19th C. North American Indian Collection
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GUEST:
I purchased them from a friend of mine that passed on. His wife had 'em and she was gonna leave the things to her son, but he didn't particularly care for it. So I told her that I would purchase 'em.
APPRAISER:
Did you have any idea what you were buying when you bought 'em?
GUEST:
None whatsoever.
APPRAISER:
What appealed to you the most?
GUEST:
The gun... The gun. Actually, I didn't even see the shoes down here, the moccasins and everything. I just saw the gun and it fascinated me. And I says, "I'll buy it."
APPRAISER:
Yup. It's fascinating a lot of people in here, too, just looking at it.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
Can I ask you what you paid for the gun?
GUEST:
$3,500.
APPRAISER:
And did you know what it was at the time?
GUEST:
I know it was a Winchester.
APPRAISER:
Well, it is a '73 Winchester, kind of a beat-up old gun. It's kind of a typical doctored-up '73 Winchester.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
We see 'em quite a bit and it's made to look like an Indian-used rifle. They used things like this at the Little Bighorn battlefield.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
They would cover them with rawhide for repairs. And they put some tacks in 'em, and this is a little medicine wheel.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Unfortunately, that's all fake.
GUEST:
Okay. Okay.
APPRAISER:
And basically it's a '73 Winchester.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
Now, the other items you got are authentic, but it's kind of a mixed bag. You've got a small knife scabbard over there.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
That was made by the Lakota and that was made as a tourist item to sell to the tourists.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
You've got three pairs of late moccasins that are probably also made for the tourist market.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And you've got an Iroquois bag here that was made up in Niagara Falls for the tourist market.
GUEST:
Oh, all right.
APPRAISER:
And you've got a nice early Plains bag here. So, shall we see how you did with your $3,500?
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
It's a risky proposition. (chuckling):
GUEST:
I probably... I probably took a beatin’.
APPRAISER:
The '73 Winchester, in this condition, probably would bring about $600 to $800.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
Your little knife scabbard would probably bring about $150 to $200.
GUEST:
Oh, that's not bad.
APPRAISER:
The three pair of mocs would probably bring about $150 to $200.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And the Iroquois pouch would probably bring about $150 to $200. These are auction values.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But this particular bag is a very rare mid-19th century pony-beaded Plains Indian pouch.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
I've only seen one piece of pony bead work in 12 years at the Roadshow.
GUEST:
Oh, my God!
APPRAISER:
So it was... it was very exciting to see it.
GUEST:
It's exciting for me right now.
APPRAISER:
Uh, both sides are... (laughs) Both sides are a little bit different and they're very scarce. This one, it is early pumpkin color beads and black and white, and you can probably see an early floral design starting here.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And later on floral designs became very prevalent.
GUEST:
Huh!
APPRAISER:
But that particular bag on today's market would probably be worth about $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST:
You're kiddin’?
APPRAISER:
No.
GUEST:
Ho ho, oh, my God!
APPRAISER:
So you ended up doing pretty good.
GUEST:
So we did all right. We did all right then.
APPRAISER:
Risky thing to buy a Winchester like this, but you did, you did very well.
GUEST:
Oh, my God. That's great. I just can't believe it. One little bag like that?
Appraisal Details
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Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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