Antiques Roadshow (was: Re: Re. imsai 2)

From: Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com <(Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com)>
Date: Mon Aug 23 12:03:53 1999

> At 10:39 AM 8/22/99 -0400, Bill Sudbrink wrote:
>>
>>"Gee, that's too bad. If you hadn't rewound the transformer on that
>>IMSAI, it would be worth $50,000. But since it works, it's only
>>worth $25. Remember folks, never fix anything. The original non-working
>>lump of metal is worth far more than a machine that does what it was
>>actually designed to do."
>
> I guess you don't watch the Antiques Roadshow very often. They routinely
> dash people's hopes by saying "Gee, if back in 1950 you hadn't refinished
> this 1820 chest of drawers, it would be worth $25,000. But now it's
> worth $250."
>
> It all comes down to each person's perception of value. And of course,
> the sale price is ultimately determined one buyer and one seller.
>
> - John
>
> P.S. For the non-USAians, "Antiques Roadshow" is a television program
> on the public television network. It travels from city to city, opening
> up a convention hall to the public to bring in their antiques for free
> appraisal by their teams of expert auctioneers and collectors.


We have a similar show in the UK, also called Antiques Roadshow. One of the few
TV shows I actually enjoy watching. Alas I was away when it came to Coalville,
so I couldn't take any classic computers to see how they reacted...

I'm not sure of the accuracy of some of their comments though. Examples from
when my parents caught it at their town (and got on TV!):

1. My mother took some WW2 propaganda posters. Was told they were almost
worthless. Later on, an official came up to her and said they wanted to film
the posters. So they went through the same rigmarole again. But on camera she
was told they were worth at least 100 pounds (I can't remember whether each or
for the set)

2. My parents also invited them to look at some antique furniture in situ. One
writing desk they were particularly interested in, shipped it to the filming
venue, etc. They pointed out all the things to look for, and claimed that the
evidence proved it was original and had never been restored. My father forebore
to say that it had come back from the restorer's workshop only 2 months earlier
- and we'd all seen the state it was in before it went...

(We think they must have lost a lot of footage that day. A lot of interesting
things they filmed weren't shown, and they filled up time with pointless
activities that had little bearing on the antiques...)

Philip.
Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 12:03:53 BST