
Appraisal: French Bru Doll, ca. 1880
Clip: Season 27 Episode 17 | 2m 36sVideo has Closed Captions
Appraisal: French Bru Doll, ca. 1880
Check out Richard Wright's appraisal of a French Bru doll, ca. 1880, in Vintage Hartford 2023, Hour 2.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Funding for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is provided by Ancestry and American Cruise Lines. Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.

Appraisal: French Bru Doll, ca. 1880
Clip: Season 27 Episode 17 | 2m 36sVideo has Closed Captions
Check out Richard Wright's appraisal of a French Bru doll, ca. 1880, in Vintage Hartford 2023, Hour 2.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Where to Watch Antiques Roadshow
Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS app.
Buy Now
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's 2026 Production Tour
Enter now for a chance to win a pair of free tickets to one of the three stops on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's 2026 Tour. Sweepstakes entry deadline is April 6.Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipGUEST: My grandmother gave her to me as part of a doll collection.
She got her in 1947.
She used to take in ironing and she paid $15 a week to get this doll and she paid $75 for it when she got it.
I now she's a Bru, which is a French doll.
I know she's probably the best doll in my doll collection.
When I was a child, it was a doll I was not allowed to play with.
APPRAISER: We know it's a Bru-- it's a very, very beautiful Bru, made in France in the late 1880s.
She has a closed mouth, as you see, nice brown paperweight eyes.
Her original wig, which you were sort of worried about that a little bit?
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Don't change the wig.
Even though it's a little bit worn, leave her wig alone.
Completely original clothes, which are wonderful-- her hat, her dress, her shoes.
Shoes are not marked Bru; they're unmarked, but they're period shoes from the same time.
She has a leather body with wooden lower legs.
Bisque head.
Bisque shoulder plate, which swivels, pierced ears, solid glass eyes, and just a lovely...
The face people want to see.
Little hint of a tongue there, which the collectors love.
The quality of the bisque is very good.
And did you have any idea maybe of the value of the doll at all?
GUEST: Well, I thought maybe around $5,000.
APPRAISER: That's quite a lot of money.
Do you want to hear the good part or the bad part?
GUEST: Let's hear the bad part first.
APPRAISER: Okay.
Well, the bad part is, she's got something replaced on her.
Do you know what that is?
GUEST: No.
APPRAISER: It's her arms.
GUEST: Oh, all right.
APPRAISER: Her arms are actually German bisque arms.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Her hands must have broken years and years ago.
She probably went to a doll hospital and they put the German hands on.
They could have been broken in the 19th century, early 20th century.
That hurts her value.
But she's still worth a little more than $5,000.
So, with the replaced arms, her value on today's market at a doll show or a good auction would be around $15,000.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: If you could find the original arms-- which are very hard to find, but-ch they are out there somewhere-- expect to pay as much as $2,000 for a pair of those arms.
But it increases her value to $20,000 to $25,000.
So it's worth looking for.
GUEST: Okay.
Appraisal: 1886 Eugene Lanceray Bronze Svyatoslav
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 15s | Appraisal: 1886 Eugene Lanceray Bronze Svyatoslav (3m 15s)
Appraisal: 1894 Charles Courtney Curran Portrait
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 23s | Appraisal: 1894 Charles Courtney Curran Portrait (3m 23s)
Appraisal: 1941 USS Trever Deck Logs
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 1m 26s | Appraisal: 1941 USS Trever Deck Logs (1m 26s)
Appraisal: 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas' 1st U.S. Edition
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 50s | Appraisal: '20,000 Leagues Under the Seas' 1st U.S. Edition (3m 50s)
Appraisal: Converted Van Cleef & Arpels Brooch, ca. 1925
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 2m 53s | Appraisal: Converted Van Cleef & Arpels Brooch, ca. 1925 (2m 53s)
Appraisal: European Decorative Plates
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 21s | Appraisal: European Decorative Plates (3m 21s)
Appraisal: Evelyn Rumsey Cary "Woman Suffrage" Poster
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 23s | Appraisal: Evelyn Rumsey Cary 'Woman Suffrage' Poster, ca. 1905 (3m 23s)
Appraisal: Frankenau Purse Revolver, ca. 1880
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 2m 10s | Appraisal: Frankenau Purse Revolver, ca. 1880 (2m 10s)
Appraisal: Gouda Pottery Charger, ca. 1950
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 1m 38s | Appraisal: Gouda Pottery Charger, ca. 1950 (1m 38s)
Appraisal: Japanese Cloisonné Vase, ca. 1920
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 2m 4s | Appraisal: Japanese Cloisonné Vase, ca. 1920 (2m 4s)
Appraisal: Japanese Export Textile, ca. 1875
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 1m 2s | Appraisal: Japanese Export Textile, ca. 1875 (1m 2s)
Appraisal: Mid-20th Century Ralph Cahoon Oil Painting
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 1m 54s | Appraisal: Mid-20th Century Ralph Cahoon Oil Painting (1m 54s)
Appraisal: Military Uniform Button Collection, ca. 1865
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 21s | Appraisal: Military Uniform Button Collection, ca. 1865 (3m 21s)
Appraisal: Rhode Island Highboy Base, ca. 1750
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 27s | Appraisal: Rhode Island Highboy Base, ca. 1750 (3m 27s)
Appraisal: Ted Williams Woods by Penna, ca. 1970
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 2m 59s | Appraisal: Ted Williams Woods by Penna, ca. 1970 (2m 59s)
Appraisal: Tiffany Glass Vase, ca. 1895
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 3m 3s | Appraisal: Tiffany Glass Vase, ca. 1895 (3m 3s)
Appraisal: Woman's Silk Shoes, ca. 1785
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S27 Ep17 | 2m 48s | Appraisal: Woman's Silk Shoes, ca. 1785 (2m 48s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
- Home and How To

Hit the road in a classic car for a tour through Great Britain with two antiques experts.

New Episode










Support for PBS provided by:
Funding for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is provided by Ancestry and American Cruise Lines. Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.



















