Trip to The Antiques Roadshow

My trip to the Antiques Roadshow on June 27 in Raleigh, NC turned out to be a bust--if one considers that I was hoping--like most folks, to have taken something worth a zillion dollars.

However, I did get to meet Mark Walberg, and get him to autograph my program. He introduced me to his sister, Elizabeth, too.

I did get to meet some other interesting folks, who were pleasantly surprised with the things they had brought for appraisal, which made me very happy. There was one sweet couple who waited in the folk art line with us for what seemed like hours. They were elderly, and my darling niece was kind enough to assist them with their nylon and metal frame chairs (which was no small feat, since she was already hoisting a huge box for her mother, my sister). This charming couple brought a large woven basket (something about I know nothing) but it did look rather new to me; so as the line slowly advanced to the table where the appraisers were sitting, my sister and I kept looking at each other, and muttering to each other, "Looks like Pier 1. Hope this dear couple is not disappointed." They weren't. The basket turned out to have been woven by one of the top Cherokee tribe weavers. The appraisers were pleased. The basket's value: between $500 and $1,000. Goes to show what I know, which is what I knew I knew about baskets. Nothing.

The real TREASURE of the day came early on for me. In the staging area, before we were allowed to go wait in lines for appraisal, I noted a man holding a violin case. Never one to hold my tongue, I leaned over to him and asked him if he had a Stradivarius. His comment in return was, "That's what the label says." I had never met this man in my life, nor had any other inclination to talk with him, but in doing so, I found out out that he, too, had driven to Raleigh from my home town of Richmond, VA, and in comparing notes about our home town, found out that he is the cousin of a man I nearly married, Ronald Wayne Moore, and who I hold dear in heart to this day. This man passed away around 11 years ago, and we, Tim and I, would have never met if not for the Antiques Roadshow!