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.

ALLAN STYPECK: Coming up on "Chesapeake Collectibles."

AMORY LECUYER: There's a difference between being a collector and being a haver.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

SELDON MORGAN: Tell me a little bit about this amazing piece.

LEX REEVES: Corot was very prolific, but he's also the most forged artist in history, some say.

GUEST: I have a 1934 signed Yankees baseball with Babe Ruth on the sweet spot.

GUEST: This is an assemblage of autographs of John Waters, Divine, and the Egg Lady Edith Massey on a pair of bloomers.

ALLAN: Now, this period of photographs, it's like the Golden Age of American Circus traveling.

(theme music playing).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ SELDON: Thanks for coming to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Thank you.

SELDON: Tell me a little bit about this amazing piece.

GUEST: Well, my grandmother gifted it to me, um, right before she died, she says that it came from her great-great-grandmother, passed down through the family.

SELDON: Great-great-grandmother.

GUEST: Yes.

SELDON: So, tell me, what do you know about your great-great-grandmother?

GUEST: Very little.

SELDON: Okay, okay.

GUEST: She... my grandmother documented everything, so she did say that her great, would be, her great-grandmother was born in the Midwest... SELDON: Okay.

GUEST: ...and got married in Cleveland, Ohio, and that's... SELDON: Because you have a little note, right?

GUEST: Yes.

I have a note that she wrote describing the transition from mother... SELDON: Family... GUEST: ...to mother to mother.

SELDON: Right, right, right, right.

GUEST: Or daughter to daughter to daughter, yes, and here it is.

SELDON: Um, so one of the things that like shocked me about this piece is the fact that, um, so the date of the wedding is the, it was from 1860?

GUEST: 1860, in Cleveland.

SELDON: So, um, this is a piece of jewelry that was gifted in this box from the 1860s, and it has been able to stay in the box.

So, it's so rare for us in the jewelry world to find original boxes with pieces.

So, I fell in love with that.

And you can see that the box was custom-made for these pieces.

It's, it's, you know, molded and everything.

So, this is, um, what in the jewelry world we refer to as the "romantic era," which is early Victorian Era, and which is the 1850s.

And these are beautiful seed pearls that were strung together in this garland around the carved, um, coral and dangle.

So it is, they're, they're lovely and they're original, you know, original pieces.

So, have you ever worn them?

It's a pretty special occasion.

GUEST: On special occasions, I have worn the earrings, yes.

SELDON: But not the brooch.

GUEST: No.

SELDON: Not the brooch.

What kind of special occasion can we get you to make, make you wear them as a set?

GUEST: Oh.

(laughter).

SELDON: We'll have to find one.

GUEST: I'll have to think about that.

SELDON: We'll have to find one.

GUEST: Yes.

SELDON: We'll have to find one.

But, and you know, it's interesting, in this era, women would be very dressed with very high collars, and so this brooch was, was made to sit right at the nape of the collar, and then the earrings to complement it.

So, and this is, you know, this is very indicative, the coral is probably Italian coral.

Um, and, but I think it was made in the United States, and it's interesting 'cause the box is from Detroit, and your grandmother was married in Cleveland, so maybe they must have traveled to Detroit, or someone gifted it to them.

Maybe even for a wedding present.

GUEST: There's a relative in that era who lived in Gross Point, Michigan.

So that might be a connection.

SELDON: Oh, there it is, there it is, good work.

Well, so from a value standpoint, have you had it appraised before?

GUEST: Once, many years ago in Chicago, I went to an antiques collectible show.

SELDON: Uh-huh.

GUEST: Local, sort of like this one.

SELDON: Okay.

GUEST: And, um, the man who looked at the jewelry at the time said it was worth about $800.

SELDON: Oh, well, I disagree with that gentleman very professionally.

Um, so, and part of it is because of the original box and the age and the desirability, because those pieces, they just don't make it through the test of time.

In today's value, um, from a fair market value, so if you went to go take it to auction, I would put it in at about two to $4,000, so a little bit more than that $800.

GUEST: It's a wonderful treasure.

SELDON: It is, it is, and should stay in your family.

Thank you so much for coming to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Thank you.

SELDON: I really appreciate it.

GUEST: Thank you.

SELDON: This was a, a great find.

GUEST: Thank you.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ LEX: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Hello.

LEX: Tell me about this beautiful painting, soon as I saw you bring it up, I knew exactly what it was, 'cause it has all the earmarks of the artist's work, so tell me about it.

GUEST: Well, we call it "The Farm Lady."

LEX: Okay.

GUEST: And, um, she's been in our family for about four generations now.

LEX: Oh, wow.

GUEST: And we love it.

LEX: So, the artist is Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, who's one of the more important French Barbizon painters.

He was; you can actually see where this style starts moving into impressionism, so it's the precursor to French Impressionism.

GUEST: Oh.

LEX: Now, Corot was very prolific.

In his lifetime; he painted 3,000 paintings, so there are a lot out there.

GUEST: My goodness.

LEX: But he's also the most forged artist in history, some say.

One of the statements that has been made is that of the 3,000 paintings that he painted, 6,000 are in the United States.

So, but it really looks good.

I've seen many over the years, a lot of the forgeries are very obvious, but I feel really confident that it's good.

So, condition-wise, it's been relined, uh, with a wax lining, and that probably because there was maybe some paint flaking or maybe a small hole.

I don't see any particular spot that I think had damage, but it could use a cleaning.

It obviously hasn't been cleaned in a long time; you can see in this varnish kind of a, kind of a, a, a kind of a tan brownish tint.

It'll clean up tremendously.

So that's something you might, might consider.

Uh, so you received an estimate back then in '88 of, uh, 30,000 range?

GUEST: Yeah.

LEX: Well, as market has changed quite a bit, um, I think conservatively at auction, assuming you get the letter, uh, probably in the 60 to 80, but I think it could push towards 100,000, 'cause it's a great example.

GUEST: Oh wow.

LEX: You know, some of his paintings just have the trees, and those do around 50 to 60.

This has the cows, the figures, the town, it's, it's a really great example of, of the artist's work.

And I'm so pleased that you brought it.

GUEST: Thank you.

LEX: Because I've seen so many fakes and I don't believe this is, I think it's right, so... GUEST: Thank you.

LEX: Just do the next step and do your due diligence, and I think you'll be very pleased.

GUEST: Thank you.

LEX: Thanks for coming.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ROSS KELBAUGH: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

I have seen a lot of baseballs today, and, uh, but you have brought one of the outstanding baseballs here for our episode, what do you got here?

GUEST: I have a 1934 signed Yankees baseball with Babe Ruth on the sweet spot.

ROSS: What happened to the 1934 team?

Anything significant for them?

GUEST: They, my history is not too good on this; you're going to have to verse me on it.

I can't remember, um, they lost, they were supposed to win the World Series that year, and they didn't win, and it was the last year that Babe and Lou were together, if I'm not mistaken.

Other than that, I'm not too familiar with the background of it.

ROSS: Yeah, what's most important, you have the Babe and you have the Babe on the sweet spot, and you got Lou Gehrig has signed it, and you had an analysis done.

And this is very important for people at home who have these signed baseballs, and particularly anything signed by Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig, because they are the two most faked signatures on any sports memorabilia.

You sent the baseball to PSA... GUEST: Correct.

ROSS: ...To be authenticated.

And, uh, what they went through, they analyzed every signature that was on that baseball, and they authenticated all the signatures, including Lou and Babe, to two of the, uh, two players that were probably signed by some of the people in the clubhouse.

So, your condition for your ball is very nice condition that so much of that depends, uh, to, helps determine a price for anything Babe Ruth has signed.

How'd you get it?

GUEST: My wife's uncle passed away in Baltimore City, and, uh, he was a gentleman, didn't have any means, lived in a townhouse, and we were cleaning out his bed, his bedroom, after he passed away.

And it was in a, a chest next to the bed with a bunch of quilts and chenille's, and it was in the bottom of the, the cabinet, and I pulled it out and I said, "holy blank."

And I'm looking around, and mom said, "Well, you found it, it's yours, keep it."

And we were all doing a clean out of the house, and that's how I got the ball.

I don't know really any history about it.

I know Uncle Al was a big Orioles fan for many years.

ROSS: Okay.

GUEST: But the closest I can get to was that the Yankees were in D.C.

sometime in '34, sometime in that area doing an exhibition.

And he could have got the ball then, but I really have no idea, 'cause I don't think, I don't know if they played well, Baltimore, the Orioles weren't around in '34.

ROSS: Uh, well, you found one of the holy grails, uh, for a baseball.

Uh, have you ever had it appraised?

GUEST: No, no.

ROSS: I would put a value on this considering its condition and this story and all that, uh, I would think in the neighborhood of 10 to $20,000.

So that was a pretty good find in the treasure chest... GUEST: Yeah, it was a good find.

ROSS: ...of the family.

GUEST: Yeah, a very good find.

ROSS: Congrats.

GUEST: Thank you very much.

ROSS: Yes, congratulations... GUEST: Thank you, sir.

I appreciate it.

ROSS: ...On that discovery, yes, sir.

GUEST: Thank you.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ALLAN: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

What did you bring us?

GUEST: This is an assemblage of autographs of John Waters, Divine, and the Egg Lady Edith Massey on a pair of bloomers.

ALLAN: Okay, as Rick Blaine said in "Casablanca," "Of all the gin joints in all the world, she had to come into mine," right?

GUEST: Right.

ALLAN: Keep going.

GUEST: Right, well, it's an interesting story, I was garage sale-ing on a Saturday morning about 30 years ago, uh, and went to a sale.

A gentleman was moving back to the Midwest, and he told me he couldn't take this with him.

He was the bartender at the Tremont Plaza Hotel Bar, where John Waters and a lot of the cast from all his productions used to come in and have a few drinks in the evening.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: So, I thought it was just such a, one-of-a-kind piece, I couldn't pass it up.

Uh, I tried to get ahold of John Waters once I bought it, but was unsuccessful, but it's been hanging in my third bedroom, uh, with some other pictures.

And everyone that comes to the house is like, where did you get this?

So, it, it's been a favorite of mine from over the years.

ALLAN: So, in your quest to get somebody to authenticate it, did you ever try to contact anybody else other than John?

GUEST: Well, I tried to get ahold of John Waters' mother was a hairdresser and did the hair of someone that I knew, but everything reached a dead end.

I thought since it was professionally framed, it had to be real.

No one would spend the money to spend it for framing... ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And not have it real, but it was just so different and unique.

I had to have it.

I love his movies, and I've just always loved this piece.

ALLAN: You know, every time I tell people I'm on "Chesapeake Collectibles" from Baltimore, they say, "Oh, that's John Waters city, right?"

GUEST: Right, John Waters is Baltimore.

ALLAN: John Waters' indelible ink on the city of Baltimore.

So, at the point of your purchase, I'm curious to know, what did you pay for this?

GUEST: I paid $20, I didn't even negotiate because I thought it was more than fair, and the gentleman that sold it to me was so happy that I liked John Waters and Divine and the whole production of his movies, that I was gonna keep it and not resell it.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: So, I was thrilled to have it, and it was about 30 years ago or so that I purchased it.

ALLAN: So, from my perspective as an appraiser, I'm going to use the theory of entertainment equity where individuals will collect in certain areas specific artists, specific actors, actresses, or, uh, performers based on their roles and their, their in, their collectability.

Locally and to some extent now internationally, John Waters' movies have become cult, cult movies.

So, there is a theory that cult collectors will pay disproportionate value for material in the marketplace.

I would appraise the Divine's Bloomers for $500.

GUEST: Wow.

ALLAN: Wow, there we go.

GUEST: And it's unique, it's a one-of-a-kind piece.

I even at one point try to get a hold of John Waters when the show opened in Las Vegas... ALLAN: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: ...To send it there, we were gonna donate it.

I never got a return call, so.

ALLAN: And I, yeah, I think that is the way to go with this, if there ever is a show, contact him.

You could even raise the value to $1,000 for a donation.

GUEST: Right, right.

ALLAN: But that's the parameter I would use.

So, thank you very much for coming.

GUEST: Thank you.

ALLAN: I appreciate your time.

GUEST: Thank you.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ AMORY: I want to thank you for coming out today to "Chesapeake Collectibles," and when you came up to my table, I immediately was drawn to this, uh, group of watches that you brought in.

Can you, can you tell me a little bit about their history?

GUEST: Um, they've come down through the family.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: Um, I know my great-grandfather worked for the railroad, um, up in Cumberland... AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: ...or outside of Cumberland, so I didn't know if any of those came from there, but they've all come down through great-grandparents on down.

AMORY: Okay.

Well, we've got a really nice group of diverse collection of, uh, in different time periods with a lot of different watchmakers.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: There's not really a train watch, I don't know what he did on the railroad, but, you know, if he was an engineer, there's a very specific, uh, standard that a, uh, engineer's railroad watch had to maintain, that watch is not present here, although a number of the companies that would've made that watch, made a watch like that are, we've got Elgin and, uh, American Waltham in Illinois, and, um, we've got a number of women's watches.

GUEST: Mm-hm.

AMORY: These smaller watch, uh, dials, um, were typically worn by a woman in, uh, around on a chain around the neck, maybe, uh, draped here we have a, uh, one with a pin, and that would likely have been worn on the lapel of a jacket... GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: ...by a woman.

Um, we also have one or two European movements, and this one down here is a particularly nice, elegant, uh, Longines.

Longines, is, is really a great watchmaking company, this is a dress, a gentleman's dress watch.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: Pocket watch for the evening.

Um, right now, from what we've seen, none of them are working watches.

And have you ever had 'em looked at, valued, priced, anything?

GUEST: No, Mm-mm.

AMORY: You know, the, the difficulty is that when watch is not working, the expectation to get it working can be anywhere from 100 to $150 in value.

Um, we've got some wonderful pieces that would be worth spending that kind of money on, um, the smaller women's watches is, are gonna be somewhere in the 150 to maybe $200 range.

Um, some of these more modest everyday working men's watches, running the 25 to $50 range, the Longines in a working order could be a three or $400 pocket watch.

GUEST: Okay.

AMORY: But it, it, it represents an interesting aspect because you didn't really assemble the collection.

GUEST: No, not this one.

AMORY: So there, there, there's a difference between being a collector and being a haver.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: And a haver is, is like where you're in the family funnel, and it keeps coming down to the point where it just gets to you.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: You're not the collector, but you have it.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

AMORY: And you're the haver.

GUEST: Yep.

AMORY: And I'm glad the haver came out this morning... GUEST: Yes.

AMORY: And I want to thank you for bringing these up.

GUEST: Thank you, I appreciate it, thank you.

(cash register bell).

♪ ♪ ALLAN: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Thanks.

ALLAN: What did you bring us?

GUEST: Well, uh, I brought a collection of, uh, three albums that include about 200 or so photos of a father-daughter, circus performers, and it shows a bunch of pictures of behind-the-scenes of them doing trapeze, uh, them performing, and a lot of like little news articles talking about their times in each town.

ALLAN: Mm-hmm, do you have any idea what the troupe they belong to or... GUEST: Well, so that's, that's the thing that's kind of interesting is that, uh, there wasn't any clear indicator as to, uh, one troupe that they were in, so like, I guess they were just their own sort of father daughter duo, and they kind of just go where, you know, they were hired potentially.

ALLAN: So, you believe they were freelance performers?

GUEST: Yeah.

ALLAN: Do you know their names?

GUEST: Yeah.

So, uh, this is the father-daughter crew here.

This is Gladys Eckard and, uh, C.G.

Eckard, uh, or Clarence G. Eckard.

Um, and they both did a lot of tight, like tight rope walking, um, and, uh, Gladys actually did, uh, like some performances where she, like, hung by like her teeth on the rope and, uh, did some really kind of cool stuff.

You'll see a lot of behind-the-scenes with her friends and like a lot of news articles talking about, uh, like where her friends were or if there, there was like a tragedy that happened.

Uh, she post like their obituary, like in the news article, which is I think is really interesting.

ALLAN: So, so most of her friends were also performers.

GUEST: Yeah, yeah.

ALLAN: And so, the standard op living, uh, procedures of circus performers was very hard.

They traveled every day, not only did they perform and practice and exercise, but they had routine responsibilities to the circus, either to help put up tents, be cooks, their life was not easy.

So, the, the circus troupe, um, communities became very insular.

Friends became friends for life or enemies for life because you were... GUEST: Yeah.

ALLAN: Rivals for the same performances.

But the dedication to the circus was the one con, uh, commonality that every member of a circus troupe had.

So, they did make lifelong friendships, and then many times would perform together and maybe even have specific acts.

Now, this period of photographs, '20s, '30s, is like the Golden Age of American circus traveling.

The American circuses were basically spawn out of the Central/East European Performers who came to the United States, the majors, Cole Brothers, Ringling Brothers, would build up the major acts, but there were so many smaller circuses that lived on a day-to-day basis by traveling through the United States.

I noticed that there was, um, an indication they were in Ohio.

GUEST: Yeah.

ALLAN: And they were in the other cities, uh, in other states in the Midwest.

So, you can assume that this was their lifeblood was to, to travel, hopefully be discovered by one of the agents for the larger circuses.

I've seen a couple of publicity photographs in here that indicates that somebody brought them into studio for hopingly, hopingly to get them into a larger circus.

GUEST: Oh, gotcha, okay.

ALLAN: Right.

But, you know, it's, it's a great piece of American circus Americana.

GUEST: Yes.

ALLAN: I mean, the imagery is real.

None of this is staged and it, it really just indicates how simple the life of a circus performer was.

It was routine day by day by day.

So, first question is, how did you obtain this?

GUEST: Well, uh, I am really into antique photos and ephemera, um, and like the more interesting or weird, the better, I love, so I follow a lot of like, kind of oddball, uh, photo groups online that, uh, like just post a lot of this stuff.

And I, I jumped on this opportunity because, uh, one of the big things I collect are like behind-the-scenes circus photos.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: Because like you said, they're, they're more real, and like I love the behind-the-scenes 'cause you see kind of like behind the facade.

ALLAN: Right.

GUEST: And I, I adore that.

And so, uh, that's why I kind of like go for more of the snapshots because I feel like they're more real and less... ALLAN: And they're spontaneous and... GUEST: Yeah, yeah.

ALLAN: And they're done in intimately versus for publication or for a, um, public promotion.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

ALLAN: So, it's a great collection, how much did you pay for it?

GUEST: Uh, paid about $200 for it, yeah.

ALLAN: Well, add another zero because if I was going to insure this collection, the minimum I would insure it for is about $2,000.

GUEST: Oh, no kidding, okay.

ALLAN: Yeah, I mean, because you have about 200 photos, and if you extrapolate about $10 a photo.

GUEST: Yeah.

ALLAN: Now, the interesting thing for added value is that do you know if anybody owns the copyright to these photos?

GUEST: No idea.

ALLAN: You should investigate that and see if this, these circuses still have any copyright ownership because you also have the possibility of a very interesting book here that if you did your some background documentation, you could probably even publish a photo book.

GUEST: Oh, that would be cool, yeah.

ALLAN: Yeah, yeah.

So, hey, thanks for coming... GUEST: Yeah, my pleasure, thank you.

ALLAN: ...This has been a great opportunity for me.

GUEST: Great, thanks.

(cash register bell).

NARRATOR: Major funding was 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: Oh, we had a marvelous time, things were great, the staff was excellent, the crew, everybody was phenomenal.

GUEST: Fascinating experience from hair and makeup, to the appraisals, to being filmed, very organized.

GUEST: Uh, it was really cool kind of to see the behind-the-scenes of everything, uh, and to sort of go about, uh, getting things appraised and see what had value and what didn't it.

GUEST: Yes, I would come back again.

GUEST: I always have fun when we come here, this is our second time down here.

And we'll be back next year.

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