British-made Richard Wilson Musket, ca. 1755
GUEST: It's always been in our family. Uh, my dad had it, it was in our house when I was growing up in San Francisco. And when I moved to Colorado in 1996, I brought it out here with me. So it's been here in Colorado since then. My third great grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War and, um, we have it all documented that he joined the militia at 17 and had to supply his own rifle. And this is the one that he brought with.
APPRAISER: What was your ancestor's name?
GUEST: His name was Jonathan Dustin Cheney.
APPRAISER: Okay, and where was he from?
GUEST: He was from Boston, Massachusetts.
APPRAISER: So Jonathan Cheney was actually from Hampstead, New Hampshire.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: ...which is a town right over the Massachusetts border from Haverhill. And in December of 1775, he enlisted in Captain Thomas Cogswell's company of Colonel Loammi Baldwin's 26th Continental Regiment. The militia at the time, you were supposed to be armed and equipped as according to law, which meant when you were 16 years old, you were supposed to have a gun and all your equipments to perform militia duty. However, there were those that did not that had to be supplied a gun. I also have the list of who was paid for bringing their own gun.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And he was on it.
GUEST: Oh, wow. (laughs)
APPRAISER: And he was paid six shillings. And he enlisted in December of 1775. He was involved in the siege of Boston. They were stationed in Chelsea, Mass., and in Brookline, Mass., at Brookline Fort until the British evacuated March 17, 1776. After that time, Colonel Baldwin's regiment marched to New York and were badly beaten by the British and pushed out of New York into Pennsylvania, where George Washington came up with a, a brilliant idea to attack Trenton. And your ancestor was involved in the attack on Trenton.
GUEST: Wow. Yeah.
APPRAISER: So, this gun has some really good history to it. (laughing)
GUEST: Wow, that's really good.
APPRAISER: So now to the gun itself. It's not a rifle. A rifle has rifling in the barrel, which guides a bullet out of the muzzle-- uh, more accurate. This is a smoothbore musket. This gun was built for military use. It was made by Richard Wilson in London, who was a commercial supplier of weapons that came to America during the French and Indian War in 1755, '56. So this gun was probably built and, and brought to this country between 1754 and 1756. And it's marked "Wilson" on the lock, which is very hard to see.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And on the top of the barrel, it's marked "London." And then you can see the proof marks on the left side of the breech with "R.W.," which is for Richard Wilson. It does have some condition issues. The cock has been replaced. In order to keep this gun functioning, during the Revolution, they refaced the hammer so it would continue to spark. The hammer spring's been replaced. Um, you've got a little bit of wood loss here. And you can see here where the stock was broken and then replaced.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: You've also got two ramrod pipes that are missing. And the ramrod's missing, but a ramrod-- you, you can find the correct ramrod for it.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So, even with the condition issues, though, this is a really rare gun. And these things that were replaced on it and repaired were done during the period. So you've got a great gun with a great history. At auction, uh, I would put $15,000 to $20,000 on it.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And that's a conservative number. Wow. I think it would go higher than that, given the history that's with it.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: I would put an insurance value on this gun in the $25,000 to $30,000 range.
GUEST: Wow, thank you.
$15,000 Auction
$30,000 Insurance
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Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
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