The Great Treasure Hunt

By Dean Poling

July 09, 2009 10:38 pm

— VALDOSTA — Gold jewelry and coins pour from Mike Wescott’s pouch. A Rolex watch, bracelets, 11 gold coins from around the world glisten on the table. One coin is a $20 gold piece circa 1900.
As of Thursday afternoon, Wescott’s gold haul represents the biggest find in Valdosta this week for the Great Treasure Hunt Antique and Collectible Roadshow at the Comfort Suites.
Wescott, the road show’s team leader, paid a Valdosta resident $5,789 for the gold collection. Most of the gold will be melted down, but the coins will likely go to collectors, he said.
In acquiring the gold, Wescott left the Comfort Suites and visited the owners at home. Organizers prefer participants to visit the Great Treasure Hunt appraisers at the Comfort Suites location. In some situations, or for some reported finds, an appraiser will go to the person’s home.
In this case, appraisers were interested in the amount of gold, the coins, and the caller had a health concern which prompted selling the items.
Appraisers are looking for gold, coins, comic books and baseball cards as top-drawer items, but they will look at anything brought to them. An appraiser paid $100 for an antique typewriter Thursday.
Diane Hudson of Lake Park and Teddy Hanson of Moultrie bring a container adorned with what appears to be Revolutionary War-era characters. Appraiser Michael Niegro determines the item is a 40-year-old aluminum container. He values it at $2.50.
Sue Lockwood arrives with numerous items. She uses a hotel luggage carrier to transport her items into the Great Treasure Hunt. Her items include an old doll and several boxes of comic books. The doll doesn’t fit what the road show seeks. Appraisers are interested in porcelain dolls.
Appraiser Tim Pierce goes through each stack of Lockwood’s comic books. The Great Treasure Hunt has no interest in comics such as a 1980s era “Shogun” title with a bar code on the cover. The road show has no interest in comics from the bar-code era.
“We’re looking for things like first and early issues of ‘Spider-Man’ or ‘Superman,’” Pierce says, regarding comic books. Rare finds. That doesn’t mean he won’t purchase Lockwood’s collection of 1970s era, pre-bar-code issues of “Captain America and the Falcon,” or other comic books of interest in her collection.
Lockwood of Valdosta has no idea what any of the comics in her boxes may be worth. She received them from a neighbor several years ago.
The appraisers look at everything brought to them. They never know when someone might bring in the rare Gibson F-5 mandolin that fetched $100,000 in Pottsville, Ala. Or a Babe Ruth baseball card.
With each potential collectible, appraisers Wescott, Niegro, Pierce and Vince Pitti hear stories of how people acquired their items. The appraisers listen to what people think the items may be and what the owners think they might be worth. They hear why people need or want to sell the items.
Three of the appraisers have been working with the Great Treasure Hunt for less than a year. Wescott is the old-timer, who has seen many treasures and heard numerous stories. His job as an appraiser unknowingly began during his childhood.
“As a kid, I was dragged kicking and screaming to yard sales and auctions every weekend,” Wescott says. “Who knew it would serve me so well now.”
Using the Internet, the appraisers locate items and their potential values in a matter of moments. One appraiser shares how a Valdosta woman brought in an unmarked purse. She said she had searched the Internet for hours trying to discover the purse’s brand. The appraiser had the purse identified in less than 10 minutes as well as an approximate number known to be in existence.
If an item stumps the appraisers, associates can be contacted in the Great Treasure Hunt’s North Carolina headquarters. They can photograph a baseball card, front and back, and e-mail the images to their associates to better determine a value.
In addition to keeping their eyes open for treasures, the appraisers also keep their eyes out for junk being passed off as potential treasure. They share stories of people buying something at Goodwill then trying to sell it as a valuable item 10 minutes later.
Many people think because something is old, it must be valuable, Niegro says. That’s not the case.
“There is a difference between old and vintage,” he says. “We’re looking for vintage items.”

• The Great Treasure Hunt
Antique and Collectible Roadshow continues from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. today; 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Comfort Suites, 1332 N. St. Augustine Road. More information: Call (877) 553-9352.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.