GUEST: I brought in a ball and chain, and on there, it says, "San Quentin Death Row, California." I got it at an antiques store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I just saw it and it just really caught my eye. Where can you really find a ball and chain anywhere? I paid $200.
APPRAISER: Can I ask what your boyfriend thought of it when you brought this home?
GUEST: Um, he was... kind of skeptical. He was like, "Is that a ball and chain in the corner of your room?" and I'm like, "Yes," and I explained to him that I've been collecting antiques since I was 16 years old and I've always wanted to find the oddest things that I could find.
APPRAISER: Well, San Quentin is the oldest prison in California, which opened in 1852 and is still in operation today. And it's where the death row is located for men in the state of California. It was made incredibly famous in the 1969 concert "At San Quentin" by Johnny Cash, which was a follow-up to his previous concert performance, "At Folsom Prison." And there's a really wide collecting field for prison memorabilia. There are prison employees that collect these types of things, and then there's a totally separate group of magicians that collect handcuffs, balls and chains, things like that. What we have here today, it says "San Quentin Death Row," and it's been patinated to look old. This is a deliberate fake. It is not antique.
GUEST: Oh, wow!
APPRAISER: It probably was never in San Quentin, I'm sorry to say.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: And you paid $200 for this?
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: These have sold at auction for around $150 to $300 in the past, so I think you've done okay because you still have an interesting item that's obviously a great conversation piece.
GUEST: Oh, wow. Okay, I'm really glad that I found that out about that. That's really interesting.
APPRAISER: If this was an authentic ball and leg chain from San Quentin, I would expect it would have a value on the retail market of around $1,500.
GUEST: Oh, wow. I mean, it's not that big of a disappointment, it's still something cool to have.
APPRAISER: It's still worth what you paid for it.
GUEST: I would have paid so much more. It would have been probably a good amount.
