♪ ♪ 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."

ROSS KELBAUGH: One of the things that makes my involvement with the show exciting is when I meet people who have been involved with making history.

GUEST: We found a collection of toys that belonged to my husband's mother.

LISA JONES: You took a little bit of chance, pulled all the money out of your wallet and paid for this and that was?

GUEST: $3.

LISA: A whole $3.

GUEST: The dog was what really sold us on the whole thing.

AMORY: You have a number of pieces that are sterling silver.

That always escalates things up.

(Theme music playing).

(Overlapping chatter).

LEX REEVES: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

Tell me a little bit about this beautiful portrait that you've brought.

GUEST: All right.

We bought her about 20 years ago... LEX: Okay.

GUEST:...from an antique dealer that supposedly was from Baltimore.

LEX: Okay, okay.

GUEST: And we just knew nothing about her.

LEX: Right.

GUEST: We just loved the portrait because it was kind of a folk portrait.

LEX: Sure.

GUEST: And the dog was what really sold us on the whole thing.

LEX: I can see why.

That's a magnificent little dog.

I, I love it.

So we did a little bit of research, and it's kind of exciting.

This is an exciting find for you.

You did find the name of the sitter in the back.

So tell me a little bit about that.

GUEST: Well, after we bought this, we got it out to our vehicle.

LEX: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And as I was wrapping it... LEX: Right.

GUEST:...it said, um, "Mary Young, daughter of Captain William Young."

LEX: Right.

GUEST: And so I tried to Google that.

LEX: There are going to be a lot of William Young's out there, right?

GUEST: There were an awful lot.

LEX: Well, we did find a Captain William Young in the Baltimore area, but that's, again, we're not sure about that.

What was exciting about this picture is it relates strongly to a portrait that's very similar, and we'll talk about the similarities, that's in the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

Um, and they do think they know who painted that one.

So we have an idea now that this... GUEST: Oh, great.

LEX:...really could be the artist.

So, Susan Fauntleroy Quarles Nicholson.

Now, what's neat about that is there are very few of her works.

There's one in the Abby Aldrich, uh, there are several others.

Um, the similarities that we noticed, and you looked at the photo, it's the same dog.

And the dog is facing the other way.

In the girl in that portrait, her head is canted to the right.

But the similarities in terms of the painterly quality in the face, she's in a blue dress.

The left side is flowers.

Those flowers are out of the ground.

This is in a vase.

The coloration in the sky is virtually identical.

So, strong possibility that it's her.

I'm going to say it's attributed to her, however... GUEST: Yeah.

LEX:...she was working with her husband.

She married Jacob Nicholson, and they moved to the Amherst area of Virginia in 1839, and they advertised in the Lynchburg, uh, Chronicle or the magazine.

Newspaper, excuse me.

So they were working together.

There are some subtle differences that we noticed in the face.

So it's possible that it could be Jacob, because they were working together.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

LEX: They both did miniatures and full-length portraits.

Now, sometimes they would incorporate similar images in works.

So sometimes they'd put a dog, even if there wasn't a dog in the portrait.

But I am so confident that I would say I'm 95% sure that it's either one of them.

It's too close to not be.

GUEST: Okay.

LEX: Um, so in terms of condition, it's been relined at one time.

You'll take a look, and what someone did is they did a wax lining.

It's starting to disadhere in certain areas.

Could it be restored again?

Yeah, it's a possibility.

And these areas are what is overpaint, some of it.

Where you see that brown, that's original there.

Uh, as it is, it's stable.

So I'd keep it the way it is.

GUEST: Okay.

LEX: But it's really a beautiful portrait.

And I think I'm going to head to the Abby Aldrich when I get back.

I have some other business to do there, and I'm going to take a look at the one they have because I couldn't find it online.

So I can see a third, and then I maybe can hammer down, you know, whether it's her or possibly her husband.

GUEST: Okay.

LEX: Have you ever had it valued?

GUEST: No, we have not.

LEX: Okay, well, because we have, usually we don't have the name of the sitter.

You know, usually these are just unknowns, unknown artist, unknown sitter.

This, we have the name of the sitter, and quite possibly we know now the artist.

So that makes a world of difference.

It's charming.

She's pretty.

The dog is awesome.

Um, condition is a little rough, but I think it could be, you know, I can give you some names of conservators that you might want to have them at least assess the situation.

GUEST: Okay.

LEX: I think conservatively, if we didn't know who the sitter was and who the artist was, you're looking at a $4,000 to $6,000 painting.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

LEX: If we can really hammer down the artist, and her works are rare, and it is a woman artist, and there weren't as many folk artists that were women artists working in the 1830s and '40s in the United States.

GUEST: Okay.

LEX: So that makes it even rarer.

I'm going to say conservatively 6,000 to 8,000, but it could be, you know, a bit more once we really hammer it down.

GUEST: Great, oh!

LEX: But what a treat to get to see it, and how fun to finally put a name to the name of who she is.

GUEST: Yes.

LEX: So we're hoping that we have the artist's name.

GUEST: Thank you so much.

GUEST: Thank you so much.

GUEST: We appreciate it.

LEX: Thanks for bringing it.

GUEST: You're welcome.

LEX: It's a treasure.

GUEST: Thank you.

GUEST: Thanks.

(Cash register bell).

(Overlapping chatter).

LISA: So, thank you very much for coming in today.

GUEST: Thanks for having me.

LISA: You have brought in a lovely piece of American art pottery.

Tell me how you acquired this, please, and why you bought it.

GUEST: It came from a thrift store.

LISA: Local?

GUEST: Local, yes.

LISA: Should I run there now?

GUEST: Uh... LISA: Should I go shopping right now?

Should I just leave set and go right now?

GUEST: Not if I've been there first.

LISA: Oh, okay.

Please continue.

GUEST: Uh, I was attracted by the color.

LISA: Okay.

GUEST: But when I picked it up, I thought I knew what it was.

LISA: And what did you think it was?

GUEST: A piece of Grueby pottery.

LISA: Okay, Grueby pottery, but you weren't sure.

GUEST: Not sure.

LISA: You took a little bit of chance, pulled all the money out of your wallet and paid for this, and that was?

GUEST: $3.

LISA: A whole $3.

Okay, so, and, and you took it home, did some research, and the result was?

GUEST: Well, I was able to discern the mark on the bottom, even though it's a bit obscured.

LISA: Uh-huh.

Mm-hmm.

GUEST: But I've looked high and low for a very similar piece, and I can't find one.

LISA: Yeah.

GUEST: And I can't find much in the, in that color.

LISA: That's correct, and that's a really good point.

So, Grueby was among America's first art potteries.

It was founded in 1894.

It was headquartered in Revere, Massachusetts.

Sadly, it went bankrupt by 1920, so there's a really short window when production was made, and it was founded on the idea of these simple matte glazes.

The founder was very impressed with French matte glazes, and green did become their signature color.

So it's rare to come across a piece of this yellow mustard glaze.

GUEST: Okay.

LISA: So already we have something fairly unusual.

And there's another mark on the underside that you investigated.

I'm going to show that mark.

Would you like to reveal to our audience the mark of?

GUEST: The Grueby mark.

LISA: The Grueby is there in the center.

GUEST: Yeah.

LISA: And then our artist mark... GUEST: Is Ruth Erickson.

LISA: ...Ruth Erickson, who worked for Grueby Pottery around the turn of the century, so 1900, 1905, about then.

And so I would date that piece in that 1900, 1905, 1910 time period.

Grueby was really the heyday of the American arts and crafts art pottery movement, and this is really typical of what they did, simple, organic forms with just the slight decoration, a hint of incised and molded decoration here.

GUEST: Yeah.

LISA: So, so, $3.

GUEST: Yeah.

LISA: Are you hoping you get your money back?

Are you going to keep it?

Do you love art pottery?

GUEST: My brother said it's worth four.

LISA: Your brother said it's worth four?

GUEST: Yeah.

LISA: Okay, so I'm going to challenge your brother.

So I think at auction today, we've got a rarity of color.

Um, we do have a couple of spots where the glaze just didn't take.

That's, that can happen in the firing process... GUEST: Yeah.

LISA:...and it's not a significant flaw.

It's not even really a flaw at all.

It's not even damage.

GUEST: Okay.

LISA: The glaze just didn't take there.

I think if this piece came on the market today, because of the rarity of the color, I think you're looking at $1,500 to $2,000 in value at auction.

GUEST: That's a, a pretty good return.

LISA: That's a pretty good return on your investment.

GUEST: Wow.

LISA: And so if you're ready, we can just go on over to the thrift store right now.

Is that okay?

GUEST: Yeah.

Sure.

LISA: Okay.

I'll go get my... GUEST: It's about an hour drive.

LISA: That's fine.

I've got my wallet and my car keys.

Let's go.

GUEST: Okay.

LISA: Thank you so much for bringing this in.

It was really a treat.

GUEST: Thank you.

Appreciate it.

LISA: You're welcome.

You're welcome.

(Cash register bell) (Overlapping chatter).

AMORY: I want to thank you for coming out to "Chesapeake Collectibles" today.

And when you came up to the table, I mean, visually, the color was just popping before you even arrived.

Tell me a little bit about what you've brought out today, and we're going to talk a little bit about their history and what they are.

GUEST: So I brought today a sampling, a good sampling, of my mother's collection of, um, vintage purses that... AMORY: Now you've inherited this collection now?

GUEST: Yes.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: And they are, some are beaded, some are mesh, um, some are enameled.

So there's a huge variety, and it was very tough for me to decide which ones to bring today.

AMORY: Well, you've got an extraordinary diversity in here, and I understand that they became, not only your mother was collecting these, but they became elements that the family would... I mean, we're always looking for a gift for a relative.

GUEST: Right.

AMORY: So every Mother's Day, there was a purse coming somewhere for her, I'm sure.

GUEST: Exactly So we used to search for her.

AMORY: You know, when, when I was looking at it table side, the pieces that you brought out, what we're seeing, and I think it's indicative of this type of collecting, we were seeing European pieces, we were seeing English pieces, we were seeing American pieces.

Uh, companies like Whiting-Davis became very well-known domestically for producing purses like this, whether they are the mesh, the beaded.

And there were several things that struck me about it.

You have, you know, there are various criteria that people look for.

You have a number of pieces that are sterling silver.

Um, that always escalates things up.

But what struck me was you have bags that are enormously quality pieces.

Um, there were very few with damage.

There were, you know, and they're coming from all over the world.

These were popular really in the late 19-teens, 1920s, and the early 1930s.

Probably by the end of 1930, they started as a fashion accessory to sort of fade out and be replaced by other items.

Um, and we look at them today as just beautiful objects from that time.

You couldn't even fit a cell phone in most of these.

GUEST: No.

AMORY: Um, how long did your mother, how did she start collecting, and how long did she collect?

GUEST I would say she collected at least 50 years.

AMORY: 50 years.

GUEST: My parents collected a lot of things, but this was her passion.

AMORY: Okay.

GUEST: And so, my family, like you said, we would give her purses for Mother's Day... AMORY: Okay.

GUEST:...Christmas, and any time we traveled, we always looked for them, and she wanted perfect examples.

So, "Don't give it to me if it's not perfect."

AMORY: Right.

And you really have seen that throughout the whole collection.

Now, doing something for 50 years, she must have amassed a few more than this.

How many did she amass?

GUEST: She, oh, about 300.

AMORY: Okay.

(Amory exclaims).

Okay.

So, this is, this is seriously something that takes up some space in the house.

GUEST: Yes.

AMORY: Okay, um, have you ever had anybody look at it for value?

GUEST: No, no.

AMORY: Well, I will say there's kind of always a baseline with vintage purses of this type, and during different periods, uh, they will, they will peak interest even greater.

And there are certain companies, like Whiting-Davis, certain types, like sterling silver, that will accumulate more value.

And we've got some examples out here of those.

If we were to look at the value of the collection, it would be very easy to assign a value of $50 per purse.

So, the collection would be somewhere around $15,000.

But my suspicion is if we went across the whole broad scape of what you have, that that average is probably going to be closer to $75.

So, you're probably in that $22,000 to $25,000... GUEST: Wow, okay.

AMORY:...value range.

And for insurance purposes, you could not replace 300 pieces at that price.

So, you'd certainly be looking at $40,000, $45,000, $50,000 to insure the collection.

GUEST: Oh, okay That's helpful.

AMORY: And it probably is going to require some specialty coverage under your homeowners.

GUEST: Okay.

Thank you for that.

AMORY: Okay?

But it is wonderful.

It is visually stimulating.

I see one or two or three pieces from people's homes.

This has been awesome to see this many types, styles, and again, the quality is outstanding.

Thank you for coming out today.

GUEST: Thank you.

Thank you very much.

(Cash register bell).

(Overlapping chatter).

PATRICK REDDING: A machete type of style.

You know what I mean?

MICHAEL STANTON: Welcome to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

GUEST: Thank you.

MICHAEL: What brought you here today?

GUEST: Well, we found a collection of toys that belonged to my husband's mother.

She was born in 1906 in, uh, Hoboken, New Jersey.

MICHAEL: Okay.

GUEST: And, um, honestly, we opened up this box.

I didn't even know we had it.

MICHAEL: You did.

Oh, you just had this box sitting around.

You never had a look at it?

GUEST: He moved in, and we got married, and he's been carrying these around.

So, I was shocked to see them, and I thought, "Well, I think they might be worth something."

So, brought them in.

MICHAEL: You've got some very nice examples of cast iron items that were manufactured in the 1930, 1890s to 1950s by a company named Kenton out of Ohio.

You said your mother-in-law was in the, in 1906, was she was born?

GUEST: When she was born.

MICHAEL: So, she probably bought these when she was young.

GUEST: Yeah.

MICHAEL: So, we're looking probably 1915, 1920s era.

The great thing about these is they're in great, great shape.

They have made a lot of reproductions of these Kenton pieces over the years, and these are absolutely amazing examples of the early 1920s versions.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: What you have here is the hansom cab, the milk truck, and the surrey carriage, okay?

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

MICHAEL: Do you have any idea what these things are worth?

GUEST: I, kinda, looked them up online and it was, like, $150.

MICHAEL: Yeah, well, those were for probably pretty worn-out pieces.

GUEST: Yeah.

MICHAEL: You've got some really nice pieces.

The hansom cab would go anywhere from $150 to $250.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: I would put it more close, in this condition, for a collector, the two of them going for this great condition piece, around $300.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: The milk truck is one of the most popular reproduced items that's in great condition also.

But I'm looking, I'd put a value on that at auction somewhere in the $300 to $400.

GUEST: Wow, okay.

MICHAEL: Okay?

GUEST: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And the Surrey piece is in also in great condition.

That would also have an auction value of somewhere between $300 and $400.

GUEST: Okay.

MICHAEL: As insurance value, if you get these, I would put an insurance value of about $1,500.

GUEST: Really?

Okay.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

Thank you for bringing it in.

They're excellent examples.

GUEST: Thank you.

I'm impressed, and I'm, I'm already having fun.

MICHAEL: Good.

GUEST: And I'm going to have to find a place to show them off... MICHAEL: Display them, you have to show them off.

GUEST:...instead of in a cardboard box.

MICHAEL: Yeah, wipe them down, clean them up.

GUEST: Yeah.

MICHAEL: They're awesome pieces.

GUEST: Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

(Cash register bell).

(Overlapping chatter).

GUEST: And that's why this mark on the bottom is something that they will probably get... (Overlapping chatter).

ROSS: Yeah, welcome you to "Chesapeake Collectibles."

One of the things that makes my involvement with the show exciting is when I meet people who have been involved with making history, and you are one of those individuals with a very interesting story.

What did you bring in for us to be able to take a look at?

GUEST: Well, I was lucky enough when I was stationed aboard the USS Saratoga as part of the air wing, it was HS-5, an ASW helicopter.

At that time, the carrier that was sent out to pick up the astronauts that were coming back from their flights, we at that squadron were responsible for recovery.

And in this particular case, it was Apollo 7, Cunningham, Eisele, and Schirra returning from an 11-day tour and it was the first time ever for that to be a manned flight.

So I was able to participate in that, a very good position.

ROSS: Well, tell us, what did you do that day?

GUEST: Well, we were, first of all, waiting to hear that it was coming back down.

When it was about to be landed, there were five aircraft picked up to do that.

We never knew the exact spot where it might be landing.

We had a pretty good idea.

I happened to be in the lead helicopter, which is called Air Boss, and it was my role to get everybody there on scene with photographers.

At that time, nobody else was allowed in the aircraft except the military personnel.

So we were out there circling until we got the news, and they had landed.

Unfortunately, we never got any feedback, couldn't hear from them.

We were kind of concerned.

Turns out, when they landed, they had landed and flipped over.

ROSS: Hmm.

GUEST: Eventually, when the flotation gear was ready, they came back, and we started talking.

So I was chosen to designate who, what, when, where, and everything else.

ROSS: So you were kind of the coordinator of all of these helicopters.

GUEST: Yes, I was flying.

ROSS: Okay.

GUEST: I was flying, I was flying the air group commander.

ROSS: Okay.

GUEST: That's, I was originally scheduled to do the pickup with our commanding officer, but the air group commander wanted to participate.

He was not a helicopter pilot, so I got selected to take him.

So he was the senior man on scene, and I was the pilot.

ROSS: And it went down into the Atlantic approximately?

GUEST: Atlantic, about 200 miles off somewhere in the South Atlantic.

ROSS: Okay, and so you brought in a variety of photographs to be able to share, and a document here.

Very importantly, what, what is this document?

GUEST: That was the document to give to the team that was going out.

It was our flight plan.

Here's who's on aircraft one, two, three, four, and five, the position, the time, everything else.

And we were then work... It's our daily schedule, if you will.

This was our flight schedule for the day.

ROSS: What carrier was it?

GUEST: It was the Apollo.

I mean, the Apollo, the Essex.

ROSS: The Essex.

GUEST: Yeah, everybody lines up and makes the word Apollo 7 and so.

ROSS: And you had some very interesting pictures interpreting how all this pickup actually happened.

GUEST: Well, the interesting part of the pickup, typically in the past, they would sit down one of these loops that fits under your body, and then they pull them up that way.

Someone along the way came up with this new, what they called, it was a basket, a rescue basket.

The gentleman who did it, his name was Billy Pugh.

So it was called the Billy Pugh Rescue Basket for the first time being used to actually do that.

And part of what we were doing in preparation for the pickup was testing the Billy Pugh Rescue Basket to make sure it worked properly and that people don't fall out of it, et cetera.

ROSS: Oh, this picture right here.

GUEST: Yeah.

ROSS: Yeah.

And that's you.

GUEST: That's me.

ROSS: There you go.

GUEST: I don't recognize me, but.

ROSS: Okay, and then you received signed photographs from each of the three... GUEST: Yeah, yeah, that was a, very pleasant, They couldn't have been nicer.

They were really thrilled to have us pick them up, and we were more than thrilled to be part of that piece of history.

ROSS: Did you participate in a celebration by the, when you got back onto the carrier?

GUEST: Oh, God, yeah, the whole, the entire crew, several thousand sailors were standing all over the deck.

We have pictures of them coming off the helicopter looking like they've been out in the wild there, which they were for about 11 days, all scruffy and whatever, but, uh, they sure cleaned up nicely after that.

ROSS: Have you ever had it all appraised?

GUEST: Never even thought of it.

I mean, it was, the value in it was the interest and the excitement.

I never put a dollar value.

I never even thought about it.

But after I pulled it out and said, "Yeah, it'd be interesting to know what somebody would think about it."

So that's why I'm here, and I appreciate you looking at it.

ROSS: Well, I would put an estimate value of it, I would say between $7,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Oh, that's not bad.

ROSS: There is a lot of interest in the space program... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

ROSS: ...as it kind of continues to fire up again, thinking about going back to the Moon and Musk with the Mars and everything else.

But, uh, been a lot of interest in, we've had students in schools have, from some of the previous things that have been brought into our shows... GUEST: Sure.

ROSS:...have ignited an interest in the history of the space program.

GUEST: Sure.

ROSS: So you are a relic, a historic relic... GUEST: Yeah.

ROSS: ...of this story.

GUEST: It gets to that point, where you get into the relic years.

ROSS: And it's been a thrill for me to been able to meet you.

GUEST: Well, I appreciate the time you took.

ROSS: And I'm glad you were able to bring all this in to be able to share... GUEST: I enjoyed doing it.

ROSS: ...with our show.

GUEST: And you were very nice to, uh, allow me to, uh, show it.

Thank you.

ROSS: Yeah.

Thank you very much.

(Cash register bell).

CHRISTINE APOSTOLOU: Next time on "Chesapeake Collectibles."

ED MORENO: What wonderful object did you bring today to "Chesapeake Collectibles?"

ROSS: This grouping that you have brought in today is one of the most exciting groups that I have seen.

LISA: Baltimore Glassman was really drawn to the glass and the glitter for, like, the light and the spirit that he sort of found in that.

LINDSAY LUKEHART: We have Lady Germania, similar to Lady Liberty, and she's supposed to represent kind of loyalty, power, strength within Germany.

CHRISTINE: Your eye is superb because you have chosen a lovely example of Art Nouveau.

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: This is our first time at "Chesapeake Collectibles," and it's been marvelous.

GUEST: Everybody was so warm and welcoming.

GUEST: Well, we watch "Chesapeake Collectibles" all the time, and we were so interested in it that we came a few years ago for the first time and absolutely loved it.

Everyone here is so helpful, knowledgeable, and professional.

GUEST: I'm coming back again.

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