Bemko is executive producer of PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow,” which features specialists from the country’s leading auction houses and independent dealers traveling throughout the United States, offering free appraisals of items brought to events by the public. This month, WETA 26 will broadcast three episodes, starting Monday at 8 p.m., that were taped in D.C. last summer. How many objects are actually recorded at the events?
The neat thing about “Roadshow” is, from those 10,000 objects that come through the door, we’re going to tape approximately 90. Every object tells a story — if you wanted to spend a few hours, I could tell you about all of them. It’s like picking a favorite child.
What was a particularly valuable item appraised in D.C.?
We saw a Jessie Willcox Smith painting. Deborah Force is the appraiser — she put a price on it of $75,000 — and that’s a retail price. [The buyer] was going on his way to a barbershop, and he saw an estate sale, and he ended up paying $90 for the painting and another $10 for the frame. And he discovered that, in fact, he did quite well financially there.
Are most people in it for the money?
Most people are not out to make money. They buy things they love, which is the first rule of collecting. This man did very well financially. But that’s not why he bought the painting. Very rare that you’re going to a flea market or estate sale and make that money. It’s like finding a lottery ticket.
Come on, they don’t sell these items afterward?
For what it’s worth, most of our guests don’t sell. … People hear those extreme values, they lock it up, they buy insurance. The day they sell it, they can’t afford to buy it back. There’s always a cost to sell. That’s one of those things that people are always interested to learn.
