209 replies to this topic

[Quag]

Does anybody know what happened to the host Dan Elias (on the US version)? There's a woman hosting now. She's not bad, but she's no Dan Elias. I can't remember her name, but she pops up everywhere, more so than Dan did, I think.

I also cringe, but secretly like, the segments where the person just knows the item is gonna be a big ticket item and the appraiser gives them a pitifully low figure. You can see their face fall while they try to keep it together, saying through clenched teeth, "Oh, really?" I also tend to tear up when somebody gets a figure way higher than they expected and they have such a happy face.

Is the UK version still shown? I don't see it advertised anymore. The US version comes on my local PBS Mondays and repeats on Sundays.

[Peanutbuttercup]

Quag, Dan Elias left because he wanted to devote more of his time to his art-dealing business. Here is a wire piece about it. I miss him too.
Elias leaves Antiques Roadshow
I also cringe when the person with the camera on them finds out that the piece they just knew would pay for their kid's college education turns out to be worth $1,000. Usually the appraiser expects them to be all happy about it, too. I'd be happy if you gave me $1,000 - but not if you led me to believe you were about to give me $150,000.

[kimmako]

Yeah, like when the faux finishing has been taken off a cabinet or something and the price falls a gajillion bucks? You KNOW that the current owners are the ones to did the refinishing. If you don't know about something, look it up.

The one I hated the most? The woman who owned a Cartier compact. It was obviously a quality piece and the name Cartier was plainly on the rim. How can you not know Cartier? They still exist and they still advertise. So either she was completely oblivious or else she was completely faking it. Hate!

[BoDiva]

Didn't like Elias at all. Liked the original host (who's name escapes me) best, but Lara is fine.

I have a friend who was on with a signed copy of a book by Poe. He'd been given it by a neighbor with other books when he helped her clean out her attic because she knew he loved books. It turned out to be quite valuable because Poe died young so he didn't sign so many copies of his books. Another guy on that same show had a sword with all kinds of provenance that turned out to be fake. Everyone was delighted it was because the sword guy was really obnoxious in the green room.

[zenner]

Apparently, they are going to do a Canadian version of the Roadshow, and are travelling to various locations now. Vancouver on May 30th, 2004. I don't know if I have anything worth taking to it. You can bet the lines will be very long.

[Divaah46]

I like watching both the American and the UK varieties of AR. Just once, however, when the value of something is given, the owner should tell the appraiser, "You mean some idiot is willing to pay THAT much for THIS? Find me that idiot!"

[zenner]

I enjoyed the British version, but it appears to have disappeared from the airwaves around here.

One thing about the American version: they do try to warn you about fakery and show you how to spot it. So the scandal was unfortunate.

[wyndham]

You can catch the UK version on CBC if you are close enough to the Canadian border to pick up their stations. It's vastly superior to the US version IMO (with the exception of the Keno brothers on the US show who are fantastic), mostly because the UK folks have many more items that are centuries old and for the most part they hold in their surprise when something is worth a fortune.

[TraceyBee]

BoDiva, I liked the original host (Chris Jussel) better, too. My favorite event of the first few seasons was the one where a woman brought in a violin that she thought was a Stradivarius. The label in the violin had a date, and some words that the owner said were the name of Stradivarius's second wife, "Facibat Anna." (The spelling of that first word may be wrong.) The family story was that the violin had been made especially for her.

As you probably already suspect, the violin was most definitely not a Strad. The hysterical part was the completely straight-faced way the appraiser had to tell the owner that "Facibat Anno" means "Made in the year." It was a fake label, too, of course, the violin was not even close to being as old as the label said.

I love how everyone with an oldish violin thinks it's a Strad.

[Siege Perilous]

I love the ones where the owner obviously hates the object, and then finds out it's worth a lot. They're all, "sell this baby off!" I remember one where the owner had a kitschy-looking statue that was an advertising logo (like a tiny Big Boy). It was worth a decent amount and the guy was practically asking directions to the nearest auction house.

[TexasTallGal]

I need to get my mom to go on this show. She has an extensive collection of old Matchbox cars in their boxes that are in excellent condition. It would be interesting to know how much that's all worth.

[devajd]

I hate the little "jackpot" noise and the treasure chest that scroll across the bottom of the screen in the American version. Ok, it's more like a chime, but it's supposed to be a "cha-ching!!" sound. Grr. Meanwhile, on the Brit version they tell people to insure the items, because most of the time they're a family heriloom. I love it when someone comes in with a wedding present their grandmother got in 1880 and it ends up being worth 25,000 pounds.

There were a few Canadian episodes of the Roadshow done in 2002 I think I it was. One Toronto woman had these incredible Italian art deco posters that were worth a mint. She had picked them up at a rummage sale for $2 or something.

[kimmako]

TexasTallGal - I recall someone with Matchbox cars from the first years of production being on the show. Maybe you can search their website to see the evaluation.

[StickyKeys]

I love this show and the new season is starting, they also have a What happened spin off show coming up soon!

[Quag]

Well, every time I look up, Lara Spencer is everywhere. She's on ET; she's on Oprah. I can't imagine the sedate Dan Elias popping up all over my TV.

I'm looking forward to the new season, too.

[timeonmyhands]

This show makes me realize that my family owns crap.

The best thing I ever saw on this show was a woman who brought in this old dresser that she had paid about $4,000 for. The appraiser told her it was worth "4 to 6 thousand dollars". "Whoopee" she cried as she nearly did a backflip "46 thousand dollars and only paid $4,000!". Then the apprisier corrected her and I laughed until I cried. It just seemed funny to me that she thought they would give her such an exact amount. IIRC the dresser wasn't even that old. Plus, she seemed like kind of a snob. Anyway, it was funny.

[StickyKeys]

I must admit that I like the ones where they spent thousands on an item because they just knew it was real only to find out that either it's fake, or it's not worth as much as they thought.

I also love the people who are like "I'm buying a new house!" Ha! Those people crack me up.

I hate it when stuffy people get stuff worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I love it when people who have done good deeds get a gift that ends up being worth a lot.

My friend gave me an autographed copy of the Keno furniture book. They are my favorite furniture appraisor. Does anyone know what condition the guy in the wheelchair has? He's been on forever, but I don't think it's ever been mentioned.

Here is an updated link to the fraud scandal.


Also for your pleasure, a link to the cast page.

Edited by StickyKeys, Jan 11, 2005 @ 2:46 AM.

[wyndham]

I sure would like to see Dan Elias come back or someone else other than Lara Spencer - she needs to stay on the celebrity news shows - more her genre.

[Quag]

I must admit that I like the ones where they spent thousands on an item because they just knew it was real only to find out that either it's fake, or it's not worth as much as they thought.

Good times.

Last night's show (St. Paul) had a woman who paid $10,000 for two Chinese "artifacts." She was told that they weren't real and were worth less than $1,000 (I think).

I, too, want Dan back; and I really like the Keno brothers.

So far, St. Paul has produced some really expensive stuff.

[wyndham]

The Keno brothers are the best things about the roadshow aren't they? I love the way they get so excited about the furniture - and from what I've read, they've been that way since they were little kids.

[StickyKeys]

Last night's show (St. Paul) had a woman who paid $10,000 for two Chinese "artifacts." She was told that they weren't real and were worth less than $1,000 (I think).

It was actually about $1500. I would race back to the dealer that offered me $10,000!

StPaul does have a lot of fun stuff there. I'm not a Lara hater, she's just kind of meh to me. I do like the feedback booth edition at the end.

I love the Kenos, and yes, they've been at it since they were kids. I have their book! It was funny because Leslie was like in 3 different shots just smiling and looking at stuff while others were getting their items appraised!

I'm slowly getting my friend hooked on my "nerd" show.

[queasy]

I love the ones where the owner obviously hates the object, and then finds out it's worth a lot.

Remember the women with the huge folk art jug? It had a badly-drawn face applied on the front, with part of the nose broken off? It was ugly as sin, and she said she felt sorry for it at the garage sale or wherever because nobody else wanted it. The appraiser went gaga, said he'd never seen anything like it, and gave it a price of around $50-60K, if I remember correctly.

After the appraisal, the woman ran over to her husband, who was standing off-camera, and jumped on him in glee.

*sigh* I really need to start paying more attention to old, grubby paintings and fugly vases. I totally would've thrown out that jug, too.

[timeonmyhands]

Tonight they are playing a "best of" episode. I'm looking forward to seeing that because I've missed so many episodes and some really great stuff. It says that one of the things they will be showing is the Indian cheif's blanket. I've never seen that so I am excited. I am also a nerd.

[ClarionGrad]

Thanks for the info about the Cash In The Attic program. Looks like the website could be a great resource.

I used to watch AR religiously. A chat group I belonged to (most of them on the east coast of the U.S.) would get online during the show and describe what was being appraised and then those of us who hadn't seen the show yet (in later time zones) had to guess what the appraisal amount would be. It was a real hoot.

But I still miss Personal FX: the Collectibles Show. You can't improve on perfection.

[StickyKeys]

The FYI show is kind of meh. I wish they would do a little more with the items that we've actually seen on the roadshow and the thing about the ovens was boring. I took a break from AR for a while, but now I'm back full swing with the new season. I can't wait till they show the Omaha ep!

[nohwheregirl]

My fave episode is the one with the Chinese dragon statuette. I can't remember how much it was worth ($100k or more?), but the appraiser - the Sotheby's guy - totally got choked up.

Also, for all the Keno fans out there, I actually got to meet them once. They were in my town for some antiques convention and I ran into them at a restaurant/bar type place. Half of my table started freaking out when they saw them, and the other half were like, "Who???" Anyways, I got an autograph for my parents who love ARS, and they were really nice....and sort of flirting with a bunch of 20 year olds at the bar.

[StickyKeys]

Go Nebraska! Although don't be fooled into thinking we're all farm land. Some of the people reactions just sucked, like you know they wanted to get excited but were embarrassed to. I knew the lady at the very end in the feedback booth, she goes to one of my sister churches in Omaha.

My fav moment was the lady with all the Frank Lloyd Wright stuff. You could totally see her face change when he told her the letters by themselves were $20K, then the pics? She was so happy, I think she wanted to hug the guym but they made her stay on her side, spoil sports.

[Mystery]

It's always fun to see people who are happy that their stuff is worth a lot, but my favorite episode ever was one with a woman who had a punch bowl and glasses. She said that all she knew about them was that her grandparents had brought them from Italy before the turn of the century. Every single thing the woman appraiser told her just deflated the value further, and we were rolling on the floor by the time she was done. "Actually, this was made in America. It's carnival glass. Sometimes they used to give pieces away for free at carnivals and fairs. This was the most common color they made." The set was still worth something like $2,000, and the appraiser was nice; it was just the way she kept pouring it on that made us laugh.

[StickyKeys]

I don't know if I saw that one, but I saw one like it where the lady's grandmother said it was a gift from a Chinese Emporer and it ended up being kitsch made in 1970's San Fran. Hilarious!

[StickyKeys]

Sorry about the double post, but editing doesn't bump!

The Nebraska eps are over and pretty sad. When people had like $400 - $600 items it kind of sucked balls. The best part was when they showed the train plate that had Aksaben on it and immediately me and three of my friend were like, "It's Nebraska spelled BACKWARDS!" It's a fun thing. What city is next?