'Antiques Roadshow' guest accidentally found a century-old sign — then she found its real value
"Antiques Roadshow" guests are known to find precious items in the most unexpected places, such as garage sales and attics. But one of them found it in the back of her shop. in a recent episode of the show. She had brought an item that she said she’d found in a greenhouse and flower shop, which she had bought in 1977. At the time, the guest did not care much about the item, but of late, she grew fond of it and brought it to the show for an appraisal.
The expert, Nicholas Cline, immediately understood that it was a Glove advertising sign that dated to the 1920s, which made it about 100 years old. The sign had “Say it with flowers” and “Society of American Florists” written on it, which helped the expert ascertain its age, before adding, “I think dates to about 1920 based upon this slogan here of ‘say it with flowers,’ and I can only find that reference starting in about 1917.”
Cline then turned his attention to the ‘Society of American Florists’ bit, and revealed an interesting history about the organisation. Turns out that it is well over 100 years old and is still active. What’s more interesting is that it was a body that was established by a chartered act of Congress all the way back in 1884. As the name suggests, the establishment comprised American florists whose first mission was to help one another in times of hardship.
“When they originally started, they had just over 20 members, and by 1900, it had grown to 500 members,” the expert said, much to the guest’s surprise, before explaining, “And their main objective in establishing was that they were trying to support fellow industry men in protection from hail and other natural disasters, and obtaining insurance and things of that nature. And then they would later go on to be an education advocate for the youth of America to teach them the value of plans and the florist industry."
Perhaps the most impressive fact of them all was that the organisation was still active after 140 years. Once the history lesson was over, it was time to take a look at the item. Cline appreciated the metal coating that was painted green and still looked to be in fine shape. He also noted a rather unique detail about the Globe advertising sign. “This one’s a little unusual because if it were capped on top like that, the image would be upside down,” he said.
“So, I was able to locate a few more that exist, and they both had the glass in the same orientation, which tells me it was probably meant to be mounted like that and would have come off the side of a building or a curved mounting bracket,” he added. Unfortunately, the expert said that while the item was unique, there was no great demand for such items. Therefore, it would be able to bring in $1,000-$1,500 at auction. The guest seemed pleased with that valuation. “Great. That’s wonderful,” she said.
You can watch the appraisal and reaction here.
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