'Antiques Roadshow' guest breaks down after hearing the value of her grandma's 'studio trash'

Something salvaged from trash could turn into a heirloom based on the sentimental value attached to it, but those who inherit them can unlock their worth in dollars on "Antiques Roadshow." One such guest brought a set of three costume designs that once belonged to her grandmother. While the items were "friends" to her, the show's expert, Laura Woolley, revealed that the designs were of costumes that were worn by prominent stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Lucille Ball, and Rita Hayworth. This pushed the value of the designs together to nearly $7,000.

In the episode, the guest shared the incredible provenance of the items and how they fell into her hands. "They came from my great-grandmother who worked in the studios. The lore is that they would hand these to the drapers, and my grandmother was one of the drapers, and they would be told to make them [the costumes]," she shared with Woolley.

She further explained that when the dresses were done, the studios usually threw the designs out, and her grandmother took them out of the trash and preserved them whenever she liked a particular design or if the dress was made for a female lead in prominent movies/scenes. 

The guest added that there were thumbtracks, coffee, pencil adjustments, and other marks on the designs, but they were still special to her. Woolley then assured the guest that the marks were not worrisome despite "condition being everything" on the show. "The types of condition issues you have here are such, as we call it, honest wear, it shows that they were functional production pieces, which is what we like to see. They're fascinating," she noted.

The expert further revealed that one of the designs had some information at the back, which linked it with Rita Hayworth. "And down here, we actually have Rita Hayworth. And that's really great to have, because we like to see that, that it was actually used," Woolley noted. 

The expert further added that the designs seemed to be from the 1940s, and they had a combination of gouache on board and pencil. "And some of these even have some much more fun metallic paints. You brought a whole stack of these into the table. And I chose these three for a purpose. And the purpose I chose them for is because we have a bit of a good, better, best here," she told the guest.

Woolley noted that the design, which was for a costume worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the film "Cleopatra", had no identifying marks on it, which is why she put it in that category. "It's possible that it is Elizabeth, but there were also so many extras in that film that were wearing similar garments that we can't say for sure. Without that information, a piece like that at auction might be in the $300 to $500 range," she shared with the guest.

Coming to the "better" piece, Woolley told the guest that there was "no question" that a costume worn by Lucille Ball took the cake. "We can see her face very clearly, and there's no doubt about it. But we don't know which film this is from. It's also possible, which happens a lot, that we see costumes like this, and maybe the scene that they were used for gets cut from the film. And when you can't identify it, but you know it is someone famous, it has a different value," she explained. She then appraised the piece to the $800 to $1,200 range.

Coming to "the best" design, Woolley noted that it belonged to Rita Hayworth. Coming to the appraisal, Woolley estimated that the sole piece could bring up to $5,000 at auction. This left the guest in shock as she exclaimed, "For studio trash, wow. Who'da thought? Certainly not me!"

The guest then broke down into tears as she thanked the appraiser. "Unbelievable. I never think of it as money. They're just friends. They're my grandmother," she said in the end.