Alternate History Antiques Roadshow

Right, its sunday evening so naturally it is time for the Antiques Roadshow. For those of you who don't know. It's a BBC show in which people take their antiques to be told the origin and age of them and usually most importantly the value at auction. With people often interested in the history and occaisionally screaming "flog it!" at the tv.

So, across the varied histories and worlds similar shows appear on television. In various nations and roughly at the same time (the last 1/4 of 20th century, early 21st) what antiques are brought to be valued? They can be any timeline, from any time, valued in any currency and from any nation. Furthermore the show doesn't have to be British and the origin of the item, or how it came into the persons possession can explain the timeline.

I hope this doesn't count as ASB. I just thought it'd be an interesting idea.

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An expert and an owner are sat at a table, others stood around them and look on. On the table is a series of small coins, rather worn, but readable

Expert: Now we have an interesting coin here. Very rare. How did you come about them.

Owner: Well my father owned a shop and occaisionally we'd get people paying with foreign or old coins. He always said it must've been a busy day if someone managed to pay with these.

Expert: Did he get given these in one go?

Owner: No, this was over the space of about fifteen years.

The expert picks them up in turn, the camera cuts to a close up shot. The first is a corroded wide copper coin and then a smaller copper coin

Expert: Two from roughly the same period, Charles the third penny and ha'penny dating to 1803 and 1814 respectively both in excellent condition.

The owner nods. He picks up the most corroded coin in the collection, barely readable. It has a shield on one side and a faded face on the other.

Expert: the one that caught my eye was this. You can't read the text but by the design this dates back to 1604 and is in fact a penny of King James the first.

People around nod, some impressed, some trying to look smart.

Expert: Which is impressive as it narrows it to a two year period. Because as you probably know, James was killed in an explosion at the state opening of parliament and his daughter, who then became Elizabeth the Second, ascended to the throne and as we know, returning Catholicism to the country.

Owner: So its quite rare

Expert: Few were minted during his rain and even less survive. Many of them being destroyed following his death. So its impressive to see one here. With the right interested parties this could go for several hundred pounds. The others for anywhere from twenty to fifty pounds each.

Owner: Wow, thats incredible.

The crowd nod as well, some of them whispering to each other

Owner: Certainly, um, something to consider.
 
Owner: I was just looking through my granather's attic and found this.

camera zooms in and sees a button labeled "Hoover '32!"

Expert: this is very interesting. Few of these survive, and the ones that do are rarely in this condition. For those of you don't know, after after the crash of '29, the original republican candidate to challenge John Nance Garner was Herbert Hoover. However, at a campaign stop in Savannah, a man by the name of Hal Clark pulled out a gun and shot him. After the Hoover Asassination, then Fiorello LaGuardia became the GOP candidate, and went on to beat Garner in a landslide due to the sour economy.

Owner: So how much would this be worth?

Expert: Only a few thousand were made, all of steel or aluminum. The Hoover Asassination only happened a few days after the convention. Most were later melted down during either the Pacific War, starting in 1937, or the European War, which the US joined after the sinking of the Athenia in 1941. over that period of 7 years, nearly all of them were melted down. I'd value this at about 75$

Owner: (gasps in astonishment)

OOC: this would be the American version of Antiques Road Show, on PBS
 
Fairbanks-Morse

Owner: I was working on the reconstruction of an office building, and found these advertising fliers and posters stuffed in a closet.

Camera zooms in on some posters showing late 1940’s diesel locomotives, and in bold letters above the locomotives, “Fairbanks-Morse: The Future of Rail Switching”

Expert: These are very interesting—advertising brochures aimed at the railroads, trying to sell them on the diesel locomotives that the lines experimented with in the 1940’s ad 40’s. These were the last diesel locomotives built for general use, and only a handful survive in railroad museums today. The brochures themselves are very well executed, and they, combined with a good sales staff, sold the entire run. The locomotives were surprisingly reliable, but the diesel fad was running down. The railroads could build and maintain their own steam locomotives where electrification wasn’t practical, and the atomic power plants meant that electrical locomotives were simply too cost effective for the diesels to last.

Owner: WOW! I rode behind one of these at the North Central Railroad Museum—they’re smelly, but different—brought back some childhood memories. What are they worth?

Expert: The condition is remarkable; this slight tear is not a consideration. Where was the factory?

Owner: I don’t even remember; it might have been in Manchester, NH

Expert: That wouldn’t be surprising; Manchester Locomotive Works was very active there, and still is; they sold off the old office complex back in 1989. This is a remarkable find, and at an auction of railroad memorabilia, the set could bring perhaps $500 at auction, or as much as $1500 to $2000 if several Fairbanks-Morse enthusiasts are present.

Owner, “That’s more than I expected, thank you!”

Expert, “And thanks for bringing these by. They’re an excellent reminder of the diesel experiment.”

<American version>
 
The camera pans across two paintings. One is a small watercolour of a neoclassical building, the other a much larger oil painting featuring a lot of regal looking people in a grand room.

Expert: I see you've brought in this absolutely lovely pair of paintings, can you tell me how you got them?
Owner: I had just bought a new house, and these were stashed in the attic.
Expert: My word! Even the big one
Owner: Yes. It was rather difficult to get out I can tell you.
Expert: Well, if we start with the small one, this is a 1920s watercolour of the Vienna Staatopern of the Austrian regressive school. There is a signature, if you look there.
Owner: Yes, I'd noticed it but didn't recognise the name.
Expert: Well, I've looked up this Mr. A Hitler, but he appears to be a very minor artist of the school, not one of the better ones there.
Owner: Oh. OK.
Expert: But if we look at this one here, well, this is an absolute star. This is a painting by the French artist Jean-Paul Laurens, one of his last. This is a depiction of the signing of the Treaties of Stockholm in 1918, the number of important figures is simply astonishing, there is the young Tsar Alexis II of Russia, there the Kaiser of Germany, there King George V, there the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, and there the President of France. This work we know was commisioned by the French government to commemorate the event, but it was apparently never delivered due to the artists' unfortunate death very soon after painting it. It was thought lost, with only a single monochrome lithograph of it in a half-finished state existing.
Owner: Wow.
Expert: Indeed. This is undoubtedly a national treasure. To go on to pricing, the watercolour is worth perhaps £100 to £200. This, on the otherhand is undoubtedly worth upwards of £100,000.
Owner: Really? Wow!

There is excited babble from the crowds behind them.
 
The camera pans across a movie poster featuring a familiar-looking starship model...

Expert: Well, something different for a change, I'm afraid I can't read Japanese, but... that's one of the early Star Trek movies, isn't it?

Owner: Indeed, actually it's the very first one, I found it in a garage sale 5 years ago, and as you can see it has an autograph here, near the bottom...

Expert: Let's see... Gene.. Roddenberry, that makes things more interesting, Roddenberry supposedly washed his hands of Star Trek when Toho snapped up the thing, but there were always rumors that the separation wasn't as drastic and bitter as he latter claimed...

Owner: Yes, well, you know what they say, things could have been worked out for him if he hadn't been so possessive and demanding in his position.

Expert: Well, you have to try to see things from his viewpoint too, first that crazy string of failed deals before the new owners stepped in, and then having to live with being just a "consultant" while others took over.

Owner: True, but remember, before Toho came along, it was just a concept and a very short tv series, ready to be sold for a song, Gene started things but it were the movies that made the "thing", now everyone recognizes this *points at starship*, all over the world.

Expert: Yes, but a lot of people seem to forget that it all started right here in the US, anyway, it could fetch a very nice price indeed, but it all hinges on being able to authenticate that autograph...
 
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