Our Trip To Antiques Roadshow

Join us in Indianapolis as we attend the popular PBS show, Antiques Roadshow!

    * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Antiques Roadshow visits four or five cities each year to produce their long-running show. They hold a lottery for the tickets and we’ve tried for ages to get in. This was our lucky year to join the Roadshow in Indianapolis at the lovely Newfields Museum.

Antiques Roadshow is a well-planned event. They’ve had years of practice to perfect the experience, and it shows. Everything was organized, friendly, and fun.

Your free ticket allows you entry with two antique items to be appraised. First stop is the triage booth. We presented our items to a preliminary assessor who stamped the official card with the appropriate appraisal sections for us to visit.

Next, we followed a map of the grounds to locate our designated sections. The appraisal booths were spread out among the lush landscaped gardens of the museum. We passed by hundreds of attendees toting their treasures, carried in all manner of bags, packs, and carts.

At the proper section we next had to find the correct appraiser from a retinue of booths. Each expert was marked with their specialty, like pottery or furniture or books. Then we joined a line to speak with the appraiser. Some lines were quite long – jewelry and collectibles were the most popular. We didn’t mind, it was a lovely day at Newfields with perfect weather.

The wait time, about 30 minutes at the longest, gave us a chance to chat with other folks and admire their items. People brought everything you can imagine. Picture any old thing gathering dust in your basement or garage and that’s what folks hauled to Antiques Roadshow.

Tim was excited to have his original Star Wars figures appraised. He started at the Toys section, but was shuttled over to Collectibles when the appraiser admitted that plastic toys from the 1970’s were out of his purview. Turns out Luke Skywalker and all his friends were worth only a few hundred bucks. Don’t quit the day job, honey!

We saw all the famous appraisers from the show. Familiar faces we’ve been watching for years.

A couple hundred Antiques Roadshow producers, film crew, and staff were on site. Complemented by another hundred or so volunteers from the museum. They were all super friendly and eager to guide you through the grounds and around the appraisal booths.

Antiques Roadshow films about 150 special items per city, but only 30 or so are aired each episode.

You could linger at the event as long as you wanted and we took our time getting all four of our items appraised. At one point we had to wait for veteran appraiser Eric Silver to return from lunch. He’s been with the Roadshow over 30 years and said the museum provided the best buffet he’d had yet.

While Tim held our place in line, I explored the grounds a bit. Newfields has 58 acres of perfectly curated gardens. I’d love to come back just to walk the property.

The other treasures we brought, a signed Lord of the Rings script and a small bronze statue and medallion, fetched appraisals of a few hundred dollars each. Regrettably, we were not among the lucky ones to be filmed.

Although our treasures weren’t that valuable, our day at the Roadshow was priceless.

Last order of business was a voluntary stop at the Feedback Booth. This is where they film you talking about your day at the show. You can say anything you want, but remember there’s an S in Antiques Roadshow.

And then it was time to leave. We’d spent a good five hours at the Roadshow and loved every minute.

The 2026 Indianapolis Antiques Roadshow will air on PBS in three parts, probably sometime next year. We’ll be watching!