'Antiques Roadshow' guest gets a $30,000 appraisal for his family heirloom and then refused to sell it
Guests may be amazed by the value their items are able to fetch on “Antiques Roadshow,” but that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be convinced to sell them. Sometimes, all they want is a figure at which they can insure their precious item, which may have immense sentimental value. On an earlier episode of the show, one guest brought a fantastic Japanese Cloisonné Bronze Floor Lamp. The item was given a five-figure appraisal value by the expert, but the guest said that he wasn’t willing to sell it.
He must have had an emotional connection with the lamp, as he claimed that it had been in his family for four decades. It originally belonged to his godfather, and after he passed away, his estate was split between him and his other godbrother. The lamp wasn’t quite to the godbrother’s taste, so the guest was able to keep it. The expert, Dessa Goddard, revealed that the item was made in Japan during the Meiji period, and it had a strong Chinese influence. The lamp had two phoenix birds, which were the symbols of the empress of China. When the time came for its appraisal, Goddard said that it would be worth $20,000 to $30,000 in a retail setting. However, she also claimed that 20 to 30 years ago, it would have been worth more.
The guest was impressed with the appraisal but had decided against selling the lamo anytime soon. “Great. Well, we love it, we’re gonna keep it. It’s in my house and we enjoy it, and it’s quite a conversation piece,” he explained. The guest then thanked Goddard for the appraisal and said that he was glad that he brought the item to the show.
Lamps can be worth a lot of money on “Antiques Roadshow,” and in an earlier episode of the show, one guest almost broke down after hearing the value of his Tiffany lamps. He had brought two to the show, one massive and one a lot smaller. He had received them both as gifts from a friend who wasn’t in the world anymore. The expert, Arlie Sulka, was impressed with both of them and gave her opinion about the craftsmanship.
"They are Tiffany Studios lamps, both of these are lamps, or what I would call geometric lamps, but they have a little bit of decoration, they're a combination. You have a geometric background on the larger lamp, and then you have the decoration through here. These are what we call the woodbine pattern. And then on the floor lamp, for that pattern, we have a number of names. It's called swirling leaf, swirling lemon leaf, or lemon leaf," she said.
When the time came for them to be appraised, Sulka said that the bigger lamp was worth $85,000. This came as a big shock to the guest, who almost broke down. The expert then valued the smaller lamp at $45,000. Together, the two Tiffany lamps were valued at a whopping $130,000.
