Kleinert's Waterproof Baby Pants Display, ca. 1905
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GUEST:
We were visiting my daughter, and she knows I like antiques, so she suggested we go to Nevada City, take a little trip, and do some antiquing and have a nice breakfast. And I found this little cradle in an antiques shop. And I love the tin lithography, and also that it has a little dog on it. I'm a dog lover.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
GUEST:
The price was right, so I decided to buy it.
APPRAISER:
Well, what was the price?
GUEST:
Thirty-two dollars.
APPRAISER:
And how long ago was this?
GUEST:
A little over a year ago.
APPRAISER:
Wow. Well, it is a cradle, and it's a lithograph tin. You have beautiful lithography. Lithograph tin started coming into play in the very late part of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century. These are Kleinert's Waterproof Baby Pants. And of course it's an advertising piece. It's also a point-of-purchase display piece. That's what they call when they put something right near the cash register. And it would entice people to buy it.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And I'm sure that they had the little baby pants here inside the cradle with a picture of the little baby in his waterproof pants to advertise the item. And it actually rocks. It's absolutely a charming thing. Now, I've only heard of one other advertising piece for this company Kleinert's. Apparently this company, as I understand it, was founded in 1869 by Isaac Kleinert. And he was a major inventor who invented all sorts of things, from the shower curtains to shower caps, waterproof pants, to all sorts of rubberized materials for waterproofing. $32 I think was an extremely good buy. I'm sort of surprised you got it that recently at that kind of price. What would be, I think, a conservative estimate for auction purposes would be around $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness!
APPRAISER:
And frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if it could go for more.
GUEST:
Holy moly.
APPRAISER:
And I just think... One of the things I love about the Roadshow is when I see something I've never seen before. And I've been doing this now, the Roadshow, for 14 years. I've been in the business for 40 years, never seen this, and it's a great piece.
GUEST:
Well, thank you.
Appraisal Details
Current Appraised Value: $1,000 - $3,000 (Decreased)
Barrett adds, "It is always hard to guess the market — I had estimated one of these last year for $1,000 to $2,000, and it only brought $300 at auction."
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