Many thousands of Alaskans are expected to flock in droves to Anchorage in July with artwork dishes, dishes and jewelry on their hands in hopes of finding out what treasures they have in their homes are worth the price. The cult PBS show Antiques Roadshow is arriving in Alaska in the very first time in summer. Locals intend to showcase their treasures to appraisers who are professionals.
One of the potential buyers is Kenai the local Sarah Pyhala, who is offering appraisers an heirloom from her family, as well as some artwork.
“It was like they were interested was in things that helped them make it to Alaska and from people who were travelling or coming to Alaska,” she said.
The procedure for securing an appearance on Roadshow required antiquers to participate in the lottery which Pyhala held in January. Each ticket holder could bring two items or sets of objects, referred to as lots.
“And then, there are 3000 people who are awarded tickets and you’re allowed to take two things,” she said. “So you could have up to six thousand items that they might be looking at on the day.”
Pyhala has chosen two paintings: her first selection is a pair of paintings that hail from Japan made on silk, then framed with glass.
“I recall them being placed on the wall of my neighbour’s house when I was when I was a kid and she would invite my parents over to have tea or cookies and I would look at them. When she got out of her house her estate sale sold them for sale at about 10 dollars. My mom was also there and bought the items,” she said. “So it’s going to be interesting to find out how much, if any, the value of these items is.”
The second is a stereograph, which is an old piece of technology for entertainment. It’s similar to a viewfinder and the user can place an image slide with the same image on top of a pair of glasses that make it appear 3D.
The stereograph patent, issued in 1904, was handed through on to Pyhala by her relatives.
“My great grandparents grew up in North Dakota, and during the dusty era, they worked as farmers. The year 1933 was the time they sat in their carriage drawn by horses and loaded it with their four children in the time and made the move out of the central part of North Dakota into Minnesota. It was one of the items they took along, and I thought, among all their belongings it was odd to bring with their belongings,” she said. “But I’ve been told it was like a television to them and that it provided entertainment for them. In that sense it makes sense that they could take it together.”
The stereograph includes more than 67 slides that show numerous scenes of places such as Rome, Monte Carlo and the U.S. Capitol. One slide features what was known as “Brush Alaska” and shows people in the snowy forests of the countryside of Alaska in 1900. This is what Pyhala hopes appraisers will appreciate during the Roadshow.
However, she’s not in any hopes of being appraised highly and is just grateful for the chance to participate. She says the owners of antiques will be arriving in waves in the early morning on July 11, and wait in long lines waiting for their assignments to one of the appraisers from 20.
“If they believe that the information you’ve got is noteworthy the camera will be taken away and require you undergo a complete makeup procedure for camera,” she said.
Due to the hours of standing Pyhala admitted that it’s hard to carry a heavy object which you’ll have to carry around for a long time. However, with her light-weight objects, she’s not worried about how she’ll perform.
She’s seen old seasons of the program in order to determine what she should wear. The show could be a failure however: out Of the 3,000 people who attend just 50 show being shown on television.
