Season 5

Boston gallery owner Dan Elias, a contemporary-art specialist, hosts this stop in St. Louis. One man brings in a painting he calls “ 'Uncle Jim' in the attic.” It turns out that “Jim” is some 200 years old---and that he might have been painted by a prominent artist named Ralph Earl. If so, “Jim” could be worth $50,000.

Appraisals in St. Louis (Part 2 of three) include a Budweiser-beer tin, a toy bear and an 18th-century silk-needlepoint picture. Also: host Dan Elias tours an 1880 St. Louis mansion built by a merchant-shipping magnate named Samuel Cupples.

A three-show sojourn in St. Louis concludes with a visit to the St. Louis Mercantile Library, which was founded in 1846. Also: appraisals include a repeater rifle; a 100-year-old medicine chest with tins for 288 herbs; and ribbonwork clothing made by Native Americans from Indiana.

The first of three programs from Charleston, S.C. Included: a set of Jackie Gleason's golf clubs; a 1763 poster (from Massachusetts) about the French and Indian War; and a 19th-century silver bowl designed to rinse and cool wine glasses. Also: host Dan Elias visits Charleston's Heyward-Washington house, which was built in 1772 by Thomas Heyward, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The “Washington” part refers to George, who did, in fact, sleep there.

Items appraised in the second of three shows from Charleston, S.C., include a Hawaiian ukulele, a 19th-century basket and a collection of folk-art puppets. Also: series host Dan Elias visits Charleston's Gibbes Museum of Art.

A three-episode sojourn in Charleston, S.C., concludes. Items up for appraisal include a 19th-century chair designed for a pair of Thai conjoined twins, as well as a bronze sculpture from France and surveyor's instruments. Also: host Dan Elias visits Fort Sumter.

A two-show stop in Austin, Texas, begins with a state-capitol tour. At the Austin Convention Center, items appraised include Chinese headdresses designed to ward off evil spirits; a poster promoting a 1965 Rolling Stones concert; and a 19th-century scrimshaw domino set.

Items appraised in the second of two shows from Austin, Texas, include the letter U.S. Grant wrote in 1868 accepting the Republican Presidential nomination, and a collection of dolls. Also: host Dan Elias visits the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, where the items observed include Tennessee Williams manuscripts and “Gone with the Wind” storyboards.

Items appraised during the first of three programs from Denver include a Tiffany lamp with its original patina, a rare vase (one of only four like it) and an 18th-century maple bowl and pounder. Also: host Dan Elias visits the Denver Art Museum.

Items appraised on the second of three shows from Denver include a 19th-century baseball bat; a turn-of-the-century cast-iron bank; and 19th-century documents from a Colorado mining town. Also: series host Dan Elias visits Denver's Black American West Museum.

Items appraised during the final show from Denver include art-deco Bakelite objects, a mahogany-and-brass lap desk and a beaded Native American saddle throw. Also: host Dan Elias profiles “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who's buried outside Denver.

Items appraised in the first of a three-episode stint in Madison, Wis., include a Civil War broadside from 1862, a Wisconsin-made spinning wheel and a Norwegian fiddle. Also: host Dan Elias visits the Wisconsin State Capitol complex.

Items appraised in Madison, Wis., include a silver-and-gold incense burner, and a parasol that was given to the owner's grandmother by Queen Victoria. Also: host Dan Elias visits Taliesin, architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home.

The three-show stopover in Madison, Wis., concludes. Appraised: Stickley dining-room tables and chairs; a Chinese blanket designed to cover a child's saddle; and a hand-drawn 1909 comic-book illustration.

Appraised at the Tulsa Convention Center: a desk used in Congress in the 1850s (and found by its owner in a chicken coop); a handwritten diary kept by delegates to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention in 1906-7; and memorabilia from a Wild West show that includes a poster for a documentary in which an unknown cowboy named Tom Mix made his screen debut. Also: host Dan Elias presents a quickie survey of Tulsa's art-deco architecture.

Items appraised in Tulsa (Part 2 of three) include an 1881 cylindrical calculator, a Roman earthenware amphora and a place card from a vintage Hollywood party that features Will Rogers' autograph. Also: host Dan Elias surveys the Western and Native American art and artifacts at Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum.

Appraised in Tulsa: a pocket watch showing two time zones, designed for a sea captain; a Native American cradle board; and an 18th-century chest of drawers that was being used by its owner as a TV stand. Also: host Dan Elias gets a kick or two along U.S. Route 66.

The “Roadshow” makes a pit stop in its home town with the first of three programs (taped in August 2000) at Boston's Bayside Expo Center. Items appraised range from a spoon once owned by Lizzie Borden to an 18th-century tomahawk. Also: a quick tour of the Museum of Fine Arts and a visit to the historic Cogswell Grant farm in Essex, Mass.

Items appraised at Boston's Bayside Exposition Center include an 18th-century French tureen, a trunk full of turn-of-the-20th-century military uniforms and a slavery-era citizenship certificate issued to a person of color. Also: host Dan Elias tours Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum.

Items appraised at Boston's Bayside Exposition Center include a mid-19th century carved wooden cat; and a French fashion doll, clothing and accessories. Also: host Dan Elias tours the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historical Site in Brookline, Mass.

Part 1 of two. Items appraised in Sacramento range from an 1870s Irish chamber pot adorned with a picture of British Prime Minister William Gladstone to “Star Wars” figurines. Also: host Dan Elias visits Sutter's Mill and traces the area's history, with emphasis on the 1849 gold rush. Other “nuggets” examined: an 18th-century Kentucky rifle, an 1864 Lincoln campaign poster, a 1954 Christian Dior gown and a painting of a lake that a woman bought at a church bazaar for about $5.

Conclusion. Items appraised in Sacramento include a pair of bronze horses, a Wedgewood stove from the 1930s and a hand-embroidered linen bag. Also: host Dan Elias visits the California State Railroad Museum.

Items appraised in Las Vegas (Part 1 of three) include an 18th-century Dutch decanter set, a post-Civil War chair and table, and a painting of a snowy landscape scene in Bucks County, Pa. The hour also features a thumbnail history of the Las Vegas area and a tour of a “boneyard” for neon signs. Says tour guide Rudy Franchi: “You couldn't come to Las Vegas without talking about neon.” Dan Elias hosts.

Part 2 . Items appraised in Las Vegas include a 17th-century Dutch pendulum clock; a Revolutionary War-era powderkeg; and a magic-memorabilia collection that includes a program autographed by Houdini. Also: host Dan Elias visits Nevada's Hoover Dam.

A Las Vegas stint concludes. Items appraised include costumes worn by performers who entertained U.S. troops during the 1950s; a 19th-century Russian religious icon; and a carpenter's chest made of 13 kinds of wood. Also: host Dan Elias tours the Liberace Museum.