Antiques Roadshow Trivia Facts

Antiques Roadshow

- Trivia Facts

The most valuable item ever appraised at a Roadshow event was a collection of autographs from every Presidential cabinet member from George Washington to Franklin Roosevelt, valued at a million dollars. Not surprisingly, the owner did not wish to appear on the show. The most valuable item ever shown on the air was a 19th century Navajo blanket, so rare that only about 50 remain (most in museums), appraised at $350,000 to $500,000. The owner's first realization of its value came when the show's producers assigned him and his wife armed guards to protect them and the blanket while they were taping.
One of the show's most famous "big discoveries" was a Seymour mahogany card table, bought at a garage sale by a New Jersey retiree decades previous for $25. She later sold the table at Sotheby's through one of the men who appraised her table on the air, Leigh Keno, for over half a million dollars.
One of the episodes featured a woman with a fifteenth century Spanish parade helmet; this episode has been taken off the syndication list because the producers were unable to reach the woman later.