Antique vase meets downfall at Roadshow

Cheryl-Anne Millsap   /  The Spokesman-Review

Janice and Ward Tappero show what's left of a vase that was valued at $300. Last month the couple brought it to the Antiques Roadshow, where Janice dropped it after hurrying to share appraisal information with her husband. (Photos by INGRID BARRENTINE/The Spokesman-Review)

When the Antiques Roadshow was in town, I spent several hours at the convention center on the set of the Public Television show. I talked with people who were waiting patiently for their turn in the spotlight and I asked some of them to contact me later with the information they'd been given about their treasures.

One of the couples I met at the Roadshow was Ward and Janice Tappero. They'd come with a number of items they were hoping to learn more about. They'd even brought a vintage wicker chair, which came in handy while they were waiting. But the item that they were most interested in having appraised was a small piece of pottery. The beautifully glazed vase had belonged to Ward's mother. She'd given it to Janice with the words, "This might have some value."

For 10 years Janice kept the vase safe. It was carefully wrapped and put away.

When she unwrapped the vase and showed it to the appraiser, she learned that it was a William Moorcroft vase in the leaf and grape pattern. And, according to the expert, it was worth about $300.

Janice couldn't wait to give the good news to Ward, and there were people in line behind her anxious to have some time with the appraiser, so she picked up the vase and turned to go.

"I hurried back to my husband. who was by now sitting in the antique wicker rocker, to tell him the good news," Janice told me. "In my urgency to wrap it back up, I dropped it on the cement floor and it broke into many pieces."

The disaster didn't go unnoticed.

"The obvious sound of porcelain breaking caught the attention of several hundred people who were standing in line," Tappero said. "There was a collective groan, and then I told them that I had just found out it was worth $300."

Another groan.

Ward and Janice were good sports about the accident, seeing the humor in the situation.

"What else are you going to do?" Ward asked.

While the crowd murmured sympathetically, the couple chuckled.

"All I could do was laugh – and I did so for the next hour," Janice said.

They kept the pieces and Janice plans to use it in a craft project. Perhaps a mosaic with the bottom of the vase as the center medallion.

"The beautiful vase had a value to me of $300 for three whole minutes," Janice said.

But Ward sees the lasting value.

"We had a good time," he said with a laugh and a shrug. "And we came home with a good story."