Antiques Roadshow PBS: Guest has celebrity signed collection of boarding cards
Antiques Roadshow fans were horrified by a doll owner’s story of “scattered eyeballs and limbs” around his childhood home.
Expert Billye Harris was given the job of appraising an old-fashioned-looking doll in a yellow lace dress, an item that the PBS guest has had in his life since he was a youngster.
He explained to Harris that his mum used to collect antique porcelain dolls and even used to try her hand at making the toys herself.
“She would actually teach doll making, my dad would pour the molds”, the owner said.
“We had a kiln in the backyard and eyeballs in all kinds of drawers and all the body parts laying all over the place.”
Harris joked that it must have looked like “Frankenstein’s studio” with the guest confirming that it was “pretty wild looking sometimes”.
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The expert stated that it was called a French Circle Dot Bru doll, made in 1880 France by Leon Casimir Bru.
She said he made the “finest dolls”, pointing out its “glass paperweight eyes” that curve out so it has more of a “realistic, human feature”.
Despite Harris’ praise of the doll, Antiques Roadshow fans were far less keen on the item, with many labelling it as “creepy”.
Taking to the YouTube comments section, one viewer joked: “‘Hey, Lady! Watch the eyeball!’ [you don't want to p*** off the possessed doll, do you?]”
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Another wrote: “I saw the horror in his eyes recanting the scene of plastic limbs & eyes scattered everywhere.”
“That creepy doll walks around your house at night scaring the pets,” a third one jibed while someone else said: “Utterly terrifying, it’s only survived this long by eating souls.”
Nevertheless, the doll was actually very valuable with Harris revealing its true worth.
She stated: “On today’s market, she would retail for around $12,000 to $14,000.”
Its owner didn’t seem too surprised by the valuation, clearly having done some research on the item.
He said: “Wow, that’s a little bit more than what I thought she was worth so that’s nice to know. That’s pretty neat.”
Antiques Roadshow US is available to watch on PBS.
