'Antiques Roadshow' guest stunned after hearing the real value of her $100 flea market find
An "Antiques Roadshow" guest got an impressive 12x return on her old 'gramophone' set that she picked up on a Sunday from a flea market for $100. The owner of a "His Master's Voice Gramophone Group" told the show's expert, Tim Luke, that she had a bet going on with her husband over the authenticity of the item. Although she was skeptical, she was left astounded when the appraiser handed her a $1,200 estimate for the item. Yet, she seemed more focused on knowing if she had won the bet.
In the episode of the PBS show, the guest shared how and where she bought the group of items. "We picked it up maybe 25 years ago in Ljubljana, Slovenia. We had just completed a week-long hiking tour of the Slovenian Alps, and it was Sunday morning, and they had, like, a flea market set up," she told Luke. She added that the gramophone caught her husband's eye, as at the time it was all polished and shining. "We think we paid around a hundred dollars for it, but we're not sure. And we know that we made the vendor's day because within ten minutes, he had folded up shop and went home,' she shared.
She then told the expert that her husband believed that it was authentic, as it was from Europe, but she thought it was a knockoff. Luke admitted that there were 'later productions' of the famous "His Master's Voice" gramophone, and the guest was about to find out more about the one she had. "There are a couple of things that I want to point out. First of all, this label is green. That is a later reproduction of the piece," he told the guest. He then dated it to around the 1940s, and noted that the base could be original, but the horn was replaced or a later production.
He then shifted focus to the dog figurine, which came as a part of the set. "That dog I found at an outlet store in Savannah. This is Sparky. He should have his head cocked and the sound of my master's voice. The mold maker thought that the dog was defective because its head was cocked. So he changed the mold and made all of them with their-- so I have a Sparky with his head on straight, and he's probably not worth very much because of that," the guest shared. Luke then corrected her, saying the dog's name was Nipper and not Sparky, as seen in the logo of the gramophone.
He pointed out that the figurine had an unusual black spot around the eye, an erroneous brush stroke, and the obvious straight head, which indicates it was a knockoff, and not the original Nipper that came with the gramophone. However, despite being a later production, the gramophone held some value, as per the expert. "I would put an auction estimate in the $800 to $1,200 price range," he said, delighting the guest, who exclaimed, "Oh, really?"
However, the expert failed to settle the bet as he told the guest that both she and her husband were right. The gramophone did have original parts, but the dog was a knockoff.
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