Antiques Roadshow Recap! Had a great time! *Appraisal Update*

[vthepresident]

Long time since I have had anything to post, but I thought you all might get a kick out of this.

After four years of applying, I finally got selected for Antique's Roadshow tickets in Washington DC tomorrow!

I get to take two items, and one of them will be a detecting find from last year. I posted it last summer, and some people thought it was military. It looks to me like a hat pin depicting a phoenix or an eagle. Naturally, the head broke off when I was cleaning it, since it was hanging by a thread anyway.

I know it's not going to be valuable, but I have looked in every book I can find, and this pin is nowhere to be found. I must know what it is!

My second item is an 1851 Springfield Cadet Musket. It came down through my family, and I am looking forward to finding out more about it. All the action still works, and it even has initials carved into the stock.

My backup is another detecting find that I want some information on. At the same site I found the hat pin, I found a silver pocket watch casing that looks pretty early. It has London maker's marks, and as best as I can tell, it's late 18th, early 19th century. Again, not very valuable, but I want to know more about it. I also posted it a while back.

I will post the results of my appraisals tomorrow. Thanks for reading
V

 

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[DirtyMike]

Thanks for all the great replies. I had a fantastic fun day in our nation's capital, and Antique's Roadshow was a blast.

It turns out my rifle was an army issue 1851 Springfield .54 caliber, and due to the condition and the absence of the ramrod, it was worth $300-$500. It is a family heirloom, and I will keep fleshing out my family history to hopefully match the initials with a person, but it was great to hear about it from the experts!

Thanks for all the help with the cloak clasp. It will now get a much higher place in my displays, and I might even try straightening it out one day (Thanks BB).

The pocket watch case was not 1794, but rather 1814, which is still pretty awesome for a silver find in my book. The guy told me that it would have had all the workings inside the part I have, and then the whold thing would have fit inside another case that had a flip down lens to cover it. As I was walking away from the booth, the appraiser called me back and showed me the next guy in lines watch, which was almost identical to mine, except that it was complete. It was minted in London only six years prior to mine! It was neat to see the complete thing, and his watch appraised for $600-$800.

I saw some AWESOME antiques, and had a really fun time all day long. We went to look at the coins and the military section in the Smithsonian Museum of American History, and I don't really recommend that for detectorists, because seeing all those Holy Grails of Digging in one place will make you very jealous. Seriously, it was really nice to see the originials and the finest examples of all the things we search for. It truly is the connection to our nation's history that keeps me digging, and seeing George Washington's epaulettes, and Andrew Jackson's hunting rifle in person really makes you feel connected to your countrymen.

Thanks for all the replies, and I would recommend the Roadshow to everyone
V

I know a guy who comes with a ton of very good references that can fix that cloak clasp as good as anyone could. He does it on another site quite often and is very known for his work. He is very reasonable with his cost too. Send me a message if your interested and I will get you his info.

 

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[Masonlid]

I went to the RoadShow in Chattanooga...I had an awesome time....met the Keno twins...lol

 

[daroofa]

The pocket watch case was not 1794, but rather 1814, which is still pretty awesome for a silver find in my book.

This is just my humble, untrained opinion, but I don't think they dated the watch correctly. 1794 or 1834 seems much more likely. Compare the "t" on the watch to the others shown below for those 3 years. 1814 is the one it looks least like.

 

[vthepresident]

The pocket watch case was not 1794, but rather 1814, which is still pretty awesome for a silver find in my book.

This is just my humble, untrained opinion, but I don't think they dated the watch correctly. 1794 or 1834 seems much more likely. Compare the "t" on the watch to the others shown below for those 3 years. 1814 is the one it looks least like.

That's what I thought, too!
The Leopard head facing forward on the right (hard to see in pic) indicates London.
The Lion at the top makes it sterling silver.
The bust of King George gives some clues to the date.
I think the lower case "t" definitely falls in the 1794-1834 choices.
I can't find the chart I originally looked at, but the bust on my watch didn't look nearly as much like the bust on the 1834 chart. It looked much closer to the 1794 image. Also, the style of the watch (key wound, long top post) was a lot more consistent with late 18th century watches.

The silver line at the roadshow was very long, and there was only one appraiser there, and he really didn't spend much time with my watch, so maybe he didn't read it correctly. Either way, I still had a great time, and this is still one of my favorite finds.
Thanks for the reply
V