Antiques Roadshow guest ‘faint’ as signed letter has staggering value
In an emotional episode of Antiques Roadshow, collector Vie Carlson was overwhelmed by the high valuation of a scathing letter written by Frank Sinatra.
Antiques Roadshow: Guest becomes faint after Frank Sinatra letter valuation
A tear-jerking episode of PBS’ hit series Antiques Roadshow saw collector Vie Carlson experienced an emotional whirlwind after learning the value of a unique piece of history—a letter signed by Frank Sinatra. The episode featured Carlson's thrilling interaction with appraiser Simeon Lipman, where she recounted the fascinating backstory of acquiring a scathing letter Sinatra penned in response to a newspaper column.
Carlson shared her story, detailing how she became the owner of the letter: “I always read the Chicago Daily News and my favourite, favourite columnist was Mike Royko. Frank Sinatra was in Chicago to perform and of course, all these little ladies on Michigan Avenue were always getting mugged on State Street. And Mike Royco about the fact that Frank Sinatra had half of the Chicago police force acting as his bodyguard on this whole floor of a hotel, so he wrote a kind of a cute, funny column.”
She continued to explain that Sinatra didn't appreciate Royko's tone and responded with a letter that Royko then decided to auction for charity: “Old ‘Blue eyes’ didn’t appreciate the column and fired off this letter to Mike Royco.”
Carlson's chance came when Royko published Sinatra's response in the newspaper, announcing he would sell the letter to the highest bidder with proceeds going to the Salvation Army.
"I had a $400 Mother’s Day check from my big family … and I said ‘I’ll bid $400 and a couple of weeks later the phone rang, I picked it up - ‘This is Mike Royco’ I just let out a holler.”
Displayed between Carlson and Lipman during the show was the framed two-page typed letter, signed by Sinatra himself. The letter's content clearly impressed the appraiser.
Simeon pointed out: “Quite frankly I don't understand my people don’t spit in your eye three or four times a day. And then he calls Mike Royco a pimp’ … he signs it Sinatra and then copyrights it, so if it's ever published, it has to be published in full.”
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Reflecting on the significance of the letter, Lipman remarked: “I conferred with some of my colleagues and we all agree that it is the best Sinatra letter we ever read. It’s still a famous letter, people remember it today and as such I would estimate it at auction at, at least $15,000 and I wouldn’t be surprised if this letter sold for more than that, because Sinatra stuff is as hot as it can get and it just doesn't get any better than this.”
The revelation of the letter's potential $15,000 (£12,300) auction value overwhelmed Carlson, who tearfully exclaimed: “Oh gee, I’m going to faint.” As she repeated “I’m going to faint,” a producer quickly provided a seat for her.
Amidst the shock, she humourously refused an earlier $100 offer for the letter, saying: “He offered me $100 for it, you can’t have it for $100,” and turned to hug the producer, jubilantly asking: “Isn’t that super?”
The joyous moment was shared with Carlson's friend Betty, who also joined in the celebration, confirming: “I heard it,” as they shrieked and hugged each other.
