Welcome to the Mississippi Antique Showcase, where our expert appraisers take a closer look at your rare finds, family heirlooms and quirky collectibles.

We'll uncover the stories behind these unique treasures, and of course, find out what they might be worth.

Alright, I'm here today with George Ready.

George, what did you bring us?

This is a original artwork by, uh, John McCrady.

He's, uh, famous in Oxford 'cause he was born and raised here.

Spent a lot of time here, moved to New Orleans and then, uh, came back later in life to Oxford.

But this is a graphite in gouache, I believe, from, uh, of the Zulu Parade during Mardi Gras.

And it was actually in a book, um, that was published, I believe, in the forties of several New Orleans artists.

And it was all works about, uh, Mardi Gras.

And I just happened to come on this, uh, uh, I'm a kind of a little collector and there was a fellow in the Midwest that I met knew, and he had actually had gotten this, he bought this and I had a little piece similar in size that he wanted because it was a Midwestern artist, so we swapped.

So it was a swap, It was a complete swap.

Alright.

So you have no money in it technically, whatever he paid for the other paintings.

Well, so I, I love seeing like this.

Obviously I'm from New Orleans and I could see a lot of McCrady.

He was very prolific in New Orleans, and a lot of his work shows up there.

I see his signature right here at the bottom.

And the scene for me is fantastic.

I mean, this is as New Orleans as it gets.

This is the Zulu parade.

It rolls Mardi Gras morning before Rex, uh, early 1900's.

This is an all African American crew, very famous.

Most of the world knows him for throwing coconuts.

The Zulu coconut, you know, the very famous Zulu coconut.

Um, and this is just, I mean, as far as a Mardi Gras painting is concerned, it's fantastic as far as McCrady's concerned.

It's also great.

The detailing here is, you know, right on point with his skill level and what he did.

Um, and then the faces, he doesn't always have figures.

The faces and the figures in this are just fantastic.

The colors, you know, with the Gouache really highlight everything for me.

Um, and again, you know, the subject matter for him is just great.

We don't get to see these very often, you know, in New Orleans.

Do you have any idea what it could be worth?

No idea at all?

No idea.

Well, so if this were an oil, it'd be looking at, you know, tens, twenties of thousands of dollars as a Gouache with this subject matter.

I think conservatively we can be in the $8,000 to $12,000 range for an auction estimate.

Um, again, the subject matter for paintings is everything.

And, you know, with something like this, the joke is find another right.

This was in a book.

I've only seen one other Mardi Gras work by his come to auction, and I believe it brought in the $7,000 to $11,000 range, but that was years ago when it was a, a softer market than where it is now.

So again, thank you so much for bringing this down.

I love coming to Mississippi to see New Orleans items, you know, it's pretty awesome.

Thank you.

It's exciting to know.

Well, hello there Lauren.

Hello.

Glad you brought something in for us today.

This book been in your family very Long?

It is, it has been in my family.

It belonged to my father -in-law and he died and it now belongs to my husband.

Okay.

Did your father -in-law ever talk to you about the book?

He did not, but my mother-in-law did.

She was very proud of the book.

Um, they lived in Oxford when William Faulkner lived in Oxford, and so they knew him.

And, um, this has just been in the family hidden somewhere in the bookshelf.

You said they ran the drug store.

They Had Leslie drugs on the square for decades.

It, um, had a soda fountain, so college kids would go... there.

Was William Faulkner one of their customers?

He was, he was a customer, So they probably knew him very well.

I don't know how well they knew him.

I should have gotten my husband to come and do this, but, um, they did know him.

Yeah.

Have you ever done any research into your book and what it might be worth or had it appraised?

No, I've, I've never looked into this book, but I did know that I was sad it didn't have a jacket with it.

Um, and it's the first edition signed and that's all I know.

I don't know what anything else makes.

Have You ever read it?

I have read it.

I've not watched the movie that they made from it, but I've read the Book.

Yeah.

Um, this is a limited edition copy from what we can see here in the front.

And here's an inscription, uh, where it belonged to your father-in-law.

And he was in, uh, Durham, North Carolina at the time.

And he moved to, uh, Durham from Oxford.

He moved from Durham to Oxford after World War II.

He was here as a student.

So he was This is before on The GI Bill?

Yes.

This is before he was mayor of Oxford.

Yes, it was.

Okay.

And, uh, we're getting to the best part over here.

There's Mr.

Faulkner's signature.

Yes.

And, uh, you can probably read his writing better than I can.

William Faulkner, Oxford, Mississippi, and it has a date.

And then 1948, Uh, this book was presented to your father-in- law probably not long after, uh, it was written.

It is a first printing and it is a limited edition.

And, you know, the condition is really good.

There's a little bit of wear on the front mm-hmm.

To the lettering.

But overall, the condition's good.

The spine's good.

Not a lot of chef wear.

Um, the pages.

I don't see any, some of these books, especially if they've been in a, a damp library, you'll have foxing and it's little spots you get from the pH and the paper.

It gets a little outta whack uhhuh, and you get a little bit too acidy, but it just looks very good.

Um, this book in today's market should sell somewhere in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

Oh.

And, uh, that's a nice book.

We'll probably go a little bit higher if you had that dust jacket, but mm-hmm.

Can't worry about what you don't have.

You do have a first edition limited edition signed by William Faulkner.

Okay.

A great book.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

All the way from New Albany.

I've got Molly Tate here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase.

Molly has brought in a gun.

Molly thought while I was standing outside and she walked in.

Somebody said, she's got a gun.

And she said, I thought they was gonna try to tackle me.

Didn't said, That's right.

That's right.

And then I said, well, if you get shot with this gun, maybe you needed to, maybe you needed it.

But I mean, this is such a beautiful heirloom, you can tell that it is from days of old.

I need to know all about it.

Molly, tell me how you came up on it and all of that.

Well, this really is an interesting story because I grew up hearing a story about my great-grandmother, mama Dewey.

Yeah.

Her grandmother, um, when she was a little girl, her mother had defended the home that they lived in during the Civil War.

Yeah.

When the, um, the Union soldiers had come and taken over the barn and the outhouse, you know, all the outbuildings and stuff.

And, um, so my great grandmother's grandmother, um, did not want them to come in the home.

That's right.

And so the story that was told many times of my growing up was that she fired a gun in the front door and told them not to come in the home and that they didn't.

Yeah.

Well, fast forward, and I get married and my husband has this gun hanging up in his home.

Right.

And so he was telling the story about this gun in Germaine.

It was the same exact story.

No, now.

And that's how I found out that my husband and I are distantly related, however, But I'm just, However, Miley is a Mississippi story Is a Mississippi story.

However, his grandfather Tate was a twin.

It was Margie and Marshall Tate, and they were adopted out of the, um, children's home in Jackson.

Okay.

So we're not actually blood related.

Okay.

Okay.

But it was the same story from, um, the home in, in the Campbell community.

Come on.

Which we say Campbell up here, but it's K-E-O-W-N Ville in Union County.

Yeah.

And so, um, we know the provenance of this gun, and I brought this picture, and this is my husband's, um, great-grandfather, Buford Tate.

And then this is an article from The Daily Journal from the 1950s, says, Yankee troops found Tate family Too Tough.

And it talks about how Minerva Tate defended the home.

And it's the same story I heard growing up come, This has a story too, Too, a story.

Even if it's worthless monetarily.

I know it.

I just wanna know what they can tell me.

It's not been kept in good shape.

Yeah.

Um, I'm in love with this whole story, how you and your husband kind of like, I mean, found this common ground between y'all two.

I know, I know.

That's why y'all supposed to be together.

I Guess so, And let's see if it all lines up.

I know.

On the timeline, and then Okay.

If it does, if you get an appraisal, that that just blows your mind.

Yes.

I know we ain't selling, are we?

No, we, we, we talked about, um, what we would do with it if it were really, um, valuable.

Okay.

And we, we have a wonderful museum, the Union County Heritage Museum in Union County.

Mm-hmm.

And we would probably look into putting it there.

Okay.

Yeah.

I Love it.

Yes.

If you've got a story and I can't wait to hear it.

Thank you so much all About the results.

Thank you, Germaine.

Thanks.

I'm here with Jack and Lisa who have brought us something pretty cool to take a look at.

So what'd you bring us?

Okay.

I am gonna tell you the story.

We got this painting from a friend of my mother's who's from Birmingham, Alabama.

But the lady was from France, and this is 50 years ago for a wedding present.

Okay.

And in my memory, my mother said, she said it could be a Canaletto or a Guardi.

It looked like a Venetian scene.

Right.

And we've loved it ever since.

I've never done one thing to it.

We have it in our living room.

And so this was a great opportunity to find out about it.

So have you ever had it appraised professionally?

This We we have not.

No.

We just have enjoyed it.

Okay.

Well, so lemme tell you, in our brief research, what we've done is obviously, as you mentioned, it's not signed.

So we can't definitively say that it's somebody, however, based on the style and the subject matter, we can attribute it to Francesco Lazaro Gordy.

um, who That's Least a guess.

Yeah, that's a per good guess.

'cause that's right on the money with what my research just told me in a very short period of time.

But absolutely, I agree with you a hundred percent.

He was active from 1712 to 1793.

Those were his dates.

Mm-hmm.

Um, when he was alive.

And he passed in 1793.

And this is probably 18th century.

You know, I, I can make that determination based on the paper, based on the aging and the toning of it and all that.

Now, he was known for oils as well as works on paper that looks almost identical to this.

Mm-hmm.

Do you have any idea the value today?

So you told, you asked me off camera if it was worth more than $25.

Right.

It's worth a lot more than $25.

So today at auction, his works of this ilk, of this subject matter of this style, same size, bring between $6,000 and $8,000.

That's exciting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, we've enjoyed it.

And uh, that's, that's nice though.

Like I said, we were always just curious about it.

So We, we did, we pledged to love it no matter what.

But it, is it, um, a watercolor or is it a wash Or what?

It's a wash.

So it's a wash.

They would call it Gouache.

Yeah.

Um, and so it's basically pen and ink and then you can see in the sky there.

Okay.

The other material.

But, um, yeah, it's a great piece.

Thanks so much for bringing it down.

Oh, Well thank you.

Excited.

Thank you so much.

Glad to have you all and, uh, glad to be here.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

I'm here with Robert Cooper and I'm laughing off camera because they bring the New Orleans appraiser all the way to Oxford, Mississippi to appraise a Drew Brees Saints jersey.

That's right.

Right.

That's right.

So tell me about what you brought us.

Well, I bought this in June of 2010 at a Memphis Grizzlies charity auction.

Okay.

Now, drew Brees and the, our Beloved Saints won in February of 2010.

He signed it in April of 2010.

And then I bought this at a, at an auction where it was all basketball stuff except for this.

Okay.

So I put in a bid of $150 and Got it $150 for son Drew Brees.

Yeah.

That's pretty awesome.

And what's this down here?

Well, that's a picture of au uh, you know, to authenticate that he did sign it and it's, uh, got a certificate on the back saying that this is really a Drew Brees jersey.

Right, right.

And then it's got all of the stickers there.

Mm-hmm.

So, uh, we're a hundred percent sure that it's right.

You know, obviously they did make fakes and there's some fakes out there.

Yeah.

So talk to me briefly about 2010 Saints won the Super Bowl.

Yes.

An amazing year.

You know, because I can remember the days before when the Saints were not the best team, and then to come around and win that thing, that was quite a game.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

It's a time that we'll never forget No.

As a, as a New Orleanian.

As a Southerner, you know.

Oh.

Especially on the Gulf Coast Mississippian.

I mean, this is our team here.

Absolutely.

The Saints mean so much to the city of New Orleans.

And Drew, Drew Brees, he was there from 2006 to 2020 when he retired.

And I mean, we still talk about him like a family member.

Oh yeah.

Everywhere we go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, great.

Pretty awesome.

You know, I, we see these pop up every now and then.

Mm-hmm.

So I've seen him at charity events traditionally.

Like the one that you bought it at.

Right.

Um, and, you know, he was a big donor.

Still is.

Yeah.

Um, and he helped out charities and this was an easy way for him, for a charity to raise a bunch of money.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you paid $150 for it.

Do you have any idea what it's worth?

I have no idea.

This is the first time I've ever talked to anyone about It.

Is it hanging on the wall at your house?

Well, it's in the, it's downstairs in the basement.

The, uh, man cave.

The man cave.

So, yeah.

Well, so when I see these come up at auction still Yeah.

You know, especially now that he's retired and he's not doing any more of these, um, they're bringing anywhere from $850 to $1,200 at, at, um, public auction.

Yeah.

Now, when I see him at charity events, they can still bring $2,500 in New Orleans Oh.

To $3,000.

Yeah.

The time Drew Brees and the time that he was on the Saints represents almost a time of happiness, you know, and elated joy for most Saints fans.

Oh yeah.

Who have been used to a lifetime of disappointment, you know, to put it, put it nicely in the bags.

Yeah.

Um, and so him playing this, this jersey, I mean, every True Saints fan would want one of these.

They would clamor for it, you know.

So again, ad auction at a public auction, I think we're looking at about $1,000 or better, um, at a charity auction, probably looking at $2,500 or better.

And then if you go online, you can find 'em north of 2,500.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank You.

So, anyway, I'm laughing 'cause it's all the way up in Oxford that I have come to see a Saints jersey.

So, but thanks for bringing it down.

We Love the saints up here.

Okay.

Who Dat?

Who Dat?

Karen has brought us another really interesting piece here today.

I'll let you tell 'em about this and how you acquired it.

Yes.

Um, it belonged to my grandmother who was, um, she, she died when I was 12, but we lived in the same house with her.

And she was kind of the love of my life.

I told my mother once, when I grew up, I was gonna do two things that grandma Esther did.

I was gonna work and I was gonna smoke.

Yeah.

And, uh, that was always kind of a family joke.

But, um, she had a lot of jewelry and I, I didn't, I wasn't interested in most of it, but she had some rings and there were, there were three rings that I took that I really liked.

One was a, uh, a gold ruby ring, which is my birthstone.

Another was silver, like about like this, about this size.

It had a, an orange cameo.

I really don't know much about it other than it belonged to her.

I don't, it could have been her mother's.

I have no idea.

Right.

It's a, a beautiful ring.

It is silver and it's a blistered pearl.

That's what she told me.

Yeah.

Blistered pearl.

And, uh, it was very popular in the late 1870s through 1910 or something like that.

Well, She was born in 1904, so, you know, it might've been her mother's.

I, You know, could have been her mother's.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

But it is a very handsome ring.

It has all kinds of, all kinds of delicate work all the way around on it.

And that blistered pearl was, it sort of dates it too, because they don't do that.

They don't use that anymore.

Right.

You know, anything.

So it's definitely a, a Victorian piece.

Late Victorian.

I think it's, uh, it's worth every penny of $1,000 to $1,200.

Really?

Yeah.

And it's, uh, well made.

And, uh, and the workmanship on it all the way around is really great.

And, and besides being the antique value and being in your family, I know you're not going to sell it anyway.

No, no.

Yeah.

But for insurance purposes, I, I would say $1,200 and we appreciate you bringing it by today.

A fascinating World War II story.

Here we have Sherry Storey from West Point.

Welcome, Sherry, West Point, Mississippi.

That's right.

West Point, Mississippi.

And you have brought, uh, some memorabilia, I guess you would call it artifacts from World War II, specifically Pearl, Pearl Harbor.

Colonel Storey, My husband's father was called in 'cause they had been on alert for several weeks thinking that the Japanese were planning something.

Sure enough, it was, the Shrapnel was picked up on the beach behind the house that the Storeys were living in at the time.

And one of the pieces in the box had to have been from one of the planes.

'cause it's, has the characters rather than letters and numbers or anything.

Right.

But anyway, it all came from the beach behind their house.

And obviously the plane had been shot down or crashed Yes.

Or damaged anyway, but they weren't sure that there weren't more coming.

Now you, this, as you told me, I believe, hangs in your home now and is quite the conversation piece.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

We have it in a prominent place in our rec road.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I've been here talking to Mr.

Amy.

She's brought us something today.

That's, that's a great story.

It's, it is, uh, it was in the original pouches, uh, to the Olympics.

I'll let you tell 'em.

Well, this is a 1932 Olympics from Los Angeles.

It was in a wallet that my mother had.

And after she passed away, my sister was going through everything and found this, and then she sent it to me for my birthday last September.

The, the cost was $11 and that was in the Depression.

So that was a lot of money and $11 for the entire Olympics for a child.

Right.

Olympic memorabilia is, uh, it is gaining in value all the time.

Sports memorabilia is in general is gaining in value all the time.

So this has a sweet story being, she was only 11 years old mm-hmm.

When she went to the Olympics.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, it's been safely kept in this little patch, I think in the condition of it is perfect.

In a good auction, this should bring $400 to $600.

And so I'm sure you don't want to sell it, no Uhuh, but it, it is, uh, just hang on to it.

And the story's great and the value of it will increase as well because it's, uh, it has, uh, on the back, I don't have gloves on, but on the backside has all the information about, uh, the Olympics and, and the process of going, how to get there and all that.

But it is a wonderful, wonderful, it's almost like you and we thank you so much for bringing this out to us today.

Thank You, Dwight.

Well welcome Warren to the Miss B Antique showcase.

Thank you so much for being here today.

And you brought us a really exciting item.

It is a Navajo chief's blanket and not a rug like some people have said here today.

Um, and we are really thrilled because it is a beautiful textile and it reflects probably one of the most iconic and celebrated weaving traditions in North America.

Uh, in North American art really.

I know this is blanket has been in your family for a long time, and you can tell us about that in a little bit.

But generally for the audience, the Navajo have been weaving for centuries.

They're renowned for producing textiles, but especially these blankets.

And they're of great cultural importance as you're probably aware.

And their most famous productions of textiles are these chiefs blankets, which earned their name.

Not because they were just reserved for Navajo chiefs, although many did wear them, uh, because they really became high status trade symbols.

Um, and historically, uh, Navajo chiefs blankets are divided into three phases.

And we kind of chatted about this all fair, but there's the first phase from about 1800 to 1850, and those were more simple, bold, horizontal patterns.

They featured blues and browns indigo.

Then you had the second phase, which is about 1850 to 1865.

It's about, lasted about 15 years.

And they started incorporating the second phases, reds and stripes.

And mainly they used what's called bayeta, uh, which was a fabric that was imported.

In fact, many of the Navajo women would get this from Spanish traders.

And, um, they would unravel the cloth and then they would re rove it into their textiles.

And so that's interesting.

That was incorporated mainly in the second phase.

Then finally you have the third phase.

It's probably, uh, what we call in a late classics in the Navajo, uh, chief blanket.

It had the most, um, elegant designs.

It featured, um, more crosses, symbols, um, and, uh, geo more geometric arrangements.

And so that's kind of an overview.

And so, uh, what we really wanna look at now is which phase is it in?

I think that's the big debate and that kind of, uh, dates and, and, and then we'll talk about kind of some of the condition, uh, because that'll help put a value to it.

So after much debate between Corey and I, um, we really do think it's third phase and not second phase.

So it's 1870s, 1880s Navajo chiefs blanket.

So a lot of times we had talked about before with these particular type of rugs, you see a lot of moth wear and then you also see with the edges frame.

Fortunately for this, we don't see a lot of, of that.

There are, uh, in certain spots, some, some moth damage.

The biggest issue of condition, I note, is actually over in this area here.

And someone has attempted to re uh, weave this spec specific area.

So that potentially affects and decreases the value.

But because of the age of these, as we often said, they're confused for rugs, people would walk over them.

And so it's prone to more damage in that, in that capacity.

Talk a little bit about how you came, uh, to have the rug.

Yeah, I, I don't know much about it, but I'm sure my great aunt probably had it in the 1930s.

Uh, she was in the music business in New York, but she and her mother, my great grandmother, traveled some, and I believe they may have picked it up out west or I don't know, or, or from a gallery in New York even.

And, and Whenabouts, did they?

Well, uh, I would say maybe the late thirties, 1930s.

Yeah.

And, and so you've had almost a hundred years in your family, so i I know it's a, a cherished possession and, and I'm sure y'all valued it over the years.

Um, I think based on all of the conditions that, based on the phase that we've kind of pinpointed in as the third phase in the 1870s, 1880s, do you think you have any idea of the value, how much it may worth?

No.

So we kind of come up with a figure of about $5,500 to $6,000 is a pretty, uh, a conservative auction estimate.

And I will say, as I've said at first, these are heavily collectible items.

So if you have someone who has similar patterns or a specific collector, that could very well go for additional money.

If, if you have someone who focuses on the third phase of collecting, again, it is really a treasure.

And thank you so much for bringing it in.

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.