From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made in 1979 when a new show premiered in the UK.

February 18th, 1979 British viewers watched something entirely different.

An exploration of our attics and our basements and our ancestors and their history.

They were watching the first ever episode of Antiques Roadshow.

Viewers were amazed to see a German painted metal figure, originally purchased for just half a crown, appraised for between 500 and 600 pounds.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to wonder what's currently stowed away in my house, just waiting for an appraiser to turn it to gold.

And that's what draws us in, doesn't it?

We are fascinated by history.

Our past, and the little mysteries lurking somewhere in the cellar.

Antiques Roadshow gives us a chance to explore.

We are always learning and asking why so many of us have terrifying figurines of clowns.

Well, in 1997, Antiques Roadshow made its American debut, quickly becoming a fan obsession.

We watched in wonder as appraisers considered a plaster and hair false head used by 1940s bank robber Willie Sutton to escape prison.

We laughed at the Coco de mare, a huge set of coconuts that looked like Google it.

There were incredibly preserved old baseball cards, Native American clothing, a Swiss made pocket watch worth six, and then seven figures.

Decades later, Antiques Roadshow remains an institution because the concept is timeless.

As long as human beings collect and pass down stuff, we will need someone to tell us what in the world it is, where it came from, and whether it's worth anything.

Antiques Roadshow is coming to the Rochester region this week.

Tomorrow's event at Genesee Country Village Museum sold out quickly.

I'm going to say that again.

It's sold out quickly.

The amount of people in the last week in my life who've said, can you just grab me a ticket?

I cannot get a ticket for the governor.

I cannot get a ticket for my mother.

If you have tickets, you are in luck.

If you don't, please don't just show up there.

But I will tell you this.

We are lucky to have the team from Antiques Roadshow here on connections, and we've got a live audience.

Will you welcome them now?

It is great to have them here.

Let me introduce them in studio.

Marsha Ben, co-executive producer of Antiques Roadshow.

Hello.

Hello.

Thank you for being here.

Hello.

Sam Farrell, senior producer.

Welcome to you, Sam.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Leigh Keno and Charlie Sorcha are the appraisers.

Welcome to both of you celebrities in your own right.

Of course.

And welcome to Becky Whaley, president and CEO of Genesee Country Village and Museum.

You've got a big day tomorrow.

Yeah.

You're excited.

Yes.

We've been talking about this for over a year.

So we're very excited.

It's bizarre that it is actually on the doorstep now because there's all this buildup.

It almost feels like Christmas Eve in a way here.

So it's going to be really really lovely.

And the outcome is going to be three episodes of Antiques Roadshow airing on PBS from tomorrow event alone, but it's going to happen in 2027.

They need some time to edit, of course, so they're very, very excited.

We're glad they're here.

The audience is going to ask some questions later this hour, but let me just start by welcoming welcoming them, and I'll ask Marcia, you've been all all over the place.

How did you decide to come here?

It's been a while since we were here.

We were last in Rochester, which, if you do it like Roadshow, counted, some of us do it a little different.

Mumford is not Rochester.

Agree.

Right?

Sure.

Right.

So we were last here in season three and this is season 31.

So you would do for a visit.

We were do.

You would do for a visit and not every venue because now we don't do a convention in, convention centers anymore.

We're beautiful historic outdoor locations.

They don't all want to let us in because we have, like, 3000 friends that might trample the grounds.

Yeah.

So who's going to let us in?

How can we build a tour?

And we landed perfectly here.

How many people applied for tickets?

How many people are coming tomorrow?

Well, we'll see.

About 3000 are coming.

26,028 people applied for the 2000 pairs we give out, which is the most for any tour city this year.

But it's always, well, more than the 2000 as we give out.

So most people, they didn't get a ticket if they tried.

We have heard from so many people who waited too long, but But if the governor wants to get in, we'll, we'll.

You're going to make that happen.

Yes.

So I have tickets.

Don't ask me for any, but we'll let in governors.

I've been told to direct everybody to Becky Whaley who wants a last minute.

How do you feel about that?

They'll have to get in line.

After all the people who've asked me already this morning.

Well, I bet, and, you know, I mean not to be tried about it, but boy oh boy, what an amazing forecast.

We had a lot of hot, humid weather last week.

We're going to have rain later in the week.

You got the sweet spot tomorrow don't you?

Yes we do.

We've been watching it with the antiques Roadshow folks all week because they have a rain plan and we do not need to go to that.

We're going with our good weather plan.

Well, Sam Farrell, as someone who's been senior producing antiques Roadshow alongside Marsha for just about the same amount of time here, and to me, this concept might just exist forever as long as humans exist.

Do you see it that way?

Yeah, I think the, how you described it is one way of describing it, but the other way is when you peel back those details about the object or how it was found, and all the rest of it, you get to some stories that are really compelling, and that's what people watch for.

I think that's enduring.

And as we know, certain collectible items, are no longer worth anything.

And, you know, when's the last time we appraised a Beanie Baby?

I don't know, but, but and, you know, brown furniture, Victorian furniture is suffering right now.

Who knows if that will ever recover.

So the things that we look at change and so on and so forth.

So that provides some variety.

But the biggest variety is the individual stories.

Well, and to that point, we're listening to Marsha talk to the audience before the program, you were all talking about the fact that most of the items that are appraised don't get sold.

People decide to keep most of the time.

Well, it's important to state here we don't buy or sell at of course at all, of course.

And otherwise there would be an inherent conflict of interest.

So we allow people to contact our appraisers, after the show, if they want to sell it, they might go to that appraiser.

So the ones that we actually hear about, very few and far between.

Why do you think that is?

As Marsha said earlier, it's because once you've sold it, you can't afford to buy it back.

I mean, you have to pay a buyer's premium and all the rest of it.

You're going to spend an extra 25%, 30% just getting it back.

But I also think that it gets back to the stories that most people's objects aren't worth life changing amounts of money.

I think that's a difference.

And to keep it around, because you've now got this added Antiques Roadshow story, it is a it's a conversation piece.

Why not?

You know, that's something you have in your living room that meant something to you before and means even more afterwards.

Yeah, I think I have to think there are some people who who presume, Marsha, that when they show up, if they get a decent appraisal, they'll try to sell it.

But the more time they spend thinking about if they think that this come down through generations, why did I have this in the first place?

Why would I part with it?

Right?

Especially with family objects.

It's been in your family for generations.

It's precious.

People who have need will sell their items.

Or we once saw a wolf's chair that the woman was worth like 90 grand.

What's it worth now anyway?

She sold it because it was her only good thing.

And she had three daughters, do you know, and she just couldn't split the chair in three.

Very often people who have a good wolf chair have some other stuff to split up, but that she just got lucky and bought that a long time ago.

So people don't sell unless they have a need, is what we've discovered, pretty much.

Or they have some.

They don't have anybody to give it to and they want a museum to have it kind of thing.

Yeah.

Well, Becky, are you showing up with anything to appraise tomorrow?

I do have some things there.

Do you really?

I love that.

All right.

And have you been a fan for a long time of this show?

Yes.

And we have gotten countless questions over the years about, you know, have we ever thought about having Antiques Roadshow come to the museum?

So, I think it's a great opportunity for us as well.

Have you all I mean, I'm sure you've all seen the space now, Marcia.

The whole team, the Sam.

No, you haven't been there.

We're going there right straight from here.

Amazing.

I mean, I think you're going to love it.

Yeah.

And so what a day are you excited for them to see the space for the first time?

Yes.

A lot of staff came yesterday, a lot of the production crew.

And they have all said that they, are very, you know, impressed the great space.

Everything looks good.

So they're they're very pleased to be with us.

Well, Sam mentioned something.

I want to talk to the appraisers.

You know, Leon, earlier kind of celebrities in your own right here.

And Sam mentioned that there are certain genres that have kind of declined in value or declined an interest over time.

I think you mentioned Victorian.

Is that what you mentioned, Sam?

Victorian furniture.

Yeah.

Victorian furniture.

So literally let's let's start there.

Why what's wrong with Victorian furniture.

Well first of all, there are lots of things that have also gone up, greatly.

Of course, because I think that's what we presume over time that there's some sort of an appreciation as opposed to, oh, I held on to this for too long.

Right.

But there are certain pieces of American furniture, and it sounds like I'm just being defensive of American furniture because I love it, and I am, but never truly American.

Brown, they call it brown furniture is has brown is down because of.

You guys have heard that.

Brown is.

Down is down.

But it was so up.

It was so up.

In the 90s we call them we called those days the go go 90s, the go days.

But they were so up that, you know, pieces were selling in the millions of dollars.

Having said that, recently there was a transaction of over $14 million for a table with them.

And I had a little three years ago that I was perfectly involved with, you know, tiny, tiny way.

But that goes to show you for a masterpiece for the greatest object, it's still going to bring millions of dollars.

But the Victorian belt, the belt, your chair or the carved, ornate, Victorian piece, or I hate to pick on Victorian so much like.

The same things happened to Victorian glass.

You know, the interest for that was really spiking in the 70s and the 80s, and it really actually started to fall in the 90s.

And now there's really very little interest in it, unfortunately.

So I think it's generations.

I also think, you know, a lot of children don't like what their parents have and and that hurts.

It does skip a generation.

And then you have a situation where the grandchildren are saying, I can't believe you sold that to us.

But, you know, we're seeing that in the glass area in Steuben, which is this is Steuben Country.

That was peaking, in the early 2000.

And now it's really it's softened quite a bit because most of the collectors have moved on to higher places and, and the and the younger kids just don't want it.

You think it's only is it because like that the idea of a China cabinet that the idea of a China cabinet, at an early age, is out the window?

I mean, in the old days, every, every dining room had a China cabinet and cup glasses in there and kind of.

Oh, yes, that that's so out of fashion that even in our gallery, we, we had a lot of our smaller pieces behind glass and we took all the glass doors off because you have to make things more accessible.

Nobody wants to see them put away like that.

It's really interesting.

Yeah, there was probably it was probably five years ago.

My son, who's now 14, was maybe 8 or 9, and we were visiting family over the holidays and he pointed at something in a room and said, dad, what?

What is that?

And I said, what is what is that?

Right there is the, the the grandfather clock.

The clock.

He said, that's a clock.

Why would a clock need to be so big.

And.

He's like, there.

He said, they're everywhere, you know.

And I said, well, the world was a little different before the digitization of everything.

But I think the earliest point, until, you know, the culture changes, sometimes you don't notice it until a new generation tells you, we don't want that China cabinet anymore.

We don't want that grandfather clock, which can be difficult.

But objects can still have value for craftsmanship, for who the artist was.

I mean, so in terms of the value side of it, it doesn't necessarily make it obsolete.

Rightly right.

And I think there's a whole movement of younger people collecting everything from vintage workwear, vintage denim, jeans and clothing to, certainly memorabilia.

The number of was as busy as ever.

And baseball cards are, Honus Wagner.

Whether it was 500,000 years ago is now what in the millions, right.

For when in good and good condition.

Anybody have a Honus Wagner card out there?

I'm fascinated by cards, because I made this assumption for a long time that cards would be less of a collector's item because there can be so mass produced and the rarity.

But now manufacturers are are forcing rarity.

You know, they're putting they'll take a Josh Allen jersey, chop it up into a thousand pieces.

And this Josh Allen card has a piece of his actual jersey worn in a game.

There's only a thousand cards or 100 like it.

So it's sort of forced a scarcity.

Limit is.

Designed to.

Yeah limited edition.

So everyone's got an idea about how to make something valuable.

But cards are doing great right now.

Yeah, yeah.

How about sneakers?

Sneakers?

The sneakers that sell for tremendous amounts of money.

Used sneakers.

Well, like Jim used sneakers.

No.

He's had.

They have to be connected to somebody famous.

I see.

Game.

Use game.

You game use, but not much.

Yeah, I was gonna say early.

I've got plenty of sneakers.

Game use sneakers by athletes.

Okay, I. A good one.

And when you do an appraisal, can you take me through a little bit of the mechanics of.

Because I think a lot of your viewers are amazed at how good you are and how accurate you are, and that doesn't mean that you have a perfect record of course, that's impossible.

But how do you find a range that feels right?

Can you both take me through a little bit of the process?

Sure.

To win these, you can start it.

First of all, when someone comes up to the table, I. And this is hard for me, but I try to not show any emotion.

And I was poker face, you know, and Martin Sanders smiling here laughing because I literally stutter stays calm as possible.

I keep telling myself, stay calm.

Just don't show, don't don't show your.

That's why I'm still terrible at poker.

When we have an annual poker game and I, you know, the bottom line is, when we do find something great, we just ask the people to to wait.

We try not to talk much more with them, and then we find a producer and.

And Sam Marcia in there for four of you with Marcia had in them up.

One of them come by.

And in the meantime, you really want to talk with that owner as little as possible.

You don't want to interact because we want it to be.

If it does go on there, you want it to be fresh.

And that's why those appraisals, they're not staged at all.

They're really they really are.

They're they're real.

They're real when you're when they're when the people are doing, you know, there's now like they've heard this three times before and you can tell.

Right.

But the great thing that's emerging, Sam, do and all the producers, is that they have that tough job of having you say no to this manically excited, right?

Are we we get really excited about some stuff, but they can tell if we're not, if we're just desperate or yes, we've been there all day looking at jokes.

Like, oh, absolutely.

And we're going like, we're really when he's making wine out of water?

Well, no, I mean, I've had producers saying, you know, I'm not really feeling this year.

I like, you know, and he would be right.

And then I'm going.

Yeah, you're right.

I was told not to say the word junk and you just used it later.

All.

John Q you eat right?

Yes.

Of course.

Young, hip younger.

You know, you probably.

But you know what I always find fun, very entertaining is after, you know, we've decided that I want to pitch something to the producers, I carefully bring my guest over and I make sure that they cover up their item, because what we found is sometimes other guests want to be appraisers, and, and, and literally they will walk by and go, oh, that's a piece of Tiffany.

And then there you go, there goes, there goes my pitch.

Yeah.

So we're very careful about that.

But the one of the funnier things was I did get a green light to go on TV, and, this the the woman who I was going to praise was in the green room waiting.

And the person who accompanied her wandered out of the green room and came over to the table.

She goes, can't you tell me what it is?

I won't tell.

Okay.

And how much is it worth?

I said, you're going to have to wait.

So to the producers, when they decide it's worth talking to Sam or talking to you, what is the process that you're going through to decide if something meets a certain level here?

Well, I start with I want to learn from the Expert Valley or, Lee is pitching.

What are you gonna explain it to me so that I understand what they understand?

Then I interview the guests and I ask him, how did you get this item?

I ask a ton of questions, because here's what we've learned is that you guys will want to tell us what they think we want to hear.

So we ask a lot of questions to get to the story.

Very often it's inherited things.

But if you paid $5,000 for a vase, what do you know about it?

Nothing.

I don't believe you.

So you know, because you paid $5,000.

So it's kind of like.

We I know some people will spend some money without really thinking through it.

I'm pretty confident of that.

You're probably right about that.

But I'm going to make sure so and so will the all the four pickers.

We ask a lot of questions.

We want to set the experts up for success in that interview process because they don't.

If they're not truthful, then they're truthful in front of the camera.

And so we want to make sure our experts are paid their own way.

They have a lot invested to be there, and we want to make sure that we set it up for a successful interview.

Like I say to them, I want to have the difficulty of deciding what I just can't cut.

A good problem.

Now, do you want to add to that, Sam?

Well, actually, Marcia and I do it, in reverse.

I go to the guest first, and I don't know why, but it always feels that that way.

I'm hearing what the appraiser would hear first, even if because very often the appraisers know nothing, not even the story, because they don't want to get the guest too worked up about it.

So they put them to one side, in the shade, usually on a chair.

But, in fact, we have one appraiser who insists on taking the guest at least 50 yards away from his table so he can't overhear things.

But no, I, I interview the guest, and one of the things I've learned is, people want to fill empty space.

And so when you're interviewing a guest, if you ask them a question and they're not being forthcoming very often, I'll go over to the appraiser and pretend to talk about something and then go back and see if they've developed an in their mind that somehow I should really tell the truth about.

Did you work in police work?

Yes.

No, but I was told we once had, a volunteer who worked for the I think it was the FBI could have been CIA and, and they told me my technique was very good.

And.

Lee, did you want you want to jump in with something.

Here?

No.

Just going to say that, you know, just going to say that the when when we do.

When we do, when when you do give the go ahead.

We the the person is immediately whisked away.

So there's no interaction between us and the and the and the owner.

Right.

And we just want to know as little as possible.

And that goes that goes, it's true whether it's a fake or whether it's a masterpiece, you know, and so it's.

Yeah, that's what, How many fakes are out there?

I mean, how common are.

The problem is none of us want to do fakes as appraisers.

We all will.

We only show once on.

The show once the.

We just say anything.

Bad news.

But do you want them for the drama of having to tell somebody this thing that you thought was something is something else?

Yes.

And I also think they're great teachers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really great teachers about what to avoid.

What did somebody do to fake it.

So the a great teacher can be a great television.

It can be heartbreaking I imagine.

Yeah.

But but we really what we want is our guest to be really happy or to cry, so.

No.

Yeah.

You are the executive producer.

Yeah, but.

Marcia's point about teaching is very true.

I have not met an appraiser who's willing to do it just for the sport.

If it if it's going to be a fake, they've got to impart some knowledge and they want to appear and to to be sympathetic, not in a sort of brutal way.

And, and, that's a different kinds of television than ours.

So we don't build them up to think it's real and then say, you know, say it does have this, which it's done in the 15th century, and it does, it doesn't.

And then at the end say, but that's a fake.

You know, it's nicer to I think, although it's not great, is great on TV, I understand it to kind of let them know I probably I've always done this like tell them fairly upfront that they've brought a fake because I just hate building them up and then ripping them down, you know, on TV.

But if you can then point out why, you know what, what aspects of this tell us it's the fake, I mean, and I do it with folk art and furniture early.

I've seen you do it with a Tiffany lamp brilliantly, you know, you explain, right?

Why it's not a you.

When I did you actually I the first year of the show, I remember there was a lady who didn't wasn't in on this, but she was talking about this and just noticed the about what they know about it.

She turned out to be a dealer and and and was a you that told her what it was that it was not a real Tiffany lamp.

And then the lady was so upset because she turns out she the dealer, and she saw her whole, her whole life flashed before I. Oh, she's a dealer on TV.

I've been told that I'm thinking, oh, that was a real Tiffany lamp was not.

And it was a first year, was it?

Did you I. Was I was not the one I. Remember that I remember that I think it was in Syracuse that it.

Happened.

No, I didn't come on board until Rochester in 1998.

Actually.

I think, but I remember I remember the, the, the, the producers, you know, they didn't never use it, but they, you know, that she lunged out for the appraiser to strangle her, you know, kind of thing.

I would remember that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You wouldn't remember.

There was no.

You know, it never made it on TV, but.

And it wasn't ever dangerous.

But she was really she she, you know, she had signed something and, you know, she it was a she should she was not honest about that by about who she was.

Oh.

We make you sign an appearance release and you know, and a materials release for your object and for your appearance before you tape.

Because we don't want you have to be.

Oh I don't if you will.

You not hear that.

No.

We're earn it.

So yeah, we make you sign saying something, but I have to go looking for that footage.

I just heard that story.

Yeah.

Oh, I never forget it.

It was.

Yeah, I know.

First year.

That's what we do here, Marcia.

We uncover things that not even the team and.

And think.

How.

Yeah.

That's good.

So, Becky Whaley, what are you going to be doing.

Are you going to have the chance to watch some of this action live, or are you working sort of nonstop tomorrow?

I think I will be doing a lot of problem solving tomorrow.

If yesterday afternoon in this morning or any indication, there are a lot of moving parts and, some things that, yeah, we need to help happen, but hopefully the, the first guests come in, at 730 and the last ones come in at 430, I think.

So there'll be a long day of of being able to see folks and see their reactions and what's happening.

Well, I'm going to read a little bit of feedback that we have so far.

And then I'm going to encourage the audience right now, if you've got a question comment you'd like to ask this hour, can you put a hand up here so David could see it?

Okay.

We've got a bunch here.

David's going to find you.

So here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to get a little bit of feedback from our non in studio audience.

And then we'll take our only break.

And then the studio audience will have plenty of questions here.

Briefly here.

One of the members of our team, Julie, says I used to watch the show with my dad, but we watched it as a game show using Price's right rules.

Whoever got closest to the actual value would out without going over one that round.

So, that was really, really good.

Dave, watching on YouTube says, well, mid-century modern is still hot, right?

If not, I'll take all I can get it at a discount.

How is mid-century modern doing?

I mean, that's for furniture.

That's that's.

That's.

Especially.

Pardon.

Oh, I was I'm sorry I started to interrupt you.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Especially people like DuPont, he and Carla molina, these great Italian designers where one chair can bring 4 or $500,000.

What about Nakashima?

Oh, Nakashima.

It just is the gift that keeps on giving.

Because the people who commissioned Nakashima in the 50s, in the 60s, paying $50, $100, maybe 200, which was a lot for a piece of Nakashima furniture.

They're just cashing in.

It's like it's unbelievable.

And you can see an auction of Nakashima where there were a lot of pieces.

There could be 25 pieces, and they all go over the high estimate.

And and the great thing about that me early is that, you know, they have receipts that come with most, most of, most, most pieces, of Nakashima that come with the original receipt.

Right.

So I think.

Right.

And that helps with the provenance, you know.

With documentation.

You know, it was made in 61.

Right?

And, and so.

Dave, on YouTube, mid-century modern still good.

Yes.

We've established Victorian not so hot.

But there's different genres that, you know, maybe everything old is new again eventually.

And maybe, you know, the kids now who think things are out the door.

Maybe their kids will bring certain things back.

You never know.

Everything is kind of circular here.

We gotta take our only break of the hour.

And when we come back with the team from Antiques Roadshow, our live audience here at Sky Studios will have questions, comments all in advance of tomorrow's big day.

They're shooting three episodes for 2027 down at the Genesee Country Village Museum.

It's sold out.

Don't try to go.

Don't ask someone for a ticket.

It is totally sold out.

But there are questions from the audience here.

Next.

Coming up in our second hour, we stay on the theme of history and understanding our past, and we're going to move to the question of local history.

There are historians in every New York town.

This is one of those states that says you have to have a local historian.

And aren't we lucky?

Now students are working with historians across the state on a new project, peeling back their history and better understanding it.

And we'll talk about how next our.

Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Mary Carey.

Yola center supporting residents to become active members of the community, from developing life skills to gaining independence.

Mary Carey, Yola Center Transforming Lives of People with disabilities more online at.

Mary Carrie ola.org.

Well, we're having a great time with a live audience and once again, will the audience welcome the team from Antiques Roadshow to Rochester?

There is so much demand for Antiques Roadshow.

This, if you're just joining us, is a show that started in 1979.

In the UK, the American version, 1997.

And just like the American office being better than the British office, the American version has been better for years.

Sam, how do you feel about that?

The office, which was the better?

I actually think the Ricky Gervais version was better.

I think, you know, these are apples and oranges.

The Ricky Gervais version of The Office was better, but there are some American, imports that, have done very well.

And I think Antiques Roadshow is one of them.

All right.

Well, I hope so.

I hope so.

We're so glad to have them here.

As, as Marcia Bianco's, executive producer of Antiques Roadshow, mentioned, they've been to Rochester almost three decades ago, and tomorrow's visit is not in Rochester.

It's in Mumford.

So it's, technically greater Rochester, but they're thrilled to be here.

And Becky Whaley, president and CEO of Genesee Country Village Museum, is here.

You are thrilled to have them.

You can sleep on Thursday because all this work here leading up here.

But it's going to be really, really an amazing day here.

Everything is sold out.

I keep emphasizing that, but it's not going to be great if hundreds of people show up just hoping to get into Monroe because they really can't accommodate you.

All the tickets are gone, because there's been so much demand.

In fact, Marsha said, for the several thousand coming tomorrow, there were 25,000 or so people who wanted tickets.

So over 26,026, the area.

So, very, very full day.

All right.

David Griffin in the back here.

You want to send the microphone over and our audience is going to have questions and comments.

So, first up, sir, your name.

And go ahead with your comment.

Question.

My name is Howard Decker.

And, quick question right on the mic there, Howard.

There you go.

Good question for you.

In this time of such an advanced internet, don't most of the people who arrive to the roadshow have a pretty sophisticated idea of what they got before they ever show up?

I mean, the idea of innocence is kind of over, right?

It's a very interesting question.

Let's go down the line that you want to start with.

Well, the internet has spoiled some really good stories for us.

No, there's a lot you can learn on the internet and and get confirmed there.

But when you have something rare, it's not as easy to nail it down.

Or is it really a Picasso authenticating something?

And no reputable appraiser will do that for you by photo.

It's like seeing a doctor.

In order to do it right, you need to.

They need to see it in person.

So okay.

Down the line here.

What do you think, Lee.

Yeah I agree, you know, I agree with what Marsha said.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, I. Really I, I actually think there's a lot of misinformation on the internet.

Oh, and I and, and this is where.

Oh.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

Oh.

So what, what I've noticed, actually, this is when I really love I, when the information that they have that that a guest has gotten from I, at least 75% of it is incorrect.

So it presents a great opportunity to correct it.

Yeah.

Wow.

Sam.

Well go ahead.

Sorry.

I was going to say that, the show has evolved over 30 years and back when the internet was really nascent and not very helpful.

Yeah, it was much more about knowing what is this?

Now people come in with an idea and as Ali said, sometimes wrong.

But the role of expertise on the show has evolved, with, with the technology.

So you're coming for a different kind of appraisal, but you're still finding out new stuff, and you need an expert for that.

And that's, that's why it's still, viable.

Lee.

Yeah, because a Google Lens search will only bring you up so much, so much stuff, input, information, things that are like it.

But we're going to we're going to tell you if we really know exactly what it is, we're going to nail it.

And and actually, you know, we have the object right in front of us.

And that's and there's nothing like seeing the thing in person holding it.

And and the problem is, you know, again, if the person hadn't done any research, I get so excited.

And they say they don't own a computer.

Some people don't have a TV.

You know, I don't have a TV.

So I shouldn't say that here on the TV.

So I don't.

Know.

But I admire that.

I think it's great.

But but but seriously, we get so excited.

We say so you don't have a TV.

The only computer or so.

You don't know anything about this.

I don't know anything about it.

And they really.

You can tell.

And then Marsha or Sam talks with them and they said, yeah, they really don't know anything about it.

And then it's a great appraisal, you know.

Wonderful.

And I'm also struck by the parallel with Genesee Country Village Museum because more and more now AI is letting you learn about ancient Rome with these AI videos.

And I'm going, how much of this is, you know, the real deal.

How much are we learning about our past?

I think on site learning and what you guys do is next level.

And do you want to say just a word about the importance of being together in person to learn, as opposed to just relying on the internet for.

All the reasons that everybody just talked about?

Like, you can learn about 19th century cooking or blacksmithing, through a textbook, or you could even watch a video.

But to be in our buildings and to see them doing it and to kind of hear and feel, that experience, that's what's special about a place like ours.

And, and it's the same thing that that in-person connection and the chance to bring history to life is what's really important about these experiences.

Are you open all year?

Yep.

Where do people find you online.

G dawg?

I'm see, I can do the marketing for you.

Okay.

Thank you.

I, I had one thing that that has happened to me hundreds of times.

I go up to the pottery table or the glass table and they say, just feel it.

And I've had Lee say to me, just smell it.

You know this in person.

The other senses are so important.

Interested in determining what's right and what's not.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Go to the other thing that that the computer isn't going to tell you is condition of the piece.

Because the condition, if something's been repaired or it's badly damaged, it greatly affects value.

And, you know, people just sometimes they have identified the piece, but they just don't know the full story.

And we can supply the full story when we have it in our hands.

Let's go back to the audience here.

David's just going to keep moving around here.

Go ahead.

Sir, my name is Steve.

And, looking forward to going tomorrow.

And, Marsha, you're hilarious.

It was.

You mentioned three episodes were being filmed tomorrow.

You know, when they'll be broadcast or ready to be broadcast.

Sometime between January and May.

We don't decide.

We don't get the holes to fill from PBS until the fall, so we don't know even those broadcast dates, and then we'll figure it out.

But sometime between January, you may.

And if you register for our newsletter, you can find out.

First, there's my plug.

And also we'll let the, I know and they'll let you know.

Totally.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Great question.

Okay.

Go ahead.

David.

Okay.

I'm Barbara.

From Keuka Park, and I want to know how the sites are chosen.

I like to joke.

We throw darts.

But it starts with we stop going to convention centers after season 22.

We're taping season 31 now, and so you have to we built a whole new big database of where can we go that will have let us spread out our set, let us have 3000 of our best friends there and let us in.

And not every place says, yes, I won't give you the list of who said no.

But, so that we build a tour by and then it has to make sense.

Why don't we do shows on Saturdays and Sundays anymore?

Because most of these places won't rent to us on those days because they're booked for lucrative weddings and things like that.

So that's why our show is on a Wednesday for tomorrow, and then we want to.

We're based in Boston.

These guys are based in New York.

Appraisers are all over the place, but a lot of New York, and we prefer to travel west to east if we can.

And we did it this year.

We started out west, and this is our last city this year.

So closer to home.

Very good.

Next, David, you want to just keep going around the audience here?

If you're just joining us, we got a live audience and studios with a team from Antiques Roadshow.

Go ahead.

Sir.

My name is Bill Shaw.

I guess this is for the appraisers.

When do you actually first get to see the items that you're going to be appraising?

Is that when the camera turns.

On you.

At the table, or do you get to, do you get to look at these prior and put your thoughts together?

Yeah.

Well, we we don't.

It comes to the table, but the camera isn't necessarily on us.

Usually it's that's only if there's like a roving camera.

But we see hundreds, sometimes hundreds of people who come through.

And in most cases, it's the first thing, the first time I've ever seen anything.

It's, There's no prior, but Marcia might want to speak to something.

Well, when I was explaining about how, you know, do you have anything good in the joke with the appraisers, by the way, is that if it's jewelry and they're sitting across from each other, the only thing they're seeing a woman bent over, is the the, the thing is, is with the, when you're watching a taped appraisal that's been chosen, we've interviewed the owner and the appraiser.

It's a vetted and planned out, process.

Ali along and Lee tomorrow, along with about 70 ish other appraisers tomorrow will look at hundreds of items.

Hundreds.

They have a section where they sit glass with other glass expert folk art for Lee, with other folk art experts.

If it's a decent sized item coming their way, they hope it doesn't go to their table.

May they want to be the one to appraise it.

Yeah.

So it's until they're appraising all day long.

That's when they first see the item.

And then if it's, something they're going to record with, they may do some more research about it.

We also make them collaborate with another expert so that if there's an if this is an opinion of value and if someone else has another opinion, we want the expert to tell you.

My colleague thinks, but I think and so it's all happening.

This is reality TV.

It's all happening right then and there.

Go ahead.

But we may we may look at well, we do look at, as I only said, hundreds of objects all day.

And only pitch one all day.

And you know, and sometimes these guys have experience that we pitch 3 or 4.

But but but in recent years, just you just one, the one you really feel it on and, and, and sometimes it, it is the end of the day.

It's a little desperate, but these guys always sniff out.

They always sniff it out.

I got to give them credit.

You guys are great.

Sam, what percentage of the appraiser pitches to you go through to actually make their.

It depends on the day.

I mean, sometimes we can have a very thin day or a very rich day, so but it's usually around 50%, sometimes 70%.

And, and so some of the reasons are that literally the thing's just not going to work.

We've seen it too many times before.

Or the person bringing it doesn't own it, or they're a dealer and, and we, we spend time, as you know, trying to get to know the guest a little bit so that we can work out whether they're going to actually show up on camera with a great story and an item on it.

I was thinking, this is also one of the reasons why the internet question was so interesting.

Half of what we do, some proportion because I can't make it, precise, but some proportion of what we do is just about the story, and that nobody can look on the internet for a great story.

And if they do, we'll probably catch them out.

Same.

You are all phenomenal storytellers, and that's one of the reasons the show continues to endure.

There's no question.

Let's get back to the audience right here.

Yes.

Okay.

And I'm wondering for the producers who are pickers, do you have size limitations of what the what the object will be?

And what's the largest.

Object that that's come out there?

If you can bring it and you can make it there and you can carry it, it can come.

Yeah.

We have to carry it yourself.

You can't.

We will not help you carry the item.

You have to carry it yourself.

But if you can bring it and we appraise it, you know, you have to look at our categories.

We don't appraise cars.

So don't bring your car.

But it it and it can't be too big because we'll find a way, we'll figure out how to cover it versus you worrying about what will we do, bring the biggest thing you have.

We have a drop off area.

So anybody who's coming to the show who has something large, can, drop off that piece of furniture with a companion, go and park their car and meet up.

So, if that's the first step.

The other is if it's so large that even two of you carrying it is too much.

Very often, we've also our appraisers to go out and look at it first before they do anything else.

We once in a convention center show, had a man with a large moving truck who had brought this incredibly heavy canoe, a dugout canoe, and we had the appraiser walk out to the parking lot to look at that because, the guest had actually hurt their back, putting it in the trunk.

Yeah.

I had, if I may, I and in Detroit, when Detroit was probably the second or third year of the show, I think it was early on in the show, a lady came at the end of the day and said, well, I brought the piece back.

I went and got it.

And and I said, which piece would that be?

You know, I never met this woman, and I quickly realized that she was she talked with my twin brother who were in same suit and tie some, you know, and didn't.

Have a different suit and tie.

Well, pretty much the same well thought that suits that day.

Unless we coordinated it, we looked exactly like so.

So I said she said I went and got it and and I think it must have been really good of my brother sent her back home to get it at the end of the event.

And so I went into the parking lot and it was deep into the parking lot and I the van door slid open and there at the end at 430, which is late in the day, that in those days 435 and they would run out of film, they literally be out of film sometimes.

And the first couple of years was the greatest.

Duncan Fife, writing desk, sewing table that I had ever seen, you know, just a masterpiece.

Duncan Fife, 1810 original finish writing desk with the original velvet.

Velvet.

The original ink stand.

It was a masterpiece.

And I and and I she said, well, it is it is late.

I said it wasn't.

I'm going to take this.

And I picked this thing up and believe in it, and it weighed, you know, whatever, 30 or 40 pounds, maybe 45 pounds, dense mahogany.

But I carry that thing like a football field and a half like it was a feather.

I was so excited.

Maybe it was.

Stolen.

But I think.

Well, I, I ended up doing the I did it, I think I did it with Leslie and because we couldn't I said, Leslie, you found her, but I went and carried it, and you.

Give this to you over like, you know.

So.

So we did it together, and I think I told her 100 and 180 to 120,000.

Whoa.

You know, and she got emotional.

Was wonderful because she was such a nice lady.

Ended up selling it at some auction in the Midwest.

And that, and I ended up buying it at for, like, at this auctions.

She never called me this doll, you know, for display and ended up selling it at the winter show later on for, I think, 250 or 300,000, but after paying 184 at.

Auction, did did did you is it worth more now?

You know I that is that hasn't lost a lot of money only because it is the greatest.

Duncan five writing table in existence.

But it's still brown.

It's still brown.

It's down about 30%.

I say, yeah, it is, but wow.

We got to do this real quick.

When you say brown is down, brown is what encompasses exactly what.

In general 17th to to to 19th century.

Carved furniture.

Furniture.

That's it.

Okay.

What a story.

And, Kay, you've got our attention.

What are you bringing tomorrow?

Go ahead, sir, I don't have anything.

Oh, you don't have anything.

You just want to go ahead.

Sir.

My name is Russell Chip, and I want to thank WXXI and Roadshow for such a rewarding experience.

It's a pleasure to be watching these things.

And in view of, you know, today's discouraging news all the time.

It's a pleasure.

So thank you very much.

To let me.

Yes, this is the cabinetmaker.

We spoke earlier, and I really appreciate your knowledge of furniture because you know how it's made.

You're a cabinet maker.

Two part question.

Marsha, how do you select appraisers?

And, the second part for Lee.

When you, see someone that brings in a Boston tea table that feel, that feels that it's worth of $50,000, and you have to tell them that is a fake, what goes through your mind?

Now, let's start with Marsha.

Wait, what was the question?

How do you select appraisals carefully?

Yeah.

We know PBS is the most trusted institution in our country.

Still, and.

And we know you trust us.

We know you trust Antiques Roadshow.

So we're going to make sure when we assign, when we take on a new appraiser.

And that's because we have an opening.

And Sam is appraiser wrangler, by the way.

He gets to be appraiser wrangler.

We're going to make sure your reputation is squeaky clean.

You don't just check out this this way or that way.

You gossip checks out.

It's a small world.

We just want to make sure that you're real and that you're knowledgeable.

If you fooled us and you come in appraised for the day and you don't really, you're not as expert as we thought you were.

Your table mates will tell us that doesn't normally happen because we only have so many openings, because either people are retiring or some other thing and our veterans get first dibs.

Okay.

And, Lee, we got to keep it tight.

He's just asking about heaven break.

Bad news on a. Yeah, we have to, we may eventually, if we have to break it and it's being aired, as I say, we just have to break it to them and and hopefully, hopefully, you know, they learn something in the process, and our audience learns how to spot a fake.

And you know what?

Things to look forward to identify a fake.

Next question from the audience.

Yes, I'm pretty from Rochester, New York.

Have you ever solved a crime on the program?

Sam obviously has.

I think actually we helped solve the crime.

We weren't the crime solver.

Sam, do you want to tell the gold bar story?

It's such a complicated story, but, yes.

We got two minutes.

We had a. Woman who brought on some wonderful little pieces of, fines from the the sea.

For us.

Well, they included gold bars.

There were some other things, too.

And quite surprisingly, she was much more candid about the facts.

And this ended up being an Interpol issue.

And, the French authorities had been trying to track down these items for years, and, so wrote they appeared on Roadshow and, I think it was about ten years later when we were really getting the, the dirt on this stuff.

And, these people had, you know, there were very strict laws about going down to, salvage things.

And in this particular case, it was it was a case of note, but there were lots of looters.

And, this came from some of those looters.

They tracked the criminals through road show.

So if you have something stolen, don't bring it to road.

Show.

And we'd rather.

Not want.

A story.

Briefly.

Ruth wants to know, with this being the 250th anniversary of the country, are you particularly interested in pieces of U.S.

history this year?

Presidential items, war items, etc.?

Yeah.

We, we made a, making it a 250 special.

We made it, which is aired.

You've seen it?

Yes.

So we were watching for those things.

And listen, we're not, you know, material geeks like these guys, but we're history buffs, so we're looking for that.

And it brings a note now for all of us.

Well, we are just about out of time.

And I want to thank you.

This audience is so grateful for the work.

I really thought that was a lovely point that one of the audience members made.

This program covers a lot of topics.

We certainly have to cover the range of topics in the world.

PBS and NPR do.

But sometimes what we need is education, levity, great storytelling, just great production.

Antiques Roadshow is all of those things.

And I want to thank you all for making it.

And the audience wants to thank you now as well.

It's going to.

The producers, Marsha Demko, Sam Farrell, Lee Kino, Charlie of the appraisers, and Becky Whaley, president and CEO of Genesee Country Village and Museum.

You've got quite a day tomorrow.

I want to thank you not only for what you're going to do, but for coming in here today as well.

I know how busy you are.

Thank you to do it.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, everybody.

We've got more connections coming up in a moment.

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