Reproduction Shirley Temple Doll
APPRAISER:
Are you a Shirley Temple collector?
GUEST:
No, I'm not.
APPRAISER:
What attracted you to this doll?
GUEST:
Her hair and her face.
APPRAISER:
Okay, and what were you told about the piece?
GUEST:
The lady who had it at the antique shop said that a 90-year-old woman had had it in her closet forever. She just kept it for display purposes and she was getting older and she didn't want it anymore so she put it out on consignment.
APPRAISER:
Okay, did you think it was old? Did you have an idea that it might be?
GUEST:
Well, I took the lady for her word that she had it forever, she bought it original, and I just said, "Well, I like the doll." I just fell in love with her. I thought she was cute.
APPRAISER:
Well that’s good, because that's the main focus of collecting: you should always collect what you like regardless of what it's worth. That said, I just want to point out a few things. Are you a big doll collector?
GUEST:
Yes. I'm just starting to get very serious.
APPRAISER:
The other thing is, is to do research, because there's a lot of really great books that are out there that gives you the mold numbers, what to look for. And I want to point out a few things here that'll help you in the future in trying to find and buy dolls. If you take a look here, you can see these painted features, which is nice, and a lot of times on the antique dolls, if it has a closed mouth, it makes it a little more valuable. But the main thing about this is if you feel the porcelain here, this feels very new to me. And if you take a look at the wig and the dress, it also looks very new because of the way that the stitching is here. Also the shoes, it doesn't appear to be that old. The biggest key, though, in any kind of doll, there should be some kind of marking. On the back, if we take a look here, there are some markings here. It does say "Shirley Temple," but it also gives a little clue here; it says "Repro." So this really is not that old. I would say that this is a piece that was done within the last five years and would probably have a retail value, maybe, higher than the fair market value. The fair market value I would probably put much lower, at about $5 to $20, something like that. The retail is whatever she wants to charge for it. What did you pay for it?
GUEST:
Ninety.
APPRAISER:
Ah. Aw...
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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Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
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