Concept Model Hospital Bed, ca. 1910

Appraised on: June 23, 2012

Appraised in: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Appraised by: Noel Barrett

Category: Collectibles

Episode Info: Myrtle Beach (#1708)

Originally Aired: February 25, 2013

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (1:43)

GUEST: My granddad was a doctor who graduated from the Medical College of Charleston in 1918. And among his associates, this gentleman here happened to be an inventor. And we have one of his inventions from 1909.

APPRAISER: Well, at one point you asked me if it was going to be a patent model or a salesman sample.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: We have the patent papers, which tell us one thing, very important. The patent papers are dated 1909.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Well, until 1880, the patent office demanded a working model of any patent. So this is not a patent model.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Now, is it a salesman sample is the next question.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Well, it's a very wonderful, mechanical apparatus that demonstrates a lot of features of an amazingly complex hospital bed. And among other things, just like modern hospital beds you crank up the back. Even... he went to the point of having cushions that hooked on the top, and even some situations here that are helpful, I guess, in some hospital beds.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Incredible, intricate model. Salesman sample, no. Why? A salesman sample is always going to have some identification marks on it. The maker. This is an intricate model probably made to interest a manufacturer. And I don't know that this bed was ever made. But it is, as a wonderful piece of mechanical equipment and fabulously complex, I would say at auction, this could easily bring $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Wow. And I thought it was a toy.