NARRATOR: Major funding is provided by... Alex Cooper Auctioneers, appraisers and auctioneers of fine art, jewelry, and collectibles online and in person gallery auctions every month, serving buyers and sellers in Maryland and around the world for over 100 years.

♪ ♪ Second Story Books, celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

AMORY LeCUYER: Coming up on "Chesapeake Collectibles."

ROBERT HARRISON: One of the areas that we're always excited about when we see bed coverings or even furniture it's southern.

And with it being southern, it's added a premium to its value.

ED MORENO: This is a wonderful piece.

I saw it a while back.

It's from a theater in the Second World War that most people don't talk about.

GUEST: I brought some identification papers from my late husband's grandmother, and she survived the Holocaust war.

GUEST: I brought some Chesapeake Bay watercraft paintings by Louis Feuchter, an artist who lived in Baltimore.

AMORY: I loved it when you came up to my table, because initially I thought one thing, but then you surprised me with another.

GUEST: The bow ties were actually bow ties that belonged to John Glenn.

(theme music playing).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ AMORY: I wanna thank you for coming out to, to "Chesapeake Collectibles" today.

And I loved it when you came up to my table because initially I thought one thing, but then you surprised me with another.

GUEST: Absolutely.

AMORY: What, what have you brought me today?

It's a French watch with three miniature paintings inside, which I think it's a cuzqueña school but I'm not sure.

AMORY: We were talking at the table earlier, and I wanna show how this has really been manipulated because we open it up and instead of watch works, we've got these incredibly intricate paintings.

Um, not only inside the, the case of the watch, but also inside the back of the watch.

So we've got three images, the Madonna, Michael with the fire sword...

GUEST: And that's Raphael.

AMORY: ...and Raphael.

So we've got three different images on a French watch case.

So somewhere along the line, an artist got hold of the watch and painted the miniatures.

We think that this is Peruvian?

GUEST: Mm-hmm, Peruvian.

AMORY: Cusco school.

GUEST: Yep.

AMORY: Um, probably about 1920.

Um, it is very well done.

There is no evidence of a signature on it.

Um, it is not the finest Cusco school I've seen, but it is really, really good.

And being a miniature in three, in, in really a triptych form, um, is really, really outstanding.

How did you come across this?

(laughing).

GUEST: Well, here, here comes the fun part.

Somebody owe me some money and, um, unfortunately that person didn't have enough to pay me back.

AMORY: Ah, so.

GUEST: So I was offered this piece as part of the payment.

AMORY: So this was the big...

GUEST: Nobody got hurt in the process.

AMORY: Okay.

That's good to know.

GUEST: That's a good thing.

AMORY: That's good to know.

GUEST: Yes.

AMORY: Watch cases when, when the watch goes bad, over the years have been manipulated for lots and lots of different things.

It's not the first time I've seen a painted interior.

It is the first triptych that I've seen, and this is, it's really well done.

You know, it's, it's tough because if it was signed and we could attribute it to somebody it would probably raise the value.

Do you have, have you ever had it looked at from a appraisal?

GUEST: No.

AMORY: I'm curious, did, did the fellow owe you more than about $800?

GUEST: It was much less.

AMORY: Okay.

Then you made out, because we feel like that this is about a seven, 800, maybe $900 piece at auction.

GUEST: Beautiful.

AMORY: Um, because of the detail that's involved, because of the age of the piece.

The watch case itself is actually late 19th century, so it was around for a while, probably performing as a timepiece until the works went bad.

But it's an absolutely charming piece.

GUEST: It is, it is.

AMORY: And I opened, when I opened it up, it was just exciting to see.

And I wanna thank you for coming out today.

GUEST: Absolutely.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ GENICE LEE: Hello, and welcome to the show.

Can you tell us what you brought in for us today?

GUEST: Yeah, so what I've got here are, are really two things.

One being, uh, a, a pair of bow ties, and the other is a, uh, a banner.

The, uh, bow ties were actually, bow ties that belonged to John Glenn.

GENICE: Okay.

GUEST: And I was very fortunate in that, a couple of years ago, there was an estate sale in the Potomac area that was John Glenn's home.

And the bow ties were available and I, I bought 'em mostly because I was a bow tie guy, but also, I've got an aviation and, space history background in, in terms of, an interest and a passion, and also worked in that area too.

GENICE: Okay.

And what about the banner?

GUEST: Well, the banner is, is, from the same period.

And the banner was one of the street banners that, when John Glenn came back from his mission and they had the ticker-tape parades, there were vendors out there selling these banners on sticks.

Not many of them survived.

And I was fortunate enough to acquire one of those years and years ago.

So I married the banner with the, the two bow ties.

And, and one of the things you'll notice is there's a, a great NASA photo here, depicting the original Mercury Seven, the original seven astronauts that were selected to take, the Mercury Mission.

And John Glenn is in the center, and he's wearing the bow tie that's on top, so.

GENICE: Okay.

Alright.

Great.

Well, I love this.

I know that everyone loves a good find.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

GENICE: And so, estate sales, yard sales, rummage sales, people are very passionate about going to see if they could find a treasure.

I love that you have incorporated into this collection things that interest you.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

GENICE: Not only fashion wise because you like to wear bow ties yourself, and so you pick those up at an estate sale, but then you tied it together with this banner that talks about the Mercury Seven and also the photograph, which ties together provenance, which is also quite important when we're appraising to be able to tie the object to the person.

And so that tie was made with the photograph because John Glenn is wearing that bow tie right here at the top in this photograph as well.

So, would you like to share with the audience how much you paid for those bow ties?

GUEST: $50 each.

So not that, not that much.

GENICE: So if we were to assign a fair market value on the collection, we would assign a value of $1,000.

GUEST: Oh, wow, great.

GENICE: So we thank you for bringing it in, pulling it all together, and having it in this lovely presentation for us to take a look at today.

GUEST: Well, thank you.

Thank you very much.

That's, that's great news.

And I'm glad I could share.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ALLAN STYPECK: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

It's a pleasure meeting you.

Tell us what you brought.

GUEST: Well, I brought some identification papers from my late husband's grandmother, and she survived the Holocaust war.

ALLAN: It was your late husband's grandmother.

GUEST: Grandmother.

ALLAN: What was her first name?

GUEST: Her first name is Bertel and she grew up in Guntersblum, Germany during the, the war.

She, uh, was a German Jew, and she married a Christian doctor.

They had a little girl.

And that became my mother-in-law.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Which is how I acquired these papers.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: When the war started to get bad, they came in to, identify all the Jews in the village, and they gave them all new identification papers, and they changed all the female names to "Sarah" so that they would be easily identified.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

And you have the identification card with her changed name...

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: ...post Kristallnacht.

GUEST: Yes, so this is before, and this is after.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: And as the war progressed, the, the village tried to protect her family.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Um, even though they were Jews, because her husband, the doctor, Dr. Ernst Huhn, he was very well known.

He was, he didn't take money.

He would take butter if you wanted, just to be able to treat you.

ALLAN: Okay.

And do you remember how old your grandmother-in-law would've been at the time?

GUEST: No, but I know my mother-in-law was about six.

ALLAN: In 1938?

GUEST: Yeah.

ALLAN: So we can assume she could be anywhere from 26 to 45.

GUEST: Right.

ALLAN: Okay, so was the husband same age as your, as his spouse?

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: So in, in most probability, he would've been constricted into the German army in the Second World War.

So even more incredible is he's a German army doctor hiding or helping to hide...

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: A family member in a town, which would be under extraordinary pressure to find any hidden Jews.

GUEST: Absolutely.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: He did send her, his wife and daughter into hiding.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: And he helped others go into hiding as well.

He was a little bit more protected.

He was able to stay longer.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And then, soldiers came for him because even though he was a Christian, he had a Jewish wife, a Jewish child, he was helping Jews.

They knew he was helping Jews.

And they wanted him dead.

So a Nazi came to him and was supposed to either kill him or bring him in.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And he knew him, and he, didn't, he discussed with Dr. Huhn, I, you know, this is my predicament, what are we gonna do?

After a conversation, the story is, is that the doctor took his trigger hand and broke it so that he would not be able to shoot him or anyone else.

And this was at his permission.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: So that they wouldn't kill him for not performing his duty.

And so when the Americans came and liberated, they apparently liberated this certain village that they were hiding in, and she and her mother were still alive and were saved.

And as a little girl, she was screaming hysterically to the soldier.

She just wanted to go home.

She wanted to go home.

They felt for her so much that they actually helped her and her mother and took them, even though there were still fighting going on, they managed to get them through places where bombs were still going off and got them back to Guntersblum.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: Now, they were able to return to their home... ALLAN: And they reunited with her husband?

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: Wow.

GUEST: And their village embraced them and protected them the entire time.

There are still street signs named after him to this day, there are gold bricks in the, village town in the roadway with his name on it, and with all the names of all the other Jewish villagers that were, were killed.

ALLAN: Totally extraordinary.

I mean, the odds of survival from so many different perspectives are so minimal, especially a mixed family, especially after Kristallnacht.

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: Which, as you know, was the defining moment in in Nazi Germany where the gloves totally came off, and the Jewish population, that was the beginning of the, the, mass exterminations and the, final solution.

To find a family that not only was able to survive but reunite...

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: and reunite in their home...

GUEST: In Germany, yes.

ALLAN: In Germany...

GUEST: In their village.

ALLAN: I mean, I, I work with both the U.S.

Holocaust Museum and Yad Vashem, and I have very rarely heard a story with this much of a, if you want to call it a happy ending.

GUEST: Yes, a miracle.

ALLAN: A miracle.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

ALLAN: Right.

I mean, from my perspective, evaluating this collection has no monetary value that I would use other than if you donated it to one of the, Holocaust institutions.

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: And then I would take a five to $10,000 donation credit, but I would never ask you to extract yourself from this material, your family, because this is such an incredible legacy collection.

And it should be handed on generation to generation.

GUEST: And we as a family discussed that and decided that's what we wanted to do.

We don't want our children, our grandchildren, great-grandchildren... ALLAN: Yeah.

GUEST: ...to ever lose sight of what they went through and what really happened.

ALLAN: Well, it's really great.

Thank you so much for coming on.

GUEST: Thank you so much.

ALLAN: It's a really incredible story.

GUEST: I really appreciate your time.

ALLAN: Thank you.

Thank you.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ROBERT: Well, thank you for coming out today to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

You brought something very special.

Why don't you tell me what you have?

GUEST: Well, this was a quilt that was gifted to my great-grandmother on the occasion of her wedding.

And I also have two lithograph prints that belonged to her as well.

One of the reasons I brought the lithographs was there was some confusion in my own mind about exactly when the quilt was made, and these lith, lithographs were gifted to her by her instructor in 1845.

ROBERT: I'm glad you memorized that because it kind of fits in with exactly what we're seeing here.

This is a Virginia quilt...

GUEST: That's correct.

ROBERT: ...Virginia made quilt.

GUEST: She was living in Prince George County, Virginia.

ROBERT: Okay.

GUEST: Which is southeast of Petersburg.

ROBERT: Great.

And, um, it dates to about 1845, as we look at it, uh, maybe 1850, as we look at it, we see that it's an appliqué quilt with, um, pieced individual pieces of chintz cotton, so, and calico.

So these pieces were then placed in various patterns.

And we actually know some of the pattern names.

The, we would call this a medallion quilt.

The medallion refers to the center object here, that's green and red with a major star on the outside.

And then we have all these additional stars, which are actually known as LeMoyne stars.

And those were actually registered around 1845 - 1850.

So it fits in with what you were telling me about the history of the quilt.

In addition to that, we have these really interesting little tropical designs up in the corner.

Um, those are copperplate patterns that are known as the pheasant and palm tree pattern.

Uh, it was actually registered in England around 1815, used in the United States in the 1820 period, and then appears throughout the United States in the 1840s and '50s.

So it was a really popular pattern.

Um, again, the stars are cover most of the quilt.

There's a little border of black with some trailing vine designs in it, very typical of what you'd see in a Virginia quilt.

And the lithographs that we have on both sides are referenced because they actually have an inscription...

GUEST: That's correct.

ROBERT: ...to your great-grandmother.

GUEST: The inscription, we had it, photographed and blown up recently, because it was getting to be very hard to read on the print itself.

But it was basically, uh, the, the prints were presented to Ms. Angenor Rains by her instructor as a token of her infection, affection.

And it's, uh, signed "Mary Weeks" and dated July 31st, 1845.

ROBERT: Fantastic.

So that's the kind of thing we always talk to collectors about, making sure they have provenance.

And this really does add to the history and to ultimately the value of the piece.

Now, as we looked at it, there are a couple little things.

There are some staining on the outside, which we expect.

Um, the batting in it is cotton, and it's very thin, which is typical of a southern quilt, just a really sound, nice quilt and quite bright.

None of the colors have really faded.

Have you ever had this appraised before?

GUEST: No, I have not.

ROBERT: Okay.

This is actually one of the areas that we're always excited about when we see bed coverings or even furniture, it's southern.

And with it being southern, it's added a premium to its value.

If I were to value this for fair market value, if it were to go to an auction, I think you'd be looking at something in the 2300 to $2,500 range.

Uh, these merely add to it as the history of the piece.

They date from the same period, about 1845.

So it solidifies everything you said.

I really appreciate you bringing it in, telling us more about this.

It adds to the social history and to the history of the region, and I appreciate you bringing it in.

GUEST: Well, thank you for telling me about the patterns, and I certainly learned a lot from that as well.

So thank you very much.

ROBERT: Sure.

Thanks.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ED: So what did you bring in today?

This is a wonderful piece.

I saw it a while back, and I think it was, it's kind of interesting because it's from a theater in the Second World War that most people don't talk about.

GUEST: Correct.

It's from the CBI Theater, China Burma India Theater, that my father served in during the Second World War.

American forces were called the XYZ forces, and they were a precursor to some spy-type of work from what I've been able to find out.

ED: So he was an American, but...

GUEST: Correct.

ED: ...he was working with British workers.

GUEST: British.

ED: Yeah.

GUEST: And Chinese and Indian.

ED: And this particular is a, is a memorial piece that was given to him by the 36th Division.

GUEST: Yep.

Which was a British... ED: A British regiment that started out as an Indian regiment.

GUEST: Correct, yeah.

ED: And it became a British regiment in '44.

And this piece was given to your dad in '40...?

GUEST: In '45.

ED: ...five.

GUEST: Yes, exactly.

And, uh, he also went to British Officer School in Quetta, which is now in Pakistan.

He spent a lot of time between all the different forces, learning a lot, appreciating the everything over there.

ED: And the reason he actually ended up here was, I believe, your...

GUEST: My mother was pregnant with my sister... ED: Ok.

GUEST: ...who was due in January of '43.

And in order to forestall his going overseas, he was sent to Yale University where he had an intensive study of Chinese for six months.

So he did not go over till like June of '43, and my sister was about six months old then.

ED: And so the inside of here, we'll, we'll be looking at it later, is the dedication from...

GUEST: Yes, from the commander of the 36th Forces to, to my dad, Royal Winke.

And then I think he was a captain for all his work with their unit.

ED: And this, of course has the, the, the theater, the Indian subcontinent Theater.

And this actually is the Insignia...

GUEST: The Insignia.

ED: ...of the 36th.

GUEST: Correct.

ED: Yeah.

GUEST: Correct.

ED: It's a, it's a great piece.

Have you ever had it appraised before?

GUEST: Never have had it appraised.

ED: It is marked sterling, so it's a sterling cigarette case, um, fairly large for cigarette cases as they go.

So it was, it was a, a great piece to get.

They obviously appreciated him a lot, um, in today's market because of the association, because it's sterling, because it's in great condition.

Uh, and because you really don't see too much memorabilia from this theater, you're probably looking at 600 to $800, uh, on a fair market value.

And you probably would be, a lot of people would be interested in it.

There's not a lot on the market.

GUEST: Yeah.

ED: Uh, for this, so thank you for bringing it in.

GUEST: Oh, well, thank you.

ED: It was it a wonderful piece.

GUEST: Thank you very, very much for helping me.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ KATHLEEN HAMILL: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Thank you.

KATHLEEN: What have you brought for me today?

GUEST: I brought some Chesapeake Bay watercraft paintings by Louis Feuchter... KATHLEEN: Of course.

GUEST: An art, an artist who lived in Baltimore.

KATHLEEN: How did you come to acquire them?

GUEST: I've always been interested in Chesapeake Bay watercraft, and I, I was collecting oyster cans.

Well, I would travel around the Bay, you know, looking for oyster cans in all the different small towns, you know, where the, where the oyster, uh, captains came in.

KATHLEEN: Right.

GUEST: And then I, I would call around at different antique shops, and I called a dealer in Baltimore.

He said he didn't have any cans, but he had Louis Feuchter artwork.

KATHLEEN: And?

GUEST: And I called in sick the next day at work and, and went and, uh, looked at 'em and, and purchased a number of pieces.

KATHLEEN: Right.

And what was particularly special about, uh, these pieces is that they have a tie directly to the artist, right?

GUEST: Yes.

KATHLEEN: And how, can you explain that a little bit?

GUEST: Yeah.

When his, when his brother, the artist, passed away in 1957, and when his brother passed away in 1992, all, a lot of his work was just kept in his room in his studio, and the brother left that to the housekeeper.

So she sold it to a dealer.

And then I, I, I went and met that dealer.

So it was like just a, a direct connection.

KATHLEEN: Right.

And like, I think you told me that this one in particular is rumored to have been hanging in Feuchter's home.

GUEST: Yes, yeah.

That, that one hung in his house.

KATHLEEN: And then they... before it went to his brother's house.

GUEST: Yes.

KATHLEEN: Right.

Um, and then how many did you acquire?

GUEST: Actually, I have, I have eight paintings.

KATHLEEN: From the same estate?

GUEST: Yeah, from the, yeah.

KATHLEEN: Okay.

GUEST: From the same estate.

And I have a number of watercolors and graphite sketches.

KATHLEEN: That is so amazing.

GUEST: And you were telling me earlier that you were drawn to ones that had names of the ships on them.

GUEST: Yeah I, my focus, since I was interested watercraft, I, I, I wanted the named vessels.

KATHLEEN: Right, and so this one we were talking about is, this one right here is the "Skipjack Jesse Price."

GUEST: Yes.

KATHLEEN: Yeah.

GUEST: Yeah.

But what interesting about that is that they're using long oars to move the boat.

KATHLEEN: That is very interesting.

So, of course, Louis Feuchter in the Baltimore area, he is so popular and he's extremely well known.

And it's important to mention if people don't know that all of these scenes are taking place on the Chesapeake Bay, which is amazing.

And, um, the colors that he uses and just the beauty of the sails and the boats, it's just amazing.

GUEST: Yes.

KATHLEEN: They're super collectible and, you know, while he hasn't reached, um, a huge financial, um, worth yet, this whole collection, and it's worth mentioning, you're, you have the, um, drawings and the watercolors flat.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

KATHLEEN: Right.

So I think with the whole collection together, have you ever had it appraised or...

GUEST: No, I haven't.

KATHLEEN: I would say you're somewhere in the three to $5,000 range for all of it.

GUEST: Okay.

KATHLEEN: Um, maybe a little bit more, and maybe if you find another Chesapeake Bay enthusiast as yourself...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

KATHLEEN: You might do a little better, but I think you should just hold on to these for a long time.

GUEST: Oh, excellent.

Thank you very much.

KATHLEEN: Thank you.

(cash register bell).

TONYA CAMERON: Next time on "Chesapeake Collectibles."

FRANK SHAIA: These are actually woven for purpose as opposed to the commercial rugs that are just gonna be sold and put on the floor.

AMORY: Both of these are examples of how lighting can get really interesting.

Sometimes bordering on, uh, the bazaar.

TONYA: So this was a presentation piece presented to your great-great-grandfather.

KATHLEEN: Tom Everhart was one of the few artists that was given permission by Charles Schultz to copy his work.

PATRICK REDDING: You actually have two distinctive types of pistols here.

GUEST: I brought a collection, a grouping of material from my association with Tom Clancy early in his career.

NARRATOR: Major funding is provided by... Alex Cooper Auctioneers, appraisers and auctioneers of fine art, jewelry, and collectibles online and in person gallery auctions every month, serving buyers and sellers in Maryland and around the world for over 100 years.

♪ ♪ Second Story Books, celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

GUEST: I love, and my wife loves coming out to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: I definitely would encourage people to, uh, register for this.

GUEST: This is our sixth or seventh time we're coming here, so this was an another beautiful experience with you guys.

GUEST: Meeting so many other people and their stories and their items and the stories that go along with them, it's like the items become alive again.

GUEST: And we were given very good information on them, and we didn't do it to get a monetary value, we did it to get a interesting story filled in.

NARRATOR: Stream anytime, anywhere with the free PBS app.