More than 100 people hauled an assortment of goods — jewelry, furniture, pottery paintings, swords and shotguns — into a tiny room behind Tent City last Saturday for the second annual Coronado Treasures Roadshow sponsored by the Coronado Historical Association (CHA). For $25 they could have their “treasure” assessed by a professional appraiser.
“The most spectacular item of the day was a hand inscribed Presentation Sword, passed down through generations,” Janet Frances, CHA spokesperson said.
It had been given to a young lieutenant for service aboard the USS Constitution “Old Ironside” in the War of 1812.
Unlike most events sponsored by the nonprofit, this one was not a fundraiser. “We do it to build new relations in the community,” Francis said. “And to encourage historical preservation,” CHA board member Susan Keith added.
Many people have things in their attic that have been handed down for generations, often with a family lore connected to them. By researching an item’s history, the appraisers at the Roadshow confirmed or debunked that lore. They were also able to affix a value.
Keith brought in a mid-Nineteenth Century leather and oak chair that had seen better days. It’s arms and legs were scuffed and chipped. It leather seat and back withered and cracked with age. While it wasn’t pretty, it was cherished and as it turned out of some worth and historical importance.
The chair has been in her family for nearly a century. “All of the grandchildren have sat in it,” Keith said. So did President Abraham Lincoln or so her parents always said. She wanted to know if that was true.
“It was given to my father by one of Blairs when he was a naval aide at the White House in the late 1920’s early 1930’s,” Keith said.
Since 1942, Blair House has been the official guesthouse of the President of the United States. Publisher Francis Preston Blair bought the house in 1836 and the family owned nearly century before selling it to the government.
The chair’s value lay in its connection to Blair House. That it had not been refurbished — the leather, the stuffing, the wood, even the screws were original – also added to its worth.
Had Keith been able to prove that Lincoln had actually sat in the chair, it would have been worth considerably more. “I needed a photograph of Mr. Lincoln sitting in it,” she said.
Keith was not all that concerned with its monetary value. “I’m doing this for my children and grandchild, so they know our family’s history.”
Bob Bardin came for much the same reason. He has two children and wants to document the history and worth of his possessions. He wanted to ensure that his family “wouldn’t think something was junk and throw it out.”
He brought in a gold, enameled tree figurine studded with diamond flowers, a Marta Ortiz ceramic mug and an 1869 Winchester rifle. He had already conducted a fair amount of research on the rifle and had bought the mug from the craftsman who had created it. Going in, he had a good idea of the mug and rifle’s worth.
Juan Quezada made the mug. the patriarch of the famed Marta Ortiz potters. “I saw it in his [Quezada’s] kitchen and wanted because he made it and it was different from all the other pottery there,” Bardin said. Besides being really old, the rifle possessed little in added value.
He purchased the bejeweled figurine in an upscale gift shop in San Mariano for his wife, without having it appraised. It turned out to be worth less than half of what he paid for it. He was not disappointed. “When I bought it I wasn’t thinking about money, I just wanted to buy flowers for my wife’s birthday,” he said. “The price didn’t matter.”
It mattered to others. One woman brought in some jade that no one in her family wanted. She wanted to know what it was worth and where she could sell it.
This is the second year Keith has participated in the Roadshow. Last year she brought in some Civil War memorabilia that had been passed down by her great grandfather, wooden Tom dolls from Portugal, and a top of a water jug from Pompeii she had excavated herself in 1952.
Her family was in Italy for the opening of NATO and the head of the excavation team invited a group of children to the site and allowed them to keep what they found.
The Lincoln chair and the items she brought in last year are not her only heirlooms. She has a houseful of them. Most hold only sentimental or historical value.
“I’m lucky,” she said. “My parents never threw anything away.”
