GUEST: I brought in an autographed Joe Louis whiskey bottle. My mother was a Joe Louis fan, and he was in Louisville, Kentucky, so she couldn't go because she had to stay home and babysit for us, so my father went to the nightclub because Joe Louis was promoting his whiskey, so he got her the autographed bottle. So he had the whiskey and she got the bottle.
(both laughing)
APPRAISER: So what did your mom think when your dad...
GUEST: Oh, she was excited. She would tell us stories about how, when she was younger, they didn't have a radio, so she listened to the first fight, or one of the few fights that Joe Louis had, on a radio at her neighbor's, on her neighbor's porch.
APPRAISER: Oh, that's wonderful.
GUEST: So she was excited. She would have probably rather seen him in person, but at least she got his autograph.
APPRAISER: Well, Joe Louis, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, he reigned as champion from 1937 to 1949, and had an outstanding, outstanding record. Well, after he retired from professional boxing in 1949, he started small businesses, one of them being the Joe Louis whiskey. It was a very short-lived product. It was launched in 1952, and by late 1953, it was defunct, so this is an extraordinarily rare whiskey bottle on its own.
GUEST: Oh, good.
APPRAISER: Very short production run, very desirable, very collectible.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: And we've never seen one that was signed by Joe Louis. And right here, you've got Joe Louis's signature, wonderful, right up above his own name, written in pencil. What would your mom say if she knew you were here today, looking at this bottle and about to get it evaluated?
GUEST: She would just be thrilled that I was on the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, because we used to watch it on a regular basis. She'd be so excited.
(laughing)
APPRAISER: Well, we would put a conservative auction estimate for this bottle of Joe Louis whiskey at $1,200 to $1,500.
GUEST: Wow, that's good! Oh, excuse... I'm excited, that's nice! She'd be pleased. For an empty bottle, yes.
APPRAISER: Now, originally, this bottle would have come with two boxing gloves, and they're really neat, but they don't really add a whole lot of value to it. If they had the original boxing gloves still attached, these short little guys, it would probably add another $100 in value to it.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And even without the signature, it's still quite a valuable bottle, probably around $500 to $600 on its own.
GUEST: Thank you.
