Fred Rogers Postcards, ca. 1968
Watch
GUEST:
I went to a local auction in my neighborhood. I was bidding on what I thought was just a single postcard for Valentine's Day, Victorian era, and nobody bid against me, so I won for one dollar. And I picked up the postcard, and they're, like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, you won the whole box." So I got a shoebox full of somebody's life, and there was these postcards in it. And when I saw Fred Rogers, I thought, "That's the superhero of public television. That's got to be something very special." And when I started to read the correspondence, it's by him, in his hand, and he's writing to what I think is some family, and he's, um, asking about how they're doing, and, "Hey, do you think there's any market in the Cleveland area for my new show?" So I thought, "Wow."
APPRAISER:
Well, I guess I can't help but say this, but it must have been a wonderful day in the neighborhood when, when... (laughs) ...when you bought that box of material. Mr. Rogers is obviously so iconic. One of the things that's really, really nice about these postcards is, they're in the mid-'60s. He started in television, children's television, in the '50s. He actually went to Canada, and in the early '60s, had the MisteRogers show. And he finally came back from Canada, and went to WQED in Pittsburgh in 1966 and started Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In this, he mentions ETV. They were a small network of Eastern public television stations to share shows. What he's saying in one of the letters that I particularly like, he was saying, "Okay, we have a few stations that have picked the show up in the Eastern educational, but do you think maybe Cleveland would pick it up?"
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
Because they were obviously in Ohio. "I'd really like to see the show get expanded." And then, a few years later, 1970, is when public television, PBS, picked up the show, and that's when it started to really skyrocket. First of all, they're all signed, and this one is signed "Misterogers," "your friend." Now, the picture is wonderful, and it's what caught my eye. There's nothing written on the back of this. You got your money back.
GUEST:
(laughs): My dollar?
APPRAISER:
The dollar, the… You got your dollar back with this picture.
GUEST:
Okay, fair.
APPRAISER:
But… There are pictures on the other side of these. But two of 'em are the same, one's slightly different. Mr. Rogers signatures, especially where he's talking about his early career, talking about the problems of the show– thinking about the idea that, if they didn't pick it up, what we would have missed, the three letters, I would say, conservatively, on a retail value, is $1,500 to $2,500, Conservatively, as a package. And they're just so much fun, I, I mean, what can you say?
GUEST:
(laughs)
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."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
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.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
