NARRATOR: Major funding is provided by, Alex Cooper Auctioneers, since 1924 has been serving the Mid-Atlantic states, featuring monthly gallery antique auction sales, our staff can assist clients with the disposition of their valued possessions.

Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

ALLAN STYPECK: Coming up next on Chesapeake Collectibles... FRANK SHAIA: You brought something very interesting.

What do you think you have here?

ROSS KELBAUGH: This is the only photograph of U.S. color troops where all the men in the photo are identified.

GUEST: Somebody said the first Barbies were worth something but I, I don't know.

ALLAN: First thing you have to do after this show, is you have to contact a legitimate grader.

G. AMORY LECUYER: You found this sitting in your Uncle's basement in a box?

GUEST: Sitting in his basement in a box.

AMORY: Wow.

(theme music plays).

♪ ♪ FRANK: Hi there.

GUEST: Hi.

FRANK: Welcome to Chesapeake Collectibles.

And, uh, you brought something very interesting, uh.

What do you think you have here?

GUEST: I think I have an Afghanistan War rug.

FRANK: A Afghanistan War rug?

GUEST: Yeah.

FRANK: And, uh, you know, the reason I asked to put this on the camera is because of the first comment you made to me.

Do you remember what it was?

GUEST: Yeah.

I wanted to know whether this was a real deal rug or a market rug.

FRANK: And I was so, uh, excited about that because it's such an, a, a very important question.

So, Afghanistan War rugs, as you probably know, when Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1980, '79 actually, um, the, the Afghans started producing these rugs...

Which they weren't called war rugs, they were just folk art for, for Afghanistan, and they started producing these.

And by the late '90s, 2000, they became so popular that lots of other company, uh, countries started producing copies of the Afghan Wars rugs.

So now, if you, if you google, "Afghan War Rug," all you're gonna find is these copies of this that are made in Pakistan, or actually, some of them are made in Afghanistan but they're nothing like the original ones.

They have the planes and all that stuff but, but they're nothing like the original ones.

When you opened this rug up and I saw that it was an original one, I was excited right from the get-go, and then when you said what you said about, uh, it being, "Is it the real thing or is it one of the fake copies?"

So, tell me what you know about Afghan War rugs.

GUEST: Well, I don't remember exactly where I saw the war rug to begin with.

It was in a doc...

It was either a documentary or it was in a National Geographic Magazine, or maybe even Smithsonian.

One of those where they had an article about Afghanistan and about what people were going through and that they had started, because so many of them are illiterate, to do their own histories, that they started doing these rugs... FRANK: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: So that they would know this bottle, this battle was fought here, this person died there.

And so, that that's one of the reasons they had started to do these.

FRANK: That, well, that's exactly what they did.

They did it just to, to keep their history alive.

Now, you were, uh, over in Afghanistan, is that correct?

GUEST 2: Yes.

FRANK: So, why don't you help me out and tell me what you see in here, some of the things you see?

GUEST 2: Yeah, some of the stuff I'm seeing is, uh, all of the mountain ranges, obviously.

FRANK: These are the mountain ranges.

GUEST 2: Right, you got one, one there and then you got another set down there.

FRANK: Yeah, down here.

GUEST 2: You've got the water with the river.

FRANK: Mm-hmm.

GUEST 2: Uh, you've got a lake down here at the bottom corner.

FRANK: I should give you that.

You use the pointer.

GUEST 2: So, this set of mountain ranges with this river coming out, this is up by like the Bagram Bowl, I think, I don't know.

But it, that's kinda what the terrain is like up there and then it goes out into the flats.

FRANK: So, what makes it a war rug?

GUEST 2: To me, what makes it a war rug is you got the guy with the, uh... FRANK: Down here.

GUEST 2: The M16 down here at the bottom, or some sort of machine gun.

FRANK: Yeah, M16.

GUEST 2: You've got the, uh, all of the, the like... FRANK: Armor trucks.

GUEST 2: Trucks and tanks and all of those stuff coming in.

FRANK: Armored tanks.

GUEST 2: You got, uh, what looks like defensive fighting position markings of, "Hey..." FRANK: Yeah.

GUEST 2: “How do I, how do I set these things up?” That's what it's telling me.

FRANK: These are, these are no doubt airplanes.

GUEST 2: Their attempt at an airplane, yep.

FRANK: Yeah, and, uh, what I find very unusual and the only time I've ever seen this, is you've got an Afghan surrendering right there, hands up and surrendering, so.

But, um, they are just a, a unique item and particularly the original ones.

The, you know, after 2000, the copies, there's lots of copies.

When you walked up to my table with this one, I saw immediately, because of the patina.

Patina is when the vegetable dyes begin to just subtle down some.

So, the copies are all bright, most of them are, use chemical dyes and so they're harsh colors.

But these are softer colors; the tans, and the reds, and the blue, and I was even noticing here it's got what we call abrash, where they weave from side to side and the vegetable dyes begin to fade a little bit.

And so, there's a little bit of fading in the blue color there, and you can see a little bit in here as well.

And, but all of these things just make this attractive.

By the way, another thing real unusual about this one is, most of them were 3X5's, this is a 4X6.

So, it, it was a little more unusual to find a bigger one like this, um.

And then, uh, you see here?

You can see the abrash in the camel border here.

GUEST: Yeah.

FRANK: Where it's lighter color and then it turns darker and then it's lighter again.

And all of that is just a telltale sign of an older piece.

Granted 1980 isn't that old, but when it comes to these rugs, compared to the new ones, it's old.

GUEST: Yeah.

FRANK: And, uh, I'm, I'm just crazy about this rug.

I think it's really a cool rug.

What did you pay for it?

GUEST: Well, I believe, I don't remember exactly, but between $35 and $50, shipping and handling included.

FRANK: $35 to $50.

So, I have lots of military people in, uh, Virginia, where I'm from, and, uh, I have so many requests for old Afghan War rugs, and I'm looking for them all the time.

All I find are these fake new ones and I don't want to buy those, don't want to offer them to my customers.

GUEST 2: Right.

FRANK: But, one of these, in this condition, that's truly a 1980 piece, I would say the retail value... Well actually, I'll tell you the auction value.

The, the auction value is between 700 and $1,000 for the old ones.

The retail value is more like 1500, maybe even as much as $1700.

Just because the guys that want these will pay anything for them.

I mean, and that's...

GUEST 2: They really want them.

FRANK: That's where that value comes from.

Forget about auctions.

GUEST: Yeah.

FRANK: But it's a great piece and I'm just excited to see it and thank you so much for coming with it today.

GUEST: Thank you.

GUEST 2: Thank you very much, appreciate it.

GUEST: I, I'm really chuffed with it, but I am just so excited that it's real.

FRANK: Okay.

(overlapping chatter).

MICHAEL STANTON: Welcome to Chesapeake Collectibles.

GUEST: Thank you.

MICHAEL: How are you today?

GUEST: Good.

MICHAEL: Good.

What have you brought for us to look at today?

GUEST: Well, I've brought this Barbie that I've had for a while and, um, my good friend gave to me along with... MICHAEL: How long ago?

GUEST: Um, about three or four years ago.

MICHAEL: She gave it to you as a gift?

GUEST: Yes.

MICHAEL: You know anything about it?

GUEST: She just said to keep an eye on this one and keep, you know, the box and the, the little, uh, proof of purchase that had come off.

MICHAEL: All right.

For your information, this is the first Barbie doll that was created.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: It made its debut on March 9th, 1959.

GUEST: Wow!

MICHAEL: At the Toy Fair in New York.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: Ruth Handler, this started Ruth Handler in the, the Barbie business.

GUEST: Right.

MICHAEL: It's the one with the black and white bathing suit, with the original box.

Your box is a little bit, it's fine, ‘cause you have the original box.

GUEST: Right.

MICHAEL: Little, little messed up.

Do you have any idea what it's worth?

GUEST: I don't.

MICHAEL: What do you think?

GUEST: I have no idea.

MICHAEL: No idea?

GUEST: No idea.

Somebody said the first Barbies were worth something but I, I don't know.

MICHAEL: How does $3,000 to $4,000 sound?

GUEST: Wow!

I can't believe it.

MICHAEL: If the box, if the box had been in bettering condition, looking at five to six.

GUEST: Wow!

Wow.

MICHAEL: Thanks for bringing it in.

GUEST: That's a nice gift.

Thank you.

MICHAEL: That was a very nice gift.

GUEST: Yes.

(overlapping chatter).

MAN: Are we gonna get some close-ups?

WOMAN: Yeah, just leave it where it's at.

(overlappping chatter).

FRANK: So, if we can get it up that high... (overlapping chatter).

GENICE LEE: Ross, I'm excited to learn more about this national treasure that you brought to share with us.

Can you tell us a little bit about it?

ROSS: Well, this is a photograph that of all things, turned up on eBay back in around 2007, and it actually came out of the family of this fellow right here.

And it is the most important photograph of African American troops taken during the Civil War.

Now, what's the basis for all of that?

This is Francis Snow.

Francis Snow was a, a delegate, a volunteer delegate for the U.S. Christian Commission, right after he graduated from college.

And he was sent in August of 1864 to Alexandria, Virginia, where he was, uh, to serve as a, an assistant to the Chaplains there.

So, he was particularly helping one of the Chaplains at L'Ouverture Hospital in Alexandria.

The interesting distinction is that it was a hospital solely for the U.S. colored troops.

As the troops were segregated in their fighting units, they were segregated in their hospitals, and they also, for a time, ended up being segregated in their graves.

One of the things he did that was so important, however, is on the bottom of the photograph, he wrote, in pencil, the name of all of the men in the photograph.

This is the only photograph of U.S. colored troops taken during the Civil War, where all of the men in the photo are identified.

And by being able to be identified, then being able to do a deep dive into their stories.

And what we find is, they were all at this L'Ouverture Hospital in December of 1864.

Now, some of them in the photo had been sick, but a number of them had been wounded in the Battle of the Crater.

GENICE: How often do you even come across names on all of the images that you see as you appraise?

ROSS: For Black troops, rare.

GENICE: Okay.

ROSS: More common for those that were taken of the White troops.

GENICE: Okay.

ROSS: And now, doing the research, it enabled me to determine that of these Black troops, a number of them had been born free and a number of them had been born enslaved, and four of them were from Maryland.

Samuel Bond was born enslaved in Maryland.

Adolphus Harp was born enslaved in Maryland.

And then, peeking from behind, Leander Brown was born free, was from Maryland.

And Adam Bentley was born free, from Maryland.

Now, what becomes real important with these men, not only is it soldiers under arms that they're identified, most of those men who had been wounded in the Battle of the Crater, and survived that and ended up in L'Ouverture Hospital, but then they had a very interesting conflict occur in December of 1864.

One of the Black soldiers in the hospital died and there were two cemeteries in Alexandria.

There was the Soldiers' Cemetery where they were burying the White soldiers, and they were taking the Black soldiers and burying them in a civilian Freedmen Cemetery.

And a hearse had actually gone to pick up a, a Black soldier who had died and was taking him to the Soldiers' Cemetery.

Well, on the way, the man in charge of the Freedmen Cemetery had the hearse stopped.

They told the hearse driver to turn it around and he refused.

They pulled him off and arrested him, put another person with the hearse, turned the hearse around, and sent it to the, uh, Freedmen's Cemetery.

Well, instantly when word got back to L'Ouverture Hospital that this had happened, they were enraged.

Absolutely enraged.

So, immediately, that day, they circulated a petition through the hospital.

Well, over 400 of the patients, the Black patients in the hospital, signed that petition demanding that they be, they be buried in the Soldiers' Cemetery.

They wrote a cover letter and the, the petition, and the letter ended up being sent up to the Commander of the Quartermaster Department, General Montgomery Meigs, who was also in charge of cemeteries, and he agreed.

He said, “These men enlisted to do their service for the United States, they were taking their risks with the White soldiers.

They deserve to be buried with the White soldiers in the Soldiers' Cemetery.” And so, there was already, it was about 120, had been buried in the Freedmen's Cemetery.

In January, they were dug up and they were transferred to the, the Soldiers' Cemetery.

Which today in Alexandria, is the National Solders' Cemetery, and their remains are there today.

And interestingly enough, most of the men in this had signed that petition.

And this fellow, actually, he had been wounded in the Battle of the Crater, he never made it out of the hospital.

Later, after this was taken, several months later, he, he, uh, died and he ended up being buried in the Solders' Cemetery, where he rests there today.

So, there's no other photograph like this, taken during the Civil War of U.S. colored troops that such a story that it can tell, on so many multiple levels.

And can thank to Frank Snow for putting their identification on there and that they thought so much of him that they sent this photograph to him.

‘Cause this was taken in December '64, he was long gone from there, but they sent that photograph for him and he remembered who those people were to be able to put their name and be able to create this national treasure today.

GENICE: Well, thank you for sharing with us the importance of photographs, how they are valuable, how names add value to them, and, uh, about the protest and the history behind the images.

So, thank you so much.

ROSS: And I'd like to add that the, the, the photographs are going to end up at the National Gallery of Art.

I am donating to them, uh, later on.

And so, they will belong to everybody, and they, and this will ensure that these men and their story will become part of the American memory.

GENICE: That's going to be awesome.

Thank you again.

DENNIS HARTER: I think it's Persian.

GUEST: All right.

ROBERT HARRISON: Which is probably a revamp as well.

Much better made.

(overlapping chatter).

ALLAN: Thanks for coming to Chesapeake Collectibles.

What'd you bring us?

GUEST: Hi, um, I brought you signed Joe Montana and Dwight Clark rookie cards, which came out of my career as a reporter and editor for the San Jose Mercury News.

I was there for a long time, in the first 15 years, I was a sports writer and I was the day-to-day reporter on the 49ers when they ascended so suddenly under Bill Walsh.

And that was a much different era, you could interact with the players frequently and casually, um, on charter flights, at hotels, and I got to know, um, Joe and Dwight the way I don't think a lot of reporters get to know players these days.

And toward the end of the season, I, I literally don't remember exactly what game, I just wanted something as a personal souvenir from that coverage and I wasn't thinking about collectibles and I didn't even remember that these were rookie cards until I pulled them out recently.

And when I pulled them out and I realized they were rookie cards, and that I just left them under glass, not graded for all these decades, um, I noticed, particularly, that the Joe Montana signature is not the highly stylized one you see now from all his endeavors.

And that oddity, that, uh, sort of prehistoric but original, um, signature, that I can attest to having gotten personally in the locker room with him, is something that I thought might have some particular interest.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

And when you got them signed, did either Dwight or Joe know you personally, in a first-name basis?

GUEST: Sure.

They know all the...

There were not, there were not hundreds of journalists around the team... ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: At that point, um...

There were I, I, I don't know six, seven, uh, day-to-day journalists who were always at practice or who were traveling with the team to every game and that, that's how they knew me.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

And so, you never really thought about, when you got the rookie cards signed, that they could potentially have high value.

You never thought about getting them graded?

GUEST: If it, if it, if it, if I thought about it, it was fleeting, um... ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And, again, it was a earlier era than when the craze really took hold, in terms of card collectibles.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And I put them away.

ALLAN: Well, you know, the first thing you have to do after this show, is you have to contact a legitimate grader because you have two cards which are in gradable level and that's going to definitely influence what the real value is going to be.

Because they're not graded, I can't give you what I would appraise them for in, um, the grade level.

I can just give you a gradual increase in value based on grade starting from maybe four or five, up to eight or nine.

Which is the lump of very good to maybe near fine.

I don't think that these cards are fine, I don't think that these cards are under very good.

So, let's go on the premise that we have a card that's gonna be graded from five to eight, shall we say.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

ALLAN: And we, we take the current market value, which is incredibly volatile.

Baseball cards, football cards are so marketable currently that the high point cards, especially a person like Joe Montana or Dwight, Dwight Clark, as a rookie card, is going to have continual value because generationally, not only do they have three or four living generations who adore them as players, they also have established market collectability.

GUEST: Right.

ALLAN: So, the combination of those two factors are going to be the primary way you can appraise them for at least a, a, a, a approachable value.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

ALLAN: So, considering that neither of these have been graded, I'm gonna take a quantum leap and say, if they were graded and they were in the four to eight level, the value would range anywhere from 8,000 to maybe 18,000, 20,000 for the two cards combined, based on the grading, so.

GUEST: And do you think the oddity of the signature is... ALLAN: I think that is the selling point for the grade combination with the collectability.

And I think any legitimate auction house, or card dealer, or yourself, if you were trying to sell the item, would have to highlight that specifically because the scarcity of that signature, in relation to Joe Montana's ‘signature' signature, which is a term I've never used before, is going to be the value enhancer.

GUEST: Right.

Right.

ALLAN: Very cool.

Thanks for coming.

GUEST: Thank you.

ALLAN: No, thank you.

All right.

GUEST: Okay.

ALLAN: This is like, it's just been so powerful of a time.

(overlapping chatter).

MAN: You got it?

AMORY: You know, I want to thank you for coming into Chesapeake Collectibles, and when you came over to my table, I'm a big fan of boxes.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: And there's some boxes I just instinctively know.

If you put down a bird's eye, I mean a bird, a bird blue, uh, box in front of me...

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: That's Tiffany.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: You put a red box down, like this...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: It's Rémy Martin.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: And when you opened it up, I, I, I just was not surprised.

But tell me, how did you get this bottle?

GUEST: Uh, actually, um, we were cleaning my, my Uncle's, uh, basement out, uh, ‘cause he had passed away.

AMORY: Really?

GUEST: Yes, and we were just going through boxes and cases of things that he just had sitting around.

And I opened up one of the boxes and there were some newspaper and things in there and then I happened to see this red box, and I said, "What is this?"

So, I... AMORY: You found this sitting in your Uncle's basement in a box?

GUEST: Sitting in his basement in a box.

AMORY: Wow.

Well.

GUEST: Yeah.

Now, he has a bar down there... AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: And he has plenty of, you know, alcohol and everything but... AMORY: Yeah, but this wasn't, this wasn't opened and that's what makes it, uh, awfully special.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: Um, do you know anything about it?

GUEST: Other than it being cognac, no.

AMORY: Okay.

Well, this isn't just cognac.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: This is Rémy Martin.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: And it's, it's been...

There, there are two things that are going on here.

There's the liquid and there's the bottle.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: The bottle itself, um, is made exclusively for Rémy Martin by the company Baccarat Crystal.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

AMORY: Um, the bottle themselves, the bottles empty will sell for a couple hundred dollars.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

Okay.

AMORY: Um, but we also have an aged cognac...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: And Rémy Martin, like many cognac houses, have cognac that actually can go back 100, 150, 200 years.

GUEST: Oh, wow!

AMORY: Um, what's in this bottle is one of their finest...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: Uh, cognacs and it was also, it was served to Queen Elizabeth in 1957, and this is the set that comes from 1957.

GUEST: Oh, wow!

AMORY: Um...

GUEST: That's impressive.

AMORY: Part of, part of her commemorative.

You just found it in the basement, have you ever had anybody value it?

GUEST: No.

I, I just thought it was very, I mean, very interesting, very intricate bottle and I said, "Okay, well, I'm..." I was going to display it on my bar.

AMORY: The, the, um...

When they come up at auction, they, they are not rare.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: I mean, they, they are unusual, you don't see them every day.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: But you could go out and acquire these with a couple of dollars.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: But they come up at auction on occasion and frequently in the last several years we've seen them in the $3,000 to $5,000 a bottle range.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

Okay.

AMORY: With all of the extras that you have here; being the box, the, um, other things that are there...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: Um, we have an expectation that it would be very comparable to one that's online right now.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: He's got about six days run, and they're asking 9,000 on that.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

Wow!

AMORY: So, somewhere I, I know it's been selling in the $5,000 range.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: Perhaps as high as 9,000.

But you've got the original box.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: It's never been open, it's part of the 1957 series.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: Absolutely outstanding piece.

GUEST: Wow!

AMORY: And thank you for bringing it in today.

GUEST: Thank you!

Thank you!

I enjoyed it.

Thank you for the information.

Appreciate it.

AMORY: I know where this goes.

Stay in your line... ALLAN: Next time on Chesapeake Collectibles... ROSS: You have brought in one of the most interesting groupings that we have had, uh, on the show, relating to the Civil War.

And particularly exciting that it relates to Maryland.

PATRICK REDDING: That what you got here is a Gilbert's Island tribal ceremonial sword, made out of shark tooth.

KATHLEEN HAMILL: I hear we have a really interesting story about them.

Why don't you tell me who this handsome man is.

GUEST: Here he is!

KATHLEEN: You!

And how old were you in the, in the painting?

GUEST 2: I think I was about ten.

ROSS: In my years on the Chesapeake Collectibles, I have been waiting for somebody to bring this iconic newspaper in.

GUEST: For the, uh, Babe Ruth I paid 25.

ALLAN: Well, you did very, very well.

The junk shop is really a treasure chest.

GUEST: I'm going back!

ALLAN: You better.

Okay, and take me with you, will you?

Okay.

GUEST: I have no idea what it's worth.

I just, I think it's pretty cool.

NARRATOR: Major funding was provided by, Alex Cooper Auctioneers, since 1924 has been serving the Mid-Atlantic states, featuring monthly gallery antique auction sales, our staff can assist clients with the disposition of their valued possessions.

Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

GUEST: I learned that it's a really real one and that it's not a reproduction and I am so chuffed about that.

GUEST 2: I'm gonna put her back on the shelf and enjoy her.

GUEST: Oh, yeah, it was awesome.

I got to find out about my thing.

It, it was really, for me, it was really interesting.

GUEST 3: It's probably going to go back into its case, get sealed up, and probably sit on my bar.

And then be passed down to my children.

GUEST: It's, could go back at the top of the closet.

Rolled up so that none of the, uh, ‘cause it's all-natural dyes so that none of the dyes will fade any further than they are.