If you watched the first of three "Antiques Roadshow" Baton Rouge-shot episodes when it premiered last month, you learned that a trio of Jazz Fest posters from 1976, 1979 and 1999 could fetch between $5,100 and $7,600 at auction.
Fans also found out that a Monitor Mfg. Co. Salesman Sample Windmill circa 1890 is worth $8,000-$12,000.
While viewers got a mini-course on the American Football League, an appraiser examined a 1962 Dallas Texans AFL ring, a 1966 Kansas City Chiefs AFL ring and a game-used jersey, all belonging to Stewart "Smokey" Stover. The former football star's son, who brought the items to "Roadshow," was advised to insure the family treasures for $100,000.
Andrew Holter, right, discusses the monetary value of regency mahogany metamorphic library steps, ca. 1800, with their owner during 'Antiques Roadshow's' visit to Baton Rouge last year.
The surprises will keep coming when the second of the Baton Rouge shows airs at 7 p.m. Monday on WLPB, Channel 27.
The episode synopsis states: "Head to Louisiana's capital for captivating finds including a Panerai Radiomir watch with Rolex movement, a Frederick Douglass letter and Free Will Baptist Church archive, and a 1995 Muhammad Ali-signed tablecloth. One is worth up to $110,000!"
And about that tablecloth. It was brought to the LSU Rural Life Museum, the filming site back in May 2023, by The Advocate features editor Jan Risher and her husband, Julio Naudin.
Writing about her PBS "Roadshow" experience a few days later, Risher recounted:
"We walked down to the sports memorabilia table and met Leila Dunbar (the appraiser). When I showed her the damask tablecloth with the Muhammad Ali drawing and two name tags (one mine and one his) that he had autographed, she told me that she had actually handled his estate.
Muhammad Ali's ball-point-pen drawing of a beach scene on a tablecloth
"She knew how much the great boxer and civil rights leader liked to draw," Risher wrote. "She said that he often drew a boxing ring surrounded by a crowd with him in the middle. For some reason, on the day I met him back in 1995 at the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, he had opted to draw a most unusual beach scene complete with a plane, rocket ship and a being of some sort, perhaps an alien."
Risher said the appraiser gave her all sorts of interesting information about her unusual Muhammad Ali pieces.
"Getting picked to be filmed was exciting," Risher said. " … Being a part of the process of them setting up the filming and seeing how that part of the show works was as interesting as what I learned about our treasures."
"Antiques Roadshow" is PBS’ most-watched ongoing series, and is produced by member station GBH in Boston for PBS under license from the BBC. The series, described as "part adventure, part history lesson, part treasure hunt," is in its 28th season.
For more info, go to www.pbs.org/show/antiques-roadshow/.