Treasure Hunt

Some real finds didn't make trip to Roadshow

Mike Tracy holds a George Washington needlework piece that he estimates to be from the early 1800s. (Photos by Ingrid Barrentine/The Spokesman-Review) Roadshow stories There may be nothing left of the 2007 Antiques Roadshow stop in Spokane but ticket stubs and video tape that will air next year, but we're still interested. Want to share your Roadshow story? Want to show what you would have taken if you'd just been able to get your hands on tickets? Treasure Hunt is the place to show and tell. Send an e-mail to cam@spokesman.com or call (509) 459-5153.

More than 6,000 people may have made the trip to the Antiques Roadshow on Saturday, but there are plenty of people around the area who didn't make it. And they are just as proud of, and curious about, their treasures.

Mike Tracy, of Kettle Falls, Wash., is a good example. Tracy wrote away for tickets, but didn't win the lottery. This time. Tracy made it to a previous Roadshow taping in Portland.

Tracy has a very old and very intricate piece of needlework. Stitched in silk and depicting the Gilbert Stuart "Lansdowne" painting of George Washington, (Washington's face and hands are watercolor paint and graphite on paper) the large textile is mounted in a handsome Federal-style, burl veneered frame with what appears to be the original glass. Tracy doesn't know much about the piece. He purchased it from an elderly friend years ago. It had been in her husband's family for generations and she told him she thought it had been done in the early 19th century. Perhaps as early as 1820.

He's hoping the collective wisdom and expertise of Treasure Hunt readers can tell him more. If you can share any information about Tracy's framed embroidery of Washington, do tell.