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Keith McCord ReportingPBS's "Antique Road Show" made its way to Utah today and thousands showed up, antiques in tow.
Trash or treasure? Dollar value or just family value? That's what Utahns wanted to find out. So they lugged their antiques to the Salt Palace where 80 appraisers, with Public Television's most popular show, were ready to take a look.
Ken Sanders/ Appraiser: "It's been overwhelming."
Salt Lake bookstore owner Ken Sanders loves books. That's why he said he didn't hesitate when Antique Roadshow asked him to appraise antique books for a whole day.
"It's such a treat to be able to see things that I've never seen before."
And he didn't have to wait long to find his first treat of the day.
"First thing this morning a sweet little old lady brings in this pile of four books. I start talking to her about them and then she gets this one out and it's in this really plain, hideous ugly binding. I open it up and it's an 1851 first-edition Pearl of Great Price."
And what was it worth?
"Oh, fifty-thousand dollars."
Not everyone was so lucky, but they all left with some valuable information.
Claudine Eckenfelder/ Roadshow Participant: "In our family no one could decide if it was real or a duplicate, so we came and found out that yes, it is real."
Claudine Eckanfelder says a relative bought an unusual chair from India. But the family didn't know anything else about it. Turns out, it has quite a history- and in fact, is worth something!
"The history of it is priceless. The value is about fifteen hundred."
She plans on displaying it now that she knows more about it.
"Right now it resides in my mother's attic. But maybe it will come out of the attic for a little while now."
Appraisers looked at almost seven thousand pieces today. They say they see more mining related antiques in Utah, which is why they decided to shoot part of the show at the Utah Museum of Natural History.
Antiques Roadshow will create three one-hour programs from today's visit. They'll air in January 2007.
