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258th Aero Squadron Insignia, ca. 1918

Value (2015) | $10,000 Insurance – $12,000 Insurance
Watch  

GUEST:
This was brought back to the United States by my grandfather after he had been discharged from World War I. This is a picture of him and the ace that had crashed the airplane. And the ace gave my grandfather, who was the mechanic on the airplane, the insignia off of the airplane. I don't know what has happened to the rest of it. We think that Grandfather had to cut off some of it in order to get it in his duffel bag. And this is a picture of my grandfather.

APPRAISER:
You know, looking at the image, I think we are most likely seeing that there were two of these, one on either side of their aircraft. And the one in the photograph is the one from the other side. So certainly once an airplane like this cracks up, they generally... if they can fix it, and they may not be able to, they certainly are going to re-skin it. And when I say re-skin, that's an important thing to remember about First World War aircraft, is that they were made out of wood.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
It's a wooden airplane, generally a spruce frame that's covered with what they call a doped fabric, meaning that it's painted with something that makes it very taut and resistant to dings and scratches and...

GUEST:
Elements.

APPRAISER:
Resistant to the elements to a degree. They weren't so bullet resistant.

GUEST:
No, they wasn't, and that's how this came to be crashed.

APPRAISER:
The point of it, though, of having aircraft designed that way, is because it made them extremely lightweight, so it doesn't require a whole lot of horsepower to get them off the ground. And they really didn't have a whole lot of horsepower at their disposal. Looking at the material, we can tell that the aircraft was being flown by somebody in the 258th Aerosquadron, and they got involved pretty late in the war. Like so many American squadrons, they went over and then spent a lot of time waiting for aircraft to arrive. What they were flying were Samson IIs, which was an observation aircraft. Not a lot of aces in observation aircraft. They weren't involved, really, in air-to-air combat. In fact, this particular squadron saw a lot of antiaircraft fire, but as far as the records that I was able to find, didn't get involved in any aircraft-to-aircraft conflicts. So it may be that the gentleman was from another squadron, but that really doesn't affect the value of the piece.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
We have wonderful documentation, great provenance from your grandfather. We can see the aircraft that's crashed, we can see where they have cut the piece off the side. It's a premium piece. Collectors are very, very interested in aircraft art from the First World War. If you were to insure this today, you would need to put an insurance value on this item for $10,000 to $12,000.

GUEST:
Okay. Wow. We'll never sell it. It'll never be for sale, ever.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Jeff Shrader
Arms & Militaria
Advance Guard Militaria
Burfordville, MO
Appraised value (2015)
$10,000 Insurance – $12,000 Insurance
Featured In
Omaha, Hour 1 (#2013)
Event
Omaha, NE (June 27, 2015)
Category
Arms & Militaria
Period
20th Century
Material
Fabric , Spruce , Wood

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.

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