Steiff Bear, ca. 1905
GUEST: It was my husband's when he was just a baby, and he was born in 1908.
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: So I'm sure it's 85, 86 years old.
APPRAISER: Close to that. And what do you think the bear, who it was produced by-- what do you, what are your feelings on the bear?
GUEST: Well, I really don't know.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: The only inkling I have is that I did find an article in an antique magazine, and it spoke about the Ideal...
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: ...manufacturing company.
APPRAISER: Right, which was an American...
GUEST: American.
APPRAISER: ...producer.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And what made you think that it was Ideal instead of anything else?
GUEST: Well, I had taken it to the historical society, and they said that Steiff had always put a little, um, button in the ear.
APPRAISER: Right, right.
GUEST: (chuckles) So, that's how we determined that it was not a Steiff bear.
APPRAISER: Okay. Well, that's interesting, because I want to point out some things to you about the bear, and then, uh, you know, I'll ask you what you think it might be worth. Um, if you look at the bear, it has boot button eyes.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Which are these black boot button eyes.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Uh, the button that you're talking about would have been in this ear here.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Um, but what happened is, a lot of times, especially at the turn of the century, the buttons were taken out, because little children would chew on the bear's ears and maybe swallow it.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: So, sometimes the buttons are not in the early Steiff pieces.
GUEST: All right.
APPRAISER: Okay? The other thing that I want to point out is, you can see the stuffing here in one of the pads. This stuffing is what Steiff used all the time when they were producing their bears at the turn of the century. Uh, Steiff started to produce the bears around 1905.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: You can also see the pads...
GUEST: Yes, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...the, the felt pads. And if you feel, there are these discs in the arms that make them move.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Um, which is also very typical of the Steiff bear.
GUEST: Nice, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Now, if you squeeze the bear here, you can feel that there was a little squeaker and a little spring mechanism that made a noise.
GUEST: Oh, is that right?
APPRAISER: And that also was, uh, very typical of the Steiff bears that were produced at the early part of the century.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: The stitching, you can see the stitched claws, as well as the nose, the stitched nose.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Now, the horizontal stitching here on the nose, that indicates that the bear was produced at the early part of the century. Okay?
GUEST: Okay, I see, uh-huh.
APPRAISER: So in looking at it, even though it doesn't have the tag, there are other factors in the bear that make it very easy to identify that yes, it is a Steiff bear.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: Because of those things. Now, what do you think something like this would be worth?
GUEST: I wouldn't have the vaguest idea.
APPRAISER: Yeah? Yeah?
GUEST: I really wouldn't, I... (chuckles)
APPRAISER: And what would you say if I told you that this could bring about $3,000 to a collector?
GUEST: I would like to find the collector (laughing) that would pay me the $3,000.
APPRAISER: (laughing) That, me, too-- isn't that wonderful?
GUEST: Thank you.
$1,000
$3,000
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Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
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