The Antiques Roadshow experts appraised an old Star Electric stock ticker last week for $8,000 to $10,000. But Rusty of www.edisonticker.com has posted pictures and information online that convinced us it was a fake, probably made to mislead a customer or to be used in a movie. The site gives information and looks for fakes online. Rusty thinks the part of the Roadshow ticker that is original might be worth $2,000. The rest of it is only good for parts.
Photo: www.edisonticker.com
I have an original ticker tape of President Truman pre-announcing the end of the WWII with I think Japan.
I would like to know the value of this. Anyone have an idea?
An engraving like you mention in your letter can be done at any time so the name and death date dont figure in any assessment. Coin silver is always an amalgam of different quality of silver mostly of 800 grains out of 1000 in order to make it durable so the assessor had to make the evaluation based on these factors. Additionally the economy always figures in as well as what has been in style and what is not. An example being the Chinese market, which dropped enormously for the last 13 years and only now is in a dramatic upswing. Just because they dont have the time to accomodate every question for every visitor doesnt mean they arent the best in the field. I for example doubt that they missed on the ticker tape and that Kovels of all people got it right. Kovels is a mass produced collection of every mid to lower value item in the country. This business doesnt have the collection of Doctoral level Art Historians that make up the people in the Roadshow. The Roadshow Vets its people so many times that its stunning that anyone gets accepted. You can bank on that comment.
The so-called “experts” at Antiques Roadshow are a very mixed lot. I took a late 18th c. coin silver funeral spoon (a large spoon with the death date and name of an individual on the handle) to be examined because I could not identify the maker’s marks. The “expert” told me that my spoon was worth $100 (based on what?) and assured me that since it came from a church rummage sale that I’d “got my money’s worth”! That’s not why we stood in line for three hours! The clock “expert” was not much better and told us that our Barraud clock with full provenance (purchased in the 70s for $1000) was now worth . . . $400. Based on what? He couldn’t tell us. On the other hand, the expert in Asian antiques was excellent. Everyone should take everything they hear on Antiques Roadshow with a whole salt cellar full of salt!