Welcome to the Mississippi Antique Showcase, where our expert appraisers take a closer look at your rare finds, family heirlooms and quirky collectibles.

We'll uncover the stories behind these unique treasures, and of course, find out what they might be worth.

We're in Oxford, Mississippi, with Mary Lou and Mary Lou's coin collection.

What'd you bring us, Mary Lou?

I got these coins from my father-in-law.

He left them to my husband and two sisters, and they're trying to divide them out.

But I've got to tell you this cute story about the father-in-law and the mother-in-law.

Okay.

A- about 50 years ago, he had a meeting in Jackson, Mississippi.

He dropped her off at the mall and he went to his meeting, and then he went to his favorite (laughs) coin store and bought a coin for a good bit.

Picked my mother-in-law up, but she wanted him to come in and pay for a hat she wanted.

She didn't get the hat, but he got the coin.

(laughs) (laughs) That's a great story.

So, we've got all sorts of coins here, right?

So I see some are gold, some are silver.

Yes.

What do you know about the selection that you brought us today?

I only know the age of 'em, and I thought the silver dollars were pretty, so I added those.

Yeah.

Well, they're great.

Thank you.

With coins, there's news- numismatic value, and then there's also gold value.

So, the gold prices have been rising steadily, um, right now with all of the trade war stuff going on.

So, the prices of these are actually increasing at a rapid rate.

Super.

Um, and so these also have numismatic value and if you wanted to, you can do what is called slabbing them, so you can have 'em encased and then graded.

Yes.

And s- that's what people do.

So, the very best coins that are uncirculated, the ones with more finer detail, like this- Mm-hmm.

... they're worth more money w- the better grade they are.

Mm-hmm.

Gotcha.

Um, ones that have been well circulated, like this dime here- Mm-hmm.

... would grade low on a scale, and then therefore don't have as much numismatic value.

Sure.

We're looking at just this small sampling, you, we would be in the probably the $15,000 range.

Oh, my goodness.

You know, these will never be sold to anyone though, no matter what the value is of all of 'em.

Will go to our son and our daughter's children.

Great.

Well, they'll continue to rise in value probably.

That is amazing.

(instrumental music plays) I'm here with Lee and Janis Novak.

We are at the Mississippi Antique Showcase in Oxford, Mississippi.

Now, Lee and Janis are a mother and daughter duo.

Lee has brought in a box.

We have all this old paper products.

You know, there's one about sewing.

There's the Aunt Jemima.

This is so nice.

Royal baking powder.

Quaker Oats.

And like all these are from the '40s.

There's some posters in here.

What was another cool one we found, Janis?

Um, like this is just a- Oh, yeah.

You know.

... small sampling.

Using evaporated milk in family meals.

You needed a whole brochure for that.

If you didn't know.

There was... I mean, there was hundreds of 'em.

We just picked out a few that was... This is about... This one was Rit Dye, you know, which we s- is still around today.

We don't use it as much.

Yeah.

If at all.

Yeah.

That was the way we did our clothes.

If you wanted to change the color or the color of those shoes, the satin one, you got to get you some Rit.

(laughs) And you know, the eggs.

I just thought a lot of the art on it was really cool.

Yeah.

I mean, it does have this nostalgic- Um, and some of the posters, I won't open- ... I won't open those right now 'cause, you know, every time you open them, they probably... Um- Yeah, fall apart a little bit.

And Janis, she loved all the decorating ones.

You know, and it has all... From the '40s.

And you open those, and it has, you know, ways to decorate.

Decorating with color.

That was when they moved from black and white television into color TV.

And they were like, "We gonna push it today."

This is so nice.

Okay.

You... Have, have you been appraised yet today?

No.

There's Pyrex.

You know, that's still collectible today.

Girl.

Now, you know this has got to be worth something.

You know how many ladies love Pyrex dishes.

Yeah, yeah.

The more I went through it... And I still haven't read all of it, but the more I went through it, it just, you know.

It was just so- Yeah.

It's something... Really wasn't that long ago.

What?

80, 80-ish years?

But- Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But how things have changed so much.

Right.

I mean, you go through that.

These... Some of these things inside of these books are things that they share now as memes or posts on social media.

Now they try to give you that nostalgic, "This is what happened back then," thing.

Yeah.

But you have it literally in flesh, in my hands.

Let's just say, if you got the appraisal of th- the century on these, because they are old and they are rare.

Are we gonna sell or are we gonna keep?

I doubt it.

Uh, Janis and I were talking and, you know, like we thought, especially some of the kitchen ones and the colors in some of 'em.

Yeah.

You know, would be like... We might get some of 'em framed up for gifts for the family.

That would be nice.

You know.

Perfect mother-daughter duo.

It wasn't scary what was in the box.

It was not scary.

It was light, but it was (laughs) - Some of it might be a little scary.

No, no.

It wasn't scary.

And Lee and Janis, I just thank you all.

One, Lee, thank you for working here at the Inn at Old Miss.

And Miss Janis, thank you for being her mama, and you coming out too.

(laughs) And joining us here at the Mississippi Antique Showcase.

Thank y'all.

Bye.

Thank y'all.

Hey there, Mark.

Glad you came to see us today.

Glad to be here.

Good looking sword you got here.

(laughs) Does it have a story?

Well, my aunt gave this to me when I was, uh, 14 or 15, 'cause I always loved knives and, uh, her husband, my uncle, had, uh, brought this back from World War II.

And I don't know how he acquired it.

Uh, I know that he was critically injured in the Battle of Tarawa, in the Pacific, and, uh, and that's all I know about it.

So... Those war wounds probably contributed to his early death.

He was crippled when he came back from the war, so- Good-looking sword.

Have you ever researched your sword much?

Um, 40 years ago, there was some guy that used to advertise in the back of the outdoor magazines that he bought swords, and he sent me a little kit to, uh, make a tracing of the maker's marks that are on the tang, and, uh, showed me how to, told me how to remove the handle, and I did that, and he wanted me to send it to him for an appraisal and I didn't, I wasn't gonna send anything to Chicago back then, and, uh- And that was 40 years ago?

Yeah, uh-huh.

What kind of offer did he make you for- He didn't make me an offer.

He wanted to see it in person, he said, to make an offer, so... Okay.

Well, it... the sh- sharkskin handle just looks great (laughs) and, uh, there's some wear to the gold, uh, gilt on it, but overall, the condition looks to be about as good as you'd ever see one about it.

Um, you have a leather, uh, sheath with it.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and so you don't know if this is original or not?

The, um, these... the two little holes here don't quite match up with... this one piece is a little loose, so it fits real good, but this, this part doesn't quite match up on it, so... You know, they might have taken, um, these swords off some Japanese officers and just kind of had them in a pile, and he grabbed the, the sheath for somebody else's sword possibly, and then you have this, uh, this canvas, and it has the Japanese, uh, writing on it there that... so they, they really had that sword where they could take care of it.

They had it in a sheath, and then in a, uh, a sock there- Yeah.

... where they could take... and it looks like it's been taken care of.

Um, we would pull it out and show it to our audience today, but you've told us how sharp it is, and, uh, so we'll just leave it inside and everybody will know that the blade's very sharp and in very good condition.

Um- It's not rusty or anything.

It's not rusty?

It looks like the day it was made, so it's not something... My goodness.

You know, in the eyes of a collector, this one has everything you want if you buy this kind of sword.

From what research I was able to do on your sword, it looks like this sword should sell somewhere in the $3,000 to $4,000 range in today's market.

It's probably not quite as strong as it was a few years ago- Mm-hmm.

... but, uh, it's still, it's still up there, and especially in the condition this one's in, and we appreciate you bringing it.

(instrumental music plays) Well, I see you brought us some really nice things today.

Thank you.

Uh, can you tell us about them?

Well- How you come about them?

Um, I was actually at a family event, and my brother-in-law asked, he said, "Do you happen to know anyone who might know something about, you know, jewelry that his mother had collected over the years, gotten at estate sales?"

And I said, "As a matter of fact, I may know someone."

(laughs) Yeah.

These are, these are really nice things.

All back in Victorian period, women, men, they all dipped snuff.

So they had little, beautiful little things they carry it in, and they pull... it would open up, and had a little place to, uh, dip the snuff out- Oh, I would have never called it that.

... and this is the same thing, but it's in a... it was a pendant around the neck.

And I noticed you have a number of things here.

Uh, this one is a... it's a big chunk of gold, and it's, uh, 14 karat, and it has a, uh, lady with a hat, and, uh, stamp, 14-karat gold.

These are some nice things.

Yeah.

And it's, uh, really a, a memory of what used to happen, you know, a long time ago.

Yeah.

You'd see the lady with a big antebellum dress on, and then she'd have these things hanging around her neck or clipped on somewhere, and then she'd open it up, and so I'd say today, they might be putting something else in there, but I- (laughs) That's... ... I don't know.

Uh, your gold piece is... it is 14-karat gold.

Mm-hmm.

Which, which is gonna make it worth somewhat less.

But, uh, but even so, I, I think it's worth $1,800.

Wow.

And, uh... Wow.

And this could... and then the other one is worth, uh, about $500.

Okay.

And these, uh- I had no idea.

All these... if you put all these together, right here, they'd be worth $1,000, $1,500.

Wow.

So this isn't a bubble blower then, right?

No.

No, it's not a bubble blower.

It's, uh... it, it is the snuff.

Snuff, okay.

And then... but, you know, those are probably, like, in the 1880s.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

And so very popular then.

And, uh, we really appreciate you coming by today- Well, certainly.

... and bringing these.

Well, thank you.

I appreciate it.

(instrumental music plays) We have Claudia and Ed.

Thank y'all so much for coming to Mississippi Antique Showcase.

And it seems like you brought two really lovely prints, so we're excited any time we get to feature or focus on a Mississippi artist.

And we're lucky enough to have a Greenwood, Mississippi artist, an, uh, Lalla Walker Lewis.

And she was born in Greenwood in 1912 and lived there until her death in 2006.

This actually close to my heart.

She actually attended Mississippi University for Women, or MUW, in Columbus, and then she also studied at Newcomb College.

And she picked up and was very known for being both a printer and a painter.

So sometimes you see her work in actual paintings or on canvases or on board.

But one of her places that she stopped and w- worked, she's featured in Delgado Museum of Art, now NOMA, and she also was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, or the WPA, to actually commission and chronicle the life of Mississippi scenes through what we call woodblock prints.

And these are what these two woodblock prints are.

So as soon as she was commissioned to do that, she was obviously paid, and there was prints that were made all about Mississippi life.

So that's why we like her Mississippi-based artistry.And she really chronicles the life of Mississippi through these certain prints.

But she also did so, as I said, through also paintings.

So these particular prints here depict, obviously, farmland, and then we have the beautiful Mississippi, uh, Gulf Coast there with the sailboats.

So they're great, obviously, to have them in a pair.

Talk a little bit about how you got them.

My aunt gave them to me when her husband's aunts passed away.

He was reared by his aunts and, uh, it, these were theirs.

And, uh, she gave them to me maybe about 30 years ago.

Okay.

Do you know how much did, how, how she acquired them?

Your- From his aunts.

From his aunts.

From her husband's aunts.

And do you know how much they maybe paid or did they- Oh.

No.

They've been dead a long time, so.

(laughs) It would be hard to ask them now, for sure.

Yeah.

That's right.

Well, the good thing about it is, when we look at things like this, for condition-wise, to appraise and provide a value, we look at comparables in the market.

Um, they are out there, so we can draw some.

She was obviously well -known Mississippi artist.

She's featured not just in Delgato Museum, but Delta State and, and other, uh, museums, uh, of art in Jackson.

But overall, the condition -wise, it looks pretty good.

Um, we see that there's obviously, uh, been pencil drawings on the outside of the matting of this, so we haven't actually seen inside, uh, the actual picture frame to see if there's any foxing issues.

We always recommend, instead of this cardboard or paper backing, that you get a non-acidic bag so that makes sure that the print is preserved and it doesn't obviously start, uh, to, uh, fox and oxidize.

But the great thing that we have in each of these corners, one on the left and one on the right, is actually Louis' signature.

So it's always good to see these, uh, original prints that she did in woodblock.

Do y'all have any idea what it might be worth?

Well, we've checked online and we thought maybe $200 to $300 a, a piece.

Well, I think there's actually a little better news than that.

I would say the paintings generally are a higher value.

Mm-hmm.

So let's say a, an original painting by hers could be anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000.

But with two prints like these, and if you can find more in this woodblock series, I really think each one and together would raise the value.

So I would put probably each one of these at $1,000 to $1,500 fair market value, so anywhere around $2,000 to $2,500 for the pair.

And if you get a really particular Mississippi collector who's focused on this particular artist, or any itinerant or focused- Or this block series.

Block series, right, it could even raise the value higher.

As we always say, it's what others are willing to pay for it in, in the fair market, How many were in the block series?

There was, uh, well over 100 in the block series.

So if we were to remove this, uh, matting, we probably could see what, how many limited series that she made of each one.

Because they were each obviously replicated in the woodblock.

She was very well-trained in printing, so she had already developed that trade, and so until we see under the matting, we'd probably see what specific number these prints were.

That could obviously narrow down exclusivity, which obviously raises the price.

So if this was one in ten, or one in five- Mm-hmm.

... or one in 50, but I'm talking about they're just the original prints themselves, not obviously replications of those.

So we would know a little more.

And obviously you can remove this and look at some of that information.

It could change the value.

But overall, we really appreciate y'all bringing in a Mississippi-based artist any time we can.

We do.

And we appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

(instrumental music plays) What do you guys think about the internet and like Google Lens and all that stuff?

'Cause a lot of people showed up today and they said, "Oh, well, I Google Lensed this and this is what it is."

And so they come with a, a predetermined notion of what an item is.

What do you think about that?

Well- Well, you know, one thing I think, um, what determines, o- o- one of the things that appraisers have to take in consideration is, number one, what is the condition?

Number two, was it a Sears & Roebuck piece of furniture or a Maloof piece of furniture to begin with in the ... Because there were different qualities of things back 150 years ago.

Number three, um, what area of the country is it in?

You know, an oak piece will sell for so much more in Texas than it will in Mississippi, because most of the Mississippi homes were built in the 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, and the houses in Texas were built in the 1880s and 1890s pretty much.

That's ... So I think, I think what you have to do is always take in consideration all those different things in all different appraisals: fair market, insurance appraisals, fair market appraisals- Right.

... and, and also, uh, insurance appraisals.

There are basically three kinds, and you have to know what you're doing.

I mean, you have to know what is your purpose in each of these appraisers, appraisals.

And then take those questions that I just basically said into consideration.

And then, of course, what you said, is to do the research on it and find out ... Because it, we are obligated to, to do what we think is right.

I think there's gonna be- And I think that's the end of, you know ... There's gonna be room for AI and technology.

I think just basic apps like Google Lens, y- I mean, a photograph may look like another piece of furniture, but you can't tell if it's a reproduction or later than an early period.

Absolutely.

There's so much right now- Yes.

... the technology.

But there are apps like, I think it's Curio app, that is, is, is used to identify antique furniture by some marking.

So it's progressed more, but I still, I think you need appraisers who are qualified in their field who have maybe potentially even been certified, but whether or not you have, maybe you've been a long time auctioneer, you, they have expertise special, based on experience and other things that you can't get from just an app.

I'm here in Oxford, Mississippi with Anita Lee from Southaven, Mississippi.

And Anita, what did you bring us today?

I brought a watch- Okay.

... that was my mother's.

This was your mom's watch?

Yes.

Awesome.

Tell me about it.

Well, my father was a doctor in Memphis.

And after he paid off all his loans, then he would save up money to do things and so he bought my mother a wedding ring at a, at a jewelry store in Memphis.

And a year or two later, he said, "Let's go make sure your ring is still in good shape."

And when they walked in, he was like, "Come over here and look at this watch."

And she says, "Yeah, it's really pretty, but it's too expensive."

He goes, "Well, too bad.

I went ahead and bought it for you."

So he surprised her with a watch.

He surprised her with a watch.

Tell me about the ring.

It ... Do you have that ring?

I do.

It's on my hand.

You're wearing the ring.

I'm wearing the ring.

Amazing.

It- So yeah.

It's a great diamond.

And so the jewelry store, you were telling me a minute ago- Right.

... had new stuff, they had old stuff- Yes.

... they had estate stuff.

Yes.

And so when did y- your parents purchase it?

Uh, about in the mid to late '70s.

Okay.

1970s.

Right.

And, but it was an estate jewelry store, and so they had earlier items.

Yes.

And so who's this?

Who are we looking at?

These are my parents when they were, before married.

Okay.

And these are my parents on my wedding day in 1980.

Okay.

Well, she's not wearing this watch.

No.

She's wearing a different watch.

She's not, yeah.

Did she wear this watch often?

She did every so often, for special occasions.

Okay.

So.

And I do too, but ... What do you know about the watch?

It has lots of diamonds.

It's, uh, platinum and has emeralds and it still works.

Yes.

It, it ... You said you wind it every day.

I wind it.

Okay.

I don't wind it every day, but I'll wind it when I'm wearing it especially, so.

Right.

Well, so the gr- And it keeps really great time.

Amazing.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Well, so let me tell you what we've deduced.

This watch is by the Peacock Watch Company.

It's in the Deco style.

Okay.

But we're not gonna say that it's officially 1920s.

I got you.

Um, we're gonna believe it to be somewhere between the '20s and the '40s.

Right.

Um, they were still producing watches of this style into the '40s and, and we know that.

Okay.

I see that we're missing one little emerald- Right.

... in here.

Um, but it, it's just a, a small emerald chip and the whole thing is covered with diamonds.

You can see it sparkle- Right.

... you know, under all these lights here.

It's pretty awesome.

And then it's set in platinum.

Right.

Right.

And so the platinum and the diamonds are fantastic.

And Peacock is not anybody like Rolex- Right.

... you know, that you would have heard of.

Right.

These bracelets ... The watches have fallen out of favor but the bracelets haven't.

If that makes any sense.

It does.

So most people can't read these, me being one of them, have a hard time seeing the numbers 'cause- Yeah.

... the face is so small.

Right.

And so ladies today have transitioned to much larger faces.

Right.

But these Deco watches have become Deco bracelets with watch faces in them.

Okay.

I got you.

And so people wear them as bracelets and some people don't even wind them.

They just love it.

So this would be a diamond and emerald bracelet.

Got it.

And so, um, do you have any idea of value?

Have you had it looked at?

No, I have not.

Okay.

Well, so today, being a Deco bracelet like this with the stones, the diamonds, and everything else, um, and Peacock being the maker of the watch- Right.

... we're looking at a replacement value of somewhere in the $4,000 range.

Is that what you thought?

Yeah.

I think that he bought it for maybe a little less than $2,000 back then.

Yeah.

Well, it's appreciated ... So Just the value of the platinum's gotta be high.

Right.

You know?

Right.

Um, and so I, I think ... What I've found is most of these are selling at auction anywhere between 25 to $3500, and then- Right.

... you add in buyer's premium- Right.

... we're looking right at about, you know, $4,000- Right.

... plus.

Right.

But it's a great thing.

The story's great.

The fact that you wear it and continue to think about your parents- Right, right.

... is even better.

Yeah.

And that, you know, sometimes that's worth much more than $4,000.

Absolutely.

You know what I mean?

Absolutely.

(instrumental music plays) Join us next time on Mississippi Antique Showcase.

Find out if you've got a hidden treasure tucked away in your closet.

closet.