Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow is a TV show whose basic premise is appraising antiques. Various customers bring in their old items to be examined by the experts, who eventually give them an estimate as to what these items are worth. The show is very educational, since the experts frequently go into the history of the item to help explain its value.

The show has been on the air on PBS since 1997. It is based on a British TV show of the same name which began in 1979 and is still on the air. The US version has been nominated for nine Emmy Awards over the course of its run. The show's current host is Mark L. Walberg, who has been hosting since 2005. Past hosts include Lara Spencer, Dan Elias and Chris Jussel.

The show travels to several cities every season. For each city, the public can request tickets to attend the taping. Tickets are free but given out to preselected people via a form on the Antiques Roadshow website. Those with tickets are then given a time slot between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. of the day in question. The Antiques Roadshow team often appraises thousands of items at each taping.

While often the items brought in are not worth very much, there have been a few astonishing finds on the show. The most valuable item ever appraised on the show was a collection of Chinese cups from rhinoceros horns, found in July of 2011 in Tulsa, OK. The cups were valued at $1-1.5 million. Other valuable finds have included oil paintings by Norman Rockwell (valued at $500,000) and Clyfford Still (valued conservatively at $500,000).

In 2005, a spinoff show began airing. It was called Antiques Roadshow FYI and contained additional information about collecting antiques, as well as providing follow-up information about the most memorable items featured on the original Antiques Roadshow.