Protest Dress, ca. 1900
GUEST: This dress belonged to my great-grandmother, who immigrated from Sweden back in the late 1880s, uh, to, uh, Minneapolis is where she lived. She obviously was an activist. It says, "Down with the trusts. Free silver, free lunch." And the William, uh, Jennings Bryan speeches when he was running for president...
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: ...in 1896 were mostly on putting free silver into the markets.
APPRAISER: Okay. So there are three things there.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: We've got trusts.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And the trusts are, they're against illegal, uh, mergers and business practices.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: "Give us free silver and free lunch."
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: Free silver was the Free Silver Movement.
GUEST: Right, okay.
APPRAISER: And what that means is, in 1873, there was an act of Congress that took silver out of being legal tender-- it was not going to be used anymore.
GUEST: Oh. Okay.
APPRAISER: Gold was really seen by the silver people as people who were oppressing us--they were probably robbing us. They were not for the people.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: So the silver was seen as the people's currency.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The "free lunch" part is interesting. There was a political cartoon that talked about the people who were Silverists being just sort of scoundrels who hung out at bars...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: ...waiting for a free lunch. That they were just low-level people.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: And here your ancestor is saying, "We're gonna take back... We are, we do want a free lunch."
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: (chuckles) They're kind of using the joke on the people who made it.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: "We are those scoundrels at the bar." You know?
GUEST: Got it. Yeah. (chuckling)
APPRAISER: But "We, we're more than that," you know, "But we're the people."
GUEST: Yeah. Okay.
APPRAISER: One of the things that drew me to this dress...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...is the story of your ancestor.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: So here she is. A young woman, made this dress, I'm sure, in a sort of country, "I'm from the people"... Maybe this is meant to be wheat.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
APPRAISER: And she's supporting her community. She's supporting the movement that was helping all of her community.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: I love the fact that she's jumping in as a new immigrant.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And she has a political voice. I have never seen something like this before.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: I, it's wonderful.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: This is such a small dress.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And this is our smallest mannequin. But we had to pin it open because we, we just couldn't, uh, get the buttons closed. (laughs) As a regular late-19th-century cotton dress...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:...it has a value, without all this trimming, $225, $235, something like that.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, uh-huh.
APPRAISER: With all of this added aspect, this appliqué, the history of your family...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: ...and, and where it is in the world of political altercations...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:...I would put a retail value of $3,000 to $4,000 on this.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: Yes, yeah.
GUEST: Wow. (laughing): That is amazing. So we better take care of it instead of... (laughs)
APPRAISER: Yeah. I would put, uh, $5,000 on this for insurance purposes.
GUEST: Okay, wow-- we'll get that done.
(both laugh)
$3,000 Retail
$5,000 Insurance
Featured In
episode
Springs Preserve, Hour 1
Las Vegas treasures hit the jackpot with ROADSHOW’s top $650,000 find of Season 29!
20th Century
appraisal
Comic Wind-up Toys, ca. 1930
appraisal
Barbie Accessories & Case, ca. 1960
appraisal
William Moorcroft Pottery, ca. 1910
appraisal
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.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
