Musician Contract Collection
GUEST:
I came across these from a guy who used to work at the local musicians' union, and in the '70s, he was given boxes of stuff to get rid of. And he went through the boxes and found that some of these had signatures and had some historical value, so I bought them from him.
APPRAISER:
And how much did you pay?
GUEST:
Probably around $50 each.
APPRAISER:
What we have here are six of your great rock 'n' roll, country and blues icons. Right here, we have the famous Chester Burnett, aka "Howlin' Wolf." Fats Domino. "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill." Right here, Bill Haley, 1954, recorded "Rock Around the Clock." Moving up here, we've got the great man in black, country icon Johnny Cash. This is from 1965. This is just after his period where he made "Ring of Fire." And then of course we have the "Great Balls of Fire," Jerry Lee Lewis, part of the Million Dollar Quartet along with Johnny Cash. But this contract we have here, we have Elvis Presley, and it's for this Florida theater which is still in existence since 1927, right here in Jacksonville, Florida, and he was scheduled to play August 10 and 11, 1956. So this is a very famous contract. It's very hard to find any one of these. Howlin' Wolf, this is 1958. This is pretty much in his heyday. I would put $3,000 insurance value on that. The Fats Domino, this is different. He didn't play. Domino, at this point in '61, he was a few years removed from "Blueberry Hill." This one I'd probably insure for $1,000. This one is from Bill Haley. 1968-- again, a number of years removed from "Rock Around the Clock." However, there's also a hand-written letter from Bill Haley to the promoter of the show, and that one I would put $3,000 on including the letter, insurance. Johnny Cash, not sure that's a Johnny Cash signature. If it is authentic, I'd insure this one for $2,000. Jerry Lee Lewis, '64 were tough times for Jerry Lee because in '58, he had the scandal where he was marrying a cousin who was 13 years old, and the world did not look kindly upon that. And he went from charging $10,000 a night to $250. So you can see how far he had fallen by 1964. I would put $1,000 on that. Now let's look at the Elvis contract. The pros here is that it's fantastic, historical event that we can document. The downside is I do not think this is an original signature. I think that this was signed by someone else. We've looked at a lot of other authentic Elvis signatures, and neither I nor my colleagues believe that this is an authentic one.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Sorry there's bad news. However, because of the history of the show that's so well documented, I would still place an insurance value of $5,000 on this contract.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
I think if this were an original signature, you're looking at possibly $50,000 insurance value.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
So we've got $10,000 for these, $5,000 for this, a total of $15,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
That's a pretty good investment.
GUEST:
That is awesome.
APPRAISER:
I think rock 'n' roll is here to stay.
GUEST:
I think so.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
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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