Right now, we're headed north to Newport, Rhode Island, and the 16,000-square-foot estate,
the vacation home of comedy legend Jay Leno.
GUEST: Well, we're in Newport, Rhode Island. This is a house called Seafair. The name was
here when I got here and I kept the name. I'm not one of those... (dramatically): And
I deem it Seafair. We live in Los Angeles. I was born in New Rochelle, New York. About
eight-and-a-half, nine years old, we moved to Andover, Massachusetts. We, we had a great
life. I mean, my dad was a prizefighter as a young man, and he became a salesman, because
he said, being a prizefighter, even on his best day at work, he still got punched in
the face. I went to Emerson College in Boston. I got into comedy, and it was a good place
to break in and sort of learn your craft. "Excuse me, can I have the key to the washroom?"
"Yeah, here it is, it's on this big ring and don't try to steal it." (audience laughter)
Hey, thank you very much. You've been terrific. Thank you. (cheers and applause)
HOST: Jay not only learned his craft, some would say he perfected it.
GUEST: "Leno the pelican-faced comedian." GUEST: (laughter)
HOST: Eventually earning himself a lucrative gig hosting NBC's "Tonight Show" for 22 seasons
and the type of success that gets somebody a house like this.
GUEST: I got this home about four years ago. My wife and I were driving past it. And my
wife said, "Look at that house, that's unbelievable. That's the greatest house I've ever seen."
And I thought, "You like it? You want it?" She goes, "No, we live in California." I say,
"Well, I don't know, let's go see." I mean, how often do you get your girl a castle, you
know? This is the main entrance. Although the house was built in 1936, it seems much
older. It seems like a house from the early 1900s. This painting was here. I bought the
house fully furnished and it was already here. And you can't even see the numbers where the
colors went, you know, so that's always a good sign you bought a good painting, when
you can't see the numbers for the different colors. So I walked in, I walked around, and
I said, "Can you get the owner on the phone?" And I said, "Would you sell it as is with
all the furniture "in it, and just, you know, salt in the salt shaker "and there's ketchup
in the refrigerator? That's all I need." Guy goes, "Sure." So he came up with a price and
I bought it. Nice fireplace, little elephants and knickknacks and all kinds of things in
here. It's all nicely done. It's not stuff I would probably buy. I would have, like,
motorcycle engines and other things I'd get in the house. So I'm not sure what goes with
where, with which what... I don't know-- that's why the appraisers are here. We'll find out.
HOST: Here to help Jay find out about the treasures included in the purchase of his
Newport mansion are appraisers Karen Keane and Michael Grogan.
APPRAISER: I'm feeling good about what might be in there.
APPRAISER: Hi, Jay! APPRAISER: Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh, my gosh.
GUEST: Welcome, welcome. You see, we have the, the outdoor urinal. Always a very, very
classy item. APPRAISERS: (both laughing)
GUEST: Come on inside, I'll show you around.
APPRAISER: Thank you so much. APPRAISER: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
GUEST: I guess this is the "foy-yer"-- I know... "Foy-yer" or "foyay"? What do they say?
APPRAISER: I think "foyay." APPRAISER: "Foyay," yeah, "foyay."
APPRAISER: I mean, we're in a very fancy house, so...
GUEST: Well, I'm almost an antique myself, so enjoy yourself and feel free to poke around--
thanks, you guys! APPRAISER: Thanks, Jay.
APPRAISER: Thank you. HOST: Have fun!
APPRAISER: Gosh, look at this. Fantastic. APPRAISER: So pretty.
APPRAISER: I, I'm distracted by the ocean, but I'm going to focus on the antiques.
APPRAISER: ...I'm gonna take it off and see if I can learn anything from the back-- let's
just see. APPRAISER: Want me to hold it for you?
APPRAISER: Yeah, sure. (indistinct chatter) I'm going to pull this out. There we go, perfect.
GUEST: Those ANTIQUES ROADSHOW yahoos are in the house right now. Am I going to count
the silver after they leave? (chuckles): You bet I am.
APPRAISER: It's fitting a beach house would have a ship model. "Model of the Revenue cutter
Surprise, 1815, by Bill Hitchcock of New York." Very cool. It's kind of like the race car
of its day on the water. Auction estimate, uh, I would probably say in the $2,000 to
$3,000 range. Jay Leno's Revenue cutter may, you know, you'd put a premium on it, for sure.
That provenance, I would say maybe three times that.
GUEST: The paintings here, I mean, there's a giant painting as you walk in. I don't know,
15 feet long and some... I don't know how... It's, it's enormous. So I'm curious to see
what the history is on that and what that's worth.
HOST: Appraiser Michael Grogan has the answer to all of Jay Leno's questions.
APPRAISER: Jay, this is one of my favorite paintings in your house. I mean, it's absolutely
spectacular, and not just because of the size, which is immense.
GUEST: Do you know this artist? APPRAISER: I do.
GUEST: Oh. APPRAISER: Her name is Blanche Camus.
GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: She was born in France, 1884.
GUEST: Oh, wow! Died, died in 1968. A pretty prolific life. It was called a Neo-Impressionist
style, kind of like a revival of the Impressionist style. The colors are remarkable.
GUEST: The colors are remarkable. Right? That, it really does pop when you walk in.
APPRAISER: Totally. Yeah. Here they're harvesting grapes. Their dress is spectacular. You've
got the children in the background. GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: This was probably painted about 1940 or so. Just think of the cost of the
frame alone. GUEST: Right. Right.
APPRAISER: Right? I mean, it would probably cost you $20,000 to frame a painting like
this. Her auction record, just two years ago, was $80,000. This is probably worth more.
I think it's worth about $100,000 to $150,000 at auction.
GUEST: Oh, okay-- oh, okay. APPRAISER: If Jay Leno wants to sell this
painting, and it came to an auction gallery, and we could put the provenance "from the
Jay Leno Collection"... GUEST: Yeah, the Jay Leno Collection of fine
art. APPRAISER: (laughing)
GUEST: Yes. Yes. APPRAISER: It could be double. It really could
be. GUEST: That would... That would be dogs with
big eyes playing poker. APPRAISER: (laughing)
GUEST: That would be, yeah. GUEST: Well, there are a number of Asian items
scattered about the house, I don't know... Actually, I know nothing about them.
APPRAISER: Hm. Nice enough. I've had a terrific time touring Jay's house, looking at his Asian
art, looking at his furniture, looking at the paintings. And I'm really struck by this
pair of Japanese Meiji bronze elephants. We're looking at one of them right here. The casting
is, is just terrific. The large scale. And to have these rock crystal, very massive rock
crystal obelisks, right on the back. A pair of these at auction today probably bring $20,000
to $30,000. They're really spectacular. They'd be highly sought after in any international
auction.
HOST: Jay Leno's Newport mansion has all the creature comforts inside, plus some interesting
creatures outside.
APPRAISER: Jay, we're in the garden, and there's even antiques out here.
GUEST: Right. Right. APPRAISER: Tell me, tell me about the weathervane.
GUEST: Well, I was hoping you could tell me something about the weathervane. I, I've been
up on the roof, but never examined it up close. I don't know if it's a one-off, if somebody
made it specifically for this house, or... I don't know anything about it.
APPRAISER: I don't believe that it's a, a 19th-century weathervanes...
GUEST: Right. KEANE: Which is most of the ones that we see
in America. The antique ones. I think this is a custom-made piece from the, probably
2000 to... Not very long ago. GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: You can get these weathervanes done in the $15,000 range, and then they start
going up. This is a mermaid form. GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And she's got a shell that she's holding. Which is a rarer form for the 19th
century. We see them much more in the 20th and 21st.
GUEST: Right. APPRAISER: It just seems to be one of those
symbols that, that people love. This one is particularly beautifully made. If you look
at the directionals, I mean, that's always a nice sign for the quality of a weathervane.
But I would say probably in the $15,000 to $25,000 range to buy it new.
GUEST: Right. APPRAISER: If you had to, to have it fabricated.
GUEST: Did you notice the peacock out on the...? APPRAISER: I saw that.
GUEST: In 1947, a lady bought this house and redid it after being devastated in '38. And
she had that in the garden, basically right out here, as a centerpiece. Then there was
a huge hurricane. Water came and swept it out to sea, and that was the end of that.
Then ten years later, she sold the house. Then, 20 years later, she comes to visit the
new owners, some time in the '90s, and she sees the peacock out on the lawn again. And
she says to them-- and it's hers. It's a bit battered and beat up, and she says...
APPRAISER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. GUEST: "Where'd that come from?" They said,
"Oh, we had a huge storm one day, and the peacock just showed up on the lawn the next
day." So apparently, it got swept out to sea, stayed out there for a couple of decades,
and then was swept back in again. APPRAISER: Oh, my gosh.
GUEST: At least it came back, so that's, that's good.
APPRAISER: Yeah, yeah. GUEST: So maybe it's, maybe it's a homing
peacock, yeah. APPRAISER: So the peacock is a symbol of many,
many things. And one of the symbols is resurrection, because they lose these tail feathers.
GUEST: Right. APPRAISER: And then they grow back again.
So there's biblical references to the peacock. So that's kind of cool.
GUEST: Yeah. APPRAISER: So this is sort of a resurrection.
GUEST: Sure. APPRAISER: This thing left and then it came
back again. GUEST: Kind of like my career. I work for
NBC so that, their symbol is a peacock, and, so there you go.
APPRAISER: Wow. Wow. I mean, it's a great, complicated story.
GUEST: Right. APPRAISER: So any idea of its value?
GUEST: I have no idea. I have no idea of its value. I mean, I think the story makes it
valuable. APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: So I think it's more in the provenance almost than in the actual value of the statue.
APPRAISER: I think it's a pretty cool thing. GUEST: Yeah?
APPRAISER: And I think there is a vibrant market in garden statuary.
GUEST: Right. APPRAISER: Maybe an auction estimate of $10,000
to $15,000. GUEST: Oh, okay, that's pretty good.
APPRAISER: You know, and I think it would do better than that.
GUEST: Really? All right. APPRAISER: It's a really pretty.... I love
the tail. GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: The way it drapes down. APPRAISER: You just don't know if it's gonna
run off again. You know, it's like "Runaway Bride." It's one of those things, it shows
up, and it disappears for decades, and it comes back.
APPRAISER: I want to focus in on two things that are painted by artists right here in
Newport. GUEST: Mm-hmm. Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: Okay? This is a William Trost Richards. GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: American artist from the late 19th century. Painted mostly around Newport and
all around Rhode Island. This is a pencil drawing. Probably worth about $800 to $1,200.
Not a fortune. GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: But it's a local artist. GUEST: Right. Right.
APPRAISER: This is different. This is not a professional artist. It's a professional
diplomat. Bill Middendorf is his name. He was a secretary of the Navy...
GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: ...under Nixon and Ford.
GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: Ambassador to the European Union,
ambassador to the Netherlands-- a distinguished diplomat.
GUEST: Right. APPRAISER: He's in his 90s, and he's a weekend
painter. GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: And you've got one of his paintings. GUEST: And Michael Jordan also played baseball.
APPRAISER (laughing): Yeah, it got him far.
GUEST: Yeah... APPRAISER: He liked the bus ride, I heard.
GUEST: So it's one of those deals. APPRAISER: One of those deals. Probably worth
in the $500 range at auction today. GUEST: It's very nice. It's very nice. Is
he local to Newport? APPRAISER: Local. Yeah.
GUEST: Right, okay, it's nice to have something right here at home.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUST: Well, I appreciate it. APPRAISER: I mean, I really wanted to talk
to you about the gilded chair and the... GUEST: Oh, yeah, we'll talk about that next
time. APPRAISER: ...and that carpet upstairs.
APPRAISER: It was just fantastic. GUEST: Yeah, thanks, guys, appreciate it.
Thank you so much. APPRAISER: Thank you so much, thank you. (fountain
running) GUEST: God, those people are nosy. Geez! (fountain
running, birds chirping)