RUSS PRITCHARD:
Civil War artifacts
Russ Pritchard
American Ordinance
Preservation Assoc., Ltd.,
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
It's very hard to predict what wars will be collectible in 2100. For example, the Civil War is currently extremely collectible. But the War of 1812, which of course preceded it, and Revolutionary War are not as popular. So those artifacts are worth less. That may turn out to be the case with the Gulf War, and the Vietnam War: They won't be collectible a hundred years from now. There's another reason why we probably won't be seeing much from the Vietnam or Gulf wars: You can't collect much of the weaponry. Civil War buffs can collect swords, knives, guns, etc. There's no way you can really collect the modern weapons: the M16s, the M60 submachine guns. It's illegal, for one thing. So I don't think people will be bringing in Scud missiles to ''Antiques Roadshow'' in 2100.
Leigh Keno
Leigh Keno American Antiques,
New York
The same great objects come up again and again. They surface, change hands, get photographed, and then disappear for 30, 40, 50 years. It's like fly-fishing: catch and release. So in 2100 I expect people will be bringing in some of the same things we're seeing now. That said, I expect that early computers will be big in 2100. People will marvel at those tiny, archaic-looking screens. And think how wonderful it will be to find early computers loaded with original software. My brother [Leslie Keno] and I recently found a traveling desk from the 19th century, and it still contained material from its original owner. Inside was a snapshot of this person's life, in a sense. That's what it will be like to come across one of today's computers, with the software in it, in 2100.
Leslie B. Keno
Senior vice president, director, American furniture department, Sotheby's, New York
Writing instruments of all kinds, from quills to Bic pens, should be very collectible in 2100. I also think people will be bringing in any furniture that's actually made from trees. There are so many artificial materials now. So if it has natural materials and is of high quality, it will last. George Nakashima's furniture, which incorporates very natural shapes from trees - his things might really last. How about Jetsons stuff? I think images from that show will still seem very quaint in 2100.
Noel Barrett
Antiques and Auctions
Carversville, Pa.
People will be bringing in McDonald's Happy Meal toys. Actually Happy Meal toys already have some value; price guides exist for them. Eight-track tapes will be valuable in 2100, because very few people will have kept them. A Patsy Cline eight-track tape should have some value. What will be valuable are the things that people throw away. Mantle clocks aren't going to have value - who throws them away? But look at what happened to all the cast-iron toys that were destroyed during the World War II scrap-iron drives. Now they have some value. In 2100, we'll be beyond nostalgia, because we'll all be dead. So, at that point, people will value an object's intrinsic value, or its historical significance. Impeachment-related stuff should keep its value. I saw cigars for sale that had Monica on the label. They might be valuable someday. Also Y2K stuff: books, etc. A few years ago, during the Gulf War, I saw a display card in a store that was covered with inexpensive yellow ribbons. I'm kicking myself for not buying the whole thing.
Gloria Lieberman
Vice president, director of fine jewelry, Skinner, Boston
Old diamonds will be valuable. There are so many ways of cutting diamonds, and new ways of cutting stones, that the old stones will gain value. There will surely be even more advances in these areas by 2100, which will make the old stones even more valuable. Pearls will get bigger and bigger. The artificial stones will get more amazing. The synthetics are going to get scary - even now, for example, people are dying jades to make them look older. In fact, there's so much technology that the old stones - the gorgeous sapphire brooches with the natural stones - those will be the most valuable in 2100.
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Kathleen Guzman
Vice president,
Phillips, International,
New York
In 2100, there'll be a parade of limited-edition Barbie dolls, Beanie Babies, and Star Wars memorabilia, and none of it will be worth anything. Here's the basic rule: Anything that's made to be a collectible, won't be. What will be valuable? I think objects from the California crafts movement of the 1950s and '60s. That movement redefined the pot from a functional object to a sculptural object. They really started a movement, and those crafts are undervalued and overlooked. Contemporary glass is the same thing. Some of these contemporary craft people have redefined the medium. Today, when contemporary art seems to be more about video art, these crafts will probably gain value. In the furniture area, George Nakashima and the Memphis movement will probably be valuable in 2100. Impeachment documents will be big. That blue dress from the Gap will be very valuable. As far as mundane objects go, maybe vintage typewriters, or old, wonderfully designed electric fans.
Rudy Franchi
The Nostalgia Factory,
Boston
In 2100, people will be bringing in old blenders, old toasters, and laptops from the attic. Those laptops will look pretty exotic when computers are the size of wristwatches. But people will also make the same mistakes. They'll bring in newspapers that say, for example, ''Nixon resigns'' when the real valuable paper is the much-earlier Washington Post that says simply, ''Break-in at Watergate complex.'' The object has to reflect the period, and it's very difficult to tell what's going to reflect a period when you're in it. Take '70s-era disco, for example. We hated that music at the time. Who knew it was going to symbolize the decade? During the '70s a ''Saturday Night Fever'' poster was worth $5. Now it's worth $150. So make a list of what you want to keep, and throw that away. What's valuable will be something else. What they find in a trunk in an attic 100 years from now - that's what will be valuable.
John A. Buxton
Antiques appraiser and consultant
Dallas
African Art will be much more valuable in 2100. If you compare the masterpieces of African art to the masterpieces of Western Art, you'll see that African art is seriously undervalued. That's likely to change. It's very difficult to overpay for a great piece of art, a real quality piece. I'm not sure what the Beanie Babies will be in 2100. That's fashion, and fashion changes very quickly in the lower price ranges. So that's too difficult to tell. There are a few trends I think we'll see. First, we'll see more pieces made for sale, rather than for traditional use. We're already seeing that. Another trend is that things will get bigger. By 2100, kachina dolls that are normally 13 inches high, will be 3 1/2 feet high. Baule figures from the Ivory Coast, which are now normally 10 to 24 inches, will be 5 or 6 feet tall. Everything will get bigger, because Americans think bigger is better.
Wayne Pratt
President, Wayne E. Pratt, Inc.,
Woodbury, Conn.
I don't think ''Antiques Roadshow'' will be traveling from city to city in 2100. The show will take place in some sort of virtual world. Entire estates will be sold on-line. But many of the same pieces you see today - high boys, low boys, chests - they will still be valuable. Modern furniture created by artists - that's going to last. You are going to have to go to individual artists to get some of that good history. Handmade things. Take a place like Leonards Antiques in Seekonk, Mass. They make beds individually. Those are the antiques of the future. A standard pencil-post bed made by a small company, one that's signed by an individual maker - that kind of custom furniture will remain dear because it costs a lot to make. And they are made to be handed down.
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Christopher Hartop
Senior vice president, director of silver and objects of vertu
Christie's, New York
The art that we collect won't be radically different in 2100. There's a fairly finite pool of material and it's sought out as art. But the collectibles category will probably change. We may be collecting fax machines, and early Palm Pilots. Of course the thing to bear in mind is that today the quality of workmanship is not necessarily a factor in an object's value. The great early sewing machines, early typewriters - people buy them for the workmanship, the high level of engineering. You don't see that in today's telephones and fax machines. The materials they used on those early machines also lasts much longer. How long will plastic survive? Silver lasts. So people could still be collecting silver in 2100. Whereas Barbie dolls, even if they remain collectible - we don't really know how the plastic will last. Maybe by 2100 the plastic will have deteriorated, the hair will have fallen out.
Karen M. Keane
Partner/chief executive officer,
Skinner, Boston
Let's preface this by saying that people better still be interested in the classics: scrimshaw, 18th-century American furniture, folk art, weathervanes. As our nation ages, and we have more history under our belt, we're going to be looking back. So if I look at what surrounds us now, I'd probably look to a pager as something that will be valuable in 2100. Maybe early cell phones. Computers, obviously. The first CD players that Sony put out. As far as automobiles go, how about Hummers? Furniture? Probably the Memphis movement out of Italy. That could get very collectible as time goes on. I'll tell you what won't keep its value in 2100: popular culture. It just doesn't last. How valuable are items relating to Enrico Caruso for example, or Jenny Lind - one of the premier singers of the 19th century? They are not valuable at all; no one cares.
Jerry E. Patterson
Consultant, books and manuscripts department,
William Doyle Galleries,
New York
A letter from Lyndon Johnson discussing the Vietnam War, that will be valuable in 2100. I would bet that all sorts of collectibles about the Vietnam War will be valuable a hundred years from now, because people will look back and see it as the first really controversial American war, the first war to really divide the nation. We're too close to it right now, but I think that posters, broadsides, letters, diaries pertaining to Vietnam will be collectible. Especially items that concern the dissension. Antiwar groups published a number of things: posters, broadsides, etc. Those will be very interesting to people in 2100. I could see someone coming into the ''Antiques Roadshow'' in 2100 with the only-known copy of a poster advertising an antiwar rally in Central Park. That will be valuable.
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Apraiser John
