Appraisal: California Motorcycle Clubs Photographs, ca. 1920
Clip: Season 27 Episode 25 | 3m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
Appraisal: California Motorcycle Clubs Photographs, ca. 1920
Check out Deborah Rogal's appraisal of California motorcycle clubs photographs, ca. 1920, in Junk in the Trunk 12.
Funding for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is provided by Ancestry and American Cruise Lines. Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.
Appraisal: California Motorcycle Clubs Photographs, ca. 1920
Clip: Season 27 Episode 25 | 3m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
Check out Deborah Rogal's appraisal of California motorcycle clubs photographs, ca. 1920, in Junk in the Trunk 12.
How to Watch Antiques Roadshow
Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Buy Now
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW 2025 Tour!
Enter now for a chance to win free tickets to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's 2025 Tour! Plus, see which cities we're headed to!Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipGUEST: This is my grandfather's photographs from the 1920s.
He had a shop on 57 Page in San Francisco and at 1550, um, on Market earlier.
He handled high-end Aces and Indians.
APPRAISER: Motorcycles.
GUEST: And, um, uh, Dudley Perkins has on, across the street on Page, and he handled Harleys.
This whole archive is 138 photographs.
A lot of it has been in my uncle's possession up until a year and a half ago.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And then he died earlier this year.
And he gave them to me because I'm the one that knows about archives and, and working in the art business.
APPRAISER: Great.
So what do you know about your grandfather's interest in motorcycles?
GUEST: It was a time of rebellion against the middle class.
APPRAISER: Mm.
GUEST: And my great-grandfather was Oakland Feed and Grain Company.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And had a lot of, made a lot of money that way, so... (chuckles) APPRAISER: Okay, interesting.
GUEST: Uh, he rebelled against that... APPRAISER: Wow.
GUEST: ...and became the black sheep of the family.
(laughs) APPRAISER: Wow.
The motorcycle was invented in the end of the 19th century, and the first motorcycle club in the United States was in 1903 in Yonkers, New York.
But San Francisco, your grandfather's club, was immediately after that, in 1904.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
Wow.
APPRAISER: So it was one of the first clubs in the United States, and an area where the motorcycle culture just seems to have really taken hold.
Oakland was soon after that.
And these photographs really represent those early motorcycle clubs.
The clubs would gather, there'd be races, hill-climbing, uh, competitions.
And is the baseline for what we think of as motorcycle culture today, which is club-oriented, community-oriented, um...
GUEST: Leather jackets and jeans and T-shirts.
Yeah.
(chuckles) APPRAISER: Exactly.
And that's here.
We see that in these images.
And what I find really fascinating in each of these images, which represent gatherings of the various motorcycle clubs in California in the 1920s, is that there is women, as well.
GUEST: Oh, yes.
APPRAISER: Women were just beginning to be able to vote.
I think San Francisco Motorcycle Club admitted women before they could vote, and it was the first club to do so in the United States, which I think is amazing.
And what can you tell me about this photograph here?
GUEST: That is the front of the Page store, 57 Page.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: My grandfather's on the, on the right.
APPRAISER: So that's his storefront.
And he's on an Indian motorcycle?
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Uh, which is one of the brands that he specialized in, wearing the San Francisco Motor Club sweater and a tie.
(laughing): GUEST: And a tie.
APPRAISER: (laughs) This is part of a much larger archive.
I'll be giving you a value for what we have on the table here today.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: At auction, I would value each of these panoramas between $2,000 and $3,000.
I would value this smaller photograph between $200 and $300.
We're looking at a total value at auction between $4,200 and $6,300 at auction.
GUEST: Great.
Appraisal: 1791 Jane Young World Map Needlework
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1791 Jane Young World Map Needlework (2m 54s)
Appraisal: 1875 Pierre Jan van der Ouderaa Oil Painting
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1875 Pierre Jan van der Ouderaa Lovers Oil Painting (2m 4s)
Appraisal: 1890 European Glass Vase
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1890 European Glass Vase (57s)
Appraisal: 1905 Belle Epoque Diamond & Platinum Necklace
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Belle Epoque Diamond & Platinum Necklace, ca. 1905 (3m 4s)
Appraisal: 1910 - 1911 T9 Turkey Red Boxing Cards Collection
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1910 - 1911 T9 Turkey Red Boxing Cards Collection (2m 4s)
Appraisal: 1930 Percy Gray Landscape Watercolor
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1930 Percy Gray Landscape Watercolor (2m 59s)
Appraisal: 1955 Gretsch Duo-Jet Electric Guitar & Case
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1955 Gretsch Duo-Jet Electric Guitar & Case (1m 2s)
Appraisal: 1966 Wharton Esherick Stool
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1966 Wharton Esherick Stool (3m 35s)
Appraisal: Albert Einstein Collection, ca. 1945
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Albert Einstein Collection, ca. 1945 (2m 46s)
Appraisal: Carlo Giuliano Earrings & Necklace, ca. 1890
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Carlo Giuliano Earrings & Necklace, ca. 1890 (2m 54s)
Appraisal: Crow Child's Jacket, ca. 1885
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Crow Child's Jacket, ca. 1885 (32s)
Appraisal: Janisset Alexis Falize-designed Perfume, ca. 1840
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Janisset Alexis Falize-designed Perfume Bottle, ca. 1840 (2m 34s)
Appraisal: Louis Chalon Bronze & Porcelain Lamp, ca. 1910
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Louis Chalon Bronze & Porcelain Lamp, ca. 1910 (2m 58s)
Appraisal: Martha Chase Doll, ca. 1915
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Martha Chase Doll, ca. 1915 (1m 7s)
Appraisal: Pottery Attributed to Nampeyo, ca. 1900
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Pottery Attributed to Nampeyo, ca. 1900 (2m 21s)
Appraisal: Tennessee Civil War Union & Confederate Letters
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Tennessee Civil War Union & Confederate Letters (3m 55s)
Appraisal: Thomas Wagstaffe Musical Bracket Clock, ca. 1770
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: Thomas Wagstaffe Musical Bracket Clock, ca. 1770 (2m 1s)
Appraisal: William Thomson Silver Coffee Service, ca. 1813
Video has Closed Captions
Appraisal: William Thomson Silver Coffee Service, ca. 1813 (2m 29s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipFunding for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is provided by Ancestry and American Cruise Lines. Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.