Go For It, Or Let It Go?—

Antiques Appraiser Shares ‘Roadshow’ Recollections

By Dottie Evans

When renowned antiques expert Wayne Pratt heard about the upcoming Newtown Historical Society’s graveyard tour featuring “ghosts” of long-dead residents who would appear beside their headstones to tell their stories, he was intrigued.

“If only the ghosts of eight or ten really great cabinetmakers could come back and tell us where we went wrong,” he mused.

Historical society members and guests who gathered at the Newtown Meeting House on Monday night, May 9, to hear Wayne Pratt tell about “Great Discoveries of the Past 35 Years” chuckled in appreciation.

Being able to quickly identify a promising item found at a tag sale or offered at auction, and then putting a fair price on it, requires years of experience. Whether to buy was another question entirely. They knew the drill: Get the available information, look it over carefully, and then decide.

In some instances, such as live interviews on the PBS television series Antiques Roadshow, judgments must be made on the fly. Seasoned experts like Wayne Pratt must rely on their specialized knowledge and instincts to make the correct call.

“You see it all. Pots, pans, god-awful junk, and then something great comes in,” Mr Pratt said.

He recalled his years as a dealer and appraiser on the popular show, and added that he had “really always been in the antiques business.”

A Passion For Antiques

Wayne Pratt bought his first piece of furniture at the age of 7 — it was an antique chair — and he sold his first piece at age 15. After earning a business degree and working as an executive, he submitted to his passion in 1969 and opened an antiques shop in Massachusetts, never looking back.

Today, as a widely published collector and dealer in fine furniture and folk art from the 18th and 19th Centuries, Mr Pratt owns shops on Nantucket Island and in Woodbury, Conn. Discussing his 35-year career, he said his long stint on the Antiques Roadshow was extremely challenging and interesting.

“Every area of the country we visited, we found out something we didn’t know before. We had a stable of 50 dealers on the show who were experts in their various fields, so there was always someone to consult with about a particular piece,” Mr Pratt said.

“It was more fun during the show’s early days when we only gave out 7,000 tickets. It was less regulated then, and you never knew what you were going to find,” he recalled.

After the television crew rolled into town and set up their studio, three separate shows would be filmed on a certain Saturday by which time there might be thousands of people lined up outside the door waiting their turn. Each individual was seen and estimates on their objects were made on the spot while the cameras rolled.

Then came the selection process, following review of the tapes.

“After talking with the producer about what entries should be used, we would sign release forms. We weren’t allowed to buy anything until the day after the show,” he added.

“You wanted to be nice to these people because they had stood in line for eight or nine hours. But you were also exhausted because it’s a really long day and it wears on you.”

The best part of the experience, he said, was meeting the people and learning something new in every part of the country they visited. The challenge was learning to identify the local variations and specialties.

“There might be fan-backed Windsor chairs with turned feet made around 1810, and painted red or blue — and you’d find these only in the Hartford area.”

A TV Table And A Whale’s Tooth

Two of Mr Pratt’s more entertaining tales originated from an Antiques Roadshow filmed in Tulsa, Okla.

The first involved an entrant named Harold who came in dressed in overalls and a work shirt. He had brought along a magnificent 18th Century four-drawer mahogany chest with original fixtures that he’d had on his farm for as long as he could remember and was using as a TV table.

“It was a fabulous piece in great condition made by John Cogswell of Boston in 1762. When we looked inside the drawers, I found Harold was using them to store his cassette tapes of vintage Mash episodes. I couldn’t believe it.

“Then Harold asked me what his TV table was worth, and I told him I thought it might sell for between $125,000 and $150,000 on the open market.

“He was absolutely delighted, but he decided not to sell it. Instead, he bought a glass top to protect the surface and he’s still using it for his TV. Now he puts tapes of Antiques Roadshow in the drawers along with the Mash tapes.

“I still hear from Harold every now and then, and he always sends me photos of the chest so I know it’s OK. Some day, I hope he’ll let me buy it,” Mr Pratt said.

Then there was the whale’s tooth that had been used as a football.

“This lady said she’d always lived in Oklahoma but her ancestors were whaling people from Nantucket. She brought along wonderful pictures of two whaling captains painted by Rufus Taylor, and a ship’s logbook dating back to 1829. She also had a large whale’s tooth with a chip in it.

“It was the earliest whale’s tooth I’d ever seen,” Mr Pratt recalled.

“She said when they were kids sitting around the kitchen table, they would use the tooth as a football lobbing it from end to end to see how close to the edge they could put it without its falling off. That’s how it got chipped.”

Finally, the lady traveled back to Nantucket with her collection of whaling treasures, and a man bought the tooth for $150,000. It is now on loan to the Nantucket Whaling Museum.

As Mr Wayne concluded his talk, someone from the audience wanted to know whether he had ever sold the same piece twice.

“Many times,” he answered.

“Things happen in people’s live — death, disaster, and divorce. Over a period of 10 to 15 years, you might see something come back to you for resale. Not only does it receive a new valuation but now there is more history.”