It takes only a single viewing of Antiques Roadshow, the popular PBS television series, to understand its appeal.
The show follows a set format — first it calls upon residents in a featured town or city to bring in their antiques and collectibles for expert appraisal, and then it documents a few of the unique and highly valuable treasures these residents unknowingly possess.
The show has yielded a number of spectacular finds. The highest valued item being a collection of 18th century Chinese rhinoceros-horn cups with an estimated worth between one and one-and-a-half million dollars. The owner would later go on to sell two of them at auction for $146,500 and $182,500. Several other items have been highly appraised, including a Norman Rockwell oil painting, The Little Model ($500K), and a mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder, the inventor of the mobile ($400K-$600K range).
|Accurate assessment & valuation of loss
With these high valuations, the show taps into the popular fantasy that particular items in the owner's hands have great value. And this is the framework that claim adjusters have to contend with when handling property loss claims — striking a balance between delivering quality customer service that leaves the insureds pleased, while at the same time rendering an accurate assessment and valuation of the loss.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
