Antiques Roadshow: Are you a fan? I wonder if lots of

I love this show! I doubt if any of the experts have broken anything. They are pros and know just how to handle things. But your parking lot scenario has probably happened!

Sounds like Amanda had a much different experience than me.  I went to that show quite a few years ago. It was a horrible experience. They now give out tickets in advance but back then you lined up at about 9am and they gave out 3000 tickets. We were 3 blocks from the convention center. After 3 hours we made it to the entrance, so we decided to stick it out. What we didn't know was that now we were herded into a large room where we snaked lines up and down, up and down until 6 pm. Yes, TEN hours of going up and down the length of a room about the size of a basketball court.

At about 6pm we went through the doors where the appraisers are and the filming is taking place. The appraisers were trying to gin up enthusiasm but really, they were over it since anything they thought was interesting had already been secretly pulled out of line hours earlier.

I did meet the Keno brothers who appraised a chair I brought for the amount I paid. They were very nice. However, the folk art guy who appraised my walking wheel had no idea how old it was, what wood it was made of, nothing. He was worthless. My mom had an old German glass boot with gold German script. The lady told her it was probably a candy holder. I did my own research later and translated the German - it was a freaking beer glass.

Anyway, it is NOTHING like it looks on the show. Imagine thousands of people all trying to see an appraiser. Now cram them all in a room for 10 hours. That's Antiques Roadshow. Still like the show though, lol!  My mom showed up in the background on the episode so we bought the DVD for her.

Myboysandme is correct - there are a lot of lines. We had tickets and was there early. We stood in lines all day but the best part was meeting the people in the lines and hearing the stories. The longest line was for paintings.

I love it!

It makes me walk around my house wondering what I could sell stuff for. I have "inherited" a ton of antiques from various family members-most with more sentimental than financial value. But if it meant that I could meet one of the Keno brothers, I would take whatever I could. LOL

We always wonder about security. Like they appraise some little tiny frail old lady's whatever a gazillion dollars. Do they let her just walk out in the parking lot alone? After they had her separated from the crowd and sitting at the table in front of the cameras? I worry about that as much as I do someone dropping grandma's $10,000 vase because they tripped over a grain of sand while looking for their keys (which would be totally me.) 

I *know*!!

They paint a target on you and then send you out into the world with all those unscrupulous antique gangs. 

I just taped an old episode that a girlfriend was on because I didn't see when it first was aired.

She had brought a pair of fertility sticks that her grandfather had purchased in Nigeria back in the 30's.

I just watched that episode last night!

I LOVE watching the show. My favorite people are the ones who think their item might be worth a little something and then find out they are worth much more.
I remember one episode where a woman had inherited a painting that hung by the bathroom in her mother's mobile home. Turns out it was a painting of one of the early American Cup races! It was worth something like $70,000 to $90,000 and the woman just kept saying over and over "it hung by the bathroom for years."

I got tickets to the one in the Santa Clara Convention Ctr this year.

One item I brought, a hand painted piece of china was one that I was going to put up for sale on Etsy. They gave me a pretty conservative value compared to what I had seen them sell for.

The second "item" that I brought was a collection of different art pieces by a certain artist. (Charles Bartlett) Because there were a few originals - oil, watercolor and a few woodblock prints, I got referred to several experts once I was at the front of the line. None of them knew who he was and each looked him up online while I waited. I was a little disappointed because I do know that he's quite collectable. There was a lady in line with me who came over and was blown away by them so. She made my day, actually!

It's true - a lot of the lines were INSANE - like the painting line was 3 hours. There was a 2 hour line to get to the sorting/ticketing for individual experts, then each line was another wait.  The painting line was over 3 hours. But we had some weapons and some quilts and those lines were almost non-existent. Super fast. I also brought extra items and was able to walk on to experts who were sitting there waiting for someone. Photography had no lines and I had some stuff for her to look at.

We didn't have anything of substantial value but they did take photos of my sister's document signed by Abraham Lincoln. Not because it was signed by AL but because it was considered "local history" - in that the person named in the document went on to be one of the first Mayors of Oakland, Ca. They said they would include it in their magazine. I didn't even know there was a magazine.

I love the show and went when they were in Boston. Unfortunately one of my antiques was a fake but its funny because when I returned home, my momwho had given it to me told me she bought it in a department store....thanks mom....
Anyway this is not road show but it is a person breaking a valuable antique, watch only if you can stand to see an antique
youtu.be/oxGWENAv_oA

I like the show. I met and sold stuff to one of the guys before the show even went on the air. He came to the house. I have a copy of the cancelled check.

Gee, I didn't answer your questions. I'm sure the show has insurance for anything they break. I would think people have to sign waivers as well. I think it would be tricky to refer people to specific buyers because a seller could say that the appraisal was low ball or that the referring source was getting a kick back.