Angela Lansbury & MGM Costumes, ca. 1945
Watch
GUEST:
I grew up in Los Angeles, and in 1970-- I was 19 at the time-- MGM sold off all its costumes and properties. First, there was an auction of the valuable things. Most people have heard that the, Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz sold for the highest price. But after they sold those high-profile things, they still had hundreds of thousands of items, which they sold in their warehouses. And, uh, near the end of the summer, it was near the end of the sale that I heard about it. Mostly, things were in poor condition. I was looking for things that would fit me, and I got three items for a total of $25. And when I got home, I found an tag in here that said "Angela Lansbury." So I started looking at her movies, and this was in a movie called Till the Clouds Roll By. There was a chorus, and they had similar costumes, but they were all green. There was just one pink one, and she was wearing it. I didn't realize I shouldn't alter things then. I took off the hooks and eyes and put on a zipper to make it easier to wear. And this one, the, the fur was, was disintegrated, and I replaced the fur. Otherwise, they're pretty much what they were. The buttons keep falling off, but I've saved them, so it could be restored.
APPRAISER:
So you have all the buttons that we're not seeing here.
GUEST:
Uh, not all, but almost all.
APPRAISER:
Perfect. The MGM auction in 1970, the main part of it that you brought up, with the higher-end items, was an 18-day-long event that really was an event.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And that is where everyone knows Debbie Reynolds formed kind of the seminal basis of her entire collection that sold many years later. And, and you're 100% correct, the ruby slippers were the most expensive item that sold. They were nearly $16,000 in 1970, which made headlines around the world.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
That's the pair that's actually at the Smithsonian right now. Oh, wow. The main 18-day auction took place throughout most of May. And then it went on into June, July, August. You said towards the end of summer.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
We call it the parking lot sale. You called it the warehouse sale. There were racks and racks and racks and racks and racks and racks and...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Racks of things for days-- literally, for months. You said that there was a name in this one originally, which is how you identified it. That's obviously the, the most important thing when it comes to value with these, is, who wore it, what did they wear it in? The one that you're wearing we did inspect a bit. And when we identify costumes when they come in without any kind of tagging, all we can do at this point is narrow it down to an era. We know it's a pre-1970 film, um...
GUEST:
And it was pretty old, actually, and decrepit by that time. (laughs):
APPRAISER:
Was it really?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So we know it's probably from a much earlier era.
GUEST:
Uh-huh-- I'm a movie buff, and I've seen many, many hundreds of movies, but I haven't noticed this one yet.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm. It's possible that it's a background person that wasn't as prominent.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah.
APPRAISER:
So you might not know.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Fingers crossed somebody watching is gonna recognize this.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
Who knows?
GUEST:
That'll be fun, yeah.
APPRIASER: Maybe we'll, maybe we'll figure it out. But because of the fact that we don't know what yours is from, it does have a n, n, nominal value...
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
...as just kind of a fun vintage clothing piece, which is probably going to be $100, $200.
GUEST:
That much?
APPRAISER:
Yeah. (laughs)
GUEST:
I'm surprised, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Because it still is, we know, from MGM.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And maybe, if you identify it, that would go up much more. When we look at this costume, it's a completely different story because we know who, what, when, and where.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
We know it's Angela Lansbury. We know Till the Clouds Roll By, 1946. And the important thing about that for her career is, this is incredibly early. She made her debut as a Cockney maid in Gaslight in 1944-- extraordinary movie. She then did National Velvet and became friends with Elizabeth Taylor.
GUEST:
Mm.
APPRAISER:
And then we hit 1946. And this is one of the first films that really, featured her in this way. Mm-hmm. And I think people think of Angela Lansbury of Jessica Fletcher, Murder, She Wrote. Whole generations of people only know her as that. But she really started her career as an ingenue.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
The, the tag that had her name on it is no longer in here.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And you did, uh, you said took out the hooks and eyes and you replaced it with this pink zipper. In a perfect world, is it best if that was all still there? Sure, but practically, I'm just glad it's still here. There are a few things of hers that have come up. Obviously, the condition is going to be an issue, but it is so rare to find something from so early in her career. Because of all of that, if this were to come up at auction, I think, in the right hands, this would be at least a $4,000 to $6,000 dress.
GUEST:
You're kidding! Oh, my gosh! I shouldn't say that-- I know everybody says that.
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.
