RICK: What do we have here?
DOUGLAS: I have a photo of and letter
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
RICK: Now that's cool.
Longfellow-- he was the biggest there was.
Unfortunately today, I would say close to 99% of Americans
can't even name a poet.
Probably not.
I got this in the mid '70s.
I went to an auction.
There was this table just full of what
looked to me to be junk.
In that group of stuff was this letter
and photograph already framed.
I bid $20 on it.
My kids aren't interested in it.
So I may as well see what I can get
for it here at the pawn shop.
RICK: Is it a poem? DOUGLAS: No.
It's basically a letter.
I think this Dear Madam, whoever she was,
wrote to him for a photograph and some autographs
to use in a fair.
And he's sending that to make some money for the fare.
RICK: OK. That is definitely cool.
We live in such a different society now.
In the 19th century, poetry was so important and really was.
I mean, the guy who wrote poems was as big as a huge author
or a really big actor.
And he was-- really was a superstar back then.
This is the guy who when he passed away they,
put a-- it was a statue, or a bust,
or something like that-- in Westminster Abbey in England.
DOUGLAS: In Poets Corner. Yeah.
RICK: And I think he was the only American ever put
in there-- after that point.
There might be some now.
But I think up to that point, he was the only one there.
And if you know how snooty the English were,
especially back then, they still haven't forgiven us
for beating them in two wars.
I am assuming this is a real.
I mean, the ink looks like from the period.
How much were you looking to get?
DOUGLAS: I was hoping to get, like, $300 for it.
RICK: A big concern I have here is
this is one of the most famous men in the United States.
OK?
It wouldn't surprise me if this guy got
hundreds of letters every day.
I don't know if he could respond to every one of them.
Sometimes they would have a secretary write the letter.
Or he might have done the whole thing himself.
This might have been--
went to a secretary-- you take care of those,
why don't you give me a couple. I'll take care of those myself.
I am a writer.
DOUGLAS: I guess we'll never know, will we?
RICK: No.
There is a way.
If you can hang out for a little bit here,
I would like to get my friend down here to take a look at it.
I have a friend that's a handwriting expert.
He's one of the most respected people in his field.
Hang out a few minutes.
I'm going to give him a call, and we'll get this figured out.
Cool.
Thanks.
I'm sort of hyped about him bringing in an expert.
It may surprise me, it may--
may make me go back in my car and cry.
I don't know. We'll see.
RICK: Steve.
What's up, Rick? Good to see you.
Everything in this world is great.
I like hearing that. How you doing?
Hey there. How are you?
This is it.
This is what I called you about--
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
STEVE: You know, in terms of what this
is, it's got great potential.
In all honesty, this guy's really sought after.
This is really neat, you know, if it checks out.
I love it. It.
So don't get your hopes up yet.
What I want to do is take a look at the ink on here.
And there's going to be several indicators,
especially how the ink, kind, of adheres to the paper.
So I'm going to follow the signature along here.
And it kind of looks like it starts off pretty strong.
OK?
But the more I'm moving along here,
you see how it gets very faint towards the end?
So he's using a quill to write it.
As the ink's running out.
And he's running out of the quill.
How cool is that?
No doubt about the ink on here.
So that's one good sign.
OK?
The next thing I want to do is I want to pull up the examples
that I have on file here.
On this example, yours very truly, we see yours very truly.
I mean, we've-- looking at live ink--
RICK: OK, so it's all legit? - Absolutely.
There's no question about it.
RICK: So what do you think it's worth?
The value on this piece, especially
with a beautiful signature on there,
the photograph, the framing, everything included--
right around $1,500. RICK: Cool.
STEVE: Cool? Good luck.
Good to see you. - Thanks, man.
Hey, cool. Thanks a bunch.
You bet, man. Take care.
Well, you know there's a lot of different collectors
that would kind of tap into this piece.
And I think an autograph collector, first and foremost,
would want it.
Someone asking for his autograph in 1881--
I think that's about as cool as it gets.
RICK: What'd you want for this?
$300?
That's in the past.
I have a little more information now.
I don't think $300 is going to do it for me.
I would sure like to see $900 for it.
I'll tell you what, I'll give you $700.
OK? You walked in here wanting 300.
I had your stuff authenticated for you,
and I'm offering you more than double what you were asking.
OK?
I think it's more than fair of me for $700.
Yeah. Let's do 700.
RICK: Sweet.
Thank you, sir.
I will meet you right over there,
and I will get you some cash.
Oh, I like that.
700 isn't 900, but, you know, it's OK.
It's a whole lot more than 300.
I may go back home and dig through the closets
again-- see what I can find.