A man brought two wooden dolls to the Antiques Roadshow after buying them for only $100 PBS The man was more interested in the smaller doll, however, the appraiser couldn’t properly authenticate it at the time PBS
He explained to the appraiser that he found the dolls “in the thumb of Michigan” after a woman called him and asked him if he was interested.
“I said, ‘No, I don’t care so much about dolls,'” the man recalled to appraiser Julie Scott.
“She said, ‘They’re very, very old. Maybe you can look at them.’ And when she came in, I really just wanted this one,” he said, pointing to the smaller doll, however, he ended up with both dolls.
The man explained that the woman he bought them from inherited the dolls but didn’t know anything about them.
Scott told the man that she wouldn’t be able to properly authenticate the smaller doll and only spoke about the larger one, revealing that it’s an early English doll that likely dated back to the early 1700s.
“[They] were only owned by wealthy children or children of royalty,” said Scott.
She shared that the doll is wooden and painted, so there was some damage due to age.
“It’s fairly common to see crazing and pieces of paint that will flake off,” said Scott, adding that the doll had a black, pupil-less eye.
“Which is an indication of an early piece.”
Other signs were a dotting technique used in the doll’s eyebrows and the fact that she had an all-wood body but had upper arms made of cloth.
Some other bits of damage were the fact that her clothes were “melting,” which happens ” when you have a silk fabric and it’s weighted with metals,” said Scott.
“It wouldn’t be very often that you would find a doll of this period with original clothes.
“It could be, but it would take more research in order to tell that.”
The doll also had a wig of human hair , which Scott said may or may not be original to her.
The hair could have also been made of flax.
“There are very few of these that have ever survived,” she said.
Antiques Roadshow best finds
Antiques Roadshow has helped people put a price on their treasures since 1979. Here are some of the most interesting finds
A hand-me-down ring that had been in the family for generations was valued at $595,000
“You do find them in museums. You don’t find them out in the general public very often.”
Because the doll was in good condition and Scott estimated that she was of the early 1700s, Queen Anne period, she stated the doll would cost between $15,000 and $20,000 in a retail setting.
“Oh, my,” said the man. “For the two dolls, I paid $100.”
Scott laughed, saying the man got “quite a bargain.”
“I didn’t even want that one!” said the man, adding that he only wanted the smaller doll that Scott couldn’t appraise.
The doll was re-appraised in 2021, according to the Antiques Roadshow website , and still maintains its value of $15,000 to $20,000.
The doll had some damage but the appraiser said it was to be expected as it dated back to the early 1700s PBS The man was shocked after realizing how much the doll could be worth PBS
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0