Appraisal: 1938 Ray Jerome Baker Book
Clip: Season 29 Episode 17 | 3m 5sVideo has Closed Captions
Appraisal: 1938 Ray Jerome Baker Book
Watch Stephen C. Massey appraise a 1938 Ray Jerome Baker book in Vintage San Jose, Hour 2.
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Appraisal: 1938 Ray Jerome Baker Book
Clip: Season 29 Episode 17 | 3m 5sVideo has Closed Captions
Watch Stephen C. Massey appraise a 1938 Ray Jerome Baker book in Vintage San Jose, Hour 2.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipGUEST: I'm one of those people that likes to look for what other people throw out, and... APPRAISER: Ah.
GUEST: I looked in a dumpster at a local park, and I found a bunch of books and this was one of them.
APPRAISER: It's a book called Hawaii: the Isle of a Thousand Wonders.
It's in nondescript library binding of rather cheap cloth.
This is the original cloth binding.
As we see, they were photographed and arranged by Ray Jerome Baker, who was born in Illinois in 1880, and he died in 1972.
So he was 92 when he died.
He spent a lot of his time in California, until his late 20s, when he befriended Jack London.
He was a photographer, and he had a charge against him in California of, uh, pornographic photography, and in 1910, he went to Hawaii, where he seems to have lived ever since.
And he became a filmmaker and a photographer and a significant book publisher.
Here we have the title page, giving the date of publication, rather like an old book.
He does it as a colophon at the end.
And here he is: photographer, but also publisher of fine books.
And here we have him talking about Hawaii, the Big Island.
And each of these books he published has the especially prepared guard sheet with the title, and there are very fine photographs that he took of views in the Big Island.
GUEST: Any idea on how many of these might have been published?
APPRAISER: There isn't a note of that, but one has to believe that it was a small edition.
I would have thought 500 or maybe 1,000.
Hawaiian books, and particularly books with early photographs, are collected, and the works of Ray Jerome Baker are sought after.
The only comparable I can find at a recent auction was at a specialist sale of Hawaiian books in 2004 in New York, where a similar title, but published three years later, in 1941, brought $4,750.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER: This being earlier and being focused on the Big Island, I would've thought would have an auction value today of $5,000 to $6,000.
Um GUEST: I like it.
(chuckles) APPRAISER: So you did very well in the dumpster.
Appraisal: Gustav Stickley Desk, ca. 1910
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m 1s | Appraisal: Gustav Stickley Desk, ca. 1910 (1m 1s)
Appraisal: 1813 Reverend Young Marriage Certificate
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m 27s | Appraisal: 1813 Reverend Young Marriage Certificate (1m 27s)
Appraisal: 1886 Leland Stanford-signed Joaquin Miller Book
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 59s | Appraisal: 1886 Leland Stanford-signed Joaquin Miller Book (59s)
Appraisal: Boxing Folk Art Cane, ca. 1895
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 47s | Appraisal: Boxing Folk Art Cane, ca. 1895 (47s)
Appraisal: Handel Piano Lamp, ca. 1920
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m | Appraisal: Handel Piano Lamp, ca. 1920 (1m)
Appraisal: "The Grabhorn Press" Sign, ca. 1940
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m 19s | Appraisal: "The Grabhorn Press" Sign, ca. 1940 (1m 19s)
Appraisal: Ansel Adams Modern Prints, ca. 1960
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 48s | Appraisal: Ansel Adams Modern Prints, ca. 1960 (2m 48s)
Appraisal: T. Earnshaw Marine Chronometer, ca. 1815
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 18s | Appraisal: T. Earnshaw Marine Chronometer, ca. 1815 (2m 18s)
Appraisal: 1885 Frederic S. Cozzens Chromolithograph
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 3m 32s | Appraisal: 1885 Frederic S. Cozzens Chromolithograph (3m 32s)
Appraisal: 1934 Martin 000-18 Guitar
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 55s | Appraisal: 1934 Martin 000-18 Guitar (2m 55s)
Appraisal: Christoph Münhofin "Night" Clock, ca. 1680
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 36s | Appraisal: Christoph Münhofin "Night" Clock, ca. 1680 (2m 36s)
Appraisal: Italico Brass Oil Painting, ca. 1920
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 38s | Appraisal: Italico Brass Oil Painting, ca. 1920 (2m 38s)
Appraisal: Izabel Coles Jewelry & Drawings
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 34s | Appraisal: Izabel Coles Jewelry & Drawings (2m 34s)
Appraisal: Marius Hammer Plique-à-Jour Bowl, ca. 1900
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m 59s | Appraisal: Marius Hammer Plique-à-Jour Bowl, ca. 1900 (1m 59s)
Appraisal: Margaret De Patta Studio Jewelry, ca. 1949
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 27s | Appraisal: Margaret De Patta Studio Jewelry, ca. 1949 (2m 27s)
Appraisal: 1990 Wayne Thiebaud Pen & Ink Drawing
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 49s | Appraisal: 1990 Wayne Thiebaud Pen & Ink Drawing (2m 49s)
Appraisal: Roger Broders Dunkerque Travel Poster, ca. 1930
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 3m 39s | Appraisal: Roger Broders Dunkerque Travel Poster, ca. 1930 (3m 39s)
Appraisal: Almeric Walter Pottery Vase, ca. 1890
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 2m 16s | Appraisal: Almeric Walter Pottery Vase, ca. 1890 (2m 16s)
Appraisal: Philadelphia Walnut Sideboard, ca. 1880
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m 4s | Appraisal: Philadelphia Walnut Sideboard, ca. 1880 (1m 4s)
Appraisal: Enrico Fanfani Oil Painting, ca. 1860
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 34s | Appraisal: Enrico Fanfani Oil Painting, ca. 1860 (34s)
Appraisal: Japanese Lacquer Box, ca. 1800
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 3m 41s | Appraisal: Japanese Lacquer Box, ca. 1800 (3m 41s)
Appraisal: Longines Aviator's Watch, ca. 1938
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 1m 50s | Appraisal: Longines Aviator's Watch, ca. 1938 (1m 50s)
Appraisal: Philadelphia Chippendale Walnut Chair, ca. 1775
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Clip: S29 Ep17 | 3m 20s | Appraisal: Philadelphia Chippendale Walnut Chair, ca. 1775 (3m 20s)
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