'Antiques Roadshow' guest stunned after expert revealed the value of his 200-year-old cotton dress

It's natural to preserve things that are passed down in the family, but sometimes the sentiment that makes people take care of seemingly ordinary items can add extraordinary value to them. During an episode of “Antiques Roadshow,” a guest brought a piece of clothing that was 200 years old and revealed that it was given to them by a close friend of his wife’s mother.

The item was an indigo dress, which the guest believed was made in the 1800s. He also revealed that his wife was a home ed teacher and took a keen interest in the craftsmanship that went into making the dress. Taking over from there, expert Deborah Miller revealed that it was made even before the 1800s. “It’s earlier than you think. It is a very rare example of an indigo printed cotton dressn that dates to 1798 or thereabouts,” she said. The guest’s eyes widened upon hearing this, and he said, “Oh my goodness.” Miller also explained that the dress could not have possibly been entirely made in the United States since, at the time, the country simply did not have the means to make such a product.

“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.

Miller then explained the material used to make the dress. She pointed out the glazed cotton as the primary material and also noticed the heavy linen lining around the bodice, presumably to soak up any body sweat that might be produced. “It has a pull drawstring tie at the top and one at the bodice, and the inside, there is just a little opening. You can see there is sort of a flap closure inside, just for modesty’s sake,” she added.

The craftsmanship on the back of the dress helped the expert figure out the time period in which it was made. “We have a really tight triangle piece that’s put here with amazing, tiny little hand-done pleats. Everything is handmade here, and a lot of fullness. This is a pleating with a lot of fullness in the back,” Miller said. That kind of pleating, according to the expert, was popular in the 1790s. Now it was time to appraise the item, and Miller asked the guest if he had ever thought about the item’s value. “No, we’ve never really worried about it. My wife said it’s just a museum piece, and we just need to keep it because it’s a very valuable dress,” he said. His wife was spot-on. “For insurance purposes, you would have an insurance value of $15,000,” the expert added.

The guest’s eyes widened once more. He was clearly not expecting this kind of appraisal for an old dress. “Oh my goodness. That’s amazing,” he said.