Chattanooga: PBS team is definite antiques showstopper here

They came with suitcases, shopping carts, wagons and hand trucks. They pulled wheelbarrows, wagons, four-wheel dollies and luggage carts.

Jim Howe, of Cherokee, N.C., wheeled in a 6-foot-tall American Indian carved from solid pine. Jim and Shirley Kiefer traveled 600 miles from Paris, Ark., with a 1957 Chet Atkins guitar Jim’s father had traded for a 1949 Ford.

The bric-a-brac on parade Saturday down Carter Street were only some of the thousands of objects destined for the “Antiques Roadshow,” the popular PBS reality TV show that made a stop in Chattanooga last week.

“I like seeing what other people think is the best thing to bring here,” said Cheryl Greenacre, who drove to the Chattanooga Convention Center from Maryville, Tenn., with her husband and two daughters.

One of the highest-appraised items of the day was a Philadelphia Windsor chair, valued at between $80,000 and $100,000 by American antique furniture expert Leigh Keno. A family heirloom belonging to Chuck from Atlanta, who said the chair was a favorite napping spot for the family cats. (The show’s producers would not give out the last names of owners of highly valued items for security reasons.)

When he heard the appraisal, Chuck’s shoulders sagged, his head dropped as if rendered weak by the news.

“Can I still sit in it?” he said, shocked.

The moment was as emotional for American antique furniture expert Leigh Keno as it was for the speechless owner.

“Next to my 10-year-old son and my parents, this is what I get up in the morning for,” he said.

Mr. Keno said that with its original green paint and its feet intact, the 1765 chair was one of the most exciting pieces he’d had the privilege of seeing on “Roadshow.”

“This is about as good as it gets,” he said.

Because Windsor chairs were used as lawn furniture, Mr. Keno said, their feet were susceptible to rot, leading many owners to cut them off. The added rarity of finding one that hadn’t been stripped of its paint is “almost unique.”

“I said $100,000, and I think I’m being conservative at saying $100,000,” Mr. Keno said.

Another big find of the day was an Edwardian diamond and pearl necklace belonging to Sarah from West Virginia, who inherited it from her grandmother.

Purchased in the late 1800s, the necklace was made by Phelps and Perry jewelers and was estimated by appraiser Barry Weber at about $250,000.

Less dramatic but more common were moments like the one Eron Epstein shared with collectibles appraiser Gary Sohmers, of Framingham, Mass., prompted by a poster the Chattanooga resident brought in from a 1975 Bruce Springsteen concert in New Orleans.

“The concert itself was a religious experience to say the least,” Mr. Epstein said.

He shared the story of dropping out of law school at Tulane in the mid-1970s, spending his days scraping together a living at a local newspaper and his nights hanging out in bars and listening to music.

“This was a tough time for me. … I was at the bottom,” Mr. Epstein said. “At that moment in time, I had nothing, but I still had Bruce Springsteen’s music and that was enough.”

Mr. Sohmers, who said he has attended hundreds of Springsteen concerts over the years, shared Mr. Epstein’s enthusiasm for the musician, commenting that “the Boss” has a way of making audience members feel as though he is speaking directly to them.

As a rare piece of early Springsteen memorabilia, the poster was valued at between $2,000 and $3,000, but Mr. Sohmers said its emotional value far outweighs its monetary one.

“That’s what ‘Roadshow’ is all about,” Mr. Sohmers said. “The reason why I’m on this side of the table is for stories like this.”

For Mr. Epstein, connecting with Mr. Sohmers and reliving some of his favorite Springsteen shows was the highlight of his day at the “Roadshow.”

“The emotional connection with the object connects you to other people,” Mr. Epstein said.

Among the day’s biggest thrills for Alasee Thompson, 79, of Chattanooga, was meeting her favorite “stars,” the Keno brothers.

Seated in her wheelchair in a brown-and-white flowered dress and wearing pink lipstick, Ms. Thompson pressed her hand to her heart, after Leigh Keno leaned in close for a tete-a-tete about a mutual friend.

“I can’t believe this,” she said.

The encounter was just as special for her daughter Diane Workman, of Soddy-Daisy.

“It’s worth a million dollars to see her reaction to being here,” she said.

For the Kiefers, the day was also well worth the drive from Arkansas.

In addition to the fun of seeing what everyone else brought, Mr. Kiefer had the added excitement of being filmed for television. His Chet Atkins guitar was valued at around $10,000, Mr. Kiefer said.

But the best part of his day?

“I finally got to sit down,” he said.