As Gail Richardson stood in a darkened room at Akron's Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens last June, the man sitting at the table took a long time examining her vintage 1960s postcards.
As he used a tablet computer to check various websites, Richardson thought: What if it turns out someone had forged the handwriting of the smiling man whose famous image can be seen on one side of several of the cards? Would they think she was the culprit and actually call the police?
Finally, with a "poker face," the man called over a woman. Richardson was asked repeatedly if the cards were really hers and then to recount how she had acquired them.
The woman told Richardson: "I love that story. Honey, you want to be on TV?"
Richardson was among about 2,000 people there that day for an "Antiques Roadshow" taping and the woman was a producer. The three episodes aired on PBS April 29 and May 6 and 13.
Richardson was one of few who made it onto the show, in Hour 1. The Streetsboro resident's nearly three-minute segment can be viewed at tinyurl.com/2p8xwmx6 and begins at about the six-minute mark.
The three postcards that got her on the show were written on and signed by Fred Rogers, the iconic host and creator of "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" on PBS. A fourth card, with Rogers' photo on it, has no writing on it.
Appraiser Ken Gloss told Richardson that what makes the cards especially meaningful is that they reference the show and date to the 1960s when "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" was still new and there were efforts underway to expand it into new markets, including Northeast Ohio.
"Do you know whether or not your educational station has signed up for the 'Mister' Rogers' series next year?" Rogers wrote on a postcard with an August 1966 postmark. "Some ETV stations beyond Pittsburgh [Rogers' hometown] have. Hope Cleveland did."
That and another card were sent to a Cleveland woman Rogers knew, possibly a relative. The third, with a shorter message, starts simply "Dear Friend," maybe to a fan.
Funny thing is, Richardson bought the cards without meaning to.
How a 'professional treasure hunter' landed postcards from Mr. Rogers
Richardson said she's a "professional treasure hunter," finding a variety items to resell online.
She started part-time in 2003, going to yard, garage, church sales and such to see what she could find for resale on eBay. Her husband, Ron, is a certified public accountant who does her taxes and also enjoys going to sales with her. They have even used vacations to pick up inventory along U.S. Route 40, a corridor that features a long string of people holding sales between Maryland and St. Louis.
"I always just kind of had an eye for things that people want or need," said Richardson. "I blame my mother for creating the monster that I am because she would throw me and my sister into the back seat of her Plymouth and we'd go garage saling for the day, Saturday."
Due to downsizing, Richardson went full time in 2018 and now has an eBay store, The Gaileria. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, she wondered if it had been a good time to start a business. But she had items in stock and with the shutdown, people were choosing to buy online more.
Richardson said she loves what she does and does not consider it to be work. She sees it as performing a valuable service because there is "such waste" in the United States and she finds uses for things that might otherwise end up in a landfill.
"I'm like a conduit and I'm connecting what some people might think is trash and getting it to the person who realizes it's treasure," said Richardson.
One thing Richardson looks for is items that have attributes that would appeal to multiple interests. At an auction in Streetsboro, she saw leaning against a shoebox an antique Valentine's Day card that she recognized could check off a few boxes. It was Victorian, it had hearts on it and it had collectible lace attached to it.
Richardson bid $1 and with no one else apparently interested, she immediately won and went to get the card, discovering it was not all she had bought.
"They said, 'No, you got the whole shoebox,'" she said. "So I had a shoebox of all these postcards, somebody's life."
She said she is still slowly going through the box, but found the Fred Rogers cards early on.
Appearance on 'Antiques Roadshow' crossed off bucket list
It was Richardson's husband who went online and won two tickets for the "Antiques Roadshow."
"Panic set in," said Richardson. "We've got the tickets, now what have we got to take?"
Each person is allowed to bring two items — the postcards counted as one — and Richardson eventually thought of the cards, believing they would be especially appropriate due to the PBS connection.
After arriving at Stan Hywet, they were given bracelets identifying them as ticket holders. People were then sorted according to the items they brought. Richardson believes that with the postcards, she was sent to a location for "books, manuscripts and ephemera," where she found herself nervously waiting for the man with the tablet to examine the cards.
Once she realized she might be on television, Richardson said, she began to get nervous about it but went through with it.
"They take you to the Green Room, slap a little makeup on you and do your hair," said Richardson.
On set, the cards were put onto a velvet board for display. Richardson said Gloss did not speak to her about the cards prior to taping, standard "Antiques Roadshow" operating procedure.
"They don't say anything to you because they want it to be authentic," she said. "They want it to be like this is the first time you're hearing about it because it is."
During the segment that made it on the air, which is only a fragment of what was actually taped, Richardson gives a brief explanation of how she acquired the cards and then Gloss provides the information he knows.
"I guess I can't help but say this, but it must have been a wonderful day in the neighborhood when you bought that box of material," Gloss starts off.
Richardson said one thing she found especially interesting is that some of the approximately 20 people behind the camera conduct factchecking and would stop the taping and have portions redone if there is misinformation.
"They're very spot on what they're going to share with the public. They need it to be correct," she said.
After telling Richardson that she got her $1 back with the blank card, Gloss "conservatively" estimated the retail value of the other three cards at a total of $1,500 to $2,500.
After the taping was done, Richardson was told "good job," but not whether it would actually make it on the air. She would only find that out much later.
"It's a ballet, an orchestrated ballet," Richardson said of the whole production.
Afterwards, Richardson took another item she brought, an 1865 sampler with pictograms and an ode to a deceased child on it, to the folk art section. It was appraised at $100 to $200 and no taping for it was done. Richardson said she later put it up for auction on eBay and following a spurt of bidding, it sold for $1,300 to a woman sho said she really liked the pictograms.
"It's a perfect storm sometimes when you get that bidding war and the right people, the right eyes, are on your items," said Richardson.
She said the experience of being on the "Antiques Roadshow" is "almost worth more than the value of the postcards."
"It's been on my bucket list so it's nice to have that crossed off," she said. "Now I have to find another experience to put on my bucket list."
What's next for the Mr. Rogers postcards?
Richardson said that after she found the cards, she did some online research on her own, looking at samples of Rogers' handwriting.
"To me, it looked like the real deal," she said.
She also reached out to the Fred Rogers Institute in the Pittsburgh area, receiving a note back expressing an interest in seeing the cards.
"So there's a road trip in the future," said Richardson.
Richardson said she has not yet decided what she will ultimately do with the cards. She said she might eventually put them up for auction in Pittsburgh or maybe just donate them to the institute, as a way to create "a legacy."
But for now, she just wants to properly mount them and hang them on a wall in her home.
"I'm in no rush. I just want to love them a little bit," said Richardson.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
Local Akron, OH
Most Popular
Comments / 0