- Welcome to the Mississippi Antique Showcase.

We're in Oxford, Mississippi with our expert appraisers to take a closer look at your rare finds family heirlooms, and quirky collectibles.

Now, let's move on to our first appraisal.

- What do you have here today?

- Well, it's a baseball from exhibition games in Hot Springs, Arkansas, from 1923.

- Has a pretty neat signature right here in a sweet spot.

And I think it says Babe Ruth on there.

- It does.

- How did you come by this ball?

My uncle's grandfather went to Hot Springs in 1923 and got all the signatures.

- Was there any exchange between him and Babe Ruth?

- That part I'm not aware of.

- Be good to know.

- It would be lovely to know.

Yes, sir.

- I was noticing, of course, there's the Ruth signature, which is, you know, that's the biggie.

But then there's another signature on here.

Carl W. Mays.

What do you know about him?

- He was the only pitcher in MLB history to have hit somebody that actually died from being hit in the head.

- And he had a history of hitting batters, and he had a history of getting people to move off the plate and throw in close to them.

So when he killed a fellow, a lot of folks, you know, thought he did it intentionally.

The fellow that got hit, they said some of the few words he spoke before he left the field that day was, “Tell Carl that I'm going to be okay,” or something to that effect.

The ball is a good ball if nobody signed it.

It's official league ball.

It was made in New York.

I've had a sterling trophy that the same sporting good company had made one time, but they made really good things.

This ball was made from 1923 till about 1926.

And a real good example of this ball is probably $200 to $300 without a signature, just all by itself.

When you carried it to the sports memorabilia dealer, did they appraise it or make an offer?

- They offered $3,000 for it.

- $3000.

- And I told her I would think it would be worth a little more than that.

- There's several other players that signed the ball, looked like.

Were you familiar with any of them?

I see a Jack Brown here.

- No sir, they're just before my time.

- Yeah.

There's a Wiley Strong, who I've heard of before and several other players.

But but the key players here is the Carl Mays and the Babe Ruth.

The condition issue probably, you know, would affect it some.

But I think probably in today's market because of the speck that's on the B, if that's something that can be removed, you may be looking at $15,000 or $20,000.

If it can't be removed, I think you're probably looking at more like $8,000 to 10,000, somewhere in there.

- Okay.

- But, it's not every day you see a Babe Ruth baseball.

We really appreciate you bringing it in.

- I'm here with Janice, who has brought me the first weaponry that I've looked at all day today.

Janice, what did you bring us?

- I brought a World War II what I believe to be an officer's dagger.

- Okay.

And where'd you get it?

- It was my grandfather's.

It came from when he was in World War II.

Brought it home, brought some other items, but this was the only thing that survived.

Then it was passed down to my mother and then to me.

- Okay.

Did he tell you how he got it?

Or what's the family lore?

- Yes.

He did say that he actually removed it from the officer's body, but he wasn't alive, so.

He wanted to make sure I knew that.

- Okay.

As a young girl that's what he told you?

- Yes.

That he wasn't alive?

And so it's been passed down from generation.

He brought it back.

What, service was he in?

Was he in the Army?

- Yes he was.

- Okay.

Fantastic.

Yes, absolutely.

This is a German officer's dagger.

There are many variations of this.

And I'll tell you a little bit about this one.

This one has the oak leaf right here.

And so that is one style with a white handle.

You'll see some with a black handle as well.

- Okay.

- You've got the Nazi symbol right here, the swastika.

And of course the eagle over the swastika has become infamous with the Nazis in World War II.

And then under that, you have a marking that says F.W.

Hollar Solingen.

And that is the maker of the knife.

And you've got this scabbard here, that is dimpled across again, all very indicative with what we've seen.

There were lots of officers.

So, you know, these do show up here and there.

And then this I want to point out is original to the scabbard.

So this would have also had some sort of presentation holders or ribbon with it.

But this was also, this would hang down.

And this was also original to the to the piece.

You have any idea of value?

- Not really.

My research took me down a rabbit hole, so I kind of gave up a long time ago.

- Okay, well, what did it say?

Just shot in the dark?

- It was a little over $1,000.

- Okay, well, you've got good research in that rabbit hole.

At auction, the different versions bring different dollar figures so you can find an officer's dagger selling for $300 all the way up.

Now, this is a more desirable version.

The fact that this is still intact is good.

The fact that the blade is still pretty pristine.

And all of this is in fantastic shape.

I think that you're looking at a retail value of somewhere about $1,500 to $2,000.

- Okay, - An auction value would be in the $800 to $1,200 ish range, if not more.

It's a great piece.

Thank you so much for bringing it down.

You know, this is the first military I've got to see all day to day.

- Thank you.

- I'm with Joe Dickey from Tupelo, Mississippi.

He is here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase.

Joe has got a pretty interesting piece.

And Joe, one, welcome to the Mississippi Antique Showcase.

How has been your time today?

- Oh, it's been great.

- Good.

Good stuff.

- Glad to be here.

- Glad to have you here with us.

You've got a beautiful, it looks like a bronze or gold eagle.

Tell me a little bit about this and I'ma tell you about what my crew and I had seen right before we walked in to see this beautiful piece.

- So it's actually a cast iron.

I painted it gold just for display because it had a little, little rust patina on it for over the years.

- Okay.

- It came off of a steam locomotive.

And I believe in the 1930s.

I know it was pre World War II when it was taken off.

My grandfather worked for the, Missouri Pacific Railroad.

- Okay.

- And they were decommissioning old steam locomotives.

They cut them up for scrap.

And he saved a pair of these from that locomotive.

So I've actually got another one that matches it.

- Did you... You made that one gold, too?

- So, yeah, I just, I they, they stayed under the workbench of my dad's house my whole life.

I finally asked him for them so I can display them at my house.

I just spray painted them gold just for looks.

- Okay!

And it gave maybe a little preservation on top of it.

So we were outside, we were doing a couple shots for the showcase outside, and we look up on top of The Inn at Ole Miss hotel, and there's a bird spread eagle just like this.

- Oh.

- So when we came in and I see this, I told Blake and Barry, I said, “Y'all, “that's the same bird that was on top of the hotel.

“I think he got it, and bronzed it up and then walked it downstairs.” But you told me you had it for some years.

So I trust you, I trust you.

- I'm sure that one is still there.

So let's say you've got two.

You find the appraisal that you really want.

Are we going to keep it or?...

- Oh, I would never sell it.

No.

- I love it.

I love it when people have a sentimental attachment to their piece.

- And it was it was my granddad's and then my dad's.

Today would have been my dad's hundredth birthday if he were still alive - Oh happy belated, dad.

- And they both worked for the railroad, so it's very sentimental.

- I think you're going to have good luck today.

I wish you good luck on your appraisal.

I know it's gonna be good.

Daddy's 100th.

Thank you for sharing it with us today here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase.

- All right.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- I'm here with a nice lady, Jennie Gunn from Oxford.

So you didn't have to come a long way, did you?

- No, about a half mile.

- But you know what?

We're thrilled to have you.

What a beautiful Italian bowl.

Tell me a little bit about what you know about it and how you acquired it.

- I've had it about 35 years, and it, actually, it was one of my relatives who died, and she had had it for many years.

So that's really about all I know about it.

- How do you use it in your house?

- I don't.

- You don't use it?

Well, maybe you ought to put some, you could do flowers and it'd be beautiful, or you could do a beautiful orderment, in it, something, would be really nice I think as well.

All right.

It is Italian pottery, for one thing.

And it does very clearly say that right down here, handmade in Italy.

It is probably from the 1930s, 1930s, probably.

1940s maybe, but it does have some age.

It's kind of like kind of like we are.

We get older by the day, dont we?

But anyway, I think it's really lovely.

And what I would say about it is, it's a very serviceable piece that you could use, you know, for, like I said, flowers, or you could use it for food, or you could just have it in a, in a place to where it's pretty.

I would value this at $75 if we were going to do a sale at an estate, or fair market value price.

I would think would be $75.

- Okay, thank you.

- I know we've all had stories we could tell as appraisers through the years.

What is probably one of the examples that you can remember of having to deliver bad news to an owner?

I'll do one.

For example, I had a lady one time years ago, 25 years ago, that called and said, “I have the finest, “Persian rugs that you've ever seen.” And so she said, “Would you come out and look at them?” And I said, “Of course.” And I drove 25 miles to go out there to look at them.

And when I got there, they were hook rugs.

Well, I learned a long time ago that you have to be really careful about how you phrase that something is not what they thought.

So I learned to say it's not significant.

It's not a significant item.

- Not all appraisers see eye to eye always, right?

So we run into situations where we see someone else's work and we might disagree.

And that was the situation today where they had shown something to someone else.

I looked at it.

I thought that that opinion might have been incorrect and gave her a different opinion, supported by a lot of facts online, and she was very upset.

But I will tell you, Ron, back to your original question.

I have a fantastic story.

A woman in New Orleans left-- It was a son and a daughter, and it was either the son or the daughter.

One of them got the house and the other one got this masterpiece painting that she had.

And so this painting that she had turned out to be worth about $15,000.

The house was $1.2 million.

And she thought that she was dividing the assets equally when she did it.

And it turns out that the painting wasn't correct.

It wasn't right.

And the museum was there and everybody was there.

And I mean, you talk about a disappointment.

You know, you don't want to make that phone call.

You let the lawyers make that phone call.

- But, you know, we all have had those things.

And I've tried to say to people, there's nothing on this earth that is worth losing family over.

It just really isn't.

And sometimes you you see that, you know, - It happens.

- You see it all the time.

- It does.

It happens, and it's really heartbreaking when that does happen.

- We're here now with Richard Howorth, who is the owner of Square Books here in Oxford, a Mississippi institution.

I'm so excited.

You've brought some, some collectibles here.

- These are two different editions of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

This one is what's called a it's a signed limited edition are signed and numbered.

There are 500 copies in the limitation.

And signed by Truman Capote, which is unusual.

And so that's a $3,500 book.

This is the same book in what's known as an advance review copy.

Publishers, when they're about to issue a book and they think it's going to perform well, they'll do a paper-bound copy to send to book reviewers mainly.

And sometimes booksellers will get these sometimes.

And this is-- that's what this is.

And it's got the original slip stating that it's a review copy.

January the 17th, 1968.

I think we've got maybe $800 on that.

All God's Danger's The Life of Nate Shaw.

That book came out in 1984.

The author, the graduate student, and he was doing his thesis on sharecroppers unions in the South in the 1930s and met this man, Nate Shaw.

Soon after he began to talk to him, he realized that Nate Shaw basically had his life story in his head, and he just he just spooled it out.

Nate Shaw was illiterate.

But he he knew the Bible, the King James Bible backwards and forwards.

And he spoke and kind of, that with, in that sort of language.

And so he's very articulate and colorful language.

So this is a verbatim transcript of Nate Shaw telling this story.

- Tell me about the store.

I know that, that you established Square Books.

Kind of give me the history of how it came about.

- My wife, Lisa, and I worked in a bookstore in Washington, DC for two years, expressly to learn the business so that we could come back to Oxford and open a bookstore here, which we did in 1979.

You know, we were very fortunate with so many supporters in those early years and today.

- Now, we've got the opportunity to check out Square Books and take a quick tour.

- (both) Hi!

Welcome to Square Books!

- When I was a boy, I was probably 8 or 9 years old.

My mother gave me a giant golden book of The Iliad and The Odyssey, and I had an older brother who was a huge reader, and I always had his library to sort of aspire to.

We would often talk about how Oxford didn't have a bookstore.

There ought to be a bookstore here.

And then later on, as an English major in college, and I met the woman who became my wife, Lisa, and she had a similar interest in books.

- Mississippi is such a great state for literature.

We have a long tradition of that, and we have so many books that we have a whole section in the store that features Mississippi literature, and they're all featured on this wall right here.

We also have a cafe, so you can get a coffee while you browse for books.

Thank you so much, Mevelyn.

- Of course.

- Tucked over here in the corner is all of our William Faulkner books, because William Faulkner, Oxford's most famous resident, lived in Roanoke, with which you can visit today his beautiful home.

We have so many people come visit town to check out his work.

- Naturally, we have a lot of books by writers who are from Mississippi Faulkner, of course, and Eudora Welty, Richard Wright.

We all have bestsellers and new books.

It's a bookstore, and I hope that it's everything that a bookstore is supposed to be.

People who work here often know the customers who come in here.

As communities go, I would say it's a member of the family.

- Well, welcome to the Mississippi Antiques Showcase, Betty.

Thank you so much for being here and for bringing your really interesting and special item: an early copy of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which is one of the most beloved, probably and enduring works of children's literature.

Over the years, Alice in Wonderland has had countless reprints, illustrated editions, collectible, paintings, really making it fascinating.

But it really does kind of make it tricky to appraise, I'm not going to lie.

Basically, just a little more background for the folks watching at home.

It was first published in the mid 19th century and it became an instant classic.

From a collector standpoint, the most valuable Alice books are first editions that were published by Macmillan, 1865.

There's early illustrated editions, and then there are signed copies or limited editions.

So we're looking for the publication date here, which is notably absent.

- Right.

- We're looking for the publisher, which we do have.

Caldwell and Company was the publisher.

Are there any illustrations in this book?

And there are not.

And then whether there are any signatures or inscriptions.

There is, it looks like, maybe someone who purchased the book gave it to someone else.

- In 1905 for Christmas present to Hazel.

- There is a “To Hazel” and it says “Xmas 1905”.

So clearly we know that it's at least aged back to 1905.

- Correct.

- And so we have to look at the condition as well.

Is the binding loose?

Are there foxing, age spotting in the book, which there are some of that.

We've got some condition damage issues to the cover as well.

Now, having said all that, before we get to the value, you tell us how you acquired the book.

- I found that book over 20 years ago in a local thrift store and paid a dollar for it.

- Just $1?

- $1.

- It is interesting that we can't really kind of peg this in one of the categories.

While there are condition issues, while it is not a first edition, it was not signed, I think that will help us kind of get to a value.

- Given the range and blend of the actual categories that we like to peg this in, I would say that this has an auction value range anywhere from $500.

Up to $1,000.

It could be more, and I would assume that collectors would want to focus on the miniature series of these type of books, and so that particular collector could pay more for it all on the given day, and who's willing to pay for it.

But I think that's a fair estimate for you.

- Thank yall so much.

- Absolutely.

- I'm here with Brad Moss.

Brad is here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase right here in the beautiful city of downtown Oxford.

Brad, let everybody know where you're from.

- Iuka, Mississippi.

- Okay, Iuka!

I love Iuka for the hills and the wind.

Y'all got the best weather, man.

- Yeah, were at the highest point in state.

- Oh, it's the highest point.

I felt it.

Yeah, I felt it when I went through the hills and everything.

I was like, this is-- I ain't in Mississippi no more.

That's how I felt.

(laughing) But you've come to the Mississippi Antique Showcase today with something pretty special.

It looks like a toy, but I know it's not, just for the sheer quality of the strings on it.

Let everybody know what you brought today to get appraised.

- It's a Lotus guitar.

It's a copy of a Les Paul, probably made in the late 70s, early 80s.

- Okay.

- I think it's Korean-made from what we can figure out.

Yeah, I bought it at the pawn shop.

Seen it, had to have it.

- Yeah, yeah.

You play?

- Yeah.

- Youve got to tell me, have you played this?

- Oh yeah.

You hook it up to an amp, and it plays.

Everything on it works.

Just like a real big guitar.

- It needs the amp, though, to make the to make the noise.

(strums some notes) It's like a little-- Yeah!

- They like in that case, you know.

- I love this, I love it.

So how long have you owned it?

- About ten years.

- Okay.

Okay.

And then you came up on it how again?

- I was goofing off around Tupelo.

Doing the pawn shops.

And I found it in the pawn shop and I had to have it.

- How how much did you buy it out of the pawn shop for?

- $140.

- How much did you get appraised for it?

- $1,000 - No way!

Ten times the amount.

Ten times the amount.

And why $1,000?

Is this rare?

Is this like the one?

- They are rare.

A lot of rock musicians collect these.

I just had it hanging on my wall in my music room.

- Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Yeah yeah I wish I knew how many there were and be like, which one did you get, Brad?

So the big question then I say after I hear an appraisal like that where it's literally ten times the amount, are we going to sell it or are we going to keep it?

- I'm going to keep it.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe pass it down maybe to somebody one day.

- Yeah.

My daughter will end up with it.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, Brad, how's your time been here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase after the appraisal?

- Its been fun.

- Good.

- It was an experience.

- Good, good.

You a fan of MPB?

- Oh, yeah.

I watch it all the time every day.

- Well, thank you, Brad.

All the way in Iuka, Mississippi.

Best weather in the state with with a really good appraisal item that he literally got ten times the amount for.

A little mini Les Paul copy guitar of the Lotus.

Brad, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you.

- All right.

Thank you.

- Well, I tell you what, we may have some bigger things coming in today, but not anything any prettier than what you brought us.

Would you like to tell us something about your jewelry?

- Certainly.

My husband surprised me with the Saint Gaudens coin one Christmas, I believe in the mid 80s.

And he had a college friend who had dealt with antique coins ever since they had both been in college.

And so he surprised me and got me that.

And then later he wanted to get $10 gold piece coins for our two daughters.

And in going back to the same person, this college friend, besides getting the coins for our daughters, he had this bracelet and got that for me.

- Who made these for you?

I mean, that's beautiful work.

- We are not sure.

We understand from the seller, who is now-- that we purchased it from, is now deceased.

But we understood he got it from an estate.

The husband had the coins made into this bracelet for his wife.

- All right.

That's beautiful.

And it has a 1900 and a 1901, a 1905, a 1907 and an 11.

- Correct.

- And there are two and a half-- - That is correct.

They are two and a half dollar gold pieces.

- And then they all have the bezel on it, has a chain.

And it's really beautiful.

I would say this one with all the coins and all it's going to run in that $5,000 to $5,500.

And because all the coins are in good shape, it's two and a half dollar gold pieces.

And as you know, gold keeps going up.

- Right.

- On this one, it has, the Omega 14 karat gold necklace, and it has the gold bezel on it.

These things are really just beautiful.

They really are.

I would say this one is going to be very close to $5,000.

So when you go out on the town, you wear all this, you're looking good.

- Well thank you, thank you.

- Yeah.

Well this is so, so nice of you.

- Thank you.

- I hope you enjoy the rest of the day.

- I hope you do as well.

Thank you.

- Join us next time on Mississippi Antique Showcase and find out if you've got a hidden treasure tucked away in your closet.