>> Welcome to Mississippi Antique Showcase.

In this episode, we're in Biloxi, Mississippi, with our expert appraisers to look at your rare finds, family heirlooms and your quirky collectibles.

We'll see what we can learn about these unique treasures and of course, see what they might be worth.

>> Thank you so much!

>> Hello, Sherri.

I see you've brought us a ring?

>> Yes.

>> What do you know about the ring?

>> All I know is it was my grandmother's ring.

She got it from her sister-in-law.

But my grandmother was born in 1902, so I know it's at least 100 years old.

>> Right.

>> And it ended up with me.

>> Well, from what I can tell, it is platinum, correct?

From what I can tell, it's platinum and a diamond in a filigree setting.

I'm not sure of the size of the diamond, but just looking at it looks between a half to three-quarter carat.

And it being platinum with the diamond, I would estimate it, for insurance purposes, between $12,000 to $15,000.

Have you ever had it appraised before?

>> Never.

No.

>> Okay.

I would do that for insurance purposes.

>> Okay.

>> Obviously, depending on what the price of gold is, if you were to ever sell it, which we know you're not.

>> No.

>> And I wouldn't you know, you would get considerably less for it.

But for insurances, insurance purposes, I would insure it between $12,000 and $15,000.

>> Okay, that's awesome.

>> Very nice ring, and thank you for bringing it.

>> Thank you.

>> Hi.

I saw this pig, and I was so excited about it because he's whimsical and he's fun.

He's actually a little angry.

You can see in his face.

How did you get the pig?

>> My husband bought it in an antique shop in Pennsylvania.

>> In Pennsylvania?

>> Yes.

>> Oh, wow.

I think that's curious.

The reason I'm saying that is because it looks like it's Asian.

And how long have you had it?

>> A few years.

>> Like five years, ten years?...

>> Probably less than five years.

>> Well, the reason I ask was because he's got quite a bit of wear.

He was at one time painted black and red.

>> Oh, really?

>> Yeah.

And he's been in the weather.

You keep him in the house or is he outside?

>> In the house.

I mean, it looked like this when we got it.

>> At some point, he was outside.

His paints kind of come off and that kind of thing.

You can still see small bits of the red underneath and there's some around here.

But you can also see the water marks where, he's probably been exposed to the elements outside.

But that doesn't detract from the fact that he's really cool.

He's really a neat, neat pig.

He's hand-carved from wood, obviously, and I think it's probably an Asian hardwood like mango or something like that.

>> Oh, interesting.

>> Because he's pretty hard.

He's got a lot of heft to him.

But trying to date him might be hard.

There are some powder beetle holes in him which would give him a little more age.

He's probably of this century.

Well, 19th century, you know, last century.

And he's just a wonderful, wonderful specimen of folk art.

I don't think he's Pennsylvanian, though.

I think he was probably brought from Asia from the way he's carved the way he looks, but that doesn't mean somebody couldn't have been over there.

>> Yeah, I mean, it was in an antique shop, so I don't know.

>> Does he have a prominent place at home?

>> On top of a tall bookshelf.

>> Oh, well bring him down so he can enjoy life.

But anyway, he is a really cool thing, even with his hooves and the graining and the wood.

He's just a wonderful specimen of folk art, even Chinese folk art.

Pigs are really revered in China and in Asia for, you know, many different things.

But I think it's curious that they didn't make him happy.

They made him have an angry sneer on his face or whatever.

And he's kind of crouching in a position that would indicate he's being threatened or something.

So as far as value, what did you pay for him, do you remember?

>> About $50.

>> Oh, I think you got a good buy.

He's probably, even decorativly, worth about $400, something like that.

I would certainly pay that for him just because he's so novel and whimsical.

And there's a lot of people who collect just pigs.

They love pigs for whatever reason.

They're fun animals, people have them as pets these days, which I'm sure you're aware of.

But he is just a wonderful specimen of folk art, and I just think he's cool.

He even has little bat wings for ears, it's just the way his ears are carved.

So he looks funny.

But wonderful thing.

I'm glad you brought him in.

It's always fun to have something neat to look at during these sales-- these appraisals.

So love his little hooves.

Has he got a name?

>> No.

>> No?

Okay.

Well, anyway, thank you for bringing him.

He's wonderful.

>> Well, thank you so much.

>> Sure.

>> Well, what do we have here today?

>> This is a piece my aunt brought home to her grandmother, which would have been my great-great-grandmother.

My aunt was stationed in France in World War II.

And, you know, women didn't go in and fight, but they brought the men back to her and they worked on them.

But it's been around several generations and here I am with it, looking to see what we have.

>> Okay.

What you have is Capodimonte, and it's all hand-done, all worked and pottery done and glazed from Italy.

Back in the 1930's and 1940's, you know, they did a lot of it, and a lot of us soldiers, you know, back during the war did bring a lot of it back.

And they still sell it, you know, even today.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> But all these flowers are applied, and it doesn't seem to have any damage, which is amazing.

And lid... but unfortunately, there's a lot of it.

>> Okay.

>> And so it didn't cost a lot even then.

And and it still doesn't have a great market for it today.

But being that it doesn't have any broken petals or anything on it, I would say this would be, at auction it would be $300 to $400.

>> Gotcha.

Gotcha.

>> And so but, just keep taking care of it and keep the cat from knocking it over.

>> Right.

>> Yeah.

Well, we appreciate you bringing it by.

>> Thank you so much.

>> Oh, you're certainly welcome.

>> What's you're name?

Where are you from?

>> Hi, I'm Lamar Billups.

I live in Gulfport, Mississippi.

>> Well, so nice to have you here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase, Lamar.

Tell me about this beautiful piece that you brought today.

>> This was passed down to me from my great aunt, Irene Billups from Greenwood.

And it's a Lepho, who was a Vietnamese- French painter, and he died in 2001.

And it's worth a lot more than I thought.

>> Wow.

>> That was a bonus.

And that's pretty much what I learned.

>> What did they appraise it for?

>> They said anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000.

>> Wow.

Wow.

And what was the story behind it?

Was it the artist itself that made it so valuable?

>> Yes.

>> Well, with a $15,000 to $20000 appraisal, I mean, you've got to be pretty excited, right?

>> I'm pretty excited.

Yes, they did tell me where to go to sell it.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

So what's the plan?

Is that going to be the next step?

>> That's the next step.

>> Okay.

Okay.

So when you sell it, are you going to be sad about selling it or are you going to be kind of midway?

>> I'm gonna be a little sad about it, because she did leave it to me but I can part ways.

>> Well, that's awesome.

Well Lamar, I thank you so much for joining us here at Mississippi Antique Showcase today.

>> Thank you, Germaine >> Thank you.

>> Betty, this is great.

What did you bring us today to evaluate?

>> Some trench art.

>> Trench art.

Okay.

So what is trench art?

Do you know?

>> I know that it was what the soldiers did when they were bored in World War I specifically, and I read recently, World War II.

>> Okay.

And then where did you acquire this trench art?

>> Well, my husband and I used to travel a good bit to military shows, specifically the International Motor Vehicle, Historical Motor Vehicle Association, and they always have swap meets, that kind of thing.

So while he's off looking at military vehicles, I'm shopping.

(laughing) >> Well, that's great.

And so in one of your shopping sprees, we found some trench art.

>> At different places.

I don't even remember where, because we've been around the country or around the southeast, northeast.

>> Right.

And you said that you actually have another candlestick.

>> I do.

It was a pair.

>> Okay.

Do you remember what you paid for all of this?

>> I do not remember at all?

I think maybe the big one was maybe $50 or something like that.

>> Okay.

So you were right on the money as far as the dates are concerned.

So trench art became highly popular during World War I.

In World War II, it kind of extended just because, you know, people liked it and they sold it and some people even started mass producing it.

So you have three pieces here, one of which I've never seen before in the form it's in.

Now this is kind of the most common one that I've seen.

So it's a lot of pierce work here.

So the soldiers would do that and then they would elongate the actual shell.

Now this was a shell, a live shell just not detonated, as you can see here.

And that would have been where the detonater would have been.

So we've got this vase here, which, again, is what one would see a lot of.

And then this one, which is a simpler form, but again, you know, you see the same bottom there so that we know that it is, you know, once was an active shell.

And this one has become kind of a more fluted, you know, decorative vase.

Now, the one thing that I haven't seen, I have seen a chart candlestick like this.

And then, of course, you know, again, you see that the bottom there I've never seen... this.

The carved candlestick.

The carved candle.

This is very cool.

So this is carved of wood here and you can see it's hand-carved.

Somebody probably did this with a knife and then they painted it.

And you can see there were they didn't paint the bottom.

And then at the top, the flame is a nail or the the wick rather is a nail right here.

So that is a super cool feature that I hadn't seen before.

>> Yeah, I like it.

>> And just very different and adds a little bit of pizzazz to an otherwise, you know, which would just be kind of a, you know, regular candle holder, right?

>> Yeah.

>> So all of that being said, current market values sound like they're in line kind of with what you paid for it.

>> Okay.

>> So you can expect this to be roughly $60 to $80 if you were to buy it on, say, eBay or something like that.

>> Okay.

>> Something like this would probably run you $30 to $50 somewhere in there.

And then this being kind of the simpler of the three being probably in the $25 to $45 range.

But that being said, especially if you have two of these, it's a nice little collection that you look at an auction value of $150 or $250 or a retailer, or if you were to find this in a store, you'd probably be looking at spending $250 today.

>> Okay.

>> Is that what you expected?

>> Yeah, pretty much.

It's just lots of fun to have.

>> Yeah, yeah, they are great and they are great display pieces, great conversation pieces.

One thing I want to point out about this one, too, is that this one was painted, so it was gilt painted.

>> I always wondered about that because it looks like the finish is worn off on this part.

>> Right.

So the original patina would look like this or this.

This one being is made to look like a high gloss brass, but it's not.

And that diminishes the value a little.

Anyway, thank you so much for bringing them down.

They were great.

Thanks!

>> James, thank you so much for coming today to MPB's Antique Showcase.

Tell us a little bit about what you brought.

>> Well, this is a book of piano sheet music composed by Robert Schumann that I acquired at an antique store in Gulfport late 1990's.

I was actually buying a old reed pump organ that this was displayed on the organ.

And I think the owner of the shop was so happy he was getting rid of the organ, he threw this in on the deal, so I technically didn't pay anything for it.

>> Well look, that's always good to start at zero.

That means it's got to be worth something at some point, right?

Well, obviously it's a lovely piece of art itself.

I always love to see, as a pianist, all these old scores and the actual interior is still printed in all German.

So as we know, Schumann was a German pianist and composer.

He lived from about 1801 to his death in 1856.

He was likely regarded one of the, you know-- was going to be, anyways, one of the most prolific romantic era pianists.

But he actually started, and was trying to study law first and he abandoned his law career in hopes of becoming at least one of the most prolific composers and pianists of his day.

And that's what his teacher told him.

So as a lawyer, I always find that fascinating.

But we tend to want to give up law pretty easily for something.

But actually just to the book itself, I probably would date this potentially during his lifetime, but probably slightly after.

It could be about 1860s.

So it's still very close to his death.

And so that means it puts it pretty close to his life.

After he suffered a hand injury, he was no longer able to actually play the piano.

And so he turned his attention to composing exclusively.

So during the 1850's, he was pretty much only composing piano quintets, which he's most noted for and obviously here we have his actual piano work.

So there very well could be a likelihood that this was printed during his time, but likely, a lot of times they were most respected after their death.

So that's why I say it could have that potential date.

Do you think you have any idea of how much it may be worth?

>> I have no clue.

>> I think if you get the right collector, given it's still in German, and depending on how people, pianists, musicians value music these days, I know I have several of these from Mozart and Beethoven and they're usually even, which is interesting, the size of this is not too large.

Usually, back then, they came in much larger scores.

But here I think with looks like the pages are intact, you probably, at an auction, would be around $250 to $300.

And if you could pinpoint, there's some publisher information in there as well.

If you could pinpoint the exact date and the region and try to get as close to Schumann as possible, you could be looking at more.

So what do you think about that?

Is that what you were expecting?

>> Yeah, I got it for nothing, so yeah, that's great.

>> As I always tell everyone on the show, that's a good ROI, return on investment that I've seen.

But it always makes a good display piece around your music or instruments.

So I think you did a good job there for that.

>> Great.

Thank you so much for bringing it in.

It's been a pleasure.

>> Thank you very much.

I appreciate.

>> Thanks, James.

>> What's your name?

Where are you from?

>> My name is Sandra Strickland and I'm from Pachuta, Mississippi.

>> Well, what brought you out to the Antique Showcase today?

>> Well, actually, this is a little piece I picked up here in Mississippi in Meridian at a thrift shop there.

I paid about $25 and the gentleman was really excited about it, so I'm excited.

He said they don't get very many black dolls and things of this nature.

And then he said, this one is not a piggybank.

And he said they usually are piggy banks and it's not a piggy bank.

So it makes it that more special.

>> Wow!

>> He said close to $1,500.

>> Whoa!

>> Wow!

>> $25 went a long way.

>> A long way!

So I'm really excited.

I love it.

And I have it where I can see it every day.

>> Right.

Right.

Well, what are you planning on doing with it in the future?

Do you plan on keeping it?

>> Oh yeah, I'm going to keep him.

He's a part of the family.

And I hope that I pass him on down in my family and that they keep him for generations to come.

>> Okay, we have Elaine here today and she's got a really nice sterling charm bracelet with a lot of charms and a lot of the charms open.

The fan opens.

We have a King Tut in the sarcophagus and it actually has King Tut in there.

Can you tell me a little bit about it, where you got it and what you paid for it?

>> I got it in an estate sale where we bought the entire house out and this was well hidden.

I was really lucky to find it where they had it hidden.

But the lady had died and didn't have anyone to receive her things.

And that was a shame.

But I was so excited to get it.

>> Okay, and you said it was hard to find?

Was it underneath stuff or?...

>> A dresser had a false top that would open and it was underneath that false top.

>> Well, it's a wonderful piece.

I see one of the charms is dated 1944.

Have you ever had it appraised before?

>> No, I've just kept it safe and just loved it.

>> Okay.

And you told me that you had typically looked them up and they were around to $250, $300.

With this many charms and that much sterling in it, I would probably guesstimate it between $1,250 and $1,500 because of the charms.

I'm not sure that the bracelet itself is sterling, but I would think all of the charms are.

You also mentioned that there's a little birdcage here and it's got a minute bird in it, which is really unusual to see.

Actually, the whole thing's unusual.

>> It really is.

>> And you said you were excited to be here?

>> I am thrilled to be here.

>> Well, we're thrilled to have you.

And I'm glad you brought this, because it is very unusual.

>> Wow, I'm excited!

I wasn't expecting it to be worth that much.

>> Well, with the sterling and the amount of charms on it.

You know, you can see a lot of the charms and there are gold charms out, but not this many that are sterling that are this detailed.

>> Right.

What about the King Tut?

What would his material be?

>> I would think he's not gold.

You need to have a test to see if it is.

But he's probably not gold.

Thank you very much.

>> Thank you!

>> Marilyn, we're so glad to have you here today.

Thanks so much for being a part of this fun event.

We're excited to have you.

I'm Ron and I want to just say this is the most interesting thing.

I would like for you to tell me, tell me what you know about it.

>> My father brought it back after serving in World War II.

He said that they liberated an SS building and they divided up the photo albums among the people that were there with him, and he brought back this swastika, guns, that kind of thing.

We found these items up in a trunk in the attic.

They're both deceased.

And we were cleaning out, trying to see what was in the house.

And this was one of the items.

>> You know, it's amazing what attics hold, isn't it?

>> It is.

>> we never know until we go up and really look through things.

Was this in a trunk by any chance?

>> It was in a trunk with a lot of other items, I guess you could say they had collected up in the attic.

This, along with some other World War II things and some other items that they had sort of put away and saved.

>> Well, I would like to first of all say, be careful of where you put it nowadays, because there has been some water damage here.

And right here, this is loose.

And you certainly don't want to lose that at all.

And what this is is this is just a statement, a very powerful statement of one of the darkest times in world history.

And so it's most interesting.

I've looked at some of the pictures and I think that it's unbelievable that these pictures have survived as they have.

And it really does-- it gives us an insight, I think, to the workings of Germany, you know, which you can see a lot of that in the pictures.

There is a picture in here that is of a woman and she is flying an airplane.

So, you know, we don't know whether that's Amelia Earhart or not, but it is a lady flying a plane in 1937.

>> Correct.

>> Isn't that the date of this?

>> Right, 1937.

>> Tell me about what is some of the favorite pictures that you've seen in here, that you enjoy looking at?

Well, we can put it down like this for right now.

>> It's just got some pictures that shows what was going on in 1937 before the war was declared.

There are some pictures of their military gatherings.

It looks as though that's what it is.

And then over in the back, there are some pictures where they are like hospitals and doing donations.

It looks like they are trying to serve their community back when they were-- >> Absolutely.

>> Right, at that time.

>> And, you know, I think what it really says to me, I mean, this is a powerful voice, to all of us that remember so much of that is that they were really, really preparing way before things actually were declared, you know, a war.

>> Correct.

And the picture of the woman in the airplane is a little bit closer to the back.

This is some of their gatherings at an airfield.

>> This is it, right here.

>> And then her in the vehicle.

>> And, you know, I wish I knew more about where all she flew, you know, because we... >> I thought it was impressive it was a woman pilot at that time.

>> I think that is absolutely great.

The pictures are so well preserved, which is really amazing.

Because, you know, so many times, over time, pictures, photographs get kind of, you know, they kind of turn brown and all that.

But this is really quite nice, really.

And I think this is such an interesting thing.

And of course, you have right here the newspaper article Victory Nazi Reveals Surrender to Western Allies, Russia.

And that in itself is quite interesting.

I wish we had the time to read it.

You know, we did today.

But it's really in okay condition.

It's torn, as you see.

But there's still some really-- it's legible.

You can read it, you know.

And I think that's great.

You know, for me, I'll tell you.

What a gift this was to be brought back, you know, to really be a testimony of what was really going on in 1937 in Germany.

And I think that is really, really important for our history, for us to know, I think that this is really priceless in a lot of ways.

I would-- if I had to put a price on this collection, and I know, I understand you have other things at home that would go with all of this, but for this itself, for the condition that it's in-- not so much this piece right here, but the condition of the photographs.

I think this is worth over $500 or $600.

I wouldn't want to part with it for less than that because it is a testimony to our past, because we became involved.

So thank you for sharing it with us.

This is just terrific.

I feel like I've been in a history class today.

And that you've shared this with us.

>> Well, I appreciate you doing this.

Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Join us next time for Mississippi Antique Showcase to see if you have a hidden treasure in your closet.