[birds chirping] [flying insect] ♪♪♪ (Nathan Tannenbaum) Antiques Roadshow has been crisscrossing the country asking, What's your treasure?

And now this beloved program is right here in Las Vegas, and Vegas PBS is bringing you behind the scenes.

Hi.

Welcome to the actual birthplace of Las Vegas, the Springs Preserve.

I'm Nathan Tannenbaum, and this is Desert Treasures: A Behind the Scenes Look at Antiques Roadshow.

♪♪♪ In this special, we're going to introduce you to the show's producers and appraisers and some Las Vegans who made the pilgrimage to the Springs Preserve with their keepsakes and mementos, trying to learn the objects' history and, yes, the monetary value.

On our first day of Desert Treasures, we captured the hustle and bustle of the setup and all of the logistics of getting the Roadshow to Las Vegas.

Springs Preserve turned out to be the perfect landing spot.

Centrally located near downtown Las Vegas, the preserves serves as a botanical garden, a nature area, and so much more... really, one of the gems of the Las Vegas landscape.

But before we even showed up at the Springs Preserve, our crew reached out to community members who had tickets to the Roadshow to see what they were planning on bringing.

Our first stop was Charlie and Deb's to see what they wanted to get appraised.

In the '60s, before the moon landing, Charlie had worked for aviation conglomerate North American Rockwell.

His team worked on quality control for the fire suppression systems on the Apollo capsule.

I wanted to make sure I brought back something for posterity.

And I found these drawings of the complete assembly of the Apollo.

-So this is a blueprint from Rockwell?

-It is.

Unfortunately, they're not in business anymore, so they can't say anything about me.

-Well, so-- [laughter] -I know this sounds crazy, but ever since we were watching the Roadshow, it's been on our bucket list, and this is the first thing that I've ever, ever thought about.

-For both Charlie and Deb, going to Antiques Roadshow wasn't about the potential financial windfall.

(Deb) That's basically what we want to do is find out, not so much the value, but the appreciation from someone else.

-Well, we'll see what they say.

-Hopefully it's a good thing.

-So we'll find out what the appraisers told Charlie and Deb in just a few minutes.

But first, we also visited with Clara.

She shared with us what she was planning on bringing to the Springs Preserve.

(Clara) Well, I've been handed down a lot of stuff from family.

Let's call it stuff.

-The stuff that Clara has varies from Civil War photos to Native American artifacts.

But the treasure she was perhaps the most curious about was an engraving given to her by her aunt.

-I'm the type of person that believes that if you're going to have something, you should enjoy it.

So I wanted to hang it somewhere, and it ended up going into my guest bathroom.

So I had it up there, and that's where it has been until my son-in-law urged me to get it out of the bathroom.

-After leaving its humble home in the bathroom, Clara did some online detective work looking up the artist, Rosa Bonheur.

-Well, she was kind of a rebel in her time.

She was one of the most famous women artists in the 19th century.

And then I heard Antiques Roadshow was coming to town.

I thought, well, there's my chance.

-For Clara, like most Roadshow participants, it's not about the chance at a big paycheck.

And are you anticipating anything?

You're just going in with an open mind?

-I'm going in with an open mind.

I really don't think it's worth anything, but if it is, cool.

If it isn't, cool, it'll go back in the bathroom.

♪♪♪ -It takes an army of people to set up the Antiques Roadshow, produced by GBH in Boston.

The Roadshow spends the summer touring the country recording interactions and appraisals.

And from there, producers and editors put the shows together.

We talked with some of them about what it takes to create this much loved program.

First up, Executive Producer Marsha Bemko.

After all of these years you've been executive producing Roadshow, is there anything that surprises you?

(Marsha Bemko) That's great.

Everything surprises me.

People will surprise me with their passions, with their, their response to what we have to tell them.

They'll surprise me with what they think is appropriate to bring to Roadshow.

It's all joyous.

What catches me is the story.

It's about we make a television show of what you want.

We want to keep you engaged.

We want to keep you watching.

And so, pretty much, we don't do show-and-tell.

We do-- it's about discovery.

-What has made Roadshow the success that has been for the length of time that it's been?

-I think it's an Everyman show, capital E. Our appraisers are not professional television talent.

They spend their time doing their businesses.

The guests who are coming aren't professional television talent either.

They're you and me dragging stuff out of their basements, and it's whatever they've inherited.

It's an everyman story.

And pretty much, even if you've seen a diamond ring, the next one coming is different.

And it's interesting.

So, no, I'll be honest, guns aren't my thing.

I like the diamond rings better.

But you learn a lot from the Militaria area for our history.

-And you know that even if that's not your thing, it's not going to be an hour.

There'll be something else coming along.

-In three minutes or less.

-Yeah.

-And what you've learned by watching Roadshow is, if you're going to part with something, understand what you own.

Understand what you own.

Understand it before you decide to put a price on it.

You don't want to give stuff away for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than it's worth.

-You know, pretty much the people who come to Roadshow bring things that are near and dear to them, and they don't sell it or do anything with it.

They insure it, maybe because now they realize they need a rider on their home insurance, but pretty much it doesn't happen.

I think everybody, now that you have that information, you're going to sell it.

You're going to do something, right?

No.

People keep their stuff.

-And we're looking forward to seeing what comes up, because we're as anticipatorily excited as I think you are.

-I don't know about that.

I think I'm the most excited.

-And it hasn't gotten old.

-It doesn't get old, and I've been doing this for a long time.

-It's fantastic.

Thank you so much for having us.

-Thank you for helping us.

-That's right, because we're in this together.

-We're in this together.

Vegas PBS has helped us with this.

They are supplying us with 120 volunteers.

We couldn't do it without partnering with the host PBS station in that market.

So Vegas has worked hard, and they will tomorrow.

♪♪♪ (Jill Giles) Each Antiques Roadshow tour features five different locations across the United States.

And at each location, we'll film three episodes of Antiques Roadshow, with a little bit of extra footage for some compilation shows.

-So we're super excited that you came to Las Vegas again.

What causes a location selection to be, say, Las Vegas?

-So we knew that we wanted to come back to Nevada, and we knew that we were going to be filming outside.

So we also want to look for places that are historically and culturally significant.

And Springs Preserve was perfect because it tells the history of how water was brought into the Nevada Valley.

-So now we've made the decision.

There's a lot of stuff that has to happen to make the show happen once the decision has been made.

-So first, logistically, we have to figure out, can we bring the show here?

We have a pretty big footprint.

We have 85 crew, 75 appraisers, 110 volunteers, plus, you know, we give out 4,000 tickets to attendees.

We have six camera setups.

We have all of our appraiser setups.

We have green rooms and lunch rooms.

It's a pretty big footprint.

-Everyone who first comes in, what are they called, triage?

And what does that mean?

-So when our guests first enter, they encounter triage, where their items are like initially assessed, like a triage in a hospital.

You know, look at what we have, and we give it a category.

So you might get a category ticket for Books or for Paintings.

And then one of our team of volunteers will bring you to your first category and then let you know where your second category is.

So we really control the way people come in, how they have their appraisals, and how they leave so that the event can run really smoothly.

The appraisers call for a picker to come over, and it's usually because they see something interesting that they haven't seen before, or there's a really compelling story.

And once we get over there, we'll talk to the appraiser, and then we'll go talk to the guest separately and find out what we can about it.

You know, we're looking for, is the guest going to learn something about this?

Is it somebody who already knows everything that they have?

Is it somebody who's an antiques dealer?

Usually, we're pretty good at vetting.

-They can sniff them.

-Yeah.

And what can they learn?

What are the viewers gonna learn about it?

I think that the show is really special because there's something for everybody in it.

So because the segments are so short, you know, if you're watching it with your whole family together, and if it's not your kind of item, you just wait three more minutes, and there's something that is there.

I think it's much of like all of our lives.

None of it's really much about the stuff, as much as it is the stories and how we connect our lives to the stories that these items tell.

So you know, it's, for me, it's always the story.

♪♪♪ -But this is a big, big thing.

There's a lot of people here.

There's a lot of moving parts.

The stuff that has to be preplanned, and then the execution of it, it's a lot.

(Sam Farrell) You didn't know this.

Antiques Roadshow is actually a three-word title.

It's Antiques Preparation Roadshow, because we are so prepared that when we get on location and we experience things that go down or that don't work properly or people are missing or there's a travel thing or tornado in Billings or a fire in Tucson, we move with it.

We get on with it, but you can only do that if everything is well planned.

♪♪♪ -While the producers produce, the crew are the ones capturing all of the magic on camera.

We spoke to some of the crew members as they were setting up.

(Luke Crafton) This is the one campus in Las Vegas, right, that, I don't know, what, you got a couple acres here where there's no slot machines?

-No slot machines, but plenty of beautiful desert flowers and trees fill the Springs Preserve.

Luke Crafton wears a couple of hats at Antiques Roadshow.

He coproduces the offshoot program called Antiques Roadshow: Extraordinary Finds, which looks back at past shows to find out what happened to items that were featured in previous shows.

He's also the director of digital content.

After years on the Roadshow, Luke has seen a lot.

-One of the recurring joys that we get to experience as producers is to be around the public who've gathered for a really fun, a fun reason, you know, that they've been looking forward to.

-Luke noted that some people don't decide what they're bringing until just 24 hours before appraisal day.

-You know, tens of thousands of applications for tickets every year, and then, you know, 3,000 or 4,000 people lucky enough to get to come on the day.

And sometimes you're in crowds, and not everybody's that happy, but it's a really joyous atmosphere at Antiques Roadshow.

And it's fun to meet people all across the country and kind of be gathered around a subject that we all, we all enjoy.

-Kelsey Sousa is a senior editor and director for Antiques Roadshow.

She's been with the production for 23 years.

(Kelsey Sousa) It is a family, and it is sort of like summer camp.

We get really excited to see each other, and it's a family.

-The entire crew travels for the Roadshow tour, setting up at parks, museums, and nature preserves around the country.

-Every appraisal is like a mini history lesson, art history lesson, which is very exciting.

And every location is different.

When we come and set up, we can look at all the pictures in the world.

But we don't know until we get here.

-Despite her time behind the lens, Kelsey admits that sometimes the interesting interactions in front of the lens make her lose track of the job she's supposed to be doing.

-So this is the appraisal table when we shoot the, what we call formal appraisals right here.

And I stand back there and I'm listening, and I've cried back there, and then I have to say to myself, wait, I'm the director.

I need to listen.

I can't, I can't get emotional.

-The team wasn't just made up of people from Boston.

There were locals helping to set up too.

-Frank Arant.

I'm the local key grip.

-Frank is responsible for the wiring, rigging, and lighting on the set.

How long does it take to put this stuff together?

-It's going to take all day to set up.

The Antiques Roadshow had a great plan coming into this.

They had everything ironed out and mapped out for us.

There's a few different sets going on around this Springs Preserve today, so I don't know exactly what they're shooting here, but it's a set and we'll be showing something.

So I don't know exactly what it is.

-Frank, that's all you need to know.

-That's all I need to know.

-You're on a need-to-know basis!

The behind-the-scenes producers and crew may not be familiar to most of you, but the appraisers sure are.

We talked with some of the Antiques Roadshow appraisers about what you don't see.

How many Roadshows have you done?

Have you lost count?

(Nicholas D. Lowry) I can't tell you how many shows I've done, but I've been doing it for 27 years.

-You're one of the originals.

-I'm not one of the OGs, but my first show was the final show of the second season.

So this is my 27th season on the road.

-And every time it's different, right?

-Every time it's different.

This is our third time in Las Vegas.

We were here in 2002, I believe, and in 2008.

-Uh-huh.

-Now, whatever it is, 2024.

-I've lost track.

-Every time is different.

The Strip changes, the people change, the venues change.

The last two times were in a convention center, now in a beautiful Springs Preserve.

Yeah, it's gorgeous.

And my favorite thing is when people come in and put something in front of me, my first question is, Where did you get this?

And that will tailor my answer to them.

So if they say, and I've heard this countless times, My grandmother my grandfather, my aunt on their deathbed gave me this and told me to keep it because one day it would be valuable.

And you deal with that appraisal a little bit more delicately, a little bit more sensitively.

It's like a doctor, you know, bedside etiquette.

We have to break the news to people gently.

-I was about to ask you something along those lines.

Maybe not a medical doctor, but you guys are like psychologists.

-We do a lot of psychology.

♪♪♪ -What brings you out here today?

(Travis Landry) I want to see the best and baddest pop culture that Vegas has to offer.

Anything cool and nerdy, that's my dojo.

-Velvet Elvis?

-You laugh.

Velvet paintings have actually had a ticket collectibility.

I'm not even kidding.

You get a crazy painting of like Elvis with a tiger, I could probably get you a cool 100 bucks for that, a nice, fresh C-note right there.

-Hello!

So when we talk about the Roadshow and stuff that makes it to air, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make it to air.

-There are, yeah.

It is definitely like a competition.

The best of the best get on air.

We see a lot of stuff today.

I don't know exactly, but it's thousands of items that come through the door, and we're looking for that special 1% that can make it onto the screen.

I will say, growing up, it was my life's goal to get on Antiques Roadshow.

I set that as my thing.

Some kids want to be a doctor, a football player.

Like, I need to be on Roadshow.

Grew up watching it every day as a kid, and now I'm here and going on eight years.

Can't believe it.

-It's amazing.

-It's a dream come true!

You kidding me?

This is the best thing in the world!

I can't complain.

I way rather be here than, you know, sweating out there working.

I can't-- I'm sweating, but I don't feel like I work.

-So you're working for a living, but you're not working?

-No.

I play with toys and comics for a living.

I'm a big kid.

I never grow up.

It's awesome.

-And as an older fella, when you hear that the comic books aren't comic books anymore... -Comic book is-- vintage comic books are a comic book, but collectors today, nobody reads them, right?

A good comic book is graded, it's encased, it's a commodity, it's an asset.

It's no different than a bar of gold, or it's no different than a diamond ring.

They're real investments today, and that's what people care about.

-Like Superman #1?

-Whoa.

You bring a Superman 1 in here today, you're gonna get me very excited.

♪♪♪ (Sebastian Clarke) We all love what we do here.

All of the appraisers here, we're from all over the country.

We love being here.

It's a little bit like band camp for us.

We get to see all of our colleagues.

I learn just as much from my colleagues coming and doing a Roadshow, then I'm able to share with all of our guests as well.

-And like we say when we're watching it on TV, we're looking at people's eyeballs.

Do they go wide, or do they go, oh?

-All of the above.

We get everything from people who you kind of want to check their pulse afterwards to somebody you want to get a tissue or chair to make sure they're doing okay.

The Antiques Roadshow is a bucket list thing for a lot of people, and we have people from all over.

One of our appraisers is from Alaska, so we're literally all over the US.

♪♪♪ (Attendee) This is a picture of the Boss of Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra.

In the photo with Frank is Duke Ellington at the piano and Quincy Jones is off to his right, I believe for a Life magazine shoot 1964.

-Well, this was my, my grandparents' plate, and it-- I thought that it was beautiful and that we would bring it in to the Antique Roadshow.

-I'm Jacob.

-I'm Felicia from Las Vegas.

It's a 1976 Bicentennial ruffle plate and maybe an ashtray.

-I had an item.

I found this in the dirt.

I dug 50-some years ago, and I found this cute little peacock and this pin that looked like it had been berged, but it's just costume jewelry.

It's probably not worth more than $50.

But it's the memory and the fun of digging it up.

-Well, I brought poster, boxing poster.

It turns out it's worth 200 to $400.

-Got it at an auction.

I got a duck, a duck and a goose.

And he appraised the duck and told me that it was worth what I paid for it.

-We love him.

-We do.

His name is Caesar.

♪♪♪ -Hi.

I'm Kathleen from Boulder City, and today I brought an Elton John ice chest from back in the day.

I don't really know the history of it, but it's beautiful.

-I'm Mike.

I brought some paintings, a peace pipe that I found, and I have a baseball card that I don't know squat about, that I'm hoping they can tell me.

-The Roadshow operates like an orchestra, and a key part of that ensemble is the volunteers.

In the weeks before appraisal day, Vegas PBS put a call out to the community to help with the production, and dozens of people said yes.

(Susanne) Well, I've been watching Roadshow for, I guess, since I was a little girl.

A couple years ago, I acquired something that I wanted to bring on the show, and so I've been applying for tickets.

And I didn't get a ticket to come in, but I did get an opportunity to volunteer.

-Mitch!

How's it going?

-It's going great.

I love it here.

So you got headsets on.

Does that make you a different kind of volunteer?

-Well, no.

If the appraiser needs some assistance, we call a producer.

So that's why we have the headsets on.

-Do they have you at a specific item type of area?

-Yeah, I'm doing the Arms and Military.

-And how's that going?

-Oh, that's great to see the old war-- the old pictures, people bringing photos.

One lady had photos from World War II from a bombing mission that a relative took.

Somebody brought in Meals Ready to Eat, the old MREs.

Just to see the old swords.

Oh, it brings back memories.

It's a great experience.

(Stacey) Our assignment today is we are actually walking around with what we call the snapshot crew.

That particular crew stops, they talk to people, get some information about the item, film them.

And then our part is just to fill out a little bit of paperwork, have them do the general release, and then send them on their way.

-We first met Charlie and Deb in their beautiful backyard, and we caught up with them on appraisal day to see how they did.

So you showed us your object.

You showed it to an appraiser.

I think you got somebody's eyes open.

-Well, you know, I brought two, two different items.

And the first one, although it wasn't signed by any of the astronauts, at least, in fact, that it's between, the pair is worth between 500 and $700.

So that was nice.

-Yeah!

-Plus, I got to meet the guy.

And-- -Priceless.

-Priceless.

[laughter] -And as for Clara, when we caught up with her, she had just finished getting an appraisal of her Civil War photos.

She discovered they were not Confederate soldiers, but actually Union soldiers from Wisconsin.

-This one, he said that this one is worth $600.

-Do we know who that is, or did he clarify anything for you?

-He didn't know.

He talked about the weapon.

But to be honest, I don't remember the type of weapon.

-Yeah, because it's overwhelming, right?

-It is overwhelming.

-Because you're sitting there going, Mind blown.

-Yes, yes.

-As for the treasured engraving of a horse, Clara was told that it is authentic.

The piece is called Noble Charger, and it's an engraving of a Victorian Arabian horse.

It is highly sought after, the appraiser said.

At auction, it could be worth 400 to $500.

-After two full days of talking to producers, crew, appraisers, volunteers, and guests, it was time for my own Antiques Roadshow experience.

And I started where everyone starts, the triage table.

-Hello and welcome to the Antiques Roadshow.

Today I'm going to take a look at what you brought with you.

-So this is triage.

I brought my own item, and I'm going to find out where I'm going.

And we'll see what happens, because everyone who volunteers today, anyone with Vegas PBS, gets to have something looked at.

I'm in bubble wrap, just like they are.

I can't wait.

-Hi!

-How are you?

-I am mostly sunny.

How are you?

-Same.

-Good.

-Okay, what do we have here?

-We have an animation cel.

-Oh, great.

Okay.

Because you're gonna take it to another table.

-Okay.

So I'm in Collectibles today.

♪♪♪ Are you next?

I don't want to get-- -I'm with him.

-Okay, cool.

So this is an animation cel.

-Okay.

-It's Looney Tunes, and it's obviously Bugs Bunny, signed by Chuck Jones.

-Got it.

And it's a limited edition.

-Yes, sir.

-Where did you get it?

-I got it at a gallery in Denver.

I love Looney Tunes.

I grew up with Looney Tunes.

-I want Bugs.

-I want some Bugs.

-I got to have Bugs.

You got a good Chuck signature there.

-Yeah.

-It could do more, could do 1,000 or 1,500.

The market on this isn't what it was.

Keep it hanging on the wall if you like it.

-That's the other thing is, I'm not getting rid of this.

I'm gonna-- I'm hoping to give this to my kid.

-What can I say, priceless.

-Boom!

Thank you so much.

-Thanks for bringing it in.

-So I'm packed up ready to go, and I had a wonderful experience.

He said, Hey, there's a bunch of these.

They were very hot in the early 2000s.

He said somewhere between 1,000 and maybe 2,000 tops, but I don't care.

I'm keeping it.

♪♪♪ Well, we're getting ready to wrap up the show.

Can't say thank you enough to our entire production crew, to all of the appraisers, and all of the guests that made this the program that it's been.

We look forward to seeing you next time right here on Vegas PBS.

[beep] In fact, I was thinking of bringing Wayne Newton and having him appraised.

What do you think?

-I think bring him.

[laughter] I'm all for that.

-It's totally Vegas, dude.

-Now we're Hollywood.

[laughter] Say hey, everybody.

Say hi Roadshow!

-What's up?

-What's up?

It's Travis, everybody!

[laughter] [speaking in slow motion] -Three...two...one.

-Vegas PBS is the greatest.

Thank you for allowing us to be here today.

-Poof!

Shut the door!

Uh-oh.

-Max.

-You're fired.

-Are you still rolling?

-There's a distant rumble, and then there was an earthquake at the Springs Preserve.

[sinister voice] [laughter] -Don't jinx us!

Tell us when you're rolling there, Max.

-We're rolling.

[Bugs Bunny impersonation] Show business, it's so exciting!

[laughter]