Roadshow Massapequa Style

It looked like something you'd see on PBS, but really it was the auditorium at the Bar Harbour library.

The library recently played host to an "Antiques Roadshow" style program designed for seniors.

The event featured Eddie Costello, 78, a certified antiques appraiser with a comic touch, who insisted his show is different from the PBS series.

"They would have you believe your grandfather's chamber pot is worth $60,000," Costello quipped. "That's not real."

Like his TV counterparts, Costello also examines antiques brought to him by everyday people. But most of the pieces he saw at the library were worth a couple of hundred dollars.

Costello also began his program with a talk and a brief question and answer period. He addressed common issues that come up when dealing with antiques, urging the audience to  go to book stores and look at easily available price guides for things like baseball cards and comic books.

He also told the audience that in appraising antiques, "condition is everything." Items that are well preserved will always be worth more than objects that have been damaged. Books that have cracked bindings or missing pages, will lose value.

"Stamps have to be in really great condition, and they have to be uncancelled," Costello said. But he quickly added, "That's not to say that a cancelled stamp with an airplane upside down isn't worth something."

One audience member who learned a lesson  about lost value, was Richard Nilsen, 74, who brought a table that dated back to the 1880s, according to Costello.

The appraiser told Nilsen the table would normally be worth about $350, but because Nilsen had to do a finishing job on  the table, it was now worth $200.

"It was a  pretty fair price," Nilsen said. "When I got it from an antiques dealer, two of the legs were busted. I had to repair it and refinish it."

Charlie Florio, 67, brought a few pieces from a dinner set to Costello. He was surprised to learn that they were made by a New Jersey company that often supplied fine dinnerware to Manhattan hotels and restaurants. Costello said it was worth about $350.

"I had no  idea," Florio said. "It belonged to my wife's great-great-grandmother. She got it in the 1930s."

Florio said his family will probably hold onto the set and not sell right away.

Another person who is holding on to to his item is 81-year-old Peter McGrath. He brought an old speaker that Costello appraised at about $250, adding that it would be worth more in better economic times.

"I bought it at a garage sale, I used to own the radio that belonged to it," McGrath said The radio buff said he has tinkered with the idea of putting the radio back together.

"I still have the parts. Maybe some day I'll get to it," Mcgrath said.

Costello says he's been doing the show at local libraries for about 15 years. "Someone said this guy would make a great speaker," he said. 

The retired AT&T executive has parlayed his love of antiques into a second career. He also does stand-up comedy from time to time. 

"I found out I could do many things I never could do until I tried them," he said. 

He says the show is successful because he puts his enthusiasm into it.

"I take a dry subject, and  make it a lot of fun," he said.