'Antiques Roadshow' guest gets a massive appraisal for her heirloom, then says 'I used to play in this'
Children don't understand the true value of heirlooms in the house until they grow old enough to inherit them. This is also true for guests who bring such items on “Antiques Roadshow,” as they are far from aware of their monetary worth, even though they know the sentimental value. When a guest brought her great-grandmother’s flapper dress, feather boa, and bag, she said that she used to play dress up with them as a kid.
The expert at the time was Steve Porterfield, and he was highly impressed with what he was seeing. One of the things that stood out to him from the ensemble was the feather boa made of ostrich feathers. Having an ostrich feather boa made one quite fashionable and high-class back in the early 20th century. The beaded bag also caught his attention, and he said that as a set, the ensemble could bring in $1,500.
The guest laughed after hearing this and said, “And I used to play in this.” The expert had stated earlier that the dress was made of silk chiffon and was from the 1920s. The problem with the boa popular back then was that ostrich feathers deteriorate over time.
This one, however, looked absolutely top-notch, which was a little surprising. The expert also touched upon the silver and white beads on the dress, and the rhinestones that would have caught some light and given the wearer an illuminated look. He also pointed out the matching beaded bag that went along with the ensemble. All in all, it was a mighty fine outfit and deserved to be valued in the thousands.
This is not the first time a dress has been appraised at a high value on the show. In a different episode, a dress that looked a lot less fancy than this one got a humungous five-figure valuation. What might have helped with that is the fact that the dress in question was 200 years old and still in marvellous condition. The man who brought the outfit said that it was gifted to them by a close friend of his mother-in-law.
When the expert revealed that the indigo dress dated back to around 1798, the guest was left wide-eyed. “This type of printing was very complicated. And so we as Americans, just a few decades after the Revolutionary War, we didn’t have that skill and that infrastructure to make this kind of multi-process printing. And so there is a very good possibility that the fabric, at least, comes from England,” she said.
When it was time to place a value on the dress, the expert said that it should be insured for a whopping $15,000. The guest wasn’t expecting this kind of valuation at all, and his expression told the whole story. “Oh my goodness. That’s amazing,” the guest said, still in disbelief.
