that long on line – maybe 30 -35 minutes tops before getting to the triage station (we got there at 7:45 for the 8am entry). Here’s one tip – ask a volunteer to look at your appraisal tickets to see which ones are close to each other. You can save a lot of time that way. They will punch more than one ticket if the appraisers are near each other. We had no wait for books. At our next stop, Dolls, there was only one person ahead of us. The longest wait for us was for Porcelain/Pottery but even that was no longer than 20 minutes. Since Jewelry was near it, we didn’t have to go back out into line – just had the volunteer inside the ring punch our card. Just a couple of folks ahead of us there. Definitely looked like the line for Paintings was the longest but since we didn’t have one, it didn’t effect us. So if you have tickets that let you choose any time to get in (like the ones you get if you donated to your PBS station) – go early! I can agree with the fact that the appraisers don’t know everything but not one of the ones we went to gave us the impression of being jaded. They were all polite and tried to be helpful. Maybe we just got lucky or they just don’t get jaded until later in the day. I realize this is all to get fodder for a tv show but hey, I love watching the show and appreciate everyone who goes. They’re the people I thank for entertaining us with their treasures! As Sue says above, don’t take any appraisers word as gospel but then again, don’t take anyone else’s experiences as gospel either. Hope everyone out there, planning to attend a Roadshow this summer, has a fun time!

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:06:17 +0000

I can add some things here what to do and not do.
1) Don’t go in with any expectations on value; if you can’t help yourself, be a little cynical about the whole thing ahead of time so you’ll come out feeling better in the end.

2) Don’t take their word as gospel

3) don’t bring in anything from Ebay or anything you bought recently that is “contemporary” (say made in 1950′s on) UNLESS you have something super special or some really awesome story and you know it’s probably worth a lot.

4) They seem to like the same old stuff: ie Babe Ruth signed baseballs from the golden era; graphic travel or hippie posters (first generations only unless super rare); tiffany or Lutz glass/lamp; Rookwood/Sevres or other main porcleain that is extremely well done… and 18th century and up to early 18th century furniture from Philly, Boston etc. Those are the things that make it in. Don’t bring: modern sports memoribilia or autographs (unless say you got Marilyn, the Beatles and James Dean etc and have a way cool story to match it).

5) remember if it’s a treasure to you and you love it, the value doesn’t matter. Regardless what they say!

By: john hopper

john hopper — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:01:37 +0000

Hmmm interesting. It does look very much as if it is a TV show rather that an antique festival. I suppose the show and ratings are more important than indepth appraisals, and you can’t really blame anyone for that, but it’s probably better to stay at home and watch it on TV, rather than be disappointed by taking part.

There was once a very funny episode of Frasier with the Antiques Roadshow as a theme.

By: woodwright

woodwright — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:22:02 +0000

I agree with your appraisal of the Roadshow John. Our experience was similar and we had the same feeling when we left – we would never make the 5 hr. drive (each way) to do it again. We saw some interesting things, talked to some interesting people & learned a little more than we knew before going – but had much higher expectations.
Certainly there are some very knowledgable people there, but no one knows everything about everything, and unless you are lucky enough to see an appraisor who is very familiar with whatever treasure you have brought (and the odds are stacked against you), you will get their best guestimation – that is all they have time to give you. You will be one of many thousands and so will your item, so your appraisal time will be very limited (about 2 minutes).
The experience is not what you see on TV. I think most people confuse what they see on TV with reality – but the truth is that TV is generally a staged, sensationalized distortion of reality.