Major funding for Arkansas Treasures was provided by the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council and the Susan Howarth Fund at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.

Additional funding provided by Annette and Phil Harrington, the Arkansas PBS Local Production Fund and by viewers like you.

The anticipation is really building as we search for the most interesting and valuable collectibles from across the state.

This is Arkansas Treasures.

If you have any idea what the book is worth.

It's Safari.

Which I think you'll be surprised that it's a little bit higher.

Said.

I was not going to say well, but I did anyway.

I should have said what?

Here on Arkansas Treasures, you never know what the next exciting find is going to be.

Our evaluators have come across some impressive items, but what's even more interesting are the stories that we've heard.

I have clearance and Melba here, and you have something pretty incredible that you've brought.

Tell me about it.

My great great grandfather, Captain James Randolph Perry, was in the Civil War and he was a captain of the union.

And these are his spurs.

I used to wear them when I was a kid.

No, but the leather is rotted.

What?

Angel Crouch.

Is this something that's found in a feather mattress?

It means that the person that slept on the mattress.

Is assured A place in.

Heaven.

Who found this?

My mother and grandmother.

This is truly an Arkansas treasure.

Yes, it is.

There's no time to waste.

Let's see the next Arkansas treasure.

You brought me a mickey Mouse today.

So what can you tell me about it?

My family vacationed in California, and when I was a little girl, and of course, we wanted to go to Disneyland, my sister and I.

Of course.

And so we went.

Right.

And while we were walking around, we ran into an illustrator, Roy, and he was doing pictures for kids.

neat.

Just out in the middle of the square.

How old were you?

I was about eight or nine.

Okay.

What a treat.

And I figured since I was in Disneyland, Mickey had to be the one.

The picture I asked for.

So I asked for Mickey and he drew it for me.

And Roy was for Roy and then Mickey Mouse Club.

Okay.

Jimmy and Roy, he's a big guy in the back, right?

Right.

Yeah, right.

How neat.

And I've kept this with me that whole time.

Always looking at Mickey Mouse.

So you've always had it up on the wall?

Yes, I have.

Now, did you said you had a sibling with you and they picked a different.

They picked Donald Duck.

Okay.

Donald disappeared years.

Ago.

Years ago.

Well, you picked the right subject.

Well, because these do.

He was pretty prolific.

He did lots of these for lots of kids.

And I'm sure lots were lost, but people did hold on to them.

The ones that I could find that were out there were majority of them were goofy.

really?

Donald Duck.

I didn't see any Mickey's.

So.

Wow.

Now, in terms of value, not finding the mickey, but I was able to find someone asking in the $300 range for I think it was goofy.

And being Mickey.

Whose Mickey Mouse Club.

Mickey Mouse is the most important Disney character.

I would argue I think the value would be a bit more.

So you see these pop up at auction and they bring in the wholesale level kind of in the couple of hundred to a couple hundred dollars.

But I think on a retail level, it probably would be about $400 for $50.

So I'm glad you held onto it.

It's such a great story.

I am, too.

What a memory.

What a memory to have.

He makes me smile.

I can see why.

Well, thank you for bringing it.

My pleasure.

And Kathy?

Yes.

Thank you for bringing this beautiful necklace.

Tell me about it.

Where did you get it?

Well, just recently, my sister passed away.

And in cleaning her house, we came across all of her jewelry.

Right.

And so we her sisters, three sisters.

We looked through it, and this was a piece that I admired and so wanted to come here and speak with someone is yourself to find out a little more about it.

We know that their diamonds, Ryan.

Someone told us we think it's old.

Okay.

So that's really all I know about, right?

Well, that's true.

They are diamonds, and it is old.

It's very old.

Do you have any idea where it came from originally?

How it.

Well, we got into the family.

My grandmother is a first American, Irish American.

And so we think it's possibly from that side of the family.

Or it can be from the Scottish side of the family.

Well, it likely came.

Yes, it likely came from the U.K., from Great Britain, which would put you in the Irish or Scottish family.

Right.

Either one.

The the diamonds in it are beautiful.

They're extremely high quality.

And they are what we called old mine cut diamonds, which means they were cut up to the late 1800s when diamonds then transitioned into what we call European cut and then modern.

So these are diamonds are very old.

They were cut in the late 1800s and put into this gold setting.

And they are the setting itself is in terrific condition.

The diamonds are beautiful.

The whole piece is probably about a half a carat of diamonds.

And it's it appears to be 14 carat gold.

It might be 18 karat gold.

I don't see a stamp on it, but I think it's 14.

And the value on something like this today of this quality and style and age is in the neighborhood of 1800 to 20 $500.

So I would say it was a very good find.

good.

Thank you so much.

Well done.

Hello and welcome to the show.

Would you like to tell me about what you brought in for us to talk about today?

Sure.

My great, great grandmother, Isabella William Bethell, was born on a plantation in Dallas County, Arkansas, and in April of 1848, her father was a prosperous planter and country doctor.

And when she was born, she was the ninth of of child born into the family when she was born.

It's a dark part of our state history in Arkansas, but an enslaved person made this handmade rocker for her as a gift.

And it's and it's been a part of the family ever since.

This, by contrast, came many years later, after she was married.

It is an opera cape, and she and her husband would ride from Prey County, Arkansas, on a horse and buggy to see the opera in Memphis.

And this was her cape.

1870s, early 1880s.

Okay, well, I love that you have this tie in in your family with all of these objects.

Here we have the picture so that we can see the the woman that owned these pieces.

Let's start with the enslaved piece.

Yes.

That is a topic that can be quite challenging to discuss in our family and in our in our country, rather.

And I love that you brought this that I think that one, it allows us to recognize the contribution of enslaved people and what amazing craftspeople that they were and how much they added to the lives of those that they were in servitude to.

And so we have this child's rocking chair that was lovingly made for her to enjoy as a child.

It is in great condition for the age.

There was a little bit of wiggling on it, so that is just a reminder to handle it delicately.

And so if we were to talk about value for these chairs, they are selling in the market for 800 to $1200.

And we also have this beautiful opera cape.

And I love that it tells the story of a time where people dressed up and we just don't do that anymore.

We're so casual.

And so this this beautiful beading would have been very elegant to sit in those wonderful opera centers and listen to the music of the times.

And I think I commented to you of just how small it looks.

Right.

And so just the size of the women back in those days.

And so we have this lovely embroidered piece and that she, of course, was able to enjoy wearing to the opera with her husband.

And if we were looking at what these pieces are selling for in the market, they're selling for in the range of $350 to $500.

And so I commend you for bringing those in to share with us, to share some times of celebration and then also times of a subject that can be quite difficult for people to talk about.

But we definitely do not want to forget that as a country that we need to recognize these things and move on from them and also to reflect on the people that have contributed to the making of America.

Absolutely.

Thank you for bringing it in today.

Thank you for having us on.

Bill, this hour.

I'm so glad you brought this part.

Well, I'm glad to be here.

When they called and asked if I would come do this for Arkansas PBS, if I had picked one thing made in Arkansas to turn up on my table.

You just brought it in.

that's great.

You know a little bit about this.

Why don't you tell me a little.

Bit about a little bit about it?

I bought this piece about 25 years ago through a friend.

Locally, I live in Benton where this was made, and I recognized it as a very early piece and had an opportunity to buy more it and took it home and basically just kept out of shelf collecting dust for the last 1000 years.

Do you know that a few of us knew that you bought this and it disappear?

Period.

And we've been looking for it for almost 30 years.

Yeah, well, it's been in the same place.

What's unusual about this?

Why do we care that this brown pops the only the first one or the only one?

Well.

Because of the mark on the bottom.

It's marked Eagle pottery.

It has an ink stamp that was used prior to the analog of analog mark stamp that people are used to see it.

Now, look, Pottery Company was here in Benton, Arkansas, and they searched local clays, ultimately as many as five colors or even six, and made what they trademarked as swirled mission wire in 1909 Forward.

And it lasted for decades.

And it is all over the world.

It was rooted in the arts and crafts movement idea that the art in your home should be part of your local environment.

So this is arts and crafts pottery made with a fairly sophisticated technique and Arkansas out of Arkansas clay.

And there's blues and greens and creams and browns.

It's pretty beautiful stuff.

It really is.

This is hard to tell you what a value is.

What do you think this might be worth?

You know, I really don't know.

I know what I paid for.

It was a long time ago.

And of I always thought it was special.

Well.

On the one hand, this priceless is probably not another one.

On the other hand, appraisers are taught we have to appraise what's in front of us, and then we hit things that we know.

Wait a minute.

They're people who collect Nilo are interested in this.

They're people who collect Arkansas history.

Interested in this.

They're people who collect Southern pottery, who are interested in this.

It's a pretty broad level group of people who might be interested in this part.

So now they're more beautiful pieces of Nilo.

Absolutely.

David Rego sold up floor base for over $12,000 a year ago.

Jan And that's a pretty big price this year.

I think that most of us would say that we don't know what this is worth.

We don't know how crazy anybody who loves Southern Pottery Nyaope is going to get if they get a chance to own this.

So we've got to say something.

I think most auctions would be very comfortable to tell you they would put a thousand or 1500 dollar estimate on this and you might get a big surprise.

Nobody has the nerve to predict what someone will pay in some days are better than others this year.

My personal hope is that you will talk to someone at the State House Museum and this goes over there.

This should stay in Arkansas.

It should be on view for everybody.

If you decide you're going to sell it, you're going to sell it.

If you decide to donate it, I'm pretty sure they want it.

Okay.

This is a great piece of Arkansas history.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bill, for bringing it.

My pleasure.

I have Peggy and Robert, Dave and Troy, Peter with me, Kim and David and a couple of special guests.

I have nine here that he.

First of all, where did you come in from?

I come in from Mayflower just right down the road here.

You know, I want to thank you for coming out to Arkansas treasures.

And when you came up to the table, you know, you get these cases coming to the table and you never know what's going to come out of them.

Tell me what you brought today.

It's a 1975 Gretsch.

It's back when Gretsch originally Gretsch was in Chicago in the fifties and sixties.

But in the seventies, they're made in Arkansas.

Booneville, Arkansas.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

So we've got a tie back to the state now.

I have to admit, when you pull it out, I haven't seen one of these in years.

The typical style name for this guitar is a country rock guitar.

Yeah.

But what I'm going to do, I want to take a look at the fretwork.

And what we're going to do is really take the guitar off the stand and stand it up now, going up the front work.

We also really want to start down here at the pickup where they actually have a belt buckle front coming up and we come up and we see these embellishments along the front work of all these symbols that somewhat related to country, country living country music one way or another.

But it goes further than that, because what we're going to do is we're returning to the side of that belt buckle.

On the front here is the belt done in leather, done in tool leather that surrounds the entire outside of the guitar body.

This is a wonderful piece.

How did you get it?

I got about ten years ago.

I bought it from somebody online.

Okay.

What did you spend on it?

1500 dollars.

Okay.

In today's market for a guitar like this, I see these being offered as high as $11,000.

Okay.

And your condition is.

I've often said condition drives value more than anything else.

Yours is impeccable condition.

I don't see.

There is no deficiency here on this guitar.

Do you play?

I do.

Do you do it justice?

No, I guess so.

Because I would.

I mean, I get all the musical instruments, but I have no musical talent whatsoever.

But this is just.

It's just a jewel.

And the fact that it was actually made here in Arkansas, I think is a wonderful tie that probably a lot of people don't know that Gretsch moved to Arkansas during that time period.

They sure did.

One more thing.

The this is so it's like a branding iron.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And G for Gretsch.

Wonderful.

Thank you for bringing that to the show today.

My pleasure, Kelly.

Hello and welcome to the show.

What a wonderful and interesting item you brought in today.

Can you tell me how you acquired it?

It was a gift from my ex-girlfriend for my birthday.

Nobody thought much of it.

So something on the wall for a little bit.

And then when I saw it, the more I started thinking about something that's interesting.

And so that's how I got it from my ex-girlfriend.

Okay.

And so you told me that you do like art.

Do you?

Is this a style that you typically have an interest in?

Not really, but I do like art.

But she she knew me, so she.

It kind of appealed to me.

Okay.

For sure.

Well, great.

Well, what you brought in for us today is a brass.

And we know that this piece is called Sunburst, right?

By Larry Castle Duval.

Now, what got to be quite interesting as we begin to look at this piece was that the artist first name was quite elusive in our search.

He was known he often came up as Cosa Duval.

And we know that on the back of the piece that's signed.

Right, Duval?

And so this mid-century modern piece is quite fabulous.

It's kind of multilayered.

It's not flat.

And so these spikes from the sunburst are are layered as it goes around the piece.

And so that is that is part of the appeal.

And right now, mid-century modern is quite appealing and hot in the market from furniture to the decorative art side.

So I got excited.

As you know, when I saw the piece, I was like, this is you know, this is a really fun piece.

And so that market is doing really well.

People are quite interested in mid-century modern pieces.

As you found that this piece did grow on you.

It did.

So do you have any idea what your ex-girlfriend might have paid for this piece?

She was pretty pretty cheap.

So I probably not very much.

I mean, less than a hundred bucks, I'm sure.

Okay.

Well, after doing some looking around, this artist's works sell in the market for 1500 to $2200.

Wow.

So I hope that you will continue to enjoy it.

Thank you for bringing it to the show today.

Thank you so much.

It's exciting.

Thank you.

Hello.

Welcome to Arkansas Treasures.

Thank you.

I have brought a real a treasure in today.

Yes.

Tell me a little bit about your piece and what you know about it.

Okay.

Reinhold Dunkirk was a German POW w and he was captured during the Rommel campaign in Africa.

So he was incarcerated there in a British P.O.W.

camp before he was transferred to the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

Okay.

He was the sign painter at Arsenal, and that was my grandfather was working there at the time as the superintendent of maintenance.

His name was Walter Shepherd, and he befriended Mr. Dunkirk.

How cool.

Well, and so this is a painting by Mr. Rainford.

And you told me that your grandfather had this frame, and he custom made the artist board to fit in the frame.

Yeah, for your grandfather.

A piece.

Amazing piece of masonite to go in there.

That's wonderful.

Yes.

And he was pretty prolific because he made all the signs.

And I'm sure there's other artwork.

That he made.

definitely.

He did a lot of sketches and just a numerous amount of paintings.

Yeah.

How cool.

And the neat thing to me is not only he was a German P.O.W.

and he you and your grandfather became friends and your family maintained contact with him?

Yes.

My aunt Janice Shepard Lambert started tracking him down, trying to locate him.

And like the light seventies.

And it took her quite a while.

But in early 89, she was able to locate him and corresponded with him and his family through the early 2000s.

How wonderful.

How wonderful.

It just goes to show you, humanity goes across battle lines.

This is wonderful.

And I think it's very interesting that it was painted here in Arkansas by a German P.O.W.

all the great, great things with that.

I think as a package, this is really neat.

It's definitely museum worthy.

And I probably would put a value of somewhere around 40 $500 on the collection.

Wonderful.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, well, this is a real honor to see this.

And it's just something that we don't see.

And the fact that your family had a connection and respected that connection and have to document it should be heralded.

Thank you.

Appreciate this experience.

And thank you for coming in.

Welcome.

What do you got for us to look at today?

Well, my grandfather's name was Johnny, saying he was a professional baseball player from Arkansas, first played professional baseball at Newport and Bible area.

His first game was with the Braves.

Signed with the Braves, but it was at a Newport.

It was a division dating.

Okay.

Made a good career out of it.

I ended up going into the war.

Right.

And when you came out of the war, he went with.

You came back with the with the.

Break with the Braves.

Yes.

And that's where his career really took off.

That's right.

The Boston Braves, then.

The Boston Braves in from what I understand.

Yeah.

He pitched to Jackie Robinson's first appearance in the major leagues.

Is that.

Correct?

So it was opening day of, I believe, 1947.

He was the pitcher that first pitched the Jackie.

Robinson Jackie Robinson.

And after the game, Jackie said that, you know, they asked if it was his nerves or what it was, you know, because it was a pretty, pretty big moment in history for the first African-American to be in the league.

And Jackie said, no, it was his damn curveball.

And that's what he was known for.

That's right.

That's right.

And then your grandfather took you to a 50th anniversary somewhere which commemorated his.

There's baseball.

Here is Jackie Robinson.

He was also the last person to pitch.

The Babe Ruth, the Babe Ruth's last game.

He was the last pitcher Babe Ruth faced.

I don't know what his record was against Babe Ruth in his last game.

That's pretty wild to be the first pitcher for Jackie Robinson and to pitch Babe Ruth's last pitch.

That's right.

That's pretty interesting.

And along the course of him being a pitching coach for different teams, he was well liked by his pitchers when he was the coach.

And he created something.

And I think you have an example of what he created.

Can you explain what he created and had patent?

Sure.

As a coach, he was a pitching coach and he built this.

What was it called?

It's called a spinner and it teaches players how do you throw a curveball over this way or a fastball this way in the fastball would rise up.

Or if you threw a I guess, a. Slider, it's basically showing how that how the stitches.

Can move the ball.

Maneuvered so that the ball can do different things.

Yes.

And he patented this thing.

He did.

And taught a lot of pitchers how to do certain things.

Can you tell me about this picture?

So what I've learned from this picture, this is the 1952 World Series.

And you can see the ball here.

This is my grandfather and.

This is Bill Dickey, the coach here.

This is the last out of the World Series.

And they called him out.

And you can see the ball that he was save.

He was the pitcher that day and should have won that game.

At the end of the world, the World Series.

If he hadn't have been called out.

All right.

This is a family collection.

You have some idea what some of these things go for as a complete collection, which I understand you have plenty more memorabilia at home.

Yes.

And family members have even more.

It is very hard for me to put any kind of value on this collection because it is personal.

And there is a lot of items that have to be go through.

And I would say it's priceless at this point.

You cannot you cannot get this kind of collection unless you have what you have, which is the family collection.

You know, connect.

A beautiful collection.

Thank you.

From a guy who was best known for his curve ball and was really respected as a pitching coach.

Well, thanks for.

Bringing it in.

Well, thank you so much.

Glad to share it with you.

Well, you might say our day of treasure hunting is now history, but there's no telling what history might be hiding in your home or attic.

So happy hunting and we'll see you next time on Arkansas Treasures.

Tell me, what were your favorite things you saw in Arkansas treasures this week?

It had to be the piece of eagle pottery.

I'm so glad you brought this pot, which was the first piece of squirrel mission wearing made in the state of Arkansas for missing 30 years.

It turned up right here at Arkansas Treasures.

Well, I want to know what you saw.

I saw some.

Stuff like things I've seen more sports memorabilia.

I don't know.

Arkansas had that much sports memorabilia.

Johnny Shane collection of his family bought in was also.

It didn't surprise me that the patent on this little spinner was worth more money, really, than maybe the baseball bat that he used, which.

So it all of it it's just it's been a very fun experience.

So it's valuable.

Bought it about ten years ago with plans to keep it the rest of my life.

They said they had been looking forward for about the last 30 years.

They really suggested they probably need to be at a museum somewhere so that people could enjoy it.

I've had it a long time and I've enjoyed it a long time, so I don't know what I'll do with.

Major funding for Arkansas Treasures was provided by the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council and the Susan Howard Fund at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.

Additional funding provided by Annette and Phil Harrington, the Arkansas PBS Local production Fund, and by viewers like you.