A 1940s metal and leather baseball umpire's mask — which, to modern eyes, looked like something a villain would wear in a superhero movie — was valued at between $50 and $75.

A Mickey Mantle baseball bat, a relic from the New York Yankee great's reign, was worth somewhere between $150 and $250.

But their owner, one of the 3,000 people at Thursday's "Antiques Roadshow" appraisal event at Meadow Brook Hall, wasn't in the market to sell. These items, handed down from his father, who managed a minor-league team, were staying in the family.

"I want to pass them on to my sons, and they're going to pass them on to their sons," said Jim from Mt. Pleasant (the show's policy is to withhold last names to protect the privacy of those bearing potential valuables).

Rochester was the final stop of the 2018 tour for the popular PBS series, which already has visited Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky and California.

For the first time, the national tour is stopping solely at historic landmarks like Meadow Brook Hall, the elaborate 1920s mansion built by Matilda Dodge Wilson.

"Antiques Roadshow," which is produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, gave away 1,850 pairs of tickets in advance of the Rochester Hills event. Each ticket holder was allowed to bring two items for a verbal appraisal. 

A small army of volunteers and staffers kept things running smoothly Thursday as shuttle bus after shuttle bus arrived with people who had received the 1,850 pairs of free tickets given out for the event.

About 65 appraisers  covering 20 categories from toys to paintings to collectibles were on hand to examine an estimated 6,000 items over the course of one very long, very organized day that started at 7 a.m. and wrapped up in the early evening.

The process began with an initial triage evaluation to sort objects by category. Then came the promised appraisals, held inside tents scattered across the Meadow Brook Hall grounds.

At that point, a lucky number of visitors were selected for a meeting with an expert that was recorded for potential broadcast. About 150 such vignettes on items — usually those that are rare or historical or those with a great backstory — are shot at each tour stop, and roughly 30 are aired per "Antiques Roadshow" episode.

This was the fourth stop in Michigan since 1996 for the series and the third in Detroit and surrounding suburbs. The show's most recent stop was in 2013 at Cobo Center.

"We've never had a bad visit here," said  "Antiques Roadshow" executive producer Marsha Bemko.

Among the intriguing items Bemko spotted Thursday were a colorful, painted trunk that most probably belonged to legendary Motown group the Temptations (appraised Thursday at $2,000 to $3,000) and a signed Jimmy Hoffa autobiography that came with an intriguing tale about the long-vanished labor leader.

According to Bemko, the story goes that the owner's mother was a friend of Jimmy Hoffa's wife. She heard from Mrs. Hoffa that some men had visited and told her she didn't have to wait to hold a funeral for her missing husband, because he had already had been cremated.

"So maybe breaking news at 'Roadshow'!" said Bemko.


By the end of the day, some of the most valuable pieces included a sweater and spikes from approximately 1920 that belonged to New York Yankee (and one-season Detroit Tiger) Wally Pipp. It was appraised at  a $77,500 insurance value.

A Civil War presentation sword and portrait was judged to have an estimated auction value of $40,000 to $60,000. For an 1890s oil painting by Dutch artist Louis Apol, it was $30,000 to $40,000.

The range of items demonstrated just how far-reaching and eclectic the definition of "antique" is.  Along with intricate rugs and large oil paintings, there was a ceramic version of a little pitcher with big ears and a 1970s propaganda poster of  China's communist regime leaders, including Chairman Mao, surrounded by flowers, doves and happy children.

A woman from Troy named Lorie wheeled along a child's bicycle from the late 1800s. It had one giant wheel nearly 4 feet tall and one tiny wheel for balance.

"My grandfather bought it when he came over from Germany. That's all I really know about it," she explained. "The only person we've ever had ride it was my son when he was 7. My husband and I ran alongside him because falling off this bike wouldn't be the same as a regular bike."

Although some items were purchased at stores or garage sales, many were family heirlooms that evoked happy memories and a sense of place.

"The meaning, that's the interesting part," says Jasmani Francis, an appraiser from Chicago who, like all of the show's experts, volunteered to be there and paid his own expenses for the trip.

Monetary worth is whatever the market will pay. But according to Francis, "A lot of our guests, what it means to them (is what's important): 'Grandma had it, so I kept it.' "

Bemko agreed. "They care very deeply about what they're bringing us. They're very tied to these things. They have stories to tell us. The stories make them come alive for us."

The 23rd season of the series kicks off in January 2019 and will air locally on Detroit Public TV (Channel 56). The exact dates of the three metro Detroit episodes will be announced later.



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