What would you do if you had a "national treasure"? [View All]

[hopein08]

I was watching "Antiques Roadshow" last night and it was one of those episodes where they show you the highest appraised items. I wish I could get a $2 yard sale buy that would be appraised at $200,000. But that's neither here nor than at the moment. So...to my question...

There was a guy (probably in his late 60s to early 70s) who brought in a blanket that his grandmother's foster father had gotten from Kit Carson. The appraiser started off by asking if the blanket owner had noticed that the appraiser stopped breathing when he saw the blanket. The appraiser went on to say that it was a Navajo/Ute chief's blanket from the 1840s and incredibly well-preserved and rare. There was even a Navajo patch done in the 1860s. The appraiser then asked the man if he was wealthy, to which the man said that he was not. The final appraisal was that the price would increase drastically if the Kit Carson part of the story could be authenticated. But since it couldn't then, the appraiser said that he would have to say that on a bad day...the blanket would get $250,000 at auction, $300,000 on a good day, and close to $500,000 if Kit Carson could be proven to have owned it. The appraiser said that it was a "national treasure."

So here's my question...what would you do if you were that guy or had something else that was worth that much and a national treasure?

I don't think that I would want to sell it just to get the money. Although I would worry about damaging it, I think I would want to keep it. Or see about giving it to a museum. I was arguing with my family about this and they all decided that they'd be too worried about something happening to the object and would sell it. My mother even said that she would sell it because she wouldn't be able to leave it to just one kid. I'm still arguing with myself!

Any thoughts?