An old man breaks down in tears after learning the high price of his childhood blanket.
In an old clip that has resurfaced on social media, Antiques Roadshow guest Ted Kuntz showed appraiser Donald Ellis a blanket that he said was “over the back of a chair” in his home.
Kuntz said Kit Carson, a famous American frontiersman of the late 19th century, gave the blanket to his grandmother’s adoptive father.
During the time Kuntz lived with his grandmother, he said the blanket was on the bed where he slept and kept him warm during the cold winter months.
‘Did you notice that when you showed me this I stopped breathing a little?’ Ellis told Kuntz. “Do you have any idea what you’re seeing here?”
An old man breaks down in tears after learning the high price of his childhood blanket.
In a resurfaced clip from Antiques Roadshow, Ted Kuntz showed appraiser Donald Ellis a blanket that he said was “over the back of a chair” in his home.
Knowing that Kuntz was unaware of the blanket’s true value, Ellis asked him, “Are you a rich man, Ted?” because he knew that his life was about to change forever.
The blanket Kuntz brought was actually a rare First Phase Navajo Ute chief blanket, one of the first types of chief blankets made between 1840 and 1860.
“This is Navajo weaving in its purest form,” Ellis said, noting the incredible condition of the blanket. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve seen on the Roadshow.”
‘On a really bad day, this textile would be worth $350,000. On a good day, it’s about half a million dollars,” Ellis said, as Kuntz’s eyes filled with tears.
The value of the item, the appraiser explained, did not take into account the provenance of the item as a gift from Kit Carson, which could not be confirmed at the time.
Unfortunately, there is a dark story associated with the infamous frontiersman.
Ellis said the blanket Kuntz brought was actually a rare First Phase Navajo Ute chief blanket, one of the first types of chief blankets made between 1840 and 1860.
In 1864, under military orders, Kit Carson led the forced relocation of Navajo communities from their ancestral lands in present-day Arizona to a much smaller reservation.
When the Navajos resisted, Carson’s tactics included a scorched earth campaign aimed at starving them into submission.
This brutal episode, known as the Long Walk of the Navajos, led to the deaths of thousands of people, a devastating loss of life that is today considered an act of ethnic cleansing.
Despite this horrible truth, the blanket was said to be worth 20% more if it had a confirmed connection to Carson.
The blanket was eventually sold to an anonymous buyer for $450,000 years after Kuntz appeared on Roadshow. The blanket was then donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts (pictured: the Navajo blanket displays at the Detroit Institute of Arts)
Kuntz said he immediately contacted Ellis to see if he would be interested in helping him sell the blanket. Ellis offered him $300,000 with the idea that they would split the price he could sell it for.
However, this offer was made before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Ellis was left with a $300,000 investment in the blanket, but there was no sale in sight to complete the second part of the deal.
In a later episode, it was revealed that the blanket had been sold to an anonymous buyer for $450,000 years after Kuntz appeared on Roadshow. The blanket was then donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts and Kuntz used the windfall to pay off the mortgage on his house.
“I knew we couldn’t afford to preserve it and that it would be better to be somewhere where it could be properly preserved,” he said.