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A WOMAN was stunned to learn her great-grandmother’s book of hymns was worth far more than she could have imagined.
She said the decades-old book had been collecting dust in the basement and she didn’t know much about it.
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The book was A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Use of The Latter-Day Saints, per an Antique Roadshow episode.
On the inside cover, the antique expert pointed out that her great-grandmother had written an inscription.
“Just found it in my father’s belongings when he died. Books is 104 years old,” it read alongside what appeared to be her name.
The expert told the woman the book was “the so-called Bellows Falls hymnal of the LDS Church.”
Her copy of the book was written in 1844 and the earliest version was written in 1835 by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.
He explained that her early version of the book used musical notation along with words.
The expert also expressed that the book was particularly rare because, in the past, hymnals were used in the churches until they were “a little ratty and tatty” and then they were thrown away and new ones were printed
“So it makes it very uncommon to actually still exist a century and a half or so later. So you’ve got a very early and scarce one,” he said.
When the expert shared that her hymnal would sell for $40,000 to $50,000, the woman was completely shocked.
Her mouth fell open and she took a deep breath and looked to be on the verge of tears.
As she continued to say “Oh my gosh,” she asked the expert, “What do I do with it?”
He told her to keep it safe and suggested putting it in a safety deposit box.
AN EXPENSIVE GIFT
A real estate agent brought a vase he received as a gift for experts to take a look at.
The man had held onto the blue-and-white striped vase designed in the 1950s by Fulvio Bianconi, an Italian artist and designer for 30 years.
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“It was actually a gift from the father of the first sale I ever made, the daughter,” he said, adding that the woman’s father had given him the piece.
“I sold her a condo for $48,000…it was a difficult sale,” he added.
An appraisal expert examined the vase acknowledging its colors and unique craftsmanship that was modeled after the female form.
“It’s something we can’t find anywhere,” she said.
She told the man that “something like this” could sell for over $65,000 which left him shocked.
His jaw dropped and he began laughing in shock.
“$65,000?” he questioned, “Wow.”
The expert explained that “people who are collecting contemporary art are now looking at the [type of] glass,” which explains its high value.
“The market has seen enormous jumps…things that were selling for low thousands are now bringing in tens of thousands of dollars,” she added.
She even said one similar vase recently sold for “a quarter of a million dollars.”
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