Showing posts with label piano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label piano. Show all posts

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Antiques Roadshow - what should I take?

Have you ever seen the TV show? I don't watch it religiously, but I have stopped the remote once in a while to see what treasures they happen to be appraising that will make someone the next millionaire, or at least a little more comfortable in their retirement. It's a fun show and the optimist in me cheers for those who find hidden treasures in unexpected places.
You may remember my announcement that I would be receiving 2 tickets to the Roadshow's visit to our own town of Phoenix, AZ. I'm excited that I'll be going with my friend, Linda whose home is filled with all kinds of collectibles. I can't wait to see what she brings. August 1st is fast approaching and I've been trying to decide what to take to be appraised. I think I've made my decision, but not sure... These are the items I'm considering. Let me know what you think, please.

First option is to take photos of Terry's mom's mini-grand piano (above), that I mentioned previously on this post. Unfortunately, it's too heavy and fragile to be taken down to the Roadshow location, so we would see if they can at least give us a little bit of info on it, just with photos.

I'm also considering this Roy Lichtenstein print. It was created specifically for donors who gave money to a 25th anniversary fund raising campaign for California Institute of the Arts, where I used to work. The only reason I have one is because I found some of them leftover in the attic at the school and they said I could keep a couple of them. Since Lichtenstein is fairly well known and has since passed away, I'm assuming these were printed in limited enough numbers that they may be worth something.

Next is this vintage camera that my brother brought home last year. I have no idea where he got it from, but it's pretty cool, in that it folds down into this compact little case.

And last, but not least we have several very old books from Terry's family. These 3 are the oldest.

The Silas Marner book is copyrighted 1909 and has the name Edith Lindberg written in pencil in the front. There are rumors that Terry's dad is related to Charles Lindbergh (the aviator). You know how people used to change the spelling of their names back in the old days. Anyway, this one isn't in bad shape. It has a photo of George Eliot inside, but no other illustrations or photos.

The other two are more worn and tattered, but more interesting to me.

Looks like the last copyright on the Tom Sawyer book is 1917. The pages are falling out of this one, but I love the full page black & white illustrations by Worth Brehm.

Gulliver's Travels dates back to 1912 and has a note inside the cover: "To Billy - from Daddy - Xmas 39". This one's in a little better shape, with some full page color illustrations by Milo Winter.

So please give me your input on what I should take. I can only take 2 items and it's a tough choice. Thanks!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

A Weekend with Mom Hann
We drove up to Prescott this past weekend to spend some time with Terry's mom, Carole. We had offered to take her to see the musical, Wicked, for her Christmas present and decided to go and pick her up so she wouldn't have to make the drive down alone.

As an added bonus, we had a chance to get out of the extreme heat for a few days.

On Sunday, we drove down from Prescott to ASU's Gammage Auditorium for the musical. This is what we saw when we sat down. It's a little out of focus since I couldn't use a flash and had a long lens, but it was a pretty cool sight of the stage curtain with the lurking dragon, map of the Emerald City, Oz and more.

The play was excellent! I love the songs and the woman who played Glinda (or Galinda), Katie Rose Clarke did an awesome job! She was hilarious and her subtle mannerisms added just the right touch to make things even funnier.

While we were at Terry's mom's we were talking about some of the items that she has around the house and found out that this little piano was a gift to her from her parents on her 7th birthday (68 years ago). It was one of two mini-sized Wurlitzer grand pianos that were window display models at their neighborhood piano store (1 black and 1 white one). She was told that there were no others made, but we're guessing that maybe they made one for each store, which would still be a very limited number of these pianos. I took some pictures of it, and I'm thinking I might try taking the photos to the Antiques Roadshow in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if they can give me any kind of appraisal on photos, but it would be worth it to get even an idea if it's worth anything. just so she knows.

She says it's very heavy, a little wobbly and in need of tuning, but pretty unique, don't you think?