Grounds For Sculpture, Hour 3

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: The surprises keep coming, as "Antiques Roadshow" explores more treasures at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey.

I've seen paintings by Burliuk that just are to die for.

Golly.

(laughs) That's amazing.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Grounds For Sculpture is a place where art and nature are complementary elements, integrating the display of sculpture with the beauty of nature.

When the park project began in 1989, there were only 15 maple trees on the vacant, overgrown lot.

Today, there are over 2,000 trees representing more than 100 species: thousands of trees, bushes, and flowering shrubs; and the landscape is still evolving.

Visitors can enjoy this sculpture park, arboretum, and museum year-round.

"Antiques Roadshow" is enjoying seeing the treasures that are coming in today.

MAN: I, uh, purchased a home in West Reading, Pennsylvania, from a, a friend and neighbor, and this was in the basement over in the corner, and the lady explained that it had come from a hotel in downtown Reading years ago, and she and her husband salvaged it out of that.

And I know it's a J.L.

Mott.

That's about what I'm familiar... Well, we know for a fact it's a J.L.

Mott, because it says so right here in the front.

It sure does.

Yes, it does.

Yeah, that's a hard one to miss.

Do you remember what year you got this?

It was in the late 1980s in West Reading, is when I purchased it originally, in the home, and, and then, uh, removed it from the home probably around 2000 to where I currently live.

And bathing, of course, has a long, illustrious tradition amongst the human race.

Started with the Romans, pretty much.

But about 1883, a guy named Kohler put feet, you know, really great feet on the bottom of a horse trough filled up with water and called it a bathtub.

And J.L.

Mott was right there with him.

They sold stuff on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

1883, wealthy people start having bathtubs and indoor plumbing.

I read that, that in the early 20th century, less than one percent of the houses in America had indoor plumbing.

So this piece was really cutting-edge and really pioneering.

So the material that this bathtub is made out of are, are quintessential Victorian.

We have porcelain over cast iron, we have an oak frame.

I believe the feet are made out of brass or bronze.

On this end, we actually opened this piece up and we found a date of 1887, which helps us get an idea when it's from.

It is absolutely a great piece.

J.L.

Mott made wonderful Victorian pieces.

He starts making bathtubs in 1883, so this is probably made about the turn of the century, 1890, 1895, possibly 1900.

And these are some of the greatest claw feet I've ever seen.

I-- if I'm not mistaken, I believe they are duck feet.

Okay.

Which, which, which I absolutely love, and, and it's somewhat, uh, you know, I think connected with having a bathtub.

(laughs) I love that.

I love duck feet on a bathtub.

(laughing): Okay.

And they're gorgeous to, to boot.

So this is a very small bathtub.

Do you have any ideas what, what it was used for?

I thought-- or, initially, maybe for a, a little child, or even a footbath, something like that.

There is something called a sitz bath, and, and it could be used as, for that, as well, undoubtedly for a very wealthy family.

The whole Victoriana era has taken sort of a hit as far as pricing goes.

Mm-hmm.

However, there are exceptions, and bath items are one of those exceptions.

Even small soap stands made by this company are $400, $500, $600.

Nozzles and other bathroom accoutrements, again, are $600, $800, $900.

And bathtubs, full-size ones, are in the $6,000 to $9,000 range at auction.

This one, being a tad smaller, I would estimate at auction it would bring between $3,000 and $5,000.

This is a fantastic piece.

Oh...

I appreciate and respect the fact that you drug this into the "Antiques Roadshow."

With the help of my wife.

MAN: I brought my great-grandfather's Tiffany desk set that we recently found in an attic.

But as far as how he acquired them, we're not too sure.

I know that I have a letter holder, a letter opener, and a paper clip.

They've been boxed away for the past 30 years, and no one's seen them until just recently.

And so, unearthed treasure.

It is, yes.

So, um, they are made by Tiffany, but it's two different names of the company, because the, um, the paper clip-- which actually Tiffany referred to as a letter clip in his 1906 catalogue...

Okay.

...and this, which I would call a letter opener, but Tiffany called it a paper knife... Mm.

...work from what they called the bookmark pattern.

I still want to say paper clip, by the way, but now that I saw "letter clip" was the original term, I'm trying to adhere to that.

Mm-hmm.

It's got this wonderful, uh, cold-painted enamel design on it, which, I think that cost a little extra...

Right.

...than just not having that.

And it's really quite beautiful.

So I would date that and the paper knife 1906.

And then the other piece, this letter holder, is later.

Hm.

And it's actually at least 14 years later.

Oh, really.

And the name of the company, and in the 1920s, became Louis C. Tiffany Furnaces, Inc.

Okay.

And that's how it's marked on the bottom.

This was really, I would say, Tiffany's attempt at doing something a little more Art Deco.

Mm.

You really don't see that much of it coming out of Tiffany.

When we think of, uh, Tiffany Studios, we think more of, an, sort of an Art Nouveau taste.

And this actually came in different colors.

You could also buy it in green and you could also buy it in red.

Mm.

These are all made of bronze, and then it has a gilded finish on it.

Okay.

And they actually used 24-karat gold finishes on these things.

So, in a retail shop today, we'll start with the paper knife.

Um, that would sell for between $200 and $300.

And then the letter clip... (chuckling): ...would sell for between $700 and $900.

Mm-hmm.

And then, this is actually the most, most desirable piece.

And this would sell anywhere from maybe $2,000 to $2,500.

How wonderful.

I have a feeling, since these were in a box for 30 years, that's probably why they maintained the finish.

They are.

Then I took them out of the box and put them in a curio just as they were.

I didn't touch them and do anything and just left them alone.

They're all still useful.

You can still use the paper knife, or letter opener, and you can see that it has been used.

Mm-hmm.

It's got a little bend in it.

But it's meant to be used, and that's an acceptable change in the object.

Mm-hmm.

Well, it's wonderful to know.

That's great, thank you.

PEÑA: The sculptures here invite visitors to contemplate the powerful connection between art objects and curated natural spaces.

"Monet's Bridge," by the sculpture garden's founder, Seward Johnson, was inspired by the work "Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge" by French painter Claude Monet.

♪ ♪ MAN: Back in the '70s, I used to frequent a lot of flea markets.

This one I picked up in about mid- or late '70s.

And it was a big farmers' market, and I walked up to one table, and I was looking through the boxes, and there were some interesting, uh, frames that I wanted for my own work, myself, and this I found, it was in a different frame.

I asked the young lady how much she wanted, and she said, "Well, $25," and I said, "Well, I'll give you $15."

She, she said, "Well, how about $20?"

I said, "How about $15?"

So she said, "Okay."

So, I brought it home.

And I had it reframed, and I now currently have it on my wall with all my other farm-related drawings.

So the artist is Robert Riggs.

Correct.

He was born in Decatur, Illinois, and he came to Pennsylvania after studying for a while in New York, and established himself in Philadelphia, just across the river, and he worked principally as an illustrator.

Most of the lithographs he made-- he made some 80 or so lithographs-- were done from the advertisements or illustrations he was working on for magazines like "The Saturday Evening Post," "Life."

It's thought that he was influenced by the American printmaker George Bellows, because Riggs is best-known for his fight scenes: the boxing scenes he did, which looked back to those famous lithographs that George Bellows made, like "Stag at Sharkey's" from the teens.

Whereas Riggs was working mainly in the 1930s and 1940s, eh, a little bit into the '40s, '50s, and '60s, but he, he went into obscurity in the '50s.

He's best known for these lithographs he made in the '30s and '40s, and the title of this work is "Dust Storm."

And it's a lithograph from circa 1941 by Riggs.

Riggs was doing many of his lithographs initially as commissions for advertising campaigns, and he could sell some, too.

It's a classic Dust Bowl scene, and it's reminiscent of so many other images from this time period.

I'm thinking of that photograph of the family running to shelter in the house during a dust storm.

It very much has that mood.

It's this heroic fight against this natural force.

Riggs displays that beautifully with his technique here, and the, the, the detail to the clouds and the storm and the figural group down below there.

There's this great contrast between light and dark in this image, as well.

And with all that said, it's actually an image that was made as an advertisement for Purolator air filters in "The Saturday Evening Post."

Amazing.

But it was a successful image, and it's still one of his top lithographs to this day.

It's one of the most sought-after prints he made.

Yours looks like it's in wonderful condition.

I see just a few spots in the blank area.

He produced between 50 and 100, most likely.

Not a lot have survived.

Many are in public collections.

This is not something that you can just go out to a gallery or anywhere and buy.

I would put a replacement value on yours at $15,000.

(laughing) Winner, winner, winner!

(laughs): Good.

Well, that's not bad for a, a $15 investment.

Add a few zeros.

Nope, that's not bad.

(chuckles) WOMAN: So, back in 1998, I was working with an international organization and I was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq.

Every Friday, I would go to the, uh, Baghdadi auction hall.

One Friday, I found this thing.

I acquired it for under $20.

I had rented a home, and it had an empty buffet, and the home was kind of echoey.

So I bought this platter to put in the buffet so that it would look homey.

(chuckles) Mm-hmm.

And so then when I finished my assignment there and I was coming back, I didn't know whether I could bring it, whether it fit into the boxes, but it did and it spent years away until one Thanksgiving, I went to my cousin, and she said, "Oh, did you see my new Spode platter?"

And it was brown and white.

Mm-hmm.

It's a new collection.

And I'm, like, "I think I have one, but mine is blue and white."

She said, "Well, you may want to look into it.

This is a pretty rare platter."

Mm-hmm.

Well, it is marked on the back, it says "Spode"... Mm-hmm.

...which is the manufacturer in England.

Mm-hmm.

And then it also has the title of this piece, which is "Shooting a Leopard."

Mm-hmm.

And if we look at the scene there in the center, we have both Englishmen and Indians in India... Mm-hmm.

...on elephants, and they're on a hunt and they're hunting a leopard.

And there are dogs, which have cornered the leopard in a tree.

Spode and all other manufacturers in the Staffordshire region of England, there were many, many who made transfer ware, which is what this is.

It was inexpensive everyday pottery.

Mm-hmm.

And it had all kinds of different scenes and patterns on it.

And Spode made some of the very best.

So this sort of platter was made for more of a middle class.

This was mass-produced in huge quantities.

I mean, no one knows for sure, but probably hundreds of thousands of pieces of this pattern were made... Mm-hmm.

...and then sometimes exported all over the world.

This scene was inspired by a set of aquatints, which were issued monthly for subscribers, they were large prints... Mm-hmm.

...in 1805, and it was called "Oriental Field Sports."

And then Spode introduced this pattern in 1809.

And within a very short time, the prints were published as a book, and it was a book all about hunting exotic animals in India.

So here we are, hunting a leopard, and to a modern world, that sounds kind of gruesome, to, they hunt and kill these wild animals.

We have to look at it in historical context.

Right.

Back then, yes, they were hunting for sport... Mm-hmm.

...but they were hunting for the hides, which they used.

Right.

But they were also, uh... Leopards were considered a menace.

Oh.

They killed livestock.

Right.

They killed humans.

They, they were considered something that needed to be eliminated for safety.

We see now that that is not the best thing for our planet and for the animals.

Right.

But back then, they thought about it in a different way.

Right.

And there's another interesting issue here.

This is during the period of British colonialism.

Yes.

And wealthy Indians had always hunted for centuries.

Mm-hmm.

And so when the British were in India, they went hunting, as well.

And here, we have British citizens who are living in India hunting... Mm-hmm.

...and have Indian guides.

Mm-hmm.

These are people, this is, their living at that time...

Right.

...is taking people out hunting.

This is probably around 1810, 1820.

So they made this pattern for a very long time, because it was very popular.

I see.

Queen Elizabeth is said to have one of the largest collections of this particular pattern.

Oh, wow.

Most transfer ware platters these days, it, it has fallen in popularity, fallen in value, and most transfer ware platters would only sell maybe in $100 to $500 range.

Oh.

But this, this pattern is worth much more money, perhaps less than it was 20 years ago, but it's worth a lot more money.

Unfortunately, this particular platter has a little bit of damage.

Yup.

There's a crack here on the edge, and then if we turn it over, there's a large crack extending through that.

Mm.

So, unfortunately that hurts the monetary value immensely.

Right.

With the damage, I would think that a retail value would be somewhere between $300 and $500.

Okay.

If it were in perfect condition... Yeah.

...it would be a lot closer to $2,000 to $3,000.

Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: It is not a shield.

It's a recreation.

It's not a copy of anything.

MAN: Mm-hmm.

But I don't think it's American Indian-made.

It's bull hide.

They would have used either deer skin for a painted cover... Mm-hmm.

...as they call them, or they would have used bison hide, which is, has a different surface.

Right.

It's a collection of, uh, baseball and football memorabilia that my grandfather and great-grandfather collected in their visits to the various games that, uh, they have the stubs and, and programs from, along with the baseball that, as it was told to me, my great-grandfather obtained from the World Series in 1929 in Philadelphia.

This is what we like to refer to as a fresh find.

Hm.

What I love about a collection like this is that it's rarely seen the light of day.

One of the hottest things in collectibles right now are ticket stubs.

MAN: This needlework was completed by my great-great-grandmother Barbara Motter.

She was a day student at St. Joseph's Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

The work was completed, and she received this premium for it on July 3 of 1822, and it's been in my family the whole time since 1822.

The school that she attended was started by a very important lady in the field of Catholic schools.

It was Elizabeth Seton, and Elizabeth Seton was born in 1774.

At the age of 28, she found herself widowed with five children.

Took up teaching in Baltimore, wanted to start a school, found a benefactor, and the benefactor had a farm in Emmitsburg.

And they moved the school to Emmitsburg and started it there.

It's about 50 miles outside of Baltimore.

The main house, which is right here, was called St. Joseph's House, and eventually led, years later, to become St. Joseph's College, which lasted until 1973.

Seton Hall University is named after Elizabeth Seton.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah.

So, a very, very important lady.

At the school, these students did these works, and this is a scene of the school with Emmitsburg in the background.

This wonderful American schoolgirl pictoral needlework was accomplished somewhere around 1821-1822.

The material is silk on silk.

It's a very, very accomplished work.

Because it was at a school, and this was almost a formulaic piece... Yeah.

...that other students did, as well, there were, according to records, about 100 of these made over a period of time.

Okay.

And we know of about 30 of them that still exist.

Okay.

(laughing): Okay.

How old was she when she did this?

She was 19 years old in 1822.

This reward of merit, what does it say?

It says "St. Joseph's Academy.

"This premium is awarded to Miss Barbara Motter for success and improvement."

Dated July 3, 1822, and signed by Sister Rose.

Sister Rose took over after the passing of Mother Seton, uh, in 1821, I believe.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Yes, most of the ones that are recorded are after Mother Seton passed away.

Okay.

Scholars that have studied this body of work have sort of agreed that the young girls were the ones that did the embroidery, but the teachers are the ones that did the background, the gouache on the silk.

We're at a point in the marketplace where things are a bit soft.

But this is a family piece.

You're not selling it.

Correct.

This is not for sale.

Not for sale.

So I think today, what we're gonna do is place an insurance valuation on this of $50,000.

Golly.

(laughing): That's amazing.

PEÑA: "Linden Tree," created by South African artist Isaac Witkin in 1983, was the first sculpture placed on the grounds.

Witkin has nine pieces in total on display at Grounds For Sculpture.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: I brought the Goodyear zeppelin.

That's what we used to call it when we were little.

It's actually a hangar, and there is a surprise inside.

The zeppelin belonged to my grandfather.

He passed it down to my father, and I inherited it in 2009.

It's kind of a mystery.

We always heard that my grandfather owned it, and his brother had a tire store in East Cleveland.

And we would always assume that maybe he had this in his tire store as a model, advertising model.

You are a great detective, because that is exactly how it would have happened.

And when you think Goodyear, you think rubber, fast cars, you know, burn some rubber on the pavement.

But this is a store advertising display that would have been potentially in a tire shop, but it was also advertising the Goodyear Zeppelin part of the corporation.

Now, in 1910, Goodyear branched off and created their Goodyear aeronautics department.

But in 1924, Goodyear acquired a controlling interest in the German Zeppelin company, which is why you would see this branded model like that.

So due to the branding on this, Goodyear Zeppelin, we know that this model particularly dates between 1924 and World War II, and the reason why we know not after is, needless to say, German company, not the greatest PR in the world, for, uh, Goodyear to be teaming up with a German aeronautics company with the outbreak of World War II.

So Zeppelin was dropped from the tag and they just went on to develop regular airships, planes, and helped out with the war effort.

But this is just so cool.

It's awesome.

This is the biggest area of, like, what I would call cross-pollination when it comes to a collectible today.

It's a piece of advertising.

It relates to automobilia, it relates to aeronautics, but it also relates to toy collectors, which is huge.

There's no maker known behind this.

Hm.

But Ohio was such a hotbed for toy manufacturers during the 1920s and 1930s.

It's pressed steel, painted application on, and the condition of it, for being approximately 90-year-old display, is incredible.

When it comes to an item like this, condition, condition, condition, I can't stress it enough, is what determines the value.

It's original.

It's untouched.

And that's exactly how collectors want to find items today.

And the biggest thing is that it actually works.

It has an electro mechanical element, it has a motor in the back, and now we're gonna plug it in.

Let's see if we can make some magic happen, because I want to see those hangar doors open.

(laughs) And here we go.

(whirring) Very few of these have actually popped up... Mm.

...in the open market, and while it is large, it just makes for an unbelievable display.

So if we were to see this at auction, I believe it would create a fire fury of fight between bidders.

Hm.

But conservatively, you would see it today estimated $3,000 to $5,000.

And I think if you put it in a room in front of the right people, that number could be higher.

Wonderful.

If this was restored in any, uh, element or any repaint, any touch-up, it would drastically hurt the value.

MAN: I bought this at a yard sale.

APPRAISER: Yard sale?

About seven years ago.

Oh-ho!

My wife and I...

Right.

...on an average Saturday... Mm-hmm.

...went, went in our neighborhood.

Mm-hmm.

And with this, uh, a couple of wooden picture frames, uh, a couple of other, uh, paintings... Mm-hmm.

...and two tennis racquets for about $30.

Oh, my goodness!

Really?

(laughs) Yes.

Wow, it... Did you know what it was?

What this painting was?

I had no idea.

Uh-huh.

It was literally across the yard, and I saw it... Mm-hmm.

...and thought it was interesting.

Yes.

As I got closer, I saw the texture.

Right, uh-huh.

Having watched "Antiques Roadshow," I knew to look at the back.

Right.

Yeah, you knew it.

I did not recognize the artist's name.

Mm-hmm.

But because it had a label on the back...

Yes, uh-huh.

...and the artist had signed the back, as well...

Right, yes.

...I thought, "Well, this is...

This is kind of neat."

Yes.

And more than that, it just kind of spoke to me.

His name is Kojin Toneyama.

Okay.

And Toneyama, it's written here, and he's from north of Tokyo.

The place is called Ibaraki.

It's, like, maybe an hour from Tokyo.

He was teaching Japanese to, to high school students, but he decided to go to, uh, Mexico.

He made his name in Mexico.

That's why you see the, the word "pintura" on the back.

Yes.

Yes-- he made lithograph, he did sometimes ceramics, and he did paintings.

And I think paintings are very rare.

I tried to find similar ones.

(both chuckle) I couldn't.

I saw a lithograph, too.

Mm-hmm.

His nickname was, um, "the, the Painter of the Sun," and maybe this yellow part is, maybe the sun.

Sure.

He was awarded a Mexican government reward.

Oh, wow.

Yes.

So, and then, uh, he went back to Japan, and he was chosen as a judge for some painting comp... contest.

It was in the northern part of Japan.

It's called Iwate prefecture, and he loved the area, and he made a studio there.

And now that's his museum.

Toneyama Kojin Museum in Japan, so... Oh, wow.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

So he's a, he's a known, uh, fantastic painter in Japan.

Absolutely.

Yes.

But in America, he's not that known, and he was probably sold in a gallery in Mexico.

Are you going to keep it?

(laughs) Well, I think it depends on how much it's worth.

Depends on the price, oh, okay.

It could be a great college fund.

Mm-hmm, ooh, yes.

(laughs) But it's also a fantastic conversation piece.

Conversation piece, yes.

And now a story to tell about "Antiques Roadshow."

Yes, I know.

It's wonderful, yes, uh-huh.

So I guess it depends.

This '63 painting, I, I would say it's abstract with mixed media.

It's wonderful.

I think you should insure it for $4,000.

$4,000?

$4,000, yes.

Okay, all right.

Not too much.

(laughs) No, no, that's great.

Right, because, um, I saw, uh, his lithograph being sold for $800 or so, so, maybe auction, $2,000 to $3,000.

So insurance, $4,000.

Wonderful, excellent.

Maybe in Japan, much more.

(laughs) Okay.

APPRAISER: They are ten-by-ten unbleached cotton textiles in the middle of which is an eight-inch female figure.

The figures are embroidered, and then they each have an individual dress that's been appliquéd.

They are bright, cheerful, in great condition.

APPRAISER: The shape is what's called a double gourd.

And what we see on the underside is, it has the mark, and it's got a, kind of a retailer's label that's over here next to it.

Though the mark says it was made in the 18th century, this mark is more of a, what we call an honorific mark...

Okay.

...saying that the quality and the inspiration and the idea came from the 18th century.

There's these, series of trees, which, from a stylistic standpoint, compare to similar things I've seen from the post-World War II period through 1960s, '70s.

Oh.

It's still a beautiful, uh, object to me, so the price is secondary.

WOMAN: I brought in a Van Cleef and Arpels butterfly brooch.

My parents had gone on vacation to Paris, I believe in the late '60s, and my father bought this for my mother in an antique store in Paris.

You're right about the brooch being Van Cleef and Arpels.

They started in Paris in 1906.

They didn't get to New York until 1939.

The company Van Cleef and Arpels is kind of born out of a marriage.

You, you have Alfred Van Cleef, and he marries Estelle Arpels.

Estelle has two brothers who are also involved with the business, some of them coming from the gem trade, some of them coming from the lapidary trade.

A lapidary is a woman or a man who cuts gemstones.

Quick, meteoric rise to fame because they had fabulous style and designs.

In this case, where you see a butterfly.

They did a lot of animals.

They did a lot of insects and bugs.

Very whimsical and playful.

People just really took to it-- a lot of people like, uh, Barbara Hutton, Elizabeth Taylor.

They made stuff for queens and kings, for royalty.

It's tiger eye.

When you look at the stone, and you see the banding and what they call the chatoyancy-- as the light hits it, it kind of reflects-- it reminds you of a tiger, and a tiger's eye, the skin, the color.

Mm-hmm.

And that's where it gets its name from.

And if you see here, you got all this movement.

I mean, it looks like a real butterfly.

Right.

It's fabulous.

Incorporated into the 18-karat yellow gold, there's 12 round brilliant-cut diamonds.

They weigh 0.25, which is one-quarter of a carat total weight.

Now, I'm going to take it off.

You see how the, the stone is curved.

So then they in turn, they curved the hardware in the back, the gold, and again, the, the antenna, curve to follow the frame of the butterfly wings.

Mm-hmm.

We have here a sign of a quality piece.

Instead of being a standard kind of catch, it's what we call a trombone class.

This slide moves in and out.

It's all handmade.

You say they got it in the late '60s.

I'm thinking.

I'm thinking you're off a few years.

Okay, that's-- yeah, I'm sure I am.

(chuckles) If you look over here, it says "VCA."

Right.

So that's Van Cleef and Arpels.

Mm-hmm.

Now, one of the reasons I know it's a little later, in the middle, there's a little "c," copyright.

Some of the very early pieces, you don't see that.

Okay.

Right after it, there's two numbers, "71."

That's the year it was made.

Now, you told me a story.

(chuckles) My husband took this pin to our local Van Cleef and Arpels.

The person there at Van Cleef and Arpels said that they could do, uh, an appraisal of the piece, but it, there would be a $1,500 fee for them to do so, and not knowing the value of the piece, we opted not to do that.

What they really do is authenticate it.

Okay.

And then they could see when the pin was purchased, and for how much.

And it's not $1,500 anymore.

Oh, no?

Okay.

Now it's two grand.

Okay.

(chuckling) If this had been just a very nice butterfly brooch made by a nice jeweler, I might have been telling you $1,000 to $1,500.

Okay.

But it's Van Cleef and that's a big deal.

This piece today, at auction, would be $4,000 to $6,000.

Very nice, thank you.

You're going to wear it?

I think I will.

(chuckles) Although I do have granddaughters who are, are eyeing it, so I may have to share.

(laughs) MAN: I acquired this sculpture at a yard sale in 2001.

APPRAISER: What ultimately made you buy it?

Well, I'm a sculptor, and I recognized that it was interesting conceptually... Mm-hmm.

...and that it was very well made.

Ai Weiwei was born in China.

His father was a very, very famous poet there who ran up against the revolution, and really had a very tough go at it.

Ai Weiwei came to New York in the 1980s, so he's well into his 30s, and he was very active in the New York art scene at the time, being come friendly with people like Andy Warhol, and becoming generally aware of contemporary American art at that time.

Mm-hmm.

That's very, very different from the traditional, academic Chinese art tradition that he came out of.

This was in Ai Weiwei's first show in New York City in 1988.

The piece is signed and dated on the back, "Ai Weiwei, 1988."

He was just starting out his career.

He's probably one of the most famous artists in the world today.

I mean, he's very active not only as a sculptor, but as a photographer, as an archivist.

So he's very, very active, and he, uh, uh, very importantly, he's involved in various humanitarian efforts and human rights issues.

And he's still alive, and he does events and projects all over the world.

But he's the most prominent Chinese artist living today.

You said the title of this is?

"One Man's Shoe."

Right, so, and it was in an exhibition.

Do you, do you know the name of the exhibition?

"Old Shoes, Safe Sex," I believe.

That's right.

The "safe sex" actually refers to the AIDS crisis.

There were about five of these that were made.

Mm.

And some of them were actually sold.

Although Ai Weiwei was not very happy with the results of the show.

Mm.

And at one point, he said he was going to give up making art.

And do you know about why shoes, leather shoes are important to Ai Weiwei?

Did you read about that?

My understanding, the shoes were a gift from his mother that felt that a good pair of men's dress shoes was appropriate for a young man in New York City.

That's right, but in China, leather shoes seem to have been very, very rare.

They were maintained.

So they kept constantly being resoled and resewn, so that they could be used.

And Ai Weiwei picks up a number of these things from his past, and incorporates it in this piece.

So you have the shoes, leather shoes that are very, very rare, and then they're sewn together, which refers to taking a, we call these found objects.

There was a movement in the early 20th century called Dadaism.

Mm-hmm.

The most prominent artist was Marcel Duchamp.

Mm-hmm.

And he took everyday items and transformed them into works of art.

Mm-hmm.

And Ai Weiwei's done this here.

The sewing aspect may actually refer to China's position in the world as a manufacturer of clothing.

Mm-hmm.

So, there are all these references that are incorporated in what seems like a very simple presentation.

I spoke to the dealer who sold this in 1988.

He was really quite amazed that this would show up in a yard sale in New Jersey.

When this was originally sold, it sold for $1,800 in 1988.

Hm, mm-hmm.

Which was a fair amount of money.

Mm-hmm.

Whoever bought this was a sophisticated collector... Mm-hmm.

...would've known Ai Weiwei.

So the question is, again, how did it wind up in New Jersey, and what did you pay for this?

I believe it was $30.

His work is, is fairly rare.

At this moment, the contemporary Chinese art market is not that strong, but this is counterbalanced by Ai Weiwei's fame as an internationally... Mm-hmm.

...uh, respected artist.

Mm-hmm.

In a gallery setting, this piece would probably sell for about $100,000.

(chuckles) Very good.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: One of Seward Johnson's realistic works is "Were You Invited?," inspired by French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 19th-century masterpiece "The Luncheon of the Boating Party."

It's a fitting location for this piece, as it's installed at the park's restaurant.

MAN: This was a gift that I received when I was about ten years old from my Aunt Tricia.

I didn't realize the significance of it then, but about ten years ago, when my mom gave me a box of things from my bedroom and said, "You better go through this before you throw it away," I rummaged through that box, and I, what I found is a ticket from the 1980 Winter Olympics, and it's from the Miracle on Ice game.

My Aunt Tricia actually attended that game.

She had gone to Lake Placid with a friend, had asked someone to just get them an assortment of tickets, and by some miracle, received the semifinal hockey ticket.

This ticket got her into that historic event.

And so after the game, Tricia and her friend Julie went out into the Olympic Village, and were celebrating with the rest of the town and the country, and she managed to meet members of the hockey team.

Tricia, being a, a very enthusiastic person, was able to get the autograph of one of the players from the U.S. hockey team.

You got one really cool aunt, for sure.

So what we have here is a, a ticket to the 1980, uh, Miracle on Ice game.

The, uh, medal round game, uh, between the, Team U.S.A. and the USSR.

It was the game to get into the gold medal game.

February 22, 1980, of course, the United States team made up of college kids coached by Herb Brooks, and they went up against the USSR, the greatest hockey team possibly ever assembled, and they had won, I think, five of the last six Olympic golds.

Nobody gave the U.S. a chance.

But, of course, uh, Herb Brooks inspired these guys, and famously, they've made films about it, and they beat the Russians, and it was a monumental event in sports history.

Certainly in United States sports history, and in Olympics history.

But what a lot of people don't realize is that the game itself, which the U.S. won 4-3, was not televised live.

You know, "Do you believe in miracles?"

Yes, Al Michaels, that actually aired later on that night.

I love tickets in particular, because these things were there-- they're ephemera, but they're kind of time travelers, too, right?

I mean, that, that is the ticket to that event.

Yeah.

This is not a full ticket, this is the stub, and Jim Craig was kind of the hero of the game, the goalie, stopped 36 of 39 shots on goal.

Jim was from, uh, B.U.

He eventually played in the NHL, as well.

But, I mean, this was his, of course, his shining moment.

She met Jim Craig in the Olympic Village right after the game, and she had him sign it.

With an inscription that to me is the most inspiring part of the ticket, because it doesn't say, "Miracle on Ice."

It doesn't say, "Do you believe in miracles?"

It says, "Going for the gold."

It gives me goose bumps to say that, because that tells me where his mind was at that time, which was, "Yeah, we beat the Russians, but we're here to win the gold medal."

The gold medal game was, I think, two days later.

Mm-hmm.

So there was a very short, finite amount of time that he would have signed it like that, which makes this really special.

Lake Placid was kind of a small town to host the Winter Olympics.

To rub shoulders with these Olympians right after this monumental moment...

Right.

Incredible.

Yes.

And, and will never, ever happen again.

One of the up-and-coming markets is tickets, and for many, many years, it was kind of like a second thought, like, "Oh, you know, everyone's has ticket stubs, whatever."

But now these things, people are realizing they're, they're very precious.

This one's particularly precious, because there was a find of full tickets to this game against the Russians, and those tickets sold, and they did very well out on the open market, and a lot of these Olympians later on signed them, and, and they would sign them, "Miracle on Ice," and, you know, "Do you believe in miracles?"

Right.

The stubs are much, much rarer.

Usually, it's the other way around.

So that's what makes this particularly precious.

And then of course, that incredible inscription.

I would insure it, probably, for around $15,000.

Wow.

And it's one of these things that I think will continue to appreciate in value.

It's priceless to me.

It's something I keep prominent in my living room.

♪ ♪ APPRAISER: Édouard Cortès was born in France in 1884.

What he's known for is depicting well-known, uh, boulevards and landmarks of Paris.

And this is Rue Saint-Denis.

If this painting, which is a lovely example, were to be sold in a retail venue, the asking price might be around $40,000.

(gasps): Really?

(laughs) Wow.

Wow, that's amazing.

My mom would be happy.

I brought in a sword that my father trash-picked about 30 years ago.

(chuckles) Mm-hmm.

My mother gave it to me when they were moving, and I'm not quite sure how, but it found its way to the very back of our shed.

It's a U.S. model 1840 Medical Staff sword and scabbard, it's gilt brass.

Um, you've got this acorn pommel, eagle, and on the languet right here, you got "M.S."

for Medical Staff.

An auction estimate on this sword would be in the $1,000 to $1,500 range.

So not bad for picking it up in the garbage.

No, no, not at all.

Yeah.

And then pulling it out of the back of the shed.

That was the best thing he ever pulled out.

(laughs) Yeah, no, no, it was a great find.

♪ ♪ MAN: This is my grandfather's silver menorah, which we light on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

This is, uh, unique in my family, because everybody loves the lion heads for the candles, and this has been, um, in my family since my grandparents have passed down to my, my father, and that was then eventually passed down to me.

Your grandfather got it in what year, do you think?

I would think that he probably got in the 1940s, maybe 1950s, but I honestly don't know the history of when he got it or why.

When did your family come over from Europe?

My grandfather came over in the 1930s, and over the course of the 1930s, the entire family made its way over.

What country did they come from?

Uh, from Poland.

This is an olive oil-burning menorah.

We also have candle-burning menorahs.

Now, if I turned it around, we're going to find a mark.

And the mark I find here is 800, which is the assay of the silver, and then a slim crescent, and a crown-- that's the mark for Germany.

Not Poland, Germany.

Really?

That mark starts in 1884, and continues to the present day.

I'm somewhat surprised not to find the maker mark on it.

It's handmade.

Which sort of precludes it having been made any later, any much later, than the turn of the century.

It is a menorah of an assimilating family of Jews.

We've got these heraldic lions rampant holding up the tablets of the laws.

That's the Jewish iconography to it.

Everything else is fashion.

You've got Gothic revival examples in these arches here, the Baroque influence with the scroll flourishes and floral groups, and you've also got archaeological revival going on in here, and to top it all off, the little lions are wearing crowns.

This has got everything going on.

This is what really excites me about this piece.

It's an example of a piece of silver that was purchased for somebody's wedding, more likely than not, and somehow or another, it got into your family.

We're lucky it's here, because most of these things were melted and destroyed.

Considering the family, my family was not particularly wealthy... Mm-hmm.

...when they came over from Europe.

I would be surprised if they had a silver menorah on the way over.

So I'm certain that it was picked up within the United States.

We've got eight lights, these little lions here, lit consecutively in gathering numbers in the eight days of Hanukkah.

To fill the oil wells, which open here, olive oil, which is stored in here, is poured into the shammash, and then the lights are lit.

It's a rare piece.

Most of them never made it out of Europe.

At a retail level, I would give this an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.

Oh, wow, that is, um, that's amazing.

(laughs) It's special to the family, and we only light it on special occasions, because of the complexity of it.

PEÑA: Taiwanese artist Kang Muxiang has several sculptures here.

The embryonic-like forms are created out of a single length of recycled elevator cable from one of the tallest green buildings in the world, Taipei 101.

Both "Infinite Life" and "Ignore Me" were made in 2017.

MAN: My mother found this in, in an attic when her parents bought a, a shore house north of New York City.

Okay.

And it's been in the family ever since.

This was an object that was created in the woods of Maine, deep in the forest.

It was made by Penobscot Indians, who are the traditional tribe who inhabited most of Maine.

Mm-hmm.

And, and beyond, frankly, right?

Well into Nova Scotia and Canada.

In the olden early days, prior to colonization, clubs such as this were used as war clubs, and smaller versions with creatures from the forest were used by shaman or holy men, uh, during their ceremonial rites.

As local Native life changed over the centuries, and, uh, men were no longer able to go to war or to hunt widely, they began to work with, uh, travelers and fishermen and hunters who would come up on vacation, and they would make objects such as this to trade.

So this became a cottage industry for Indigenous men in Maine, and there were thousands of these made.

You can probably go back to maybe the, uh, mid- to early 18th century and find ones that were made for Indigenous purposes.

I think by the late 19th century, it was pretty much a trade item for non-Natives.

This is typical chip carving that the Natives of the Woodlands did as a decorative technique.

They would take a knife, hit one side, hit the other side, a little piece of wood would pop out, and they would make these floral elements.

These little three-leaf designs are typical of the Eastern Woodlands.

Everything was about trees, which were reverent.

Indigenous people actually felt that the spirits of their ancestors resided in trees, so they had a great deal of reverence for them.

Right.

So this face is interesting.

This is almost like a portrait.

We'll never know, of course, of whom.

(chuckles) But it looks like an Indigenous person.

There is facial paint, like war paint.

So this undoubtedly represents a man, perhaps a, a warrior of legend amongst the Penobscot.

You'll notice in here, the bark...

Right.

...is what we would identify as birch bark.

It's relatively early-- I would date this to the 19th century.

These are still made today.

Up here, facing you, is an animal, maybe a, a lizard or a newt, a salamander.

Something that would crawl along the forest floor.

Lizards, salamanders are very important because they inhabit two domains.

They can both be in the water and on the land.

Somebody took very good care of this.

There are no abrasions, there are no scuffs.

It's been handled enough so that there's been patina applied... Mm-hmm.

...either through body oils, oxidation, dust, dirt, attic.

(chuckles) This is not the individual's first effort.

This is really a well-accomplished carving.

The face is dramatic, it doesn't look cartoonish.

It has a certain stern or severe aspect to it.

Mm-hmm.

I think on a, uh, retail basis, this club would be very much appreciated.

I think perhaps in the range of $2,000.

Whew.

Uh, if I was going to insure it, I would appraise it at $2,500.

It would be very, very much sought by people who collect this sort of thing.

Wow!

My entire life, this has been a big...

Excuse me.

(chuckles) It's been a big part, a big part of my life.

It's a voice.

I've always had it around.

It touches me, because it was really, it was my mother's.

She had it, kept it.

So it's part of her, it's part of me.

I can't tell you how meaningful that would be to the gentleman who made this.

That would...

He's, he's somewhere.

He'd be so pleased to have heard that.

WOMAN: I brought a painting that I inherited from my mother and father.

It's a David Burliuk.

Uh, they purchased it back in 1961.

Do you know how much they bought it for?

They paid $1,800 for it.

Did they buy it in, um, in New York or in...

Yes, it was in New York, mm-hmm.

Okay.

But it is, obviously, a painting, uh, not of New York.

Right.

(both laughing) It's, uh, a painting of Florida.

Well, that's sentimental value.

My family spent a lot of vacations there.

And that's what prompted the purchase.

Okay, and, uh, for Burliuk, Florida was one of his, uh, favorite places to, to visit and paint.

Mm-hmm.

He's an artist who was known in Russia, because he was born in Russia...

Right.

...as the father of Russian Futurism.

Mm-hmm.

Russian Futurism was a progressive art movement, uh, in the teens.

His impact on Russian avant-garde art was immense, and would have continued, but he, he emigrated pretty early on after the revolution.

Mm-hmm.

From 1918 to about 1921... Mm-hmm.

...he went through Russia, through the Urals, and to Japan, went through Japan and came to the United States... (laughs): Wow.

...in, uh, in the 1920s, around 1921, 1922.

Mm-hmm.

Burliuk is an artist who is known, therefore, not just in Russia... Mm-hmm.

...but he's also known quite well in America, because he died in 1967.

Mm-hmm.

So he spent a formative part of his career here.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of the Abstract Expressionist artists... Mm-hmm.

...even Jackson Pollock, for example...

Okay.

...they referred to him as, uh, Papa Burliuk.

Really?

He was shown at some important galleries, like A.C.A.

Galleries in New York.

Mm-hmm.

What a lot of people think about Burliuk are these paintings of, like, rustic Russian scenes... Mm-hmm.

...usually of peasant women and cows, or... Mm-hmm.

And they're usually kind of a small-scale... Mm-hmm.

...type of, uh, painting-- not this.

This is about, like, 25 by, uh, 30 inches.

Mm-hmm.

Those are usually about, like, nine by 12 inches, 12 by 16 inches.

Mm-hmm.

He was a prolific artist.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of times, he was painting to give as payment.

Mm-hmm.

For various services.

(laughs) Bartering, in the classic way that artists do.

Uh-huh, wow, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

This painting exhibits a lot of his love of Impressionism... Mm-hmm.

...and specifically the artwork of van Gogh.

Mm-hmm.

In homage to van Gogh, he would, uh, he would paint like van Gogh, and sometimes sign on one side Burliuk, and one side van Gogh.

(laughs) When we look at this painting, I see a lot of the influence of the Impressionist artists and post-Impressionist artists on Burliuk, especially in the impasto.

This is oil on canvas, by the way.

Mm-hmm.

It's dated 1946.

Mm-hmm.

And you can see that the paint in a lot of places is very, almost sculptural.

He used a lot of impasto.

Mm-hmm.

Where the paint almost builds up from the canvas.

When he really loved a scene... Mm-hmm.

...he would paint his heart out.

I've seen paintings by Burliuk that just are to die for.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and this is, this is one of them.

This painting probably was never cleaned.

Mm-hmm.

Um, I, I do see it, it was relined.

Mm-hmm.

But you can notice up here, especially the blues have become dark.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

If this painting was cleaned... Mm-hmm.

...the colors would, would pop out even that much more.

This is one of his most successful compositions.

Florida happens to be a very desirable subject by Burliuk.

Mm-hmm.

I would feel very comfortable putting an estimate on this painting, an auction estimate that's conservative... Mm-hmm, right.

...of $30,000 to $40,000.

Mm-hmm, wow, oof.

It's, uh, that's amazing.

(laughs) It really is.

It would always be loved.

Now I think it needs to be insured.

(laughs) You should probably insure it around the $75,000 to $80,000 range.

Okay, thank you, that's, that's amazing.

(chuckles) ♪ ♪ PEÑA: And now it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

When I heard the value, I was a little floored, and I was a little sad, because I missed... My dad would have loved to have known that.

He would have taken great delight in thinking that something he picked up like that was worth that much.

Well, we realized that the value isn't enough to put into a college fund for our son, but it's definitely enough as a conversation piece, and that we're going to hang on to it.

I really think that my grandfather and my grandmother would be excited to see this on TV, and to, to know more about it, uh, some of the history of it.

The fact that it came from Germany, uh, is really interesting and really exciting for the family to know.

I'm looking forward to actually using them, now that I know I could use them without hurting the value of them.

I thought it was cheaply made, because I could never figure out how the back pin would stay on your lapel.

Latched, right.

Latch on, so we were lucky to find out there's a thing called a trombone in the back of this thing that allows us to... Now she's going to be able to wear it.

Yes, and I will.

When we first got together, Mindy said, "I don't want this anywhere near my living quarters," and then I had to put it up in the attic.

And so we took it down to go to the Roadshow.

And I appreciate it a lot more now.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."