‘Antiques Roadshow’ visits Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach is the location for Monday night’s episode of “Antiques Roadshow.”

Three episodes of the show, hosted by Florence native Mark L. Walberg, will air this month and in March.

Walberg says this is the first time the show has been in South Carolina in the nine years he’s hosted it, but he suggests a location in the state each year. “Antiques Roadshow” last visited South Carolina in 2001, when it came to Charleston.

While Walberg enjoyed the show’s visit to Myrtle Beach, the location does not determine where objects appraised on the show originate or who made them, he says.

“We do everything we can to highlight what is great about the area, but we are always surprised at what comes through the door,” he says. “We will see New England furniture in Hawaii and Hawaiian quilts in Boston.

“While people tune in to see the objects, it really becomes more than that,” Walberg says. They want to know about the history, the owners and how the objects end up in their hands.

About 90 to 100 of the objects appraised will end up in an episode or on the show’s website, Walberg says.

SCETV says 6,000 guests brought 12,000 items to the show’s taping last summer.

“We did a piece on a rifle made in England and sold to the soldiers during the Civil War. It was brought in by blockade runners,” Walberg says. “We also were on a plantation, Hobcaw Barony, and there is a really interesting story about art theft.”

A letter signed by Abraham Lincoln also will be featured.

While members of Walberg’s family joined him in Myrtle Beach, none of them brought an item to be appraised, he says.

His mother’s friend, however, brought jewelry and art glass for appraisals, but he didn’t see the pieces and does not know if they will be seen on the air.

Reach Wevonneda Minis at 937-5705.