Antiques

I have watched both versions of the TV program "The Antique Roadshow." Today I am prepared to compare them.

I'll start with the American one. Americans own good junk. In each show several ordinary dudes will bring in the etchings they found in grandpa's attic. Each one will turn out to be a Rembrandt, one of five known copies, worth maybe $40,000 each. And so on. Some finds approach a half million dollars in value. One of these days, a farmer in Idaho will bring in for appraisal the Holy Grail.

The British version works just as well but on a different scale. For example, the show I am watching as I type this features a woman who brought in a box of rocks. They were fancy rocks and turned out to be worth maybe $3,000.  She was as happy as an American.  Typical finds includes things like a shoelace once worn by a footman employed by Anthony Eden or maybe a petrified turd discovered in Queen Mary's chamber pot or, on a good day, a shadow once cast by Vanessa Redgrave.  

I've noticed that British people own little of value.  You'd expect more from such an ancient capitalist nation, but it must be that all the good stuff has already been gathered into castles and cathedrals. There is nothing left for John Doe but "me grandma's medals from World War Two." They are worth maybe 180 pounds to eccentric collectors of ephemera, but the guy will never sell them.