See those ugly cups up there? They're old, made of rhinoceros horns and belong to a man from Tulsa. They're also worth about $1.5 million dollars. From the Daily Mail:
The Antiques Roadshow television programme was presented with its most valuable find ever this weekend.
At the Roadshow's stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a man walked into the city's Convention Centre with a set of five Chinese cups carved from rhinoceros horns.
The man, who has not been identified, said that he has had the set since the 1970s and had no idea of their worth.
An appraiser for the show, Lark Mason told local news station KTUL: 'As each one came out of the box my jaw started to drop a little more.
'Then my colleagues looked and their jaws dropped as well.'
Mr Mason put the late 17th century cup set's value at between $1-1.5 million.
It is the most expensive item in the show's 16-year history.
The news, obviously, was sweet music to the owner.
Mr Mason said: 'I was hoping he wasn't going to collapse, but he said that he was glad that he didn't need his inhaler.'
'My jaw dropped': Lark Mason, an expert in Chinese antiques and an appraiser for the Antiques Roadshow, was bowled over by the cups
Roadshow executive producer Marsha Bemko said: 'You clearly could even see, in the tape that I was watching, the color rush over his face.
'But now Tulsa is famous, a Roadshow record.'
First of all, please don't tell your grandparents about this. You don't want to be a bad grandkid and ruin the surprise. Also, isn't it cool that I quoted a story from the Daily Mail? I would have used the Tulsa World, but some people might not have been able to view the story. Also, it gives me an excuse to write words like "programme," "centre" and "Bollocks!"
Since that's out-of-the-way, I guess we should go ahead and congratulate Tulsa for one-upping us. Several year's ago, Antiques Road Show visited Oklahoma City. It was the greatest day for senior citizens in our town since Furr's opened that buffet in Moore. The most expensive item they discovered was this Gallé Marquetry Vase. It "only" appraised for $60,000 - $80,000:
Yeah, that vase is worth $80,000. That just proves how weird art can be. You could probably get some kid at the Classen School of Advanced Studies to make you a replica vase that's just as nice for a bag of weed and a vintage looking Pink Floyd shirt. Or you could just buy a vase at Hobby Lobby. It may have "Live. Laugh. Love." on it, but you could probably scratch it out or something.
