French Musical Pocket Watch, ca. 1830
GUEST: It was given to my father from his grandfather. I'm next in line to, to inherit it, and we don't mu, know much about it. Um, it was appraised in 1991, and they estimated that it was from about 1820 and it's French. I love the little illustration on the front. And also, it plays music, and that's one of the best parts.
APPRAISER: The case is made out of 18-karat gold. Yeah. Solid gold watch. I would date it about 1830.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: It's a key wound watch, key set. You've got the keys right here for the watch.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Musical watches are quite rare. You told me you didn't even know it was musical, and you were just playing with it, maybe, yesterday... (laughs) ...and you heard music go off on it.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: The watch was made in France. What's really wonderful is this face on it, or the dial of the watch. And we have an early American flag on there, so...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: The subject matter is phenomenal. That's porcelain enamel. That's all hand-painted. And then you have this gold that's on top of the dial there. You notice at the center how it's indented a little bit right there?
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: That is called a bull's eye crystal. Can't get those today.
GUEST: (chuckles)
APPRAISER: Now, if we turn it over... ...this back, the French called it guilloché, or we call it engine-turning. They engraved the back of the case. I'm going to just open it up here. First, we look at the inner cover of the watch. In French, that's called a cuvette, and it was a dust cover to protect the movement of the watch. You can see there's two holes. Both of those are for winding the watch, not for setting. The arrows are engraved on here so that you didn't accidentally...
GUEST: Turn it the wrong way. ...
APPRAISER: turn it the wrong direction and damage it. You have two different mechanisms in the watch. The smaller barrel, that's what holds the mainspring inside.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: That's the one that you would wind to run the watch. And there's a larger barrel here, and that is the spring that powers the musical part of the watch. This watch played music in two different ways. It would play music on the hour if you wanted it to...
GUEST: Mm-hmm. ...
APPRAISER: and then there was a button that plays it on demand, and that was the button that you hit by accident...
GUEST: (laughs) ...
APPRAISER: and it started playing music. That must have been a surprise, right?
GUEST: Yeah, it was, it was.
APPRAISER: I mean, did you think you broke it at first?
GUEST: (laughs): Yes!
APPRAISER: Or, or, like, you know, "Wait a minute, what's all that noise coming out of it?" We're going to play this right now. (music playing from watch) What do you think the value of it was?
GUEST: When it was appraised in 1991, they estimated about $2,500.
APPRAISER: A musical watch in gold today, a nice example of one, would, would probably bring somewhere between $5,000 and $8,000. But we have this spectacular face on this watch. It's a harbor scene, it's flawless. A watch collector would love it. A person that loves musical, music boxes, anything musical, and then Americana, 'cause of the American flag on it. An auction value today, I would put on it, with all these features on it, I think this watch would easily bring between $15,000 and $20,000.
GUEST: (laughs): Wow, that is quite the shock. It's been in the safety deposit for, like, 20 years. So wow. That's great. (laughs) Thank you.
APPRAISER: The dial, that's the first one I've ever seen like that.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: On, on a musical watch like this. So it, it's quite nice.
$15,000 - $20,000 Auction
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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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