Hundreds Asked, Now Thousands Find Out: What Is It Really Worth?

They waited in line for hours with their precious objects from decades past. They brought paintings of cows, ships, people, and fruit. They carried bronze sculptures and bisque figurines. There were inlaid tables and upholstered chairs; gold watches and oak mantle clocks; silver tea pots and gold necklaces; dusty books and brittle documents; colorful quilts and cross-stitch samplers, and so much more.

These folks who attended the Rhode Island PBS Antiques Discovery and Appraisal Show, at Warwick’s Crowne Plaza Hotel in February, were as different as their items. They came from all walks of life and from all corners of New England. Yet, for their many outward differences, they shared the same burning question. It hung in the air all day, sometimes overheard, sometimes left unspoken: “What is it really worth?”

TV producer and show host Brian Scott Smith and the WSBE production crew captured the answers to that question. Those stories and other highlights of the appraisal event have been edited together with footage of Smith’s tours of the Whitehorne House Museum and the United States Naval War College Museum, both in Newport, RI. The television special, What Is It Really Worth? debuts Wednesday, May 9 on WSBE Rhode Island PBS at 7:30 P.M.

Making Discoveries and Unveiling Treasures
Fans of public television’s British and American traveling antiques shows agree that some of the best, most exciting moments are when valuable treasures are unexpectedly discovered.

Rhode Island PBS Antiques Discovery and Appraisal Show provided a special opportunity for the public to bring objects of unknown or uncertain value to accredited appraisers for a written appraisal. Those two features – written appraisal by accredited appraisers – distinguish the Antiques Discovery and Appraisal Show from other antiques appraisal events.

In the crowd of more than 800 that day, many secretly hoped theirs would be the valuable treasure. In What Is It Really Worth? many of them receive that great news from their appraisers. Tune in on Wednesday, May 9 at 7:30 P.M. to find out, too.