GUEST: I have a bugle from the Civil War era. It belonged to my great-great-great-grandfather who was General Grant's escort bugler during the Civil War. And this is the bugle that he had with him and blew "Taps" on at the surrender at Appomattox, when Lee surrendered to Grant. This is an article that appeared in the "Saturday Evening Post" that he wrote. It's his account of his time in the Army.
APPRAISER: And the article is written 1940, so he was an elderly man. And it's got a picture of him blowing this bugle at the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: The bugle itself has the maker's mark of a Philadelphia firm that was in business approximately 1840s to about 1860. It's nice, because a lot of bugles that we see don't have that marking. Did you put these bumps and bruises on here?
GUEST: No, I did not-- those are battle scars.
APPRAISER: Not allowed to play with it when you were little?
GUEST: Nope.
APPRAISER: Maybe a "show and tell" every once in a while?
GUEST: Oh, yes.
APPRAISER: It's a beautiful bugle. That wear a collector loves. This is a piece, without knowing whose it was, would sell between $500 and $1,000. Because we know whose it was, and we actually have a picture of him blowing it at one of the most famous reunions, I would insure it somewhere in that $2,000 to $3,000 range. All right, cool.
