APPRAISER: You are a born and bred New Orleanian.
GUEST: Yes, ma'am.
APPRAISER: So tell me a little bit about your experience with Mardi Gras.
GUEST: When I was little, my dad built us a huge ladder to go to all the parades, and of course, our ladder was the biggest one. So we caught all the stuff. And as I grew up, it's become a way to bring friends in from out of town and show them a good time, and kind of give them an experience you can't get anywhere else.
APPRAISER: You, yourself, had a debutante ball in one of the parades.
GUEST: Yes, I was a princess in Caliphs of Cairo. So when I was 16, I was presented to the court, and I had to go to curtsy lessons, and learn etiquette, and have a dress made, and then we danced all night.
APPRAISER: Oh, how wonderful.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Well, Mardi Gras is this beloved tradition here in New Orleans. "Mardi Gras" of course meaning "Fat Tuesday," and it celebrates the day before Ash Wednesday. And your city brings us the month-long tradition of debauchery…
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: …and fun before that, so thank you for that.
GUEST: (laughing)
APPRAISER: The very first Carnival in New Orleans was as early as 1837. And this particular set of Mardi Gras float designs are very early, they're from 1892. This original work really doesn't surface very much, and they're from the krewe, which is the group, Comus. And Comus, they bill themselves as the oldest continuous krewe in New Orleans, and they started in 1857. Now, they always had themes-- like mythology, or ancient times, and so this being the history of the Japanese, it's a wonderful, fantasizing time. Have you ever gotten these valued?
GUEST: No. I just-- I've always said if I could make it to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, these are what I would bring.
APPRAISER: And so how did you get them?
GUEST: My great-aunt passed them down through the family. They ended up with my mom, and then, when I got my first apartment, she gave them to me so I'd have art for the walls. And she always told me they might be worth something, so I just-- they've moved everywhere with me.
APPRAISER: Wonderful. Well, nowadays, you go to the Mardi Gras World, Blaine Kern's, and everything is 3D and they work from models. There aren't these original, beautiful drawings. It's probably impossible to say what artist did these. Value-wise, I think they're very dear and charming, and each one of them would bring between $800 to $1,000.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: So if I was to insure them, I would put a value of $3,000 on them.
GUEST: Wow, that's incredible!
APPRAISER: "Laissez les bons temps rouler."
GUEST: That's right.
APPRAISER: Let the good times roll!
GUEST: Thank you so much.
APPRAISER: Thank you.
