Antiques Roadshow!

AMAZING! We had such a blast! We're big, nerdly fans of the show. Yes, we TiVo it. Yes, when I'm up in the night with a baby, I watch it. Yes, I know the appraisers by name! It's my mother's fault - raising me with so many antiques in our house!!

Our day was great. Our tickets were for 10:00 am. We parked at Gonzaga and rode the STA shuttle to the center. The people were so fun. Everyone was so curious about each other's things. There was just a constant buzz of friendly chit-chat.

When we arrived, the line was amazingly long. We were sure it'd be hours. We'd been warned that the whole Roadshow experience was going to be a nightmare, so we were prepared for the worst. However, as soon as we got in line (9:45am) it started moving. It was kind of like Disneyland - you wind around and around in a big old snake line. We stood next to the nicest little couple. They were older, grandparentish age. They showed us their things, we showed them ours. We were each sure the other would be appraised on TV! LOL

Our stand in line was an hour. When we got to the end of the line we entered THE ROADSHOW! I felt like a little kid - big wide eyes and I couldn't get inside fast enough. The first thing we took in was my great grandmother's rug. It had been in the US Embassy in Manilla. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Embassy was instructed to take everything and shut down in fear of an attack there too. My great grandmother's brother was in the US Air Corp and was able to get the rug and bring it home. The appraiser was very informative and very friendly. The rug is valued around $300-$400. Not to shabby for a little rug in our music room. Probably the most expensive thing in there, truth be told! lol

While we were standing there, the host of the show, Mark Walberg came and sat in our appraiser's seat while he was standing with us and listened in. He was just killing time, not recording or anything. He's way shorter than I imagined. He made a little chit chat with us and moved on. (Since they wouldn't allow cameras in the Roadshow, these are pictures from the web.)



We took great grand uncle's Thai sword over to be appraised next - the appraiser smelled it and said the sheath had bronze in it - apparently bronze smells like sweaty dirty hands - who knew? He said it was beautiful, in wonderful condition and worth a few hundred dollars!

My great grandmother's big old music box was next. Not in the best condition (even I could tell that) but was nice, in wonderful working condition and worth a few hundred dollars.

Finally we took great grandma's dolly rocking chair over - $20.00 LOL

So we're not going to be on TV, but we did stand right behind a lady with some funky looking wales tooth, or maybe a tusk or something w/ etching on it while she was being appraised/recorded - so watch for us behind her! I even threw in a "hair tuck and earring twist" for those who were going to be watching for it! I'm in pink, Brandon is in blue! I hope they got my good side! ;)

We were walking out at 11:45 am - 2 hours and it was all over. We were geared up for several miserable hours but it was just the opposite! We have a friend who was recorded with a ship that his father carved. And we got to watch one of the Keno twins record an appraisal.



It was so much fun! I realize that the Roadshow cast isn't exactly world renown, but we sure loved seeing them in real life! We'll never watch the Antiques Roadshow the same way again!!

Our PBS station (KSPS) was taking pictures as we walked out - man we had fun!



Adding mom and dad's pic - aren't they cute!