>>Coming up on Legacy List with Matt Paxton.

Matt is in historic Morristown, New Jersey to help a family go through a basement full of collectibles.

>>Marilyn Monroe >>It's called a flail.

>>And say goodbye to the man who taught them to never stop learning.

>>What?

>>What is that?

>>That would be about 53 million years old >>53 million years old.

I'm Matt Paxton.

Let's do it man.

My team of specialists, Jamie, Mike, and Avi help me help people downsize their homes and settle estates.

As the largest population of baby boomers in American history transition towards retirement, they and their families face the overwhelming task of emptying their homes to move.

We help them sift through a lifetime of possessions.

>>Bingo!

>>Heirlooms and collectibles.

>>Oh my gosh.

>>She's gonna love that.

>>To help them find the missing family treasures that mean the most to them.

>>Oh my- >>Jackie Robinson.

And along the way, they'll discover that the most important museum in the world may be in their family's basement.

>>Oh!

>>I've never seen that.

That is cool looking.

>>From attics to cellars, closets to cupboards, we uncover the memories they want to preserve.

This is living history.

This is what we're here to find.

Let's go!

And discover the compelling personal and often historical stories spanning generations that are their family's legacy.

>>[Female Announcer] Support for Legacy List comes from MakeSpace.

MakeSpace picks up, stores and return your items on demand.

Available for home or business.

MakeSpace provides professional movers, plus bins, blankets and a digital photo inventory.

You can find us at makespace.com.

And by ensure long-term care where we believe aging at home near friends and family is ever more possible for more people.

Learn more at insureltc.com.

AARP Virginia offering family caregiving support with prepare to care and down sizing and decluttering on line workshops designed to help organize and assess family needs Find the complete online workshop schedule At AARP.org/virtual VA The Ruth Camp Campbell Foundation (upbeat music) >>Today we're in Morristown, New Jersey meeting with Annemarie Forman and her family.

There's three generations that live there.

We're in the middle of a really complicated downsize.

First, we're gonna move her mother to her new apartment.

And then we've got to sort through the basement and go through the late father's collectibles that have completely filled their house.

(Matt knocks) >>Hi!

>>How are you?

>>Matt, good to see you.

>>As well as you.

>>Thank you for coming.

>>Thank you.

Wow, look at this house.

It's beautiful.

>>Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm so glad you're here.

We have a basement full of stuff from my dad.

My dad passed away two years ago.

My dad was an electrical engineer for his whole career.

But at the same time, he was always really interested in history and collecting.

My mom moved in after my dad passed away.

So, she's moving out, and we need help getting her stuff out and clearing out my dad's things.

>>Going into this job, I knew it was going to be a little delicate because Annemarie's father had passed away two years ago and her mother was finally leaving the house again.

So I knew it would be a really touchy but positive situation.

All right, let's peek around and see what we got and then see the rest of the house.

>>This is a kind of a family heirloom.

It was my great, great aunt's.

And this was one of the things when we packed up my parents house, we definitely made sure to take.

It's silver, silver and gold.

Yeah.

>>It's beautiful.

>>I see a lot of radios.

>>Yeah.

Well, my dad was an electrical engineer.

So from a very young age, he was really interested in electronics.

He actually got his ham radio license when he was like 13.

>>Wow.

(talk over each other) That's a really big deal.

>>Yeah, and he built his own ham radios.

He even recorded Sputnik.

>>Really?

>>Yeah.

When he was- >>That's really, really cool.

My job wouldn't be (indistinct) 'cause I've got your mom we're moving, and then your dad stuff.

One of the things we do we really get to know the people that we're moving just by going through their collections.

And I think it's gonna be interesting to know more about your dad.

>>Here was an interesting guy.

He really was.

>>All right.

Let's keep checking out the rest of the house.

I'm just kind of looking around right now.

(light cheerful music) >>Over here, this ball, he marked everything like he was so meticulous about I love research and putting notes on things and thank goodness he did because half of the things we wouldn't even know what they were >>I mean, without this for most people, this is just a basket.

>>Yeah, exactly.

>>But now it's like, oh my god, it's 200 AD!

>>Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you, dad.

>>This is cool.

All right, so it's really clean up here.

Where's like the ballroom?

>>Let's go to basement.

That's where the good stuff is.

All right.

>>Wow, look at all those stuff.

>>Come on down.

>>All right, here we are, now I can see it.

Look at this.

>>It's quite a lot.

>>This is a collection.

I love it.

Man, you're not kidding.

It's all in boxes.

It's all documented.

>>Yeah, he loved the research part of it.

This is a little bag that he gave my kids when they were little.

And he would give them little collectible things and gemstone collection.

So he was...

Even as they were very little.

>>How old were the kids?

>>My daughter was like four.

>>I don't even let my kid pour his own milk, more or less.

>>But they loved they loved Grampy and listening to Grampy's stories.

He had a very big influence on all his grandchildren.

Some of the stuff I haven't seen in years, like I haven't been in the boxes in a long time.

Like he would go through different phases where all he would be collecting would be fossils.

And then you know, another year it might be colonial Americana.

And another year, it's like Egyptian.

>>This I'm really interested in, >>Okay, he was like a whiz with electronics, he would broadcast and talk to people, I just remember having antennas all outside the house.

So he loved antique radios.

>>These are actually original.

These are not like- >>No, these are original.

>>These are original tubes.

And so they're very valuable and a lot of times the tubes are more valuable than the actual product.

>>So we used to call him actually the Renaissance man.

Because he knew so much about so many different things.

As he got up in years, like he actually, there was one time where he took me around the house.

And he started to talk to me about everything.

It's kind of emotional for me to think about it.

But he knew that there was gonna be a time when we'd have to do this.

And I think he was preparing us for it.

At least he was preparing me for it.

So he made a point of telling me where everything was, what was important, what not to worry about so much.

And I appreciate that.

Like, I think he was, you know, that was his way of saying, you know, you've got this.

>>Obviously a lot of work to do.

We're gonna move some of your mom's stuff.

We'll get rid of some trash, we'll organize a lot of this.

But we got our hands full.

Now, is there any other space I need to see that would have some of your dad's collection?

>>Yeah, there's actually some in the garage, if you want to come take a look.

(upbeat music) >>That's the garage.

>>That's it.

>>Wow.

(exhales) Take a second.

This adds a day.

Easy.

Very typical.

When a client calls me, they say, "Hey, look, my stuff's over there somewhere.

But my mom's stuff's on top, and then my aunt's stuff's over here.

So we've got like real sorting to do out here.

All right, I think I know we need to do logistically.

We've got a lot of work to do.

I need to get my team here.

But I want to go inside and let's go over the legacy list.

Usually I have idea what's gonna be on the legacy list.

I have no idea what you're going to throw at me.

So I'm kind of excited to go here.

We've two goals, one was clean out, one was obviously to move Nancy and get her in a comfortable place.

And the second one was to just reorganize all the items and make them as accessible as possible.

(light cheerful music) [Matt] All right.

Give me your favorite memory of your dad with all this stuff.

What's the coolest thing?

>>Oh, it's so hard to pick one thing- >>Or just give me a cool one.

>>But a cool one I think is a memory I have of my dad with with my girls in the basement.

And he would take them down to his little workshop and he would teach them how to be archeologists.

He put little cotton gloves on them and he'd use like old dental tools and teach them how to clean the fossils.

And so that vision that I have, is priceless.

>>One thing I love about my job is we get to know the person.

What am I gonna know about your dad?

>>I think you will know that he was passionate about not just things but about the meaning of them and the history of them.

I feel like he's here kind of talking to you through his things and you will totally get to know him.

>>All right, let's get into this list.

>>Okay.

The first thing is a cuneiform brick.

He was so proud of that because it had like one of the first pieces of writing, you know that Sumerian writing, and he was really intrigued with language and the evolution of it.

The reason that I'm a teacher today is because of him.

And I and I teach English, so for me this is like a personal item that really connects me to him.

The next thing is, I was just telling you the story about my girls cleaning the fossils, and one of one of the fossils that they cleaned off with him was of a fossilized turtle.

>>Is it big turtle, small turtle?

[Annemarie] Medium size.

Yes.

[Matt] Well, box turtle, okay.

All right, let's keep on.

What's the next item?

>>Okay, the next item is an item that I know would be really special to my mom.

It's something that he had all the time and used it all the time.

And it's an old Bakelite circuit tester, I guess.

He would use it to test voltage on things to see if something you know, was working or the battery was charged and he got it from his uncle.

And it was something that kind of got him interested in electronics.

The next item is a dinosaur egg, or fossil.

>>Repeat that for me.

>>A dinosaur, fossilized dinosaur egg.

He had a pretty large collection.

>>He's not the father of dragons, like we're not- >>No, no, but he was really into, he had like period of time when he was really into natural history.

The last thing that I have is a Amethyst geode.

And it's kind of what got him into his natural history phase of collecting.

>>Okay, so that was...

He got the bug with that.

>>My mother just remembers how excited he was about it.

Now that she's moving, she wants to have that display, >>Okay, so she wants that to go- >>She wants to have that displayed in her new place.

>>We're gonna move your mom.

And then we're gonna hopefully clear out and reorganize a lot of stuff, so that you guys can get some space.

>>Perfect.

>>What do you want for your mom in this process, and I don't mean stuff.

>>They were married for 52 years.

And unfortunately, my dad passed away on their anniversary.

I think this move is exciting.

But I also think it's a little scary for her 'cause she's never really been on her own.

And I think just going through these things now and talking about him now is kind of like settling her and getting her ready.

Because it's okay for her to move on.

(uplifting music) (upbeat music) >>This place is pretty cool, man.

>>Yes.

>>We knew this was gonna be a long week.

So I wanted to get these guys fed and filled with coffee, so they'd be ready to go.

>>I knew this job was going to be a little bit different because Matt took us to breakfast before we went to the house.

And that never happens.

>>All right, we got our hands full this week.

Very cool family.

Father died two years ago.

And we now have three generations living in this house, we have grandma, mom, and daughters.

And so it's kind of unique, where you are gonna be moving grandma this week, we've got to get all her stuff out.

And you and your guys are gonna to move her.

And at the same time, I need you to come back and help us sort through the whole house.

So you're kind of working double time this week.

>>Do I get double pay?

>>No, not double pay.

Good question.

At some point, the family is gonna need to sell some of these things.

>>They're ready to liquidate some of the stuff >>Like a lot of families, I think they like the concept of liquidating.

But they are so attached to this man and his stuff.

This one's hard for me reminds me my dad a lot.

That's why I gotta do this.

I still miss my dad 20 years later, you know.

>>That never really changes.

>>No, and they're at the beginning of this.

And it's been emotional just to even be in there.

>>Now, in my experience working in these types of situations where there's grief involved, you know, it can be a little chaotic.

>>They don't even know what they have.

>>Exactly.

>>So aside from the move, should we bring in some shelves or think of a way to help organize this?

>>That's a good idea.

Yeah, that'd be awesome.

>>All right, I'll get my guys >>Okay This is why we do this.

This is the kind of family...

I'm excited to find some of this stuff.

I saw a bunch of medieval weapons that you'll be able to work with.

I don't know anything about 'em.

>>Looking forward to it.

>>Honestly, you're gonna make fun of me for this, but I don't think I have any knowledge for anything in this house.

So it's gonna be really important for you guys.

I know.

Shock, right.

It was a pretty easy plan.

We're gonna have Jamie and Avi in the basement.

And then I really wanted Mike fully focused on moving Nancy first because once we got through that, the emotions can simmer down and we can focus on the collection.

>>Ah, man.

I mean already.

>>All right.

Wow.

>>I have never seen a collection like this in anyone's basement.

>>I mean, we've been in a lot of basements.

But this is like, this is full, >>This is full.

I thought I was in a museum actually.

Look, here.

Got bowls.

>>800 AD.

Matt told us that we were going to be going through a really large, extensive collection of old artifacts.

That's why I feel like we shouldn't even be touching it.

This is not the typical stuff that we go through.

>>Some pretty cool wineskin.

>>You know, we need people like Frank in the world to care about history like this, and really preserve it and pass it on to his family, because then they're gonna take it to the next generation.

>>I've known Mike for a long time.

And I knew this was going to need to be, honestly, a very gentle and compassionate move.

Mike has moved people in my family.

So I trust him fully.

I knew it would go really easy with Nancy.

>>Come on in, Mike, take a look at my belongings that have been packed up and stored in this garage.

>>All right.

>>I honestly don't know where everything is to be honest with you, so I need help there.

>>Nobody's ever told me that before.

On each and every project, we're there to do a job.

And we have certain skill sets that allow us to do that.

But sometimes the best thing we can do is just listen.

Well, it's pretty clear.

I mean, obviously, we have a lot to do to get this from here to your new home.

Taking that aside for a moment: how are you doing?

How does this feel?

>>My husband passed away a little over two years ago And I go from being happy to sad.

It's a big step for me.

And I'm looking forward to the future.

I really am.

It's not the future I envisioned.

But it's the future that I'm going to make the best out of.

>>I could tell that Nancy was really anxious about this move.

This is gonna be a big change for her.

I know what I've got to do here.

So I'm gonna go and get started.

And I'll come get you if I have any questions I need- >>Okay, thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

>>Absolutely, Nancy.

(cheerful music) >>This is like a whole detailed list of, it doesn't say dinosaur but it looks like a similar word.

Eggs, or like dinosaur like fossils like inventory, if you will.

>>I mean, we are looking for the dinosaur egg.

>>I know that's why that caught my eye but- >>You got smoke but no fire.

>>Exactly.

Well.

Here's a dinosaur egg shell.

That little tiny piece of a dinosaur.

How do they know that's a dinosaur eggshell?

>>I know.

I always wonder that.

>>That's fascinating.

>>Like, I would just walk right past this, I would not even give a second thought.

>>While I didn't find the dinosaur egg.

I did find a piece of a dinosaur egg shell.

It's not the whole thing.

But I think Annemarie is gonna be really excited that we found this.

>>There was one more thing I saw while I was looking at this wineskin.

That was pretty interesting.

>>What is this?

>>It's called a flail.

>>Okay.

>>Hold it.

It's a pretty interesting weapon.

It has a fairly interesting history.

>>The flail is a weapon that dates back to the Middle Ages.

Its design is simple, but deadly.

It was most effective in close quarters when combatants were within arm's length of each other.

The striking end was usually spiked, and the chain itself could be up to two feet in length.

Military historians debate the flail's popularity, but one thing is for certain: a knight favorite weapon was his sword.

It was a symbol of great honor and prestige, but it was far from ceremonial.

A blow from a knight's sword could smash bones, incapacitating opponents and giving the user the upper hand in battle.

The other weapon of choice was the lance.

Knights on horseback wielded these long wooden poles when charging the enemy.

A mounted knight in full gallop could reach speeds of up to 30 miles an hour.

The results were catastrophic.

Soldiers fighting on foot preferred weapons they could swing with deadly accuracy, like axes.

When historians x-rayed skeletons from a 15th century battlefield, they found that many died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Thanks to the legend of King Arthur and Excalibur, knights of the Middle Ages have been romanticized over the years.

In reality, they were brutal warriors who fought not just for a cause, or their king, but for the highest bidder.

Some of the biggest battles of the Middle Ages were decided by mercenary knights who used their assortments of deadly weapons to turn the tide of history.

(light music) >>I mean, do you think this is like original?

Like was this used in some sort of battle or- >>Likely not.

This definitely looks more like a replica to me.

Just looking at a flail, you can't really appreciate how destructive it could actually be.

And so I thought was pretty important that we just give an example of how it might be used.

So I gave you an explanation about this flail.

I thought I would show you rather than tell you.

So if you just- >>I'll back up.

(pumpkin smashes) (Jamie laughing) (Matt cheering) All right, not bad.

>>Not bad?!

Can you imagine that being somebody's head?

>>That's a big target.

I'm just gonna-- let me grab this.

>>Okay.

>>Here, let's set me up.

Now, you're not allowed to make fun of me if I miss this.

>>Oh!

That's what I'm talking about.

>>I gotta be honest I was shocked that I hit the pumpkin, but it felt pretty good.

>>You eat pumpkin pie?

>>Yeah, if you're making it.

>>Let's do it.

>>Alright.

I'm gonna bring this.

>>One of the most important things I do is take the stress and pressure off of our clients.

Because at the end of the day, I'm going to get the project done and make it so that they don't have to worry.

>>Titanic?

What?

Hey Avi, how are you doing over there?

>>It is coming along.

There's so much to go through.

How about you?

>>I mean, I'm finding all these documents, of like cargo boat manifests from like the 1700s, originals.

>>Is there anything else interesting over there?

>>Come here.

All right.

What's that word?

>>Cuneform?

>>Close.

It's cuneiform.

So this is the item on her legacy list.

So let's look now.

Let's get it out.

So these were ancient forms of writing, like the first form of writing.

>>Like hieroglyphics.

>>Kind of, yeah.

I mean, these date back all the way to like 2000 BC or something like that.

Like, it says it on here, let's see exact dates.

Yeah.

2012 to 2004 BC.

>>Man, this is awesome.

>>It was really fascinating to be this up close and personal with something that was thousands of years old.

I didn't know what it said but it was cool nonetheless.

>>How're we doing down here guys?

>>What's up, man?

>>How're we doing?

What we got?

>>Well, I got some good news for you.

>>Let's hear it.

>>I found the cuneiform.

>>Awesome!

Where was it?

Down here?

>>Yeah.

It was in a box over there.

>>Can you beat that?

>>Cuneiform is nice, but check this out.

>>What is that?

>>Looks like dinosaur teeth or dinosaur jaw.

>>It's like an alligator jaw and all wrapped up and everything, it was labeled?

I know, a lot of stuff is labeled.

>>No labels on it.

>>All right, so we need to find somebody that could tell us about this.

I always say that I've seen it all and then about once a year somebody brings out something new.

Avi finds a dinosaur jaw or something.

I don't know what it is.

I've got to take it to the local museum to learn more about it.

There's a lot of cool stuff here.

Why don't you pack up what you have, I'll pack up some of the other things I have.

I've got an appraiser coming in this afternoon to kind of give us a full list of everything.

And then Mike is cranking out moving Nancy, right now.

So we got a lot going on.

>>Busy day.

>>Busy day but what a house!

I mean the stuffs, I wish I could be in here with you guys but I do not have the time.

Keep looking in here.

Find what you can.

Great job, guys.

Good job on the legacy list.

This is great.

>>Yeah.

See ya.

>>See ya.

>>I mean, seeing all of this stuff in the basement, it all belonged to her father and he played such a big role in the family.

It's inevitable that every time they walk downstairs, they're going to be reminded of him and they're not gonna want to sit down and go through all of these memories.

So how are you feeling so far with this whole process?

>>Oh, I have to admit, it's been overwhelming.

It's a little overwhelming, you know, moving my mom and then trying to make sure I wasn't losing any of my father's things, and then putting it all into this house.

I feel like it's time for us to downsize.

>>You're ready to have that space back.

So we've been in the basement for a while.

And we found a lot of really great stuff down there.

But we're still looking for just a few items.

So I was wondering if there's anywhere in the house an area that that I might find some of these things?

>>Sure.

Actually, my den.

>>Oh!

One of the items on the list that was really important to Annemarie's daughter was the petrified turtle.

I knew there had to be somewhere else in the house that we could look.

That looks great.

I'll check it out.

>>Thank you.

(upbeat music) >>All right.

I'm wearing gloves, because there's a lot of paper.

And this guy was super, super organized.

This is the area that is labeled.

Stuff, not inventoried.

Okay, so he labeled when he hasn't gotten to yet.

You have to look at every piece of paper.

It says what it is.

So that prayer sheet.

>>There's a baptism, birth and baptism certificate.

>>It's an early school book.

It's cute.

Little Martha.

Look, they were even saying "doing property of" back then.

>>Let's keep going here.

Oh, this is what I want to get to.

Hair.

Not inventory.

Famous people's hair.

Abraham Lincoln's hair.

I'm a little disappointed, it's a tiny little piece of hair.

John Kennedy's hair.

That's just not a lot of hair?

>>I mean, I've got more hair than that!

>>You do.

You specialize in weird stuff, like, is this a real thing?

Is this a market for something like this?

>>Oh, absolutely.

>>George Washington!

>>What a lot of people rely on is the chain of ownership and the documentation that accompanies it.

But it wasn't uncommon at all for presidents to give locks of their hair to important people as like a memento.

>>This is Robert E. Lee's hair.

>>Oh, Jesus.

>>All right, now we're talking: Elvis Presley.

Look at this!

>>Whoa!

>>Marilyn Monroe.

I have to say I have seen a lot of collections.

Famous people hair is not one that I thought of.

>>People spend a lot of time on their hair, and that's nothing new.

According to archeologists, combs date back over 5,000 years to Ancient Egypt.

Speaking of Egyptians, they prefer their hair short because of the desert heat and a strong desire to not get head lice.

Ancient Greeks, on the other hand, liked their hair long and would often place fresh flowers and jewelry in their hair when attending social events.

Styles change from culture to culture.

Despite their ferocious reputation, Vikings were very conscious of their hair.

Most wore it short in the back with a long beard in front, kind of like a reverse mullet.

For many Native American women, long hair was spiritually significant.

Some tribes cut hair in times of mourning.

Others style that for traditional ceremonies.

for Native people growing out their hair remains a source of cultural pride and resilience.

Beauty standards took a surprising turn during the European Renaissance.

High foreheads were all the rage, so women plucked their hair lines to be in style.

During the Victorian age, keepsakes made from the hair of a loved one became extremely popular.

strands of hair were often made into jewelry or other works of art.

It was a custom picked up by many grieving widows whose husbands never returned from the Civil War.

Our fascination with hair hasn't faded.

From dreadlocks to Mohawks, crew cuts to bobs, our hair is an extension of our personality.

>>Okay.

Wow.

That's a fossilized turtle for ya.

>>What's this?

300 AD.

Man.

>>I've seen a lot of collections, this one is really amazing.

Circa 100 BC to 300 AD.

A lot of times a collector will focus on one thing and have a lot of that one thing.

Nancy's husband had 10 or 20 collections, all with a ton of items.

Oh, hello.

>>Oh, the battery tester.

Look at this.

Very cool, man.

There's another legacy list item.

Good job, dude!

Got a battery with it?

>>Got a battery with it.

>>All right, let's see if this thing works.

[Mike] Yay.

It still works!

>>Look at that.

>>That's awesome.

>>You know, it's funny.

We're sitting here with all this ancient pottery and hair and autographs and all that stuff and all the legacy list items, this is the one that she grew up with.

>>Oh.

Oh yeah!

Here we go, Matt.

>>Hey, look at that!

>>Check it out!

>>Another legacy list item.

Look at that!

The geode.

It's beautiful.

That is really cool.

So that is the first, like big rock that he bought.

Annemarie really wanted us to find it, She said, you know, this is what got him into all the natural history he collects.

>>I would have loved to have hung out with this guy.

>>God, it's what I keep saying.

I just wish I could like sit down and talk to this guy one afternoon.

This is really, really cool.

Good job, man.

I'm gonna give it back.

I don't want to be responsible for it.

I am gonna go to a museum down the street and try to learn a little more about all the natural history stuff that we're finding, some we'll take that with us.

>>Sounds good.

>>Right.

Cool.

Thank you, dude.

Good job, another legacy list.

>>So what is that?

Two to zero?

>>Yeah, I haven't got any yet.

>>I mean, nobody's counting.

>>I wanted to learn a little bit more about some of these items.

So Avi and I headed over to the Morris Museum to learn as much as we could.

We're working on a house here in town, and we've just found a lot of stuff that we need to know more about.

>>Okay.

Oh, nice!

>>What is this?

>>Okay, so what we have here is a fossil turtle.

I'm not entirely sure about the age of it.

But based on similar fossils that I've seen in the United States, it's probably Eocene.

So that would be about 53 million years old.

>>53 million years old.

Is this a turtle shell or is it a fossil of a turtle?

>>Well, it's a fossil of a turtle.

But the original bone is still here.

So it's it hasn't been replaced.

>>Really?

>>Yeah.

This is a young fossil.

>>So how does something fossilize?

>>Well, essentially, it gets buried in the ground real rapidly, usually in a river type of system.

When it's in embedded in the sediment, minerals that are inside the soil will start percolating and start replacing it.

>>So, a flood would have come, taking it down, there's some kind of water action that would have sunk it down on the ground, and then just- >>Covered it over and then mineralized over hundreds of thousands of years.

>>What was something like this value?

>>Probably somewhere around $400?

Maybe a little bit more.

>>So what do we have here?

>>Okay, these look like crinoid stems and corals.

So this probably would have been from a warm tropical sea, probably from upstate New York.

This would be approximately 400 million years old.

>>That is old.

>>Good stuff.

Most of New York State was a warm tropical state back then.

>>All right.

>>We got a ton of stuff.

>>Yeah.

What about this?

>>Unfortunately, what you think is there, isn't really what's there.

>>So I was gonna ask you, is this showmanship?

Like it looks like these are teeth from different- >>Right, these are actual teeth and these are actually bones but they have put them together.

So you usually don't find them like this.

Usually when you find stuff like this, it's more disarticulated.

These are teeth from a carnivorous fish, a salmon.

And then these are just some bones that they found.

>>It's salmon?

>>Salmon.

Giant salmon.

>>How big a salmon is that?

>>A bit- would have been good eating that's for sure >>My gosh!

>>I wouldn't want to see a thing swimming up- >>So these are the fangs of the salmon.

>>Wow, that's the teeth of a fish.

>>And then the this would be- >>I think I'd rather see a crocodile.

>>Oh boy.

>>Then an actual salmon that big.

My gosh.

>>And this is from the end of the age of dinosaurs.

So this would be about 65 million years old.

>>What would something like this?

How would that be valued?

>>Realistically, I would probably put at least maybe $400 or $500.

>>Okay.

Okay, here is the last item.

What do you know about this?

>>Okay, so this was found in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

It's one of the largest states in Brazil.

This was encased in a lava flow.

That happened about 250 million years ago.

So lava erupted, gathered gas bubbles inside the lava.

And then sometime at a later date, the Amethyst came in and crystallized inside the gas bubbles.

>>When Derek told us how old this geode was, it blew my mind.

I mean, I'm holding something that's millions of years old.

I can understand why this was so special to Frank and to his family.

But I know this is one of the the items that got him excited about natural history in general.

>>Yeah, cause the outside looks just like a regular rock.

You'd never know what goes on the inside.

>>On the outside, it's just a plain old rock.

But when you crack it open, there's a surprise.

Beautiful crystals, thousands, even millions of years in the making.

Geodes start out as bubbles in rocks.

Some air pockets come from volcanic activity.

Others start as hollows in tree roots and animal burrows.

Over time, groundwater seeps into the empty spaces and the layers of minerals from the water slowly build crystals.

Flash forward a few hundred million years and voila, you've got yourself one of mother nature's most significant works of art.

Like snowflakes, no two geodes are the same.

Different crystals like clear quartz, purple Amethyst, calcite, agate, and dolomite create unique patterns, colors and sizes.

Geodes are found in many US states.

But if you are a real rockhound, try Iowa, where the geode is the official state rock and home to Geode State Park.

Located at the confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers, Keokuk, Iowa is the geode capital of the world.

A Keokuk geode can range from three or four inches to two feet in length.

No matter where you are in the world, these hidden gems are waiting to be discovered right under your feet.

>>Is there a financial value on something like this?

>>Oh, absolutely.

Something like this, I would probably put about $600-$700 on it.

>>Thank you so much.

>>Thank you for coming in.

>>This will help us get back to the family and kind of let them know what they have.

(upbeat music) >>Not only did we have to downsize this huge collection in the basement, but Annemarie's mom Nancy was moving.

So there was a lot of moving pieces, and we had to stay on task.

>>I'm here with the granddaughters.

I got one question for you: What was it like to grow up with your grandfather?

>>It was amazing.

He had so much stuff in his house.

So every time we went there, he would show us new things, he would show us new things about culture that we didn't know.

So it was kind of like having a second teacher.

And we learned so much from him.

>>I mean, I remember as a very small child putting on a pair of cotton gloves and going into his his workshop and cleaning a nest of turtle eggs.

He would bring those kinds of things into our classrooms.

>>I've been lucky, I've been going through a lot of stuff, and I get to see all of his notes.

Just been really neat to get to learn his brain.

From what I hear both of you were really influenced by him.

>>Definitely.

>>What are you doing now as a career?

>>I am in nursing school currently.

And he's really taught me that being a nice human being and being educated is really key to helping other people.

So then I found my way to nursing.

>>I just recently graduated with a master's in linguistics from Oxford.

And that was something I've always talked about with him.

There's nothing in my life that hasn't been in some way kind of touched by his love of learning.

>>His presence is large, even in a house he's not in, he's clearly here with everybody I've met.

This collection was awesome.

But it's huge.

And I just need help going through it.

So I brought in a local expert that can come in and help us really start to get a hold of what's it worth because at some point, this family's gonna have to liquidate it and we want to give them as much information up front as we can.

>>Charlie, thank you for coming in.

>>Thanks for having me.

>>I've got a table laid out for us.

It's kind of just a representation of his entire collection.

He's got a lot of interest in a lot of things, and I just need some help kind of understanding what we really have here.

>>Okay.

>>We're gonna jump right into baskets.

>>So this says 19th century Native American plains woven, gathering, bird basket from the Colorado Kansas border area, most likely Arapaho.

What makes this one unusual, very unusual, is that it's hybrid, which actually you don't see a lot, and he has a lot of baskets in his collection.

This one is really interesting.

Because first of all, as a native basket, even when you find period baskets, and many of them are not, it's not all unravel.

If you look at all this work here, probably have seen maybe half a dozen of these, ever.

I really want to know more about that one, because that kind of thing that probably would want to end up in a museum or someone who are really quite high in collecting.

>>You know, it's funny, I think they care more about something going into a museum than they did about getting paid for it.

>>That may very well be, because that's your legacy.

>>Yeah, and that's what this guy, it's all about legacy with this family.

>>Of course, something like this radio right here was state of the art in the 1920s, as good as it got.

So things like the tubes that are in here, right, everything in here was made with the top level technology.

>>So you would have president speaking, you would have- >>The family sitting around the living room with this radio.

And that's a big deal.

>>Here we go.

>>Bakelite, that's a great piece of Bakelite.

And look at the beads.

I mean, the beads are great.

You'd expect this to be broke.

I mean, this should be broken.

It's got stress points.

So one of the things that we look at for values, I mean, there's a lot of things, we look at rarity, we look at design, but one of the things is condition, condition, condition.

And you don't find things like that, they're gone.

To the right collector, I'm sure that a purse like that is gonna be probably three to five hundred.

>>All right, I may be the only person in America that finds this interesting.

But one, I'm shocked that there's all of this hair, hair locks everywhere.

Even more shocked that they're certified by places like Christie's.

It's interesting that you can collect hair of famous people.

And I'm even more interested that no one has asked me for a lock of my own hair.

>>Can I have a lock of your hair?

>>Yes, you may, thank you for asking!

All right, I will certify this.

Do you ever see...

I know this has got to be a place where people... Not so sure about it.

>>So there's a couple of things that go along with these types of things.

One is, you know, we want to know, where did it come from?

How do we know that it is the hair that the person?

The other thing is if you just think about it, it's a relatively narrow market.

Pricing wise, it's a difficult thing to- >>Well, you only need two people.

>>Well, of course, you know, one of the things that, I'm gonna guess, that this is an area of collecting, that may or may not be more interesting in the future, just because if a hair is really associated with the person, then there's DNA that goes along with it.

So you're really not collecting hair.

You're collecting DNA.

>>Which, you say like that, gosh, you got like a Jurassic Park but for people.

It's interesting.

All right, I saved the paper for last.

>>What we had in this house- >>Cases and cases of this.

>>There are many hundreds of old newspapers.

Here's a paper from 1775.

This is the British Evening Post.

What we like about this, this is old paper.

And because this is old paper, it's not made from tree pulp.

This is gonna be very readable and very stable for hundreds of years.

>>250 year old paper.

>>That says the American colonies want to break away.

How dare they?

So I think that that's really interesting.

I like that.

>>Well, what does it say about a man like this?

I mean, you've seen a very vast collection.

You know, there's lots of other things.

>>Yeah, I think it's an amazing collection.

This is someone who has a quick and a curious mind, that's always thinking and always looking and always desperate to see something and tries to make those connections.

But it's not like it's atopic.

It's not like he was fixated with the Revolutionary War.

It's not like he was fixated with World War II.

He would just look at something he says, Oh my gosh, look at this.

Oh, my gosh, look at this.

And then he's making connections.

And I'll bet you long before there was an internet, he was going to every garage sale, every flea market, every auction that he could go to.

For him the thrill was not the ownership of it, but the research on it.

And I like that.

>>Dude, thank you for coming.

I really appreciate it, man.

>>Thanks a lot.

>>All ready?

I'm gonna open the door for you.

After spending a few days helping this family downsize, I was really excited to bring them in and to show them the work we had done.

Come on in!

What do you think?

It's been a while.

>>Oh my gosh.

>>How long has it been since you went over to see the whole garage?

>>20 years.

>>When we bought the house.

>>A lot of space.

Annemarie, what'd you do with it?

>>Oh, I'm gonna try and find something to do with it before my husband does.

>>Oh my goodness, this is wonderful.

>>This is kind of an appetizer just to get you excited to know that it can be done.

Let's get into the basement and actually see the rest of the space.

(cheerful music) (Nancy laughing) [Matt] What do you think?

>>Oh my gosh.

>>Come over here with me, I'll show you what we did.

>>Oh, wow.

>>Lots of space.

Your husband helped us a lot here.

He had really labeled everything.

And so all we had to do was basically get it out of the way and then set up the shelves and then put it the way he had it organized.

He knew where everything wanted to go.

And then this was the best part.

The stuff he wasn't sure about, he hadn't gone through yet, is right behind you.

>>You know, it's amazing.

Really, totally.

>>But one of the other goals for me was to get this thing ready for you to actually, if you do want to sell it, go through box to box, pick what you want to keep.

But now an appraiser coming here, pretty quickly let you know what they can do.

>>It's great.

>>Okay, now I want to do my favorite part.

I want to go upstairs.

We're gonna get (indistinct), and we're gonna go through the entire legacy list.

>>You ready?

>>Yes.

>>All right.

Let's do it.

(gentle cheerful music) So this is really the first time I wish I had my kids here.

I got to look at dinosaur poop this week.

I got to hold a medieval axe.

I even got to look at John Lennon's hair.

(all giggling) This is not a normal week.

For you guys I think it's- >>It's normal.

>>It's normal.

>>It's not normal for most people.

It was awesome.

It was really cool.

It's really special.

It was fun.

And it's more I got to know about Frank.

I think that was his point.

Especially getting to talk to you guys this week, I got to hear your version of it.

And even when you're sad, you're smiling.

All right, so I want to go through some of these items.

All right, first item you'd asked me for was the cunieform.

This is what you asked me to find.

>>Yes, this is why I'm a teacher.

This-- my father is the reason.

He was my greatest teacher.

He inspired me to want to be a teacher.

And I teach kids how to write.

You know, and this is the first writing.

This is where it all began.

>>It's really cool.

All right, second item was a little different.

This is battery tester.

It's the one-- I better hand it to you.

What is that?

>>This is a volt meter.

When he was a teenager, he and his father used to repair televisions when you could repair them with tubes and everything.

This is his volt meter from like mid '40s on.

>>So it's where it started.

>>Yeah, and it's hardly ever left his hand.

>>How does it make you feel to see that?

>>Sad.

But close.

This is Frank.

It's a volt meter, but he repaired everything, he took care of things, he took care of his family, he took care of our needs in the household, he was always ready to step in and fix things, really, any problems, he's solved them.

Problem solver.

>>I keep saying, I wish I met him.

You know, he created an amazing family.

Like, y'all know you're good people but like, y'all are amazing.

We haven't been here that long.

We feel like we're a part of the family.

You know, it's just that comes from the top down.

This is a very eclectic group.

Everything I bring out I've never gone and one of the original things of writing, then a battery tester.

Now a turtle fossil.

(all laughing) >>There it is!

>>What do you guys know about that?

>>Well, I can't touch it because I don't have my little cotton gloves.

But I mean, I remember being in his workshop and just cleaning it all the time him standing over me and saying, "Can you believe this is millions and millions of years old?"

>>So we took that to the museum and believe it was 50 million plus years old.

>>Oh my gosh.

>>I've never held anything over 50 million years old before.

I have now.

All right, now we're getting into the good stuff.

You asked me to find dinosaur eggs.

I did not find dinosaur eggs, plural.

I did find a piece.

I'll take their word for it.

One thing I want to ask Frank was, did he ever have a clue about all the DNA stuff that he had in this house?

Because the future of that science is really, really interesting.

And I wonder if he thought about that?

>>He did.

He talked about the future all the time.

He was very forward thinking.

And he definitely did.

>>We got dinosaur DNA in this house.

Nice.

The next item.

>>Ah!

>>There it is.

>>The geode.

All right, you all have spoken about it.

Tell me about this.

How was it acquired?

>>We went to Colorado and we found a store that had geodes.

And Frank was drawn to this geode.

I don't know why.

And actually, it probably started his rock collection.

That's another collection.

>>This one stood on a pedestal in the living room, in the TV room, right behind the couch.

And so whenever you walked in, you know, between the kitchen, the living room, every day that you were in the house, the geode was right there.. >>I wanted to know what his legacy was.

>>The word that comes to mind for me, is discovery.

Because he was always pushing, pushing us to explore and to, you know, turn over the next stone and to really take in all the world and everything and contribute to it.

>>I think he wanted us to experience so much and so much out of life too and different cultures.

So I think experiences is what I think of when I think of my grandpa.

>>Nancy how about you?

>>Definitely family, family first.

But to open yourself up to new experiences, to keep learning, to keep growing, to be positive, to learn from mistakes, move forward, just keep moving.

>>Annemarie, you got us here, you get the last word.

What are you thinking?

>>I came across a poem from Maya Angelou, there's one stanza that just struck me.

It's called "When Great Trees Fall."

So at the end of the poem, it says, And when great souls die, after a period of peace blooms slowly and always irregularly.

Spaces filled with a kind of soothing electric vibration.

Our senses restored never to be the same.

Whisper to us.

They existed.

They existed.

We can be, be and be better, for they existed.

And I kind of feel like that's where we are now as a family.

Like, we're all better because he exists.

>>Grief's a crazy thing.

Life is cyclical as we see.

Someday you guys will be moms.

Someday you're gonna be a grandma.

And they're gonna hear a lot about Frank, they're gonna hear a lot about this collection.

And they're gonna know this guy because he existed.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you guys.

>>Thank you very much for that.

(uplifting music) >>[Female Announcer] Support for Legacy List comes from MakeSpace.

MakeSpace picks up, stores and return your items on demand.

Available for home or business.

MakeSpace provides professional movers, plus bins, blankets and a digital photo inventory.

You can find us at makespace.com.

And by ensure long-term care where we believe aging at home near friends and family is ever more possible for more people.

Learn more at insureltc.com.

AARP Virginia offering family caregiving support with prepare to care and down sizing and decluttering on line workshops designed to help organize and assess family needs Find the complete online workshop schedule At AARP.org/virtual VA The Ruth Camp Campbell Foundation (upbeat music) >>Visit MyLegacyList.com to learn more about tips, tools and professionals to help make your own big life move easier.

Learn more about this episode or submit your story to be featured on the show at MyLegacyList.com.

(gentle music) (bright music) (upbeat music)