I want to know if there's a story before the story that I have.

CORAL PEÑA: This season, "Antiques Roadshow" appraisers left the traditional "Roadshow" set and brought their expertise to the homes of some very special people.

PRODUCER: Everybody ready?

PEÑA: These collectors are experts in their own right, in drawing.

Humor.

Food.

And music.

But does their expertise include antiquing?

We all wonder what celebrities are like.

Well, they're just like us.

They buy what they like, they keep what's important to them, and they don't always know what they have.

That's a lot more than I would have imagined.

(laughs) PEÑA: Like with any "Roadshow" guest, they had questions for us.

So they went down in price?

PEÑA: And we had questions for them.

What were you thinking?

PEÑA: What did everyone learn?

Find out now, in this hour of "Antiques Roadshow: Celebrity Edition."

I can't wait to see what this does.

(laughs) (shrieks) ♪ ♪ PEÑA: In this episode, "Roadshow" experts uncover the cherished treasures of chef Carla Hall, author Marc Brown, humorist John Hodgman, and married performers Rubén Blades and Luba Mason.

Unlike a typical "Antiques Roadshow," instead of the owners coming to us, we're going to them.

Our appraisers traveled near and far to divulge details these special collectors don't know about some of their favorite possessions.

Our first stop, Carla Hall's Washington, D.C., home, where her treasures include prized family heirlooms.

My name is Carla Hall, and I'm a chef, TV host, and cookbook author.

PEÑA: Carla has brought her energy and good taste to a number of shows, including "The Chew" and "Worst Cooks in America."

We're gonna cut our mushrooms, cutting them evenly so they cook evenly.

And a lot of people know me from "Top Chef."

Hootie hoo!

(laughing) You know, I've been watching this show for so long.

So, from the "Roadshow" experts, um, I want to know a little more history about the things that we have.

I want to know if there's a story before the story that I have.

I know that a lot of our items have, um, personal value, but I never think about monetary value.

That would be actually kind of fun to find that out.

PEÑA: Carla and her mom, Audrey, share some family memories of what got passed down through the generations.

AUDREY: My father was a collector, I would say.

He was one that was a saver, you know.

I'm a saver.

(laughs) And it, and it's a good thing.

Save your money, and, uh, that kind of...

Okay, maybe I'm not that kind of a saver.

(both laughing) I picked up the stuff-saving.

Maybe not the money-saving.

(laughs) But, you know, I got half of it.

PEÑA: "Roadshow" expert Reid Dunavant drops by Carla's home to check out some family furniture that's been used by three generations.

CARLA: This table was in my grandmother's house for as long as we can remember.

And I just remember this table having little trinkets and a nightlight.

And then when she passed away, my sister got it.

What about the high chair?

The high chair usually sat in the den.

When was your mama born?

1908.

1908, okay.

Mm-hmm.

You think that might have been her chair?

That's a possibility.

Yeah?

What you've got is two examples of late 19th-early 20th century manufactured furniture.

They both date from the similar time period, from the 1880s... 1880s... ...up until about the 1920s.

Oh, my.

Each of them is about that, could fall into that category.

What?!

Oh, my goodness.

There's a label inside the table drawer.

It says "Wolverine Manufacturing Company, Detroit, Michigan."

Look at us!

Look at you!

My!

And, your table has a leg on it, which we call the barley twist leg.

There was a type of candy... Oh!

...in the 19th century called barley sugar.

This twisted piece of candy resembles the leg, and so that's where the "barley twist" name comes from.

AUDREY: Okay.

Look at that!

(laughs) Oh, my-- that's exactly why we kept this table.

Because it's food-related.

Because it's food-related.

Your chair has a pressed back.

CARLA: Mm-hmm.

And by a pressed back, you might look at that and think that that's all hand-carved, but it's not.

Oh!

It's actually, a template is made on a roller die, which is, with great pressure, rolled onto the piece of wood to impress it with that decoration to make it look like it's carved by hand, but it's actually not.

Right!

Looking at it, it looks like yours is a convertible high chair.

Have you ever tried to play around with it to see if it does anything else?

No!

Uh-uh!

If you were to see either one of these come up for auction, I think you could see either piece bring perhaps as little as $100, but they could bring upwards of $300, maybe even $400 apiece.

Wow.

Depending on who is, the makeup in the audience that day.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

I can't wait to see what this does.

I think that's the... Oh, yeah.

That's the biggest question mark.

Right!

Like, how many things...

This is like a Transformer.

What does it transform into?

Like a Transformer, yeah.

It has wheels on it, so it must do something.

(cries out) (laughing) (shrieks) (Carla shrieking, Dunavant laughing) Oh, my gosh!

I see!

I can't believe y'all didn't know that.

I taught you something today.

Oh, you taught... Yeah!

Oh, my gosh!

Well, that, you know, that makes sense.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The surprises don't end there for Carla.

Coming up, Reid dishes on her kitchen-related objects.

And vintage clothing expert Katy Kane serves up some fun facts about Carla's more stylish pieces.

Who knew?

PEÑA: But first, a visit with everyone's favorite aardvark.

Tucked away on a Massachusetts island is the home of a beloved American children's author, the father of public television's most famous eight-year-old.

Hi, I'm Marc Brown, the creator of "Arthur," and I'm welcoming you to where I live here on Martha's Vineyard.

This building is where I live and work.

It was an old sheep barn.

♪ ♪ Come on in.

So every morning, about 7:00, I come out here and start working.

And sometimes, if I'm working on something I really love, I forget to have lunch.

♪ ♪ I have been writing "Arthur" books for, uh, 44 years now, and I never imagined myself as an author.

I had a young son, who liked bedtime stories, and I... One night, I told him a story about an aardvark, and he liked it.

PEÑA: He wasn't the only one.

"Arthur's Nose" was published in 1976, and 22 picture books and 20 years later, PBS aired the very first episode of "Arthur."

Hey!

Whoa!

(Arthur grunts) I have the best job in the world.

Kids are my boss.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: It may be the best job, but there is a downside to a lifetime of illustrating.

What do I do with all this artwork?

I don't know where to store it any longer.

Where does this all go?

There's a lot of art here, and I'm really interested to talk with Colleene about what its value is and what I can do with it.

PEÑA: "Roadshow" appraiser Colleene Fesko sits down with Marc for a cold drink and to offer her opinion on the value of his artwork.

So where did you meet Arthur?

(laughs) I met him in third grade, when I was in third grade.

I am Arthur.

(laughs) No, I won't believe that!

(both laughing) Everyone in my family and my life in third grade became characters in these stories and books.

I used to get in trouble in third grade, fourth grade, for daydreaming and doodling.

And now it's my life.

(laughing) So, take that, Miss Mansfield!

(laughs) So let me get this straight.

You've written over 130 books and it will be 80 "Arthur" books.

And, in the studio, how many pieces do you think you have?

You know, I have never counted.

Well over a thousand, for sure.

More.

More than... (laughing) Thousands.

How do I find a value?

I know there'll be gradations of things and what they're worth, but what is a good starting point?

Well, the good pieces-- which to you and I may be the most wonderful pieces, because they show your process... Mm-hmm.

...and the early creativity of the pieces-- are generally smaller works that would be working examples of, of later pieces.

Mm-hmm.

They would be the drawings, they would be the graphite.

They would be...

So I shouldn't throw those away.

Oh, my gosh, no!

And you should sign them, too!

Well, sometimes I do.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Those pieces would have a value based on current auction values of probably between $500 and $1,000.

Wow.

Okay.

I'm gonna run to my wastebasket right now.

Right now!

The middle range is, is harder to discuss, because it's very vast.

Some pieces will be important, even though they're not finished, because they're seminal examples of something in "Arthur" or in one of the other books that you've done.

BROWN: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

So that's a, that's a very... Wishy-washy area.

It's a squishy area.

Somewhere in the middle.

Somewhere in the middle that would be between, I would say, $3,000 and $5,000.

Mm-hmm.

And then what we're using as the best is a piece of yours that sold at auction.

And that was a very elaborate watercolor of "Arthur's Christmas."

Mm-hmm.

Uh, that sold for $7,800 at auction.

But there would be pieces that would be better than that.

There would be pieces that would be much better than that.

So we're working on a scale of maybe $500 to $10,000.

But it's very fluid.

Yeah, I understand.

And, um... And I think I have an instinct about which, which pieces are better.

Sure, absolutely.

PEÑA: Do Marc's instincts apply only to his illustrations?

Later on, appraiser Allan Katz will evaluate some of Marc's pricey folk art purchases, and attempt to resolve one big mystery.

Next up is another antiques-loving writer and comedian who spends his time just a bit farther up the East Coast.

We are in the state of Maine, in an unnamed coastal town.

You can figure it out.

It's going to be very easy for you to figure it out.

I don't know why I'm doing this to you.

PEÑA: For the first time ever, "Antiques Roadshow" visits the Pine Tree State.

Though John won't say exactly where, we know for him, it has great significance.

My name is John Hodgman.

I am a writer, performer, sometimes actor, incredibly minor television personality, and I am standing in a dinghy shed in Maine.

I never chose to go to Maine.

Much as my then girlfriend, now wife, instructed me to move to New York, she then instructed me to start going to Maine, because she grew up visiting here.

♪ ♪ In the summertime, when it's really hot, and the tide is high like this, we will jump off here and go swimming.

It's very picturesque.

Very, very painful.

Because the water of Maine, even in the summertime, is made of hate.

There are places you can go on vacation that are warm and comfortable and welcoming.

But Maine has pleasures that you have to sort of earn through endured pain.

Because I have endured it, I've come to really love it.

PEÑA: While finding success early on as a correspondent for "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," and as the PC to Justin Long's Mac in Apple's Mac versus PC commercials, John's passion has always been for writing.

I really wanted to write short fiction, because that's where the money is.

I mean, just, everybody loves short stories.

So much money.

I mean, the only thing that makes more money is poetry, but that's just not where I'm at.

Moving into the mid-2010s, I laid down my fake facts and started telling true stories from my actual life in a book called "Vacationland" and then "Medallion Status."

A lot of stories about this place without identifying where I am.

I don't know that I have collections so much as little hoards of things, of shiny objects, that have caught my eye, like a magpie would hide in a nest.

Anything that just feels, like, odd or oddball.

I'm not looking for value.

I'm looking for a story.

And, you know, look, if one of these Little Blue Books is worth $2 million, I'll fall on the floor-- for sure.

But I don't-- you know what?

I was gonna say, "But I don't think I'd sell it," but I'll sell it.

If it's worth $2 million, anyone can buy it.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: "Roadshow" appraiser Ken Gloss met up with John at a recently restored historic building nearby to evaluate his collection of book-related material.

These are some of-- I wouldn't call it my collection-- my stash or hoard of Little Blue Books.

The first one I ever gotten, introduced me to the series, was this one: "How to Prepare Manuscripts."

My mom gave this to me back when I was working in book publishing.

Because she knew that what I really wanted to be doing was writing and not selling other people's books.

I had never heard of the Little Blue Books.

I amassed as many as I could.

I just find them to be hilarious.

You have four other little books here that are not part of the series.

After I became fascinated with these little instructional pamphlets, I started a kind of literary humor reading series in New York City, in Brooklyn.

We called the series the Little Gray Book Lectures.

I would invite friends of mine who were up-and-coming writers or humorists or musicians to present little presentations on whatever the topic might be.

One of the purposes of the Little Blue Books were to inspire people to read.

It started in 1919.

At the time, the cost of a regular book in a bookstore was a dollar, dollar and a half.

The Little Blue Books started out at a quarter, then a dime.

The large, large majority, they got them down to a nickel.

So almost...

So, they went down in price.

They went down in price.

Over time.

The publications and the amount went up and up and up.

About 1,500 words, 64 pages, on cheap paper.

The total is close to 2,000 titles of the Little Blue Book.

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Almost every "Antiques Roadshow," there are people who come in with a box of these.

We've never really gotten to get one on TV, and I've always wanted to talk about them.

Oh, great.

So thank you very much.

What did you pay for them?

Very, very little money.

A buck or two.

Sometimes I would get a lot of ten or 15 for, you know, $10, $20.

I mean, it was very clear that these were mass-produced.

For me, as someone who has always had vast interests across many, many different subject matters, to, you know, veer from "How to Make Money in Wall Street" to "Side-Show Tricks Explained," I was just, I loved it.

Well, how about "How I Went to the Devil"?

Part of the thing with the show is saying, "Oh, I got this.

I paid a little, it's worth a lot."

Guess what?

They really aren't valuable.

No!

There are millions and hundreds of millions of them out there.

Yeah.

They don't have great value.

No.

The, dollar, two, or many times, a box for ten dollars.

It's a great series, and it inspired an even greater series.

I spent a lot of great evenings with my friends thanks to these books.

These are much more valuable than those.

Oh.

And what, what's become very popular is zines, and self-publishing, and modern literature.

Individually, these could easily get $15, $20 apiece, and maybe a whole collection would even be more, because how many whole collections can you put together?

Huh.

And as you and the other writers in this become more and more and more famous, the price is just going to go up and up and up and up.

Yeah, so it's 15, 30...

So it's $60?

Yeah, $60.

What do we say, $50?

Okay.

Great, I'll get my credit card reader.

(laughs) PEÑA: John's attempt to strike a deal with Ken doesn't end there.

When we return to Maine, we'll see more of his book-related objects, and how John ends up walking away with some money.

Now over to the Big Apple to learn more about these performers' passion for the arts.

I'm Rubén Blades, Rubén "Blah-dace," also, they call me in Latin America.

I'm Luba Mason, and we are in Chelsea, New York.

PEÑA: Rubén and Luba are both acclaimed musicians and actors.

(singing in Spanish) ♪ When lullabies multiply, I'll be dreaming ♪ PEÑA: Rubén is a nine-time Grammy winner, a master of salsa and Latin jazz, and has a long list of film and television roles, including the post-apocalyptic horror drama "Fear the Walking Dead."

And for over 30 years, Luba has been performing on Broadway, most recently starring in "Girl From the North Country."

While devoting their professional lives to the performing arts, offstage, they enjoy collecting art.

What I look for in a piece of art is something that creates an impact on me.

It catches my eye.

We also look for the hunt, you know, kind of like the diamond in the rough, or go... You know, you're kind of, like, going through some paintings.

They're just, like, stacked on the floor.

Looking for that Monet that somebody forgot.

Yeah.

PEÑA: A long life in show business has inspired Rubén and Luba to acquire art connected to their careers, some of it very personal.

Here to appraise those more special pieces, "Roadshow" expert Alasdair Nichol.

NICHOL: If you're on Broadway, I imagine the greatest accolade you can get is winning a Tony.

And next to that, surely, it's being drawn by Al Hirschfeld.

Yes.

Absolutely.

I had bought this, I was in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," the first revival, with Matthew Broderick.

As soon as I saw the drawing in the paper, I said, "I got to go buy it," and so I did.

This is a lithograph.

Right.

And that's me right there.

I was going to ask.

There you are.

I'm there.

Arms raised aloft.

BLADES: Hedy LaRue.

MASON: Hedy LaRue, and I've got, I think, a couple of Ninas in me, because that was what Hirschfeld was known for, putting his wife's name in the... Well, that was his daughter.

Oh!

It was his daughter Nina-- yeah, yeah.

Oh, there you go.

And then, um, I did Paul Simon's "The Capeman" on Broadway.

And that's where I met this gentleman.

This fellow here?

Yes.

So that worked out quite well.

Yes, it really did.

I bought this maybe about 17 years ago as a gift to Rubén for, I think it was Christmas, I got it for him.

I don't remember when it was, but it surprised the heck out of me, because, um, I thought that Paul would have bought it.

Marc Anthony, I think.

Marc would have bought it.

Or Ednita or Renoly, I mean, somebody.

I thought that was gone, I mean... MASON: Well, that's the original.

I think I went to get this cleaned or something.

I went to the gallery and I said, "Do you by any chance have the 'Capeman' Hirschfeld?"

And I was shocked that they still had the, the original.

BLADES: It was my only Broadway play that I ever worked in; a musical or play.

"The Capeman," and I'm very proud of that.

And I always feel that it was such a wonderful opportunity.

But... And you met me.

I met you.

Best of all.

But also, but also the fact that I got a Hirschfeld drawing, I thought, like, "My God."

You're a legend, yeah.

What an honor.

I know, absolutely.

And this is you here?

Yeah.

I had a little more hair then.

They're just wonderful things.

I mean, he was such an amazing artist.

MASON: Yes.

I mean, they called him The Line King, you know?

And you can-- just the line is amazing, the way it flows.

And the...

They're so characterful.

And it's just, it's great to be immortalized by an artist like Hirschfeld.

So have you ever given any thought to the values?

I mean, you bought them, so you've got some kind of idea.

I think the lithograph was somewhere around $1,200, $1,300.

Something like that.

Sounds about right, yeah.

And the original I really don't quite remember.

I think it was somewhere in the ballpark between like $3,000 and... $3,000 and $5,000?

You couldn't let something like that get away.

No!

I had to get it.

If you had the chance, you have to get it.

I had to get it.

Yes.

Absolutely, yeah.

It seems silly to even talk about values, because these are not things that you're ever going to part with.

No.

Yes, I mean, I guess if I was insuring that now, it would probably be up somewhere north of $10,000.

(gasps): Oh, wow.

You know?

Really?

Yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

I would think so, and, you know, and that one... MASON: Yeah...

I would think if you were paying for one now, retail, it might be $2,000 or so.

It's an edition of, I think, 100.

Yes.

You know, so there's another 99 of them out there.

Well, that's interesting.

PEÑA: Rubén's interests include more than just fine art.

An avid comic collector for many years, he has amassed an archive of thousands of comic books and hundreds of pieces of comic book art.

Later, collectibles expert Leila Dunbar digs into his stash to uncover some of the most coveted comics in the world.

This is the, the ultimate Holy Grail.

PEÑA: Back at Marc Brown's, he shares with us the folk art items that adorn his Martha's Vineyard cottage.

BROWN: I feel very lucky that I've had this wonderful adventure with Arthur, and it's made my life very comfortable.

And it's allowed me to follow some of my passions, which are collecting American folk art, and being able to live with some of these beautiful things every day.

Over the years, we've focused primarily on portraits of children of the early 19th century.

So that's what we really like to surround ourselves with.

PEÑA: "Roadshow" appraiser Allan Katz, a notable authority in the world of folk art collecting, dropped in to see some of Marc's American folk art portraits.

BROWN: This happens to be the very first portrait that we ever bought.

KATZ: Really?

Yeah.

So what year was that?

Uh... 1980-something?

Okay.

We loved her expression.

We loved the patterned floor cloth.

And especially, we loved the way she was fingering that little satin ribbon on her doll.

Yeah.

It made her feel alive to us.

We know it's by Joseph Whiting Stock.

Mm-hmm.

And I've since read a little bit about him, and I know that as a young child, he was working on his farm, and a wagon fell on him and paralyzed him from the waist down.

Yes.

And I also know that he kept really good records of his portraits, although, this we don't think is signed anywhere, so we don't know who she is.

Yeah, I think we can safely attribute it.

It has all the tells of a classic stock child sitting in a painted piece of furniture, this floor cloth.

He loved pattern.

Yeah, he loved the colors and the patterns.

And this was probably done in the late 1840s.

Huh.

And it's an oil on canvas.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, you paid in the '80s, do you remember?

It was a little over $6,000.

So, I think in today's market, it'd probably be worth somewhere in the $15,000 to $18,000 retail.

Oh.

I think you're a collector, so we might talk insurance value, to say $20,000, $25,000 for insurance purposes.

Mm-hmm.

Well, that's nice to know.

Yeah.

We love her even more.

♪ ♪ My dream find at an auction would be some kind of old bowl or rolling pin.

I love rolling pins, by the way.

I love rolling pins.

If anybody wants to give me a rolling pin...

Okay, so... (laughs) (laughing): I just love rolling pins.

I think my dream find probably would, would be something that I can use in the kitchen.

PEÑA: It's no surprise that this chef's dream find would be related to food.

Reid Dunavant stuck around to see what culinary collectibles Carla has already scooped up.

So these seltzer bottles were bought at a flea market.

They were five dollars each.

You know, nothing precious.

Just, "Oh, hey, I love the color."

And this ice cream scoop was my grandmother's.

When I looked at it, I was thinking, "Oh, my gosh, look at the hardware on this thing."

It's nothing like the ice cream scoops that I have today that are just so flimsy.

Plus, I was a scooper at an ice cream store, back when I was a teenager.

I have the scoop for you.

Oh, you have the scoop for me?

I have the scoop for you.

Okay, Reid.

On both of, on both of these things.

Okay, well, for me, it's like the old soda fountain.

That's exactly what I thought of when I saw these things.

Yeah.

The soda fountain was a place, often a counter inside of another store, that you would go to get a fresh, fizzy drink.

And the soda fountain craze first came about in the 1850s or so, and then it continued for over a hundred years, to the 1950s.

There has been a resurgence in popularity, with this kind of thing as a collectible.

We're seeing a revival in classic cocktails again.

The bottle in the middle is rather interesting in that its label actually has a Star of David on it.

A lot of the deliverers of seltzer bottles and the people who owned the refilling stations for seltzer bottles in the early 20th century had Jewish backgrounds.

And they deliberately put the Star of David to show how proud they were of their Jewish heritage.

Very interesting.

Wow!

That is so interesting.

So let's talk about the ice cream scoop.

The ice cream scoop was invented in 1897 in Pittsburgh by a man named Alfred Cralle.

And Alfred actually was working in a hotel and a restaurant, where he noticed, behind the soda fountain, that the soda jerks were having a lot of trouble separating the ice cream from the spoons they were using.

So Alfred came up with the ingenious idea of putting a mechanism inside of the bowl to eject the ice cream.

Brilliant.

He was, interestingly enough, the first African American man in Pittsburgh to patent anything and hold a patent.

Sadly, though, he never became famous for it, and he didn't get rich, because it was such a simple, easy, brilliant idea that everybody did knock-offs.

Mm-hmm.

And soon enough, everyone had forgotten who had come up with this genius idea.

Of course.

Now, your ice cream scoop was manufactured by the Benedict Manufacturing Company, located in Syracuse, New York.

And they were in business from 1894 until 1953.

So it was definitely made before 1953.

Uh, the brand is called Indestructo.

The ice cream scoop, I see those available online regularly, vintage ones, anywhere from $15 to $25 or $30.

Mm-hmm.

They don't bring a lot of money, but they sell.

People really-- and people prefer the old ones to the new ones.

Because they're good.

And they don't break.

And they're indestructible.

Now, the seltzer bottles, there are a lot of people that collect them.

People like the blue bottles better, and they tend to bring, on a retail level, anywhere from $40 up to $120 or so per bottle.

What?

I love these things.

I still love the blue just as much as I did 20 years ago, when I bought them, and I will definitely continue to use my granny's ice cream scoop.

PEÑA: Up in Maine, John Hodgman is looking to cash in on his local antique store find, and discover if Ken Gloss has the answer to his biggest question.

This is a cash register we found in an antique store in Ellsworth, Maine.

And a few summers ago, we went in and we saw this cash register.

It was supposedly the cash register that appeared in a children's book by Robert McCloskey called "One Morning in Maine," which is an old favorite of both my wife's and mine.

It seemed to make sense, because we knew that "One Morning in Maine" was a real, a true story set in this area, and we knew that, uh, Condon's General Store, where a cash register like this is pictured in the book, the Condon family had recently gotten rid of quite a few items from their house, and their store had closed.

Even if it's not the register from Condon's General Store in the book, it's still, we know that it's from here.

It's a National cash register.

Uh-huh.

It's around 1900.

Why don't you open the book and show us the image?

This is the illustration from "One Morning in Maine" by Robert McCloskey, who wrote and illustrated this book, as well as "Make Way for Ducklings" and "Blueberries for Sal."

I have no doubt that's a National cash register.

Right.

The next thing to do is to figure out, is there a way we can tell?

Well, why don't we open it up?

(cash register dings) Yeah.

It rings.

(laughs): Yeah.

The serial number of the register is there.

You pull the drawer out, and what people will look for on the bottom: the serial number matches the register.

So this drawer was, came with the register, which for collectors is good.

It's dated April 10, 1911.

Hm.

But it's to the Robinson Company in Houlton, Maine.

It doesn't say that this isn't the register, because many were sold secondhand.

But what we really wanted to see was the Condon name.

Yeah.

To say, "Yes, it absolutely was."

I had never taken that drawer out.

I would have been afraid to.

This beautiful piece of marble... Yeah.

...is actually functional as a counterfeit detector, and I just happen... What?

...to have-- well, back at the turn of the century, silver dollars were a lot of times counterfeited.

Yeah.

And one of the ways that if somebody-- and I'm not an expert on this-- but if you did it time and time again, if you dropped a silver dollar... (heavy clink) ...it had a certain sound.

Right.

And if you dropped a slug... (lighter clink) ...it sounded differently.

Now, wait, now, let me see if I can tell which one is the real one.

(metal pieces clinking) The first one.

That's the first one, you got it.

Give it to me.

Here you go.

Thank you, you can keep that, that's garbage.

(laughs) What did you pay for the register?

About $900.

Well, that's about right.

Okay.

It's $1,000, $1,200.

But I wanted to...

I was, I was convinced that it was worth $35.

Let's say that when we pulled this out, rather than seeing Robinson Company...

Right.

...we saw Condon or it was something else, absolute, that this would be the cash register.

Right.

I would probably double or triple that.

Right.

Because collectors of McCloskey, they're, they're avid.

Really?

And they will pay a good amount of money.

A first edition of "Make Way for Ducklings" can sell up to $20,000.

Oh, wow.

Well, then, I'm glad that we can't make that connection, because I wouldn't want the temptation to sell it.

(chuckling) To any of those other McCloskey-collecting creeps.

One of the other things you did bring was a sign.

Where did that come from?

Around the time that we got this register-- the same summer, in fact-- we went to an auction on the lawn of the old Condon house.

When we arrived, we saw this sign in the yard, same summer, "Jay R. Condon Restaurant, Candy, Tobacco, etc."

First of all, we loved the sign.

Second of all, it seemed likely that it might be the sign from the general store itself.

It was already sold by the time we got there.

We felt very disappointed.

The sign is definitely a Condon sign.

What did you end up paying?

Yeah, when we found it the next summer, we paid $200 for it.

That's just about exactly right.

(sighs) But I, but I... On the money every time.

But I would say, for the sign as a sign, I would add, probably double or triple it because it's related to the book.

It's not so much a sign collector who would want that, it's someone who's collecting McCloskey, so...

Right.

Well, we have no wish to part with it.

BLADES: I try to be, without success, sparse in my collection.

(laughs) But... (guffaws) PEÑA: Rubén Blades' own personal comic book museum contains a wide variety of artwork, ranging from original illustrations to comic strips to first-edition comic books.

To evaluate just a fraction of this eclectic archive, Rubén met with collectibles authority Leila Dunbar.

This is, like, the room of my sueños, Rubén.

(chuckling) This is unbelievable.

Yeah, this is the room where I turn to be ten years old when I get up here.

(laughing) Well, like, this is Raboy, Flash Gordon.

Mac Raboy, he took over for Alex Raymond, the originator, when Raymond went into the service.

That's right.

Yeah, that's a great piece.

I mean, the most sought-after ones are Alex Raymond.

But Mac Raboy is, also, particularly his early ones, from the '40s.

And this is probably somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000.

Oh, wow.

And this is a Frazetta, Frank Frazetta.

Oh, Frank Frazetta.

He's the godfather of fantasy.

Although I tell you, looking at this, I think it's more of a nightmare, for the snake, at least.

(both chuckle) But that's spectacular.

He's best known for, of course, his cover work, which can sell into the millions of dollars.

Your drawing here probably is in the range of $25,000 to $35,000.

Yeah, wow.

This is the original artwork for "Punk" magazine.

Oh, my goodness.

"Punk" magazine?

And who is that?

Lou Reed.

They call him the grandfather of the... Of punk.

(chuckles) Here's a picture of Lou and me.

We're working together.

Wow, that's not CGBG's, right?

(laughs) That's, this is where the guy did the interview for, for, for him, actually.

Right.

It was there at CBGB's.

But what year is this?

This is 1987, but we're at Lou's house doing music he recorded.

We recorded together.

Wow.

Love Lou, miss him.

Well, this is great, because this magazine really brought punk into the mainstream.

You know, it wasn't well-known before that.

And I gotta say, the value on this, especially with Lou on the cover and looking a little bit like Frankenstein here, because he was such a monster in the industry, I think you're looking at probably somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000.

Wow.

You know, for that I think we can take a walk on the wild side.

(both laugh) PEÑA: Marc Brown has a hunch he bought a rare painting by 19th-century husband-and-wife artists Ruth and Samuel Shute.

But was he right?

One of the most recent pieces we have, bought it at auction.

It's this wonderful portrait of a little girl, and what makes it really special is, I thought it was this husband-and-wife artist team Ruth and Samuel Shute, who painted in New England around the early 1800s.

Now, what made me think that this was a Shute?

It was not advertised in the catalogue as a Shute, but I did some research online, and the same form of the chair appears in a couple of other portraits of children that, they are attributed to the Shutes, and the way the shoes are handled... Um, I've looked at enough of the Shutes up very close to see how they handle the eyes.

The pencil work.

But this was unusual, because the full-length portraits of children that I know of are done with, like, a gouache watercolor, and they're more, a little more painterly.

KATZ: She's not your standard formulaic Shute, as you know.

BROWN: Yeah.

So we're looking at it, and there's things I agree with you on, and there's things I... Oh.

...a little bit-- not disagree, but push back a little.

All right.

KATZ: Because the eyes, I couldn't agree with you more.

The pencil work that was done, the drawing first and then filling it in with the pastels, is something that the Shutes were known to have done.

BROWN: Mm-hmm.

KATZ: We're having a little difficulty with nailing it as a Shute, are the hands.

They had a very delicate approach to hands.

BROWN: Mm-hmm.

KATZ: And this, this little gal is kind of, in a way, holding the book a little bit awkward.

BROWN: Yeah.

And they were also known to really have wonderful lacework.

And this one, the detail on the lace is missing.

So, you go to the auction... BROWN (chuckling): Yeah.

KATZ: And this is estimated at $4,000 to $6,000.

BROWN: Yes.

And you pay... $30,000.

What were you thinking?

What wasn't I thinking?

I don't know.

Why wasn't I thinking?

(laughter) I didn't think I would have to go that high.

But there was a very insistent collector on the other end of the phone bidding against me.

And I went up to my maximum amount that I changed during the bidding process.

(laughs) We all do.

Looking at it with no attribution, I would say in today's market, $25,000 retail.

Uh-huh.

You can prove, we find a signed one with a similar layout, and we can really nail it as a Shute, then you're talking $125,000.

Wow.

So, big difference.

That different, yeah?

Yeah.

So we need to do more research.

Mm-hmm.

Hopefully, we need to find one that's signed.

Okay.

And we can lead our way to saying, "Definitely by Shute."

PEÑA: After our visit, "Roadshow" reached out to some prominent figures in the folk art collecting community.

A number of them confirmed their support of attributing Marc's portrait to the Shutes, while others felt more research would be needed.

♪ ♪ My sister and I, Kim and I, used to play this game called Dearie, and we would get dressed up in my grandmother's fur coats and we would put on her hats and her jewelry.

(laughing): And we would be, like, "Hey, dearie, how are you, dearie?"

(laughter) But it was all about my grandmother's fashion, and I think that passed down, just in my modeling days, without really thinking about that connection of modeling and really enjoying fashion and mixed prints.

I probably get that from my grandmother.

PEÑA: Vintage clothing and couture specialist Katy Kane assesses the personal artifacts Carla Hall inherited from her fashionable grandmother.

CARLA: So these were my grandmother's bags.

KANE: Mm-hmm.

We called her Granny, and she had such a flair.

I remember her carrying this one.

And the other two, I just remember getting them, going through her things when she passed away.

Mm-hmm.

I don't remember her carrying this one.

I would have been afraid to see that one as a kid.

I was, like... (mock-screams and laughs) That would've been a little, a little too much for me.

That is a reaction a lot of people have to that type of bag.

Yeah, right?

So her name was Freddie Mae Glover.

Okay.

And so hence the F on this bag.

Mm-hmm.

Or for fashionista.

(laughing): Yes, yes.

With the pearl F on the center.

These are all hand-stitched.

Wow.

And then it's hand-outlined in gold bugle beads.

And then you have the gold bugle bead leaves and flowers to make the F look like part of the bouquet.

And this lovely scrollwork of pearls, it goes all the way around, stitched on the satin.

I've never seen a bag like this with the monogram or with this plastic covering.

But it's made by a company called Patricia of Miami.

Uh-huh.

And they were well-known for their plastic and Lucite bags, which would have been a little earlier than this.

I've never seen one quite like that.

(excitedly): Ah!

This one is the newest of the group.

Okay, okay.

Okay?

This one is probably from the very late '50s or early 1960s, somewhere in the '60s... Mm-hmm.

And this one is lizard, and then it has this centerpiece of black suede.

It's an unusual bag in that it is this coloration, sort of the cream and the gray, almost black lizard skin.

Most of the ones that you run across are either black or brown.

Mm-hmm.

So this is a more special bag.

And this one was made by Sydney of California.

So we've got Miami, we've got California... (chuckles) And now we're going to Havana.

Oh, my gosh!

This one is the oldest of the group.

Uh-huh.

This is from 1940, and it's an... Wow.

1940s, I should say.

Okay.

We can't date it exactly.

These were very, very popular.

A lot of the American tourists would go to Cuba for vacation, and they would very often bring these bags home as souvenirs.

People either really, really love them... Uh-huh.

...or don't care for them at all.

There doesn't seem to be any middle ground on the alligator bag with the head...

Right.

...and the feet, and then on the back, you know, it's the full alligator body.

You've got his back legs there, too.

It's the full skin.

And then this one we also know belonged to your grandmother Freddie, because it's got her three initials in the center.

Yes!

Freddie Mae Glover!

Yes.

This one is always a conversation piece.

A value on this one, in this condition, would probably be about $150, maybe $200.

Mm-hmm.

This one is in about the same range.

This is a little bit harder for a retail sale in that you have to find another person who's got an F initial.

Oh.

And then this one is in the $300 to $350 range.

What?!

Yeah, so this is... Oh, my gosh.

Well, this one is in the best condition.

It would look the most stylish and sort of fit in with contemporary clothing.

Mm-hmm.

Who knew?

(laughs) Because, honestly, they've been living in my closet.

Okay.

So let's get them out.

I'm gonna have my little purse on.

Mm-hmm.

They're, like, "Carla, where're you going?"

"To get the mail."

(laughter) ♪ ♪ What are we looking at, what are we talking about now?

Well, Ken, I have no idea, this isn't actually my home.

This is an original children's book illustration by Alice and Martin Provensen.

It comes from this book "The Animal Fair."

Before we came to Maine, we actually spent quite a bit of time in Western Massachusetts.

In Northampton, in particular.

There's a gallery, and the gallerist deals in a lot of original children's book art.

And my wife really loved it in particular.

But at the time, it was well out of our price range.

This is probably about 12 years ago, and I got a really good job, and she was facing-- or, I should say, celebrating-- a certain birthday.

(chuckles) And so I secretly splurged and bought it for her as a surprise.

And we've loved it ever since.

Children's art, or children's book illustration, is hot.

There are a lot of people who really like it.

This piece was done in 1973, or that's when the book came out.

Mm-hmm.

So I'm assuming that the original was done around that time.

Right.

If you look at each of the letters, they're... Oh, yeah.

The letters are all animals, too.

And unless you look at them closely, they're all...

I feel like a real dope.

(laughter) I never-- I honestly never noticed that before.

Well, one of the reasons I noticed them... Did you just make those change with your magic wand?

You said at first you couldn't afford it, then you could afford it... And now we can no longer afford it.

Oh, okay, well...

So, we paid about $8,000 for it.

$8,000.

That's not an unreasonable price, but it's definitely on the high end of what it is.

Mm-hmm.

If I was going to insure this, I would definitely insure it for that price.

This is one of those things that, it's the top level, but you loved it and it grabbed you.

We both became huge fans of these artists and had a lot of their books, and, and are always on the lookout for stuff by them.

♪ ♪ This is "Action" 1 and "Detective" 27.

The first appearance of Superman in "Action" 1 and "Detective Comics" is first appearance of Batman.

I knew about the, the comics, but I-- and I was collecting comics, but I wasn't really going for the keys, as they call them.

I was just a completist.

I was just completing runs of comics.

And then one day, I, I thought, "You know what?

"I really would like to have these books because of their historical significance."

So I got them together about ten or 15 years ago.

What do you think of when you think of Superman?

First of all, he was like an immigrant, a force for good.

Like I believe most immigrants are.

And Batman?

Batman is the same, although Batman is darker.

In Batman, there's not just the fight against evil, but also, I think, a, a desire to redeem.

I think you're absolutely spot-on when you're talking about Superman, because, let's face it, he changed the world completely in 1938.

I mean, he's the first comic book superhero, and he created, basically, the comic book industry.

Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the basement of, of Jerry Siegel's house in Cleveland, and what I find fascinating, they originally had him as a villain... Hm.

...in 1933, and they realized after a while that this wasn't going to work, this comic strip.

Heroes have longevity, and we can see that because both of these superheroes have lasted more than eight decades.

This is "Action Comics" 1.

This is the most important comic book in the history of comic books, because it is the dawn of the Golden Age, with Superman.

And it's interesting, because when Detective Comics issued it in 1938, they printed 200,000 copies, but they didn't know, because there are actually 11 stories in the "Action Comics" book.

It just happened that Superman is the lead and on the cover.

Hm.

And when they sold out of 200,000 copies, it still took them a couple of months to figure out it was Superman.

The creators of Batman are Bob Kane and Bill Finger.

All four of these creators were inspired, interestingly enough, by Douglas Fairbanks and "The Mask of Zorro."

It's in this time period of the 1930s where you've got the rise of Hitler.

These creators were all Jewish immigrants, and the fate of our world was really hanging in the balance.

So why not create these superheroes who are going to give inspiration and hope to generations of people?

What did you pay for these?

For this one, at the time, I think I paid about $55,000.

This one cost me less.

It was about $40,000 $45,000.

Today, believe it or not, you're looking at probably about 100 copies of each that exist.

These have been restored.

Mm-hmm.

If you had a book that was in poor condition, this would bring it up to a much better, you know, higher level, much more presentable.

Also, it'd raise the value up.

Mm-hmm.

But not nearly as much as one that's in original condition.

We're looking at "Detective Comics" today, now, this is graded a 7.0 on a scale of one to 10 in restored condition.

An estimate on this, an auction estimate, is going to be somewhere between $200,000 and $250,000 today.

Oh, wow.

Oh.

That's a lot more than I would've imagined.

(chuckles) And that, that's quite the layaway plan now.

(laughs) Well, no, the guy who sold it must be hitting himself in the, against the wall right now.

But then we all did that at some point.

Well...

But this is great to know.

If this was an original... Oh.

Now you're looking $800,000 to $900,000.

Hm.

And "Action" is the same.

I mean, this is the second-most important comic.

This is the, the ultimate Holy Grail.

Most important of the Golden Age comics.

This is graded lower than "Detective," it's 5.5, but it's a more important comic.

So again, you're looking at an auction estimate probably somewhere, at least $175,000 to $225,000.

Mm-hmm.

And again, if this were a 5.5 in an original condition, you're looking at $800,000 to $900,000.

My socks go up and down.

(laughs) Of joy.

Thank you, socks.

No, but, you know, it's, it's interesting.

I mean, I'm glad I did it.

Mm-hmm.

I just, I'm a, like, like...

I'm a collector.

Like I said, a completist.

So it's really wonderful to know that at least I'm helping protect the books, as well.

But at the same time, they're gonna help me in the future.

Not just me, my son.

My, my family.

So it's good to know.

PEÑA: Holy Toledo, Batman!

Before we leave, what do our collectors have to say about their experience with "Antiques Roadshow"?

I had no idea how well-made that table was.

I could dance on that table.

Oh, my gosh.

But the moment, the high chair!

Chair-- I had...

What?!

(laughter) I don't know who sat in that high chair.

I mean... Or who rolled in it!

Right.

I mean, it went... (imitating chair clunking) (laughs) I love it even more now.

It's so... (laughing) I think every day, I'm gonna be, like, (imitating chair clicking) (laughing) Sounds freaking awesome.

It was so helpful for me to talk to Colleene about the art.

It was really terrific to have Allan here to take a look at some of these folk art portraits and learn more about them.

I'm really excited to do more research about the Shute.

I couldn't have had more fun.

And, uh, and I learned things.

Thank you for making us a part of this.

Uh, we had such a wonderful time.

Oh, yeah, we're really... We were so excited when we... We, we're fans... (laughs) Yeah, when we got the word that you guys were coming here, so it's very exciting.

Yeah.

And it's been fun.

So thank you very much, everybody who's watching.

Uh, I hope that you had fun with us, as well.

Well, here I am in the Feedback Booth, my favorite part of the show.

Today, I learned that Ken Gloss would not buy my Little Gray Books for $60, and that was a disappointment.

I'm going to bring the cash register back to Brooklyn, New York, where it currently lives, until we are ready to live here year-round and prepare for death.

Unless the cash register kills me as I carry it down the stairs.

The truth is, I didn't place a value on any of the items that I brought in.

I'm just glad that I was able to trick you to come to Maine.

As you can see, the fog is rolling in.

Maine is telling you to go home.

I'm glad you were able to be here.

And I was glad to be able to share with Ken and the "Roadshow" some of the things that I've picked up that, and the stories that go with them.

PEÑA: Don't go anywhere just yet.

(claps) KATZ: Am I talking now?

(distant laughter) Okay.

Yeah, it's all right, sure.

Did you get the, my eyes going like this?

(laughs) But you didn't get my socks going up and down.

(laughter) You pull the drawer out.

And what people will look for on the bottom is... Get this... ...is a receipt.

Okay.

And it has the...

Whoop, oh, oh.

Also some Canadian money down there.

We just, well, we'll pick it up.

Sorry about that.

So the receipt...

I'm not going to Canada anytime soon.

You can have it.

(chuckling): Okay.

I think that Granny had such a sense of style in terms of her hats and her purses... Oh!

Hats!

I do have hats, yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

You took some of Granny's hats?

I didn't think about it...

Didn't I ask you about that?

We didn't discuss the hat lately.

I didn't know it should be discussed.

(laughing): I didn't know hats... (laughing) I didn't know it was there, it existed.

I asked you about jewelry...

I do remember a black hat, no, and I told you, you've had all the old jewelry, yeah.

Yeah, it's somewhere, I don't know where it is.

See?

(laughter) Okay, okay.

Audrey, one, Carla, one.

WOMAN: You dropped some money... BLADES: Oh.

Money means nothing to me.

(laughter) And, and the... Money's coming out of your ears.

Out of my ears.

And that's because they came and told us.

BROWN: Okay, what did we do wrong?

(laughs) PEÑA: Thanks for watching this special episode of "Antiques Roadshow: Celebrity Edition."

Follow @RoadshowPBS and watch us anytime at pbs.org/antiques or on the PBS Video app.

See you next time on "Antiques Roadshow."