Vocal Point: Double trouble at the Antiques Roadshow

With great care, I wrapped the porcelain nodder, a figurine with a bobble head, in bubble wrap and set it in a box. The tavern chair was set on a home-built dolly with a piece of plywood. The chair looked like it was in a straightjacket covered with a white mattress pad and strapped down with a heavy web belt.

When I received my tickets, chosen by lottery to the Antiques Roadshow, I was ecstatic. I called my twin sister, Judy, to invite her to go with me. There were many phone calls back and forth about what we would take.

And what we would wear.

Our conservative sons admonished us about “going overboard,” or being too “nutty.” But, we decided to dress, at least somewhat, alike. The plan was to wear the same pants and jacket with a different colored T-shirt – outfits we already had, because we end up buying the same things, although we live hundreds of miles apart.

Our chances of getting on TV would be better if we stood out, we thought.

But you have to do more than stand out. You need a unique and valuable antique in order to be chosen for a TV taping. That proved to be more difficult. Judy and I both had porcelain nodders, which we thought might be valuable. She had a cast iron doorstop that portrayed the fable about the goose that laid the golden egg. I had a tavern chair, of which I knew nothing, except that it was brought West by my great-grandmother.

We arrived at our appointed time at the “Roadshow,” where we inched forward in line for an hour. The time swept by, as we chatted with other participants. We compared our prized possessions and watched others bring in antiques in wagons, carts, dollies or boxes shoved across the floor as the line crept along.

At last, we were at the section where we received our category tickets for each item we brought – a furniture ticket, a metals art ticket, and two porcelain tickets. I wheeled the chair to the furniture section, where we spotted the famous Keno brothers. My chair was appraised and I learned it was not European, not hand-carved, and not the best wood, so the value was diminished.

The Keno twins, approached us and said, “Do you have a camera? We should have a photo of the twins with the twins.” Cameras were not allowed in this section, but I had one in my purse and quickly handed it to an onlooker. People around us showed obvious envy that we had captured the attention of these charming and famous Roadshow twins.

The metals section was the next line. The appraiser hadn’t seen anything quite like Judy’s doorstop, but he quoted a figure of $200 to $300.

Now it was time to take our nodders to the porcelain area. The line was short, and we stood in front of the young appraiser carefully unwrapping the figurines. She looked at mine and said, “It’s German bisque, but not very good quality. There is no painting on the back, so she was decorated to be seen only from the front and there is not enough painting on the front. “Twenty-five dollars.” Twenty-five dollars! We laughed and thanked her, as she told us to take our time re-wrapping our treasures. We weren’t quite as careful with this wrapping.

We weren’t chosen to be on TV, but we stopped at the feedback section and were taped as we told the story of our nodders. To the rolling camera, I said, “I love my nodder, but it’s not worth as much as my mother paid for it 35 years ago. However, we had a wonderful time at the Antiques Roadshow.”

And we went home with a treasure we didn’t come with – a photo with the Keno twins.