Went on Antiques Roadshow Today with my collection of Berliners...

[Dischoard]

... and it went about how you'd expect. This is absolutely hilarious.

First, if you're not a fan of the Antiques Roadshow, you're going to have a lot of fun with this post.

So I originally sent them this image of my oak box containing 25 original Berliner Gramophone discs for their "Knock Our Socks Off" portion of the show. I suppose this is how they weed through people before they actually arrive at the event and know who they may film and who they may not. I never ended up getting contacted:

The oak box full of 7" E. Berliner's Gramophone discs

So I happened to have a friend who got tickets and he invited me along on his ticket. He then ended up not even being able to go because a co-worker contracted Covid and his work was short staffed so I went alone.

First thing they do when you get there is they send you to "Triage", this is where you get filtered and sent to the proper tent. Oh, forgot to mention this was all done outside under tents at the Shelburne Museum here in Vermont.

The "Triage" tent at Antiques Roadshow in Shelburne, VT

The guy who I went up to see took one look at my box (which I opened for him) and stamped my "passport" with the "COLLECTIBLES" stamp. I already had a bad feeling. A nice fellow guided me to my section which, by far, had the longest line of all. But I did get a chance to spy some "celebrity" appraisers:

Noel Barrett

Finally my turn came and I walked up to the rather bored looking woman who, no offense, looked as though she would be more comfortable with fine jewelry or cutlery. I walked up to her and opened the box and pretty much, without looking at them, she said (and this is almost a direct quote) "the market for these is really bad. You know who buys these? Carnies for carnivals and they use them for shooting practice games".



It was at that very moment that I knew I was going nowhere. She was acting like I showed up with a box of Columbia Red Labels. I did argue the point a bit saying that I'd already turned down 5 offers for this box of records, that it's pretty well documented how much the records could be worth and that I was more interested in her thoughts on the box. She didn't like that I had a different opinion on the records so somewhere she found an auction where 4 Berliners were sold for $1.99... Florida? Tennessee? Something like that. I asked her to share that site with me because I'd LOVE to buy them for that much. I suggested she check the completed auction listings on eBay and then pressed her about the box more.

She silently did some online research on her iPad for about 3 minutes while I stood there. She looked up and said "well, you know how I feel about the records, you could probably get $1,000 for the box". She then looked to the person behind me and waved them forward. I'm so glad I only live 30 minutes away and that this was only a small part of my day today, but I'm still absolutely dumfounded... incredulous...

The Box

All in all, it was a pretty eye opening day.

Okay, let'er rip!

[vintagetenor]

Well, there's nothing like getting an opinion from an expert.

[Dischoard]

Well, there's nothing like getting an opinion from an expert.

[JerryVan]

I'll give you $5 each...

What can I say, I just bought a .22 rifle and I need targets.


One of life's most annoying things, ignorance backed by authority.

[OrthoFan]

Obviously, the "expert appraiser" you were stuck with knew nothing about your records, and frankly, didn't want to learn anything about them, which I categorize as willful ignorance or stupidity. (What I'd like to see is someone come in with a typical crap-o-phone, just to see if any of the "experts" could tell it was a fake.)

I hardly ever watch Antiques Roadshow anymore--neither the British nor the American version. Over the past several years, the American show has featured mostly jewelry, paintings, posters, pottery and ephemera--and much of that from the 1960s through the 1980s. In fact, there's very little in the way of antique anything on recent shows.

OrthoFan

[Dischoard]

No you're right, it's more like "Collectibles Roadshow" but not all collectibles

[vintagetenor]

Wait a minute....This is GREAT. This is very encouraging!

This shows that there are still folks out there who consider old records worthless. That antiques woman placed that 7" Berliner collection in the same value category as a stack of Rosemary Clooneys. (No degradation to Miss Clooney. of course. She was a fine popular singer.)

Wouldn't it be nice if all 78 rpm sellers held this view?

[epigramophone]

The producers of the original and genuine Antiques Roadshow would be embarrassed to see the name associated with this charade.
In the UK you would have received a proper appraisal by a proper expert.

[Lee]

My father who is long gone now, told me one time something he'd heard when he was a kid, "YOU CAN'T BEAT A MAN AT HIS OWN GAME". In the end, it's silly to try unless you enjoy being made to look like an idiot. It' like me offering my "Expert Opinion" to Rene Rondeau on Tinfoil Phonographs. It would be goofy on my part. Doesn't mean that I shouldn't try to become more knowledgeable ... Events and shows like this one are just for entertainment value for the general public. Highly unlikely that anyone with real knowledge on any particular subject, (like many members on this forum) are going to learn anything of value. I guess you just have to approach it as something fun and see what happens. Just smile and not get mad.

[edisonplayer]

My late friend Arthur Pare had a similar oak record box for 7 inch records. edisonplayer