Major funding for Arkansas Treasures was provided by the Moving Image Trust Fund.

Additional funding provided by Cherokee Nation businesses.

SC Perce Museum.

And by viewers like you.

All these wonderful people are waiting to get their chance to show what they brought to our evaluators.

And I'll tell you the truth.

I've already seen some items that I hope make it to the main stage.

The big question.

Will they make it?

That's why we watch for the hopes and the dreams and the stories that you find on Arkansas treasures.

Oh, I think you got your money's worth.

You created your own treasure.

You understand?

People are going to care what comes up.

It's my favorite.

Oh, Ayo.

Let's go.

So who in this room is going to be the first to get that golden ticket and make it to the main stage?

Okay.

Well, let's find out.

Welcome to Arkansas treasures.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming today.

Please tell us what you brought us.

Well, this is a guidebook to little Rock from 1890, and that's about all I know about.

Well, I love it when a book tells me exactly what it is.

And that is exactly what this is.

It is a guide to the city of little Rock from 1890, and it has churches, businesses, buildings, and it's incredible and all the way through it.

Some of the highlights of this book are an ad for Ward and Bank, and here they were in 1890.

Bankers and brokers, of course.

They go all the way back to 1850.

They were dry goods, people.

And you open it up here and we've got the Capitol Hotel and a and a beautiful engraving.

That was a couple.

We have, m m cone.

So these are some very, very old companies that were in little Rock for a long, long time.

And if you keep going through the book, we even have Tipton and Hearst, which is alive and well today.

So this is Tipton and Hearst, Rose city Greenhouses.

Their greenhouses are over there, and they're in little Rock.

Here's a beautiful church.

It's so fun to see the old businesses that are still here.

And I'm going to show you the most beautiful part of this book.

I'm gonna have to be very careful when I open it.

And all of you who love little Rock and little Rock history like I do, will be thrilled to see this map of the city of little Rock from 1890 and in 1890, of course, the capital hadn't been built.

The capital was built on the site of the old penitentiary, which is right here.

It was built between 1899 and 1915 and was built with prison labor.

If you come over here to the, insane asylum, that's where UAMs is now, the Catholic cemetery is down here.

The US Arsenal is the site of where the new, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts is, MacArthur Park.

And you can also see where all the railroads were on.

You can see the railroad that runs here, which around what is now the capital.

So there is so much to love about this book and this map.

And as a book dealer and a long time Arkansan, this is one of my favorite things to find.

And I have to say, it's my favorite thing of this show.

And so do you have any idea what this book might be worth?

I have the slightest idea.

Okay.

You don't see them.

You don't see them very often at all.

And it is a primary source of Arkansas history.

And anecdotes and businesses and ads.

And I can confidently say it's worth between 12 and $1500.

Well, let's see, is that a surprise?

That's a surprise.

I mean, I never really thought about it that much.

It was just something that was in my father in law's effects and, and.

And he took very good care of it.

It's an excellent condition.

Except for the the tear in the map that's about.

That is easily taken care of.

And you have a real Arkansas treasure here.

Well, thank you.

For.

So, Mister Pittman, you, were telling me a little bit about how you acquired these, and I thought the story was fascinating.

Can you share?

Well, when I graduated college, I kind of volunteered at Peace Corps for two years in Africa, Nigeria.

And while I was there, several of the other volunteers got together, went down Bush, I call it, and we went to the, river called Ethiopia.

And it's a real crystal clear, deep river.

And the gal that we were that was giving us the float trip on that river, said he had these bottles and, he said something about what the British were, going up and down the river, and they would throw these over.

They were gin bottles.

So I was trying to find out about that.

I love the story, and it's pretty close as best I can tell.

And the reason we wanted to share this with, local audience is it's a bit of a convoluted story.

These are gin bottles.

Most people who have gone to a bottle or stoneware show are going to see dozens or hundreds of them for sale, and they may even find almost near identical bottles.

And gin is normally associated with British export, but it turns out J.W.

Peters was a German company and they were capitalizing on the demand for alcoholic beverages and, shipped these things all over the world.

It didn't take me more than a couple of moments to find them in both English and in Spanish, because they were exported into South America just as readily as they were exported to Africa, the United States, and everywhere else.

These were probably quick and dirty alcoholic beverages and quick and dirty bottles.

These are typically associated with 1880 or so and much of the world and industrialization had moved into more modern bottle farms already, and certainly within 10 or 15 years it did.

We were looking at this a moment ago, and you mentioned it had been dropped, but that's not what it appears.

It looks like.

They simply weren't being terribly careful.

They didn't expect people to tip the bottle itself.

They were expected to pour it into a glass, to drink.

So they simply, you know, did not, use a lot of extra fuel, heat resources and tools to finish the lips on these bottles is carefully as they might have.

And they selling.

You know what?

Today would be a $200 bottle of whiskey or something.

So, the other gin and probably exported to Africa, because that's where they were found.

And they went all over the world because the world likes to drink.

And gin was a really popular there are a lot of them.

So the value is modest.

Maybe less interesting than the stories and lore, but I would think these, bottles should be valued at about $75 apiece.

Oh.

Thank you.

No, I don't really.

Oh, yeah.

Hello, and welcome to Arkansas Treasures.

Hello.

What treasure have you brought us today?

So this is a tapestry that was passed down to me from my grandmother, in the 70s.

And, she told me that it's.

It could be from Arkansas, Missouri, but, a lady possibly hooked it with old stock using old stockings.

They bought it in the depression time era and paid $50 for it.

They paid $50 for it.

How wonderful.

Well, as as you can see, it's signed, and we think it's Hattie.

Something we can't quite make.

What?

Hattie.

Hitler.

Hattie Hitler.

Okay, then we know that it was dated 1939.

And you said at one point it might have had a banner that said it was the Ozarks.

Yes.

Yeah.

And I think that sort of worn off.

This was hand hooked.

And if you look from the back, you can see that it's a little more vivid.

And these are all made from stockings.

So that's an easy, medium to work with when hooking a rug, because, you know, it's silk and easy to work with.

But also it's very vivid.

And, you know, unfortunately, time has not been conduits, colors.

Some of the more synthetic does the blues and the pinks and the blacks have withstand withstood the sunlight, but the other pieces are a little bit faded.

It's a wonderful piece of a regional, craft.

She was very talented.

There are lots of local people who hooked rugs.

Sara.

Hooked rug clubs.

There were shows of this, and I'm sure this is probably an early arts and crafts fair that it was purchased at.

I love the fact that you've got a dog.

And then over here in a pond, you have the geese.

I think it's really cool.

And of course, a log cabin.

It's just wonderful vernacular, primitive hook rug.

And this was never meant to be a rug on the floor.

It was always been hanging, hanging.

And it has a tape here for it.

So it would hang as you.

It's always been hanging in your house.

Great.

Here.

It's very good.

I love it.

It's a great example of southern folk art, and I would probably put a value of about 1500 on it.

Okay.

Thank you so.

And take good care of it.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you for bringing it in today.

Thank you so.

Much.

Thank you.

Ma'am.

The goal of treasures is to make it to the main stage.

Kim and Deborah have joined me.

Deborah, what do you bring to make it to the main stage?

We brought a Navajo Indian rug.

Sounds like it's perfect for the main stage.

I want to thank you all for coming out to Arkansas Treasures.

And you know, I feel like we ought to be a little further west to talk about this than Arkansas.

But tell me a little bit about what you brought me and how it came into your possession.

Okay.

I'd be glad to, my parents, adopted parents, traveled across the southwest back in the 40s.

Okay.

Made sense on.

A trip with some good friends of theirs.

And along the way, they accumulated different items on the trip.

And this was a rug that they accumulated, or obtained somewhere, probably in Arizona.

We think.

Okay.

And, I've had it since, they're passing, but we, we have been able to date it back to about 1940, 45, somewhere in that neighborhood.

Perfectly, perfectly acceptable.

And what we have here is an, Navajo, Native American dying, rug or blanket.

These textiles come out of, the heritage of the trading post system that exists across the Navajo Nation.

And our nation is an enormous landmass.

That encompasses parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, even southern Colorado, I think, and some some 17 million acres of, population.

The trading post system starts back in the 1800s, late 1800s, when tourism is opening up in that part of the world, people are coming to the Grand Canyon.

In the 1870s, 1880s, segments of the Navajo Nation are isolated in various communities around this land.

The land mass that they occupied in Trading Post would grow up out of there because they need to exchange, goods and services that, that people that were living there.

Needed for.

Whatever materials and some, some trading post became noted for, for textiles or for, pottery pieces or beadwork or other types of, Native American culture.

There are probably 2 or 3 trading posts that were noted for their textile work.

Probably the number one is two Gray Hills.

It's in a section of New Mexico up in the corner, almost inexhaustible.

I've tried to go there a couple of times.

I just couldn't make it.

It's unlikely this comes out of two gray hills simply because of the design of the colors that are being used.

Shoto Trading Post would be another one, and I think we're seeing more of that style.

It also is reminiscent of what it's called the Germantown, Navajo rug because Germantown, Pennsylvania had certain yarns that they would send out to the trading post and they would be able to exchange the colors from, the Germantown rugs tend to get expanded a great deal.

That's really probably the latter part of the 1800s.

This is a rug that was probably produced in that those same areas that I was describing in the 1940s.

Okay.

So the question becomes, you know, I think you're right because I think that's the regularity.

We've got a six by eight, rug here.

That regularity of size indicates, probably more of a contemporary weaving pattern and technique and control than it would have been 60 years earlier.

But the pattern is there.

The that's the right geographic area for this to come from.

Have you ever had anybody put a value to it.

No, no.

Okay.

I think in, in a, in a Native American sale at auction, we're going to see this rug somewhere in the 6 to $9000 range.

If it were that 60 year earlier period of time, easily could be, double that amount.

Very fashionable, very nice, very large rug.

You see, the, you don't see the size chart.

Y'all, And it is sought after.

It's a wonderful condition.

There's no there's no detectable damage on it.

But it is a wonderful weave.

And what a great buy.

Thank you for bringing it home.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We're happy with that.

Yes.

So, Tracy, thank you for coming in today.

Tell me how you acquired the porcelain that's in front of us.

Well, my mother and father in law, they're kind of moving stuff out of their China cabinet.

They've inherited items over the years, and they didn't even remember this was in their China cabinet.

So it's been, like, handed down from aunts, great aunts over time.

When you started unpacking them while you were unpacking, you were telling me you were having a little trouble identifying the pattern.

And meanwhile, I had already grabbed some and was sitting there on the computer googling the name on the bottom.

And the reason was because, exactly as I expected, it's an assembled set of blanks that were painted by a professional China painter, and a pattern that was probably unique to her studio, and that's why you couldn't figu We have porcelain here marked from Bavaria.

We have porcelain here marked from Lumos, France.

We have our Germany porcelain here, but all in this beautiful gold trimmed floral hand-painted pattern.

China painting has been popular in America probably since the 1870s, and is directly responsible for what eventually became the art pottery movement in the United States.

I suspect these are painted in the, you know, 50s or 60s post-World War two, but we can find out, because no matter how many hundreds of times I've tried to figure out who a China painter was, this time, when I googled it, I found the family on Reddit trying to find examples of porcelain by their grandmother.

And so that was kind of exciting because I'm always looking and frankly, I'm mainly looking for famous China painters that were advertising and illustrated in ceramic studio during the Arts and Crafts period, but it's still exciting to find a professional painter no matter when and where.

And I think here we've got an, person I think she married name was N, sir.

And, the, set that we found in a Reddit thread on the internet, they've been following it for a while, and, I mean, they posted ten years ago.

They were looking for some, set, went through eBay that they apparently acquired that way.

Then, they're still looking for more.

I found a couple of pieces for sale on Etsy.

They had mentioned that she was probably going to be found all over the world.

And if you look at the delicate nature of all of this gold trim and all of these little hand paintings, it's no surprise this is someone who's likely winning awards and had patronage supporting her China painting trade early on.

And usually China painters were teaching other people and running hopping shops, and their friends were getting involved in what they were doing, too.

And we're probably going to be able to find out by texting the family.

How fun is that?

That is so cool.

I mean, sometimes you think, wow, you spend 20, 30 years looking at stuff and you never get anywhere, and then just one day it pops up on the internet.

Here it is.

You can ask, look, does the family still looking for for things that their granny made as far as value a set that they bought on eBay or appear to have bought on eBay, shows up in, price records and they paid 225, but it was going to cost quite a bit to ship it to China.

And then there's taxing on top of that.

And frankly, your pieces are not just cups and saucers and plates.

You have a composite, you know, hollow ware type pieces.

The, spoons are going to be fairly scarce.

And, you have a pair of candlesticks and art on the table right now, and they're all, frankly, probably a little more desirable than a dinnerware set.

And so I'm thinking maybe $400 for the set would be a reasonable value.

Most China paintings not worth a whole lot of money.

Yeah, but you actually have a ready buyer.

Who cares?

Well, thank you.

I brought an alarm clock that's been in my family for several generations, and he declared it was worth $40.

I brought a baseball that was actually signed during the first Bentonville Film Festival.

I actually went to an estate sale and was.

Searching through a toy box.

A quarter an item, so I paid a. Quarter for it.

I'd like to welcome you to Arkansas Treasures.

Thank you.

What are you.

What do you live on this this morning?

Brought you a baseball.

And, it's signed by Rosie O'Donnell, by Gina Davis, and by two of the original, baseball players from the peaches team.

The Rockford Peaches.

Rockford peaches?

Yeah, the Rockford Peaches.

That's where the movie was based on A League of Their Own, which Rosie O'Donnell and Geena Davis starred in.

And that movie was 1992, I believe.

But Gina Davis started what they call the Grenville Grenville Film Festival in 2015 was the first one.

Rosie O'Donnell and Gina were the hosts, and two of the players from the Rockford Peaches were also in attendance at this film festival.

And I think it was May of 2015 and that is as stated here, May 12th or May 7th, 2015.

Yeah.

All right.

They got together and signed this ball.

And so here you have Rosie O'Donnell signature.

That we're talking about.

Here you have Gina Davis is signature I, I mean you guys here you have Gina Casey.

They would probably still.

Be played second base for the peaches.

Come on ball.

Stay there.

Hold it.

And on the back you have Alice Francisco.

Who was the catcher?

Oh, my gosh, it was pretty neat.

Fun.

Where did you find it?

Well, I was at an estate sale and I was looking through a toy box, and I picked it up and I could see Rosie O'Donnell.

Signature pretty.

Clearly and then started looking at it a little closer and saw what I thought was Gina Davis.

I wasn't.

You know, real sure.

I didn't recognize the other two names, really, but thought maybe I had found something pretty special.

Tell me what you paid for it.

I paid a. Quarter.

No.

No way.

A quarter for this ball signature.

Anything in the toy box was a quarter.

Anything in the toy box?

How long ago was this?

It was probably in 2019, 2018?

Something like that.

Oh, you found a great fun.

That was an awesome find.

Collector wise, you have to genres.

You got the baseball collectors and you've got the movie collectors.

Okay, as far as the signatures, Rosie O'Donnell signature fetches somewhere between 150 to $200.

Gina Davis is signatures that somewhere between one, 75 and $200 each of the players are around 50 to $75.

Okay.

But signatures alone, the overall ball, the story is, a reference to A League of Their Own, which was the movie based on that women's baseball thing.

And the Rockford Peaches at auction.

If it's in a sports memorabilia auction, it could go anywhere from 4 to 500.

Oh or more.

If there's two people were on it and a movie and a movie memorabilia auction, it could even do better.

Wow.

Great fun.

We're very lucky.

And thank you for bringing it.

Thank you.

I'm glad I brought it here.

I had no clue how much it was worth.

Oh, you play.

That lady there with the free information.

Get your.

Wow, this is very interesting.

His grandfather is been starved.

Who wrote this book?

Where is his number?

He's already on the.

Oh, I'm.

Here.

Welcome to Arkansas treasures.

You brought some real treasures.

They tell me a little bit about what you've brought.

So this is my great grandfather's painting.

It's, I believe it's a private piece that has kind of been with our family for a while.

And my uncle actually sent it to me, I think, last Christmas as a housewarming gift when we moved up to Northwest Arkansas.

Well, good uncle.

Yeah, it's it's a wonderful painting.

And tell me about this.

Your family is very interesting.

So your great grandfather was an artist, and your great grandfather also wrote a book.

Is that.

True?

Yes.

So, so he was very popular, I think in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

He was an illustrator.

He did a lot of, Evening Post illustrations, and one of one of his hobbies.

He liked to write.

So he actually did a novel called, Blackbeard's Ghost.

And, Disney turned it into a full length movie.

So we got to watch the movie and we get to tell it to our kids and kind of just say that our great great grandfather created the idea behind this.

How cool.

Well, he definitely was a Renaissance man, both a painter and an author.

And, we in our conversations for some some interesting things out about him, he actually painted with Bob Ross.

He did?

Yeah, he did an episode and you can find it on YouTube.

It's fascinating to watch and, just watch him actually paint and produce this beautiful work of art, while filming so very, very neat.

Well, and very interesting that I think probably two polar opposites of art or Bob Ross and your grandfather.

Totally different theories.

And then also tell me, what, Norman Rockwell.

No, Norman Rockwell was also a protege.

Yeah.

So my, my great grandfather, he was commissioned by the Catholic Church to, do 15 paintings.

They were nine by six feet.

And he was opening up a museum in Sarasota, Florida.

And as he was completing these, Norman Rockwell basically said, we are all just illustrators, but you are one of the greats with with his paintings.

Unfortunately, before they opened the museum, there was an art heist, and they stole all of the paintings.

We still haven't found them to this day.

And they did an Unsolved Mysteries on his paintings.

I think they just reopened the investigation in 2023.

So maybe one day we'll find those viewing public.

We're looking for some paintings, so let's let's put our ears to the ground.

Well, this is really interesting.

I love it.

This is probably, you know, obviously from a illustrators point of view, this is some kind of a banquet or Roman banquet, very good condition.

I love the framing.

I love everything about it.

I'm going to probably put a value for this piece of work at about $2,500.

So, it's a great piece.

He was obviously very talented and it's very well done.

And what an illustrious, interesting family.

You never know what you're going to walk in the door here.

And thank you for bringing this out.

Thank you.

You know, sometimes the treasures are the friends that we make along the way.

We're in the exit interview room where we talk to those people who brought Arkansas treasures like the Phillips.

Maybe you saw them earlier, Kim and Deborah, who were on the main stage.

So, Kim, what happened on the main stage?

It was a great experience.

We were able to display the rug.

The appraiser looked at it, told us a lot of history that we did not know about this rug, talking about where it came from and and when it was made, and even the products that were used to make the rug, the different, raw materials that were used, he did verify it was from Arizona.

Everybody wants to know what the value exactly where something came to.

He did appraise this, right.

He said between 6 and $9000.

Really?

That was.

Did you have any idea, Deborah, to be worth that much?

No, I had no idea.

You get to know the backstory of something that you had no idea the history behind it.

So meeting all the people with such high energy going 100%.

So we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Mainstage or no money or no.

It's just getting to tell your story and how your family has treasured a particular item or how that item came about.

That is the secret of Arkansas treasures, which is why we hope you'll join us again.

Major funding for Arkansas Treasures was provided by the Moving Image Trust Fund.

Additional funding provided by Cherokee Nation businesses SC Purse Museum.

And by viewers like you.