Last August while the sun beat down mercilessly, I fulfilled a dream shared by many thousands of people across the country.
I took my priceless collection to audition for Antiques Roadshow, the PBS sensation where the best collectors, gallerists, and antique dealers decide whether your precious ceramic bulldog or 19th-century butter churner is trash or treasure. The scene at the Palm Springs Convention Center was chaos, but I knew I had a sure thing.
In my case, it was my late father’s Babe Ruth Collection. When my dad was 10, he entered a nationwide contest through the Quaker Oats Company to spend a day with Babe Ruth at the 1935 World’s Fair. Incredibly, the kid from Glendale, California, won. The collection I have inherited are signed photographs from the Babe, a signed baseball, an autograph book signed by the entire Yankees lineup, and all the original letters, train tickets, and itineraries from Quaker.
Though the collection is something I would never sell (I hope my 3-year-old daughter will grow up to appreciate and cherish it, though I suspect she’ll be a Red Sox fan like her mother), I was dying to know whether it would be low–six figures, or maybe even mid–six figures. How about a cool million? Naw, I wasn’t kidding myself.
Actually, I was. After careful appraisal, the sports memorabilia folks at the Roadshow gave me the tragic news. At auction, maybe $15,000 to $20,000. OK, nothing to spit at, but who knows? Maybe by the time my daughter gets it, it’ll edge up into the low sixes.
The first of three episodes filmed this summer in Palm Springs airs Monday, Feb. 20. Be sure to tune in and check out your neighbors’ junk and jewels.
Channel: PBS SoCal KOCE
Palm Springs No. 1: Monday, Feb. 20
Palm Springs No. 2: Monday, Feb. 27
Palm Springs No. 3: Monday, March 27