Owner Interview: 1969 Apollo 11 Logo-Design Archive
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GUEST:
You know, when my father did this, I was eight. The appraiser was saying for this stuff here, $3,000... $5,000, yeah, which was a lot more than I expected.
INTERVIEWER: What was it like growing up in a house where your dad did work for NASA?
GUEST:
It was hectic. It was crazy. I mean, these guys they had just a few years to get a man on the moon and everything was behind. Everything was two weeks, three weeks behind. We've got to do this, we've got to do that. And it was all a team, from the guys landing on the moon, to the guys doing the patches. My dad would sometimes spend 80, 90, 100 hours a week at NASA. I guess I didn't know any different. I remember weekends were really special, Sundays especially, because that's really the only time we had together, at least towards the end when things were really hectic.
INTERVIEWER: Would he tell you stories about the office?
GUEST:
Yeah. Some I can probably relate, some I can't. But he said ... you've got to remember, these are guys, their job was to sit on 200,000 pounds of high explosives. So you had to have a certain mentality. These were ex-fighter pilots, ex-test pilots, and these guys, they had a certain bravado and a certain ... you know, that's what they did. If they had parties at the house, I had to go upstairs.
INTERVIEWER: Ooh.
GUEST:
Yeah. He did tell me the story about when they first moved to Houston from Mission Control, they gave the astronauts all brand new Corvettes. He remembered going to work, because they all lived in the same area, Clear Lake and so forth, and they were going to work and he remembered those guys on that fresh white concrete, they had all the super highways, these guys zip zip zip zip racing to work, like they were racing their jets.
INTERVIEWER: Does your dad know you're here today?
GUEST:
He doesn't. I'm going to surprise him. The show won't be on I guess until January, so I'm not going to say anything 'til then. I'll say, "You need to watch the Antiques Roadshow," and he'll say, "Oh, okay, I guess," and then I'll say, "No, no, you really need to watch it," so hopefully we'll surprise him with this. I think he'll be pleased.
Appraisal Details
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.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
