The Woman Who Knew Too Much!

For once in my life I heard those words..."You just know too much...." Should have been music to my ears, but it wasn't.

I had the pleasure to go to the Antique Roadshow this weekend in San Antonio, TX. It was such a fun experience, but overwhelming as well.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well organized the event was and how kind everyone associated with the Roadshow was - that includes the appraisers. By the end of the day, they estimate that 5,000 people will have been through and that the appraisers will have appraised at least 10,000 items. Given that, organization is a must. We arrived in line at 1100 and were leaving at 1345 - impressive.

I brought my Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley collection and was thrilled to have it appraised by Wes Cowan, my favorite appraiser of the Roadshow and History Detectives. He is an enthusiastic and kind man.

He was very excited about my collection and asked me numerous questions regarding the collection and my interest in Wilson Bentley. Then he asked me, "How would you like to be on TV with your collection?" I told him that would be just fine......he then put me backstage to wait for a producer.

30 minutes later a producer came with Mr. Cowan. They took my collection and met together. The producer then interviewed me...."How did you acquire this collection?" "What is your interest in Mr. Bentley?", etc. After interviewing me she met with Mr. Cowan again and then they both came to me.....the producer passed on putting the collection on TV and Mr. Cowan explained why and then finished my appraisal.

In a nutshell, I knew too much about the collection. There wasn't anything that the appraiser could have told me that I didn't know. The producer wanted the surprise factor - the girl that purchased a collection for $500.00 and knew nothing about it. That isn't me and I'm not ashamed of that. I can truthfully say that I wasn't disappointed that I wasn't on TV....I was disappointed that an opportunity to tell people about Wilson Bentley didn't work out.

Despite my disappointment, I was glad that Mr. Cowan was excited about my collection and saw in it what I do.

I guess I will use this forum to tell people about Bentley.

If you get a chance to go the Roadshow, take it. It was great. My only regret is that I should have taken more of it in - slowed down and looked around and soaked it all up. Not sure I could of though as it was crowded and fast paced once I met up with Mr. Cowan.

AKM