A woman was so shocked upon finding out the true value of a letter she brought to be appraised on PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow,” that she nearly passed out.
The 1976 Frank Sinatra letter was brought to the show by Vie Carlson. The signed letter was written by Sinatra to a columnist for the Chicago Daily News, Today reported.
Royko shared the letter in a column shortly after receiving it. It includes the lines, “It’s quite obvious that your source of information stinks, but that never surprises me about people who write in newspapers for a living. They rarely get their facts straight. If the police decided that they wanted to be generous with me, I appreciate it. If you have any beefs with the Chicago police force? Why not take it out on them instead of me, or is that too big a job for you?” The letter continues, saying, “If you are a gambling man … I will allow you to pull my ‘hairpiece.’ If it moves, I will give you another $100,000; if it does not, I punch you in the mouth. How about it?”
In the episode, Carlson said the letter was written in response to a column by Royko, where he said that Sinatra had half the Chicago police force working as his bodyguards at a hotel while in the city to perform.
The letter was signed by Sinatra, and copyrighted as well, so if it were to be published it would be published in full, the appraiser on “Antiques Roadshow” explained.
When the appraiser told Carlson that he would estimate the letter would sell at auction for $15,000, her response was, “Oh, gee, I, I’m going to faint.”
Carlson told the appraiser she had previously been offered $100 for the letter.