July 07, 2014: In early 2014, news broke of a California couple who had found buried treasure, in the form of $10 million in gold coins. The anonymous couple then hired a lawyer and spent months looking into the legality of their claim on the money. At the end of the investigation, the couple kept the gold. They had spent untold dollars in legal fees in order to find out what children learn on the playground: “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” For a schoolyard taunt, the adage sums up centuries of common law surprisingly well. In general, lost property indeed belongs to the person who finds it, as long as he or she finds it in good faith.

Of course there are exceptions — so many, in fact, that law professor John Orth told Time magazine that whenever such situations are litigated, with multiple parties making claims on the property, “These cases are a mess.”

But the messiness can often be resolved by answering a simple question: Did the original owner intentionally abandon the disputed item — say by throwing it in the garbage? If so, finders keepers. Or, did they accidentally misplace it? In such cases, the original owner might be able to stake a claim. After all, it's hard to imagine a judge awarding possession of a set of mislaid car keys to the guy who takes them out of the deadbolt on your front door.

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.