RECUT: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Part 1

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: It's a bounty of riches when "Antiques Roadshow Recut" visits the incredible Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library.

That's why I come to the Roadshow.

I wanted to learn something.

My mother would be really thrilled with what you just said.

Yeah.

(both laughing) ♪ ♪ PEÑA: Winterthur is truly a great country estate.

Nearly 1,000 acres in Brandywine Valley, Delaware, the property is simply spectacular, with rolling meadows, woodlands, and naturalistic gardens-- and, of course, one of the top collections of American decorative art in the country, from the colonial period up to the mid-1800s.

Founder Henry Francis du Pont was passionate about sharing these amazing treasures with the public.

And decades after his death in 1969, the nonprofit Winterthur Museum continues to draw American history buffs and antiques lovers alike.

♪ ♪ My grandmother's mother brought it from Sweden with her when she came to United States.

My dad gave it to me.

He bought outside of Madison Square Garden in 1981.

This is a great one, great tour shirt.

And then we've got all the tour cities and dates on the back.

Realistically, at auction, it's around 300 bucks.

Oh, wow, wonderful.

(laughs) I bought this at a, an auction, a charity auction, in, uh, the late '80s, early '90s, and this one was, uh, also in a charity auction about five years ago.

I know I paid $500 for this.

I'm not sure about that, but I would guess about $1,500.

What drew you to these?

Well, when I was 11, my grandmother took me to the first film showing of "The King and I," and I fell in love with the American musical.

And so, I've always been interested in acquiring part of its history, and, uh, these are sort of iconic pieces.

What we have here next to me is a costume sketch by Irene Sharaff of Chita Rivera, who portrayed Anita, both in the 1957 "West Side Story" Broadway debut and the West End debut of the play in London.

And your side, we have, obviously, Carol Channing, in probably her most famous role, from the 1964 original production of "Hello, Dolly!"

And this one's by Freddy Wittop.

These are pretty great productions to have pieces from, because obviously, they're both award-winning.

This one was done by Irene Sharaff, a very famous costume designer.

She was nominated for best costume design on this, but didn't win.

And that one, Freddy Wittop, he actually did win the award for best costume design for "Hello, Dolly!"

"Hello, Dolly!"

won ten of their 11 Tony nominations, which actually was a record that held for 37 years.

So, this is really one of the most famous musicals, I think, also having Academy Award- winning film made out of it, and this role really was Carol Channing.

Yes.

She not only did the original production in '64, she did a 1995 revival, which is extraordinary, all those years later.

She was still able to carry that show.

And sadly, we obviously lost her in January of 2019.

Right.

The "West Side Story" piece in front of me, we see that Chita Rivera has signed the mat, and she's signed below this depiction of herself in her two primary costumes from the musical.

The "West Side Story" piece is a gouache and ink on board.

The Carol Channing is actually framed so that we can't see the edges to tell if that's board or paper.

But it is also gouache.

Each of these are signed by the costume designer.

Sharaff has signed it and then also listed the name of the production, and listed "America," because these are the costumes that she would have worn during that most famous number.

And the Carol Channing is also signed by the costume designer.

And it's actually signed in paint.

When you brought them up, the first thing I think about with value is, in the marketplace, we generally don't see many Broadway pieces as compared to Hollywood pieces, the film costumes.

And they traditionally don't sell as well as the film costume sketches for these very famous roles.

But, when you look at these, you have to look at who is portrayed, what's the production, is it the original production, what's the character, how visually desirable are they.

And both of these tick every single box you could possibly hope to tick, because they're both really important shows.

They're both visually appealing.

I think your, your Carol Channing is probably the most visually impactful here.

A lot of times, when there are charity auctions, the whole point is actually to overpay for things.

Right.

You're there to support a charity.

It's a little bit of a good news, bad news on this.

This one, you probably paid closer to what it is worth now.

But years ago, when you, when you bought it back then, you probably overpaid for it just a little bit.

Now it probably has caught up to where you're at, and the auction estimate would probably be $2,000 to $3,000.

Mm-hmm.

On the Carol Channing, I'm very conservative in this, because I think the fact that she just passed away, I anticipate that the market for her is about to shift, and I would expect there'll be more pieces of hers in the market, and so we'll have more data to go by.

Right now, I would conservatively estimate it at $2,000 to $3,000, as well.

But I expect that that would do better if it came up, because it's just such a great, striking piece.

That's great.

But I really didn't buy them as an investment, I bought them because I like the work.

♪ ♪ I found them at a flea market in Delaware.

They were five bucks apiece.

I'm really into antiques.

So, anything that's really unusual usually just sparks my interest, so...

So we have to separate the sentiment and family connection from this and look at it coldly, as a portrait of a pensive, middle-aged woman from the mid-19th century.

So, in an auction situation, this could bring, like, just a few hundred dollars, yeah.

Yeah, that's fine, she's not going anywhere.

She's staying in my home.

I got it from an auction in New Jersey.

I paid, I think, probably $15 to $20.

So, let me tell you about it.

Okay.

You know it's an inkwell, right?

Yes.

The top comes off.

It's all there.

Right, okay.

Uh, how old you think it is?

Since I'm 67, it must be older than I am.

It is older than you.

But it's...

It must be-- maybe a little bit older than me?

It's quite a bit older than you.

I would say... Did I just tell you my age?

You did.

Good grief.

Only to a few million people on camera.

Okay-- oh, my God, I have...

Okay.

But it's quite a bit older than you.

All right.

It'd be older than your grandmother, older than your great-grandmother, and maybe older than your great-great-grandmother.

Because this was made about 1850, 1860, something like that.

It was made in, uh, Germany.

And what I love about it is this guy here.

He's, like, a huntsman, and he's killed this deer.

And here he is rewarding his dog.

The whole thing is so lively, you know?

It's just fabulous.

Here you got something that's 160 years old.

It's perfect.

Are you kidding?

It's never been chipped, damaged, the two little pieces inside are there.

We should all be so lucky, right?

To be this old and in this good condition.

Yes, yes, that would be great.

Today, this is a collectible little piece.

It's not a, you're not going to retire on it, but you got $150, $250 here.

You serious?

Beautiful, beautiful.

Really?

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Oh, my God!

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The du Pont family's fortune in America came from making gunpowder in the early 19th century, and multiplied after the DuPont Company got into manufacturing chemicals in the early 1900s.

This wealth allowed H.F. du Pont to develop and fulfill his vision of creating a monumental museum dedicated to American decorative arts.

♪ ♪ MAN: I brought a box that my father's cousin gave me.

They went to Asia to live in 1915 and stayed there until '36.

In '54, when I got married, I lived in Harrington.

Anne, she would call me to do her handyman work.

And I never charged her anything.

And she gave me this in 1960.

And she died the next year, so I know nothing about it.

And she said, "It's not cheap.

It's a, it's valuable."

What do you think it is?

I thought it was a ivory box, it...

The easy leap of faith is to say it might have been made in Asia.

That's my thoughts.

Yeah.

It was full of shells.

She told me she walked the coastline and picked up the shells and put them in there.

Okay.

So wherever they was living, they were close to water.

Okay, well, what we have, what you're looking at, is a scrimshawed, whalebone New England sailor's ditty box-- they call them ditty boxes.

Okay.

Ditty box.

Yeah, because the sailors put personal, small personal items in there.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

And this is really a beautiful one.

Mm-hmm.

You can see these wonderful floral arrangements.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

There's a small scene there.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

A memorial scene.

See this wonderful construction with the fingers?

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

And how they're put together with these beautiful little nails?

And it's fully decorated.

Yeah.

So, this would have been made by a sailor, probably off a whaling ship, somewhere around 1830, 1840.

Oh, yeah?

Things move around the world.

Oh, yeah.

Whalers moved around the world.

Oh, yes.

So, we were whaling all over the world, and I can't rule it out, but for cataloguing it, it's not logical to say that this was made and left in Asia, and your relatives picked it up.

Mm-hmm, right, I have no idea.

(murmurs) Yeah, I, I would think they purchased it either before or after they returned.

It has a beautiful lid, and they're trying to show this wonderful exotic wood, which is mahogany.

Uh-huh, I thought it was.

And then you turn it over, and you see the thin layer of whale bone.

Mm-hmm.

Of whale bone.

Now, this was not easy to make.

This came from the jawbone of a sperm whale.

Okay.

And it's called the pan bone, P-A-N. And they had tools for actually cutting the pan bone into thin strips.

Mm-hmm.

They would then steam the strips, and they became more pliable.

Yeah.

And they were able to bend them around a form and then nail them very fastidiously... Yeah, yeah.

...and form these boxes.

These are very highly sought-after, and this is a very, very good one.

There are parts of it that could be better.

But in terms of this particular box, in today's market, which has been a little challenged, I would feel very comfortable putting a retail valuation of $6,000 to $8,000.

Oh, wow.

I had no idea.

That's why I brought it.

I, as I say, I got it in '60, and I knew nothing about it.

So I, that's why I come to the Roadshow.

I wanted to learn something.

♪ ♪ I brought a Babe Ruth watch fob.

1937, this is my brother and I at Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Mm-hmm.

And we were wearing-- now the watch is gone, the strap is gone, but Babe Ruth is still there.

And today?

I have no idea.

It's worth $200 to $300.

Oh, oh.

Well, that'll keep me in oatmeal and tobacco.

♪ ♪ Hi!

Hi!

WOMAN: My grandfather gave it to my grandmother.

I know that had to be prior to 1930.

It's been in a box for a lot of years.

APPRAISER: Wow.

A lot of years.

So, it's signed Tiffany.

So, that's a good thing.

That is.

We like that.

I like that, too.

All right, so it's a pavé diamond heart.

It's about as classic as jewelry gets in this period, 1915, 1920s.

The European-cut diamonds is set very closely together.

With pavé, one prong is actually touching three stones, so you don't see a lot of metal.

You see a lot of diamonds.

And we like that.

Right.

If you also look from the edge... Mm-hmm.

...you'll see that the diamonds are set in platinum.

Ah.

And the bottom is set in 18-karat yellow gold.

Oh, wow.

It was a beautiful technique.

You see in the back, you have all this beautiful azure cutting that you don't even see, but it allows light to come into the back of the diamonds.

Mm, mm.

There's approximately six carats of diamonds.

Oh, oh.

And then you have the fact that it's Tiffany.

Right.

I would say at auction, any day of the week... Mm-hmm.

...$6,000 to $8,000.

Wow, you're kidding.

(laughing): Oh, my gosh.

It's been sitting in a box.

(laughs) Well, thank you, that's great.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Ruth Wales du Pont's affectionate nickname for her husband, Harry, was "Squirrel," appropriate for one who was such a voracious collector.

It's a British uniform from the Revolutionary War period, 1780s.

And it was something my father found in England when he was walking down the street, and he saw a woman cleaning a glass with this.

And he said, "What's that?"

And the woman said, "The mistress of the house "told me I can use any rags that I want... Huh.

...to, uh, clean."

So my father said, "Let me see the rag box," and there was this, and clothes inside it, and this red coat.

And he spoke to the mistress of the house, and he gave her five pounds, which is about $15.

For the whole... About $15 for the whole lot?

The whole lot.

This is in 1955.

(laughing): Right, right, right.

Well, it's, it's too bad that she cut the leg off of the breeches to use to clean the window.

But that saved the rest of it.

It saved the rest of the stuff that you got, including this wonderful regimental coat.

Um, it's an officer's coat from the 125th Regiment.

Now, that regiment was only in existence for two years.

Really?

1794 to 1796.

Ah.

Yup.

Now, we can tell it's an officer's coat for a few reasons.

It's got gilt lace.

Yes, silver.

It was actually gold; it's faded.

Oh.

Yeah, it was actually-- there's brass buttons, um, so it would have been, uh, gold lace.

Um, we've got this wonderful fitted sleeve right here.

Got the cuff with paired loops or paired lace-- two here and two here.

And if we spin it around... You can see the detail of the false pockets here.

These are all non-functional.

Oh!

They're just for looks.

And down here, we can see Stanford Regiment, which, this is the, uh, uh, the logo for the, uh, 125th Regiment of Foot.

Oh!

It's a great piece, great piece.

The condition is awesome.

The other thing is, is, you can tell it's an officer's coat, uh, because of the color.

The color is scarlet.

Enlisted men would have had a brick or madder red coat.

Ah, that's why it's so red.

Exactly, exactly.

So have you ever had it appraised before?

No, never.

So, unfortunately, with the, uh, damage to the breeches, with the leg being cut off, um, it does affect the value, and they don't...

They aren't really worth anything, unlike the coat.

We would put a conservative auction estimate in today's market between $7,000 and $9,000 for the coat.

I'm gobsmacked.

(laughs) Yeah, it's, it's, it's a great piece.

Whoa.

Like I said, the condition is just wonderful on it.

I knew it was in good condition.

Yeah, for, for surviving that long, it's just amazing.

♪ ♪ MAN: Well, I inherited this painting from my parents.

My mother wanted to give my father a gift that he would really love, and he loved reading to his children books that had illustrations.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

And this is one of the illustrations.

She knew how much he would love to get one of those, so she decided that she needed to make this a secret.

So what she did was, she saved five dollars from her food money every week for probably two years.

Oh, wow, that's amazing.

And didn't tell him this.

Right.

And then it was either his birthday or their anniversary, gave him a card that said, "You can go down to the Schoonover Studios and pick out a painting."

Oh, that's... And he was elated, to say the least.

Oh, how exciting.

And so we went down as four kids and a mom and dad, and we chose a painting.

Oh, terrific.

What I remember-- this would have been in the early '60s, early to mid-'60s, I'll say... Mm-hmm, okay.

...dark wooden floors, paint, I think there were big windows at one end.

Mm-hmm.

And there was partially completed canvases here.

There was, you know, old, probably, I'll say, discarded ones there.

And you know, then there was...

There was sort of stacks of them.

Mm-hmm.

This is the one with a clipper ship, which he thought was extraordinary.

Great.

And then this galleon, and, I don't know, he just...

He settled on that one, and we all, of course, were thrilled.

Oh, that's great.

And we literally loaded it into the car.

And so it's been in your family ever since.

Ever since.

And the title of the painting is...?

"Privateers of '76."

Right.

The story was written by an author named Ralph D. Paine, who apparently wrote several books in the early 20th century, and a lot of them relating to history.

On the back we have the inventory number for the painting, which is number 1248.

Mm-hmm.

There is a label, which actually is handwritten, and maybe by Schoonover himself, that says that it's from chapter 13.

The title of the illustration is: "At A Hail From the Boat, He Went to the Rail."

At the hail of the boat, meaning the one below, the figure on top comes to the rail.

Now, Schoonover, uh, of course, is one of the premier artists of the Brandywine School, and he studied with Howard Pyle...

Yes!

...who's considered the father of the school...

Yes.

...um, at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia.

Oh, I didn't know that.

And Schoonover was very good at, at wanting to get to reality.

So not only did he go out west, but he also went down to the bayous in Mississippi to sort of get a sense of how the pirates would have lived in that environment.

He had a house in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, in Pike County, which is in the Poconos.

Mm-hmm.

And he would spend his summers there.

But he used the landscape of that area in, in many of his paintings.

You know, I think that the card that Mr. Schoonover gave my parents when they purchased this said that it was painted in Bushkill-- is that what it's called?

Yes, Bushkill, Pennsylvania.

Yes, yeah.

And certainly he was very popular, um, especially in the early part of the 20th century, because he illustrated such classic books as "Robinson Crusoe"... Mm.

..."Swiss Family Robinson," and he did a whole series of books for, um, uh, on Zane Grey, uh, Western novels.

Oh, really?

Oh, my gosh.

So, he was quite into it, as well as magazine illustrations.

Mm.

He was born in 1877 and he actually lived till 1972.

So he was primarily painting in the early 20th century, and really, I think, up until he passed away.

The painting, of course, is oil on canvas, and it looks like the original frame.

This painting is dated in the lower right, '23, 1923, and that's when the novel was first published.

Mm.

He is popular as an illustrator nationwide.

If this were in a gallery, I think that it would sell in the range of, uh, $125,000.

(laughs) I know you're kidding me.

No, I'm not kidding you.

(laughs) It's a wonderful... (voice breaking): Really?

Yes.

Really?

It's a wonderful painting.

(inhales, exhales deeply) My father would be so thrilled to know that people were being turned on to illustrations.

Yeah.

And my mother would be really thrilled at what you just said.

Yeah.

(both laughing) Well, it means that her investment was a good one.

Oh, yes!

Oh, yes!

(laughs) (quietly): Wow.

There's a big surge of interest in illustration.

Well, I love this painting.

Yeah.

I love this painting.

PEÑA: You're watching "Antiques PEÑA: And now it's time for the "Roadshow" Feedback Booth.

We found out that this little cute duck, um, is made of walrus tusk, and it was very exciting because I've always loved the Roadshow.

I started watching it on "Arthur" when they had a crossover episode, and now being here with my mom is so exciting for this day, so, thank you so much.

Thank you!

And I brought these French prints.

They're Victorian, apparently.

And if they were from, if I was from Bel Air, they would be the French Prints of Bel Air.

Story has it that my grandmother was an underwear model in New York City, and she'd carry her necessaire everywhere.

Worth $50 to $100.

Thanks, thanks, "Antique Roadshow."

I was feeling like, uh, my vintage cat lamp wouldn't be worth much, but the appraiser said it was worth anywhere from $100 to $150.

I only paid five dollars for it, so I'm pretty happy right meow.

And it's been a good time at the Roadshow.

I found out today that my President Kennedy inauguration invitation is worth $400.

Kevin pulls me out of line and looks at my necklace, and says... (gasps): "Cartier!

Rubies!"

And then he says, "Glass, gold-plated," but it's worth $500.

We had the best time here at the Roadshow.

Roadshow.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow Recut."