GUEST: My great-grandfather was a photographer. I'm assuming they came from his photography studio.
APPRAISER: He didn't take these pictures, of course.
GUEST: No, no.
APPRAISER: All of these photographs were taken during the Civil War by Mathew Brady or, or one of Brady's operatives.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And they're a great story, because these were originally issued during the 1860s. Brady fell on hard times, and after the war, he became bankrupt, and all these negatives then passed to a company in Hartford, Connecticut-- Taylor & Huntington-- and they issued these in the 1880s. The original Brady-era issue stereographs from the '60s are worth more than these. And you can tell the difference, because the earlier ones were on yellow cards.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And they often say along the side, "Photographic History of War for the Union." These are later. They're on these large orange cards.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: You happen to own some really valuable later ones, though.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Lincoln at Antietam.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: That card's probably worth close to a thousand dollars.
GUEST: Oh, my. (laughs)
APPRAISER: This is the hanging of the Lincoln conspirators.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And that, that photograph was actually taken by Alexander Gardner. Now, if you had the original Gardner photograph, it would be worth about $2,500.
GUEST: Oh, my.
APPRAISER: Still, that's probably worth close to a thousand dollars.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Just because it's such a rare image. You start flipping through here, and you have several thousand dollars' worth of cards here.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And you think you might have more, right?
GUEST: Yeah, Dad said there's more in the shoebox.
APPRAISER: Well, congratulations. You got quite a find.
GUEST: Thank you.