They came with their treasures packed into cardboard boxes, hung in garment bags, wrapped in newspapers. There were Dutch paintings and Haida carvings and scrimshaw buttons and coats made of wolverine and ground squirrel. There were jade earrings and Javanese wedding ornaments.
Everybody who came to the Anchorage Museum's weekend appraisal event wanted to know the same thing: What is this, exactly? And is it worth something?
On Saturday and Sunday, participants brought items to the museum to be appraised by representatives from San Francisco-based auction house Bonhams. Museum members paid $25 and non-members $30 to have auction house experts evaluate three items, with the possibility that Bonhams would offer the owner a chance to consign an item. Proceeds from the fundraiser went to the Anchorage Museum.
A few hundred people came through over the course of the weekend, museum organizers said.
"You never know what kinds of treasures will come," said Ingmars Lindbergs, a cataloguer and specialist with Bonhams' Native American art division.
Many of the items he'd appraised were primarily of sentimental value, but he said he'd seen a few that might be consigned for an auction.
The most impressive object he'd seen was a turn-of-the-century Haida totem carving used for trade.
Trevor Rennie, the owner of One People, a downtown gift shop, brought a parka he said dated to the 1920s. It was once displayed in the Ted Stevens International Airport.
"It's a really rare example," he said.
Walt Hayes, a retired Methodist minister, brought pieces by a dear and departed friend, the Alaska Native artist George Ahgupuk.
The pieces, including scrimshaw buttons, were priceless to him and had been displayed on an "Alaska wall" in his home for years, he said. He wanted to know more about what the appraiser could tell him about them "in terms of passing them on to my children," he said.
Nora Fredrick and Kathy Carlson brought antiques from travels. Carlson had a Dutch painting, while Fredrick had pottery from Borneo, among other treasures.
"I'm just curious about this," Fredrick said.
Alaskans have especially eclectic collections, Lindbergs said.
Once, a person brought a stuffed emperor penguin from an Antarctic expedition to an appraisal event, complete with supporting documents.
It's delicate work to evaluate items laden with family history and sentimental attachment, Lindbergs said. Sometimes, when an item's provenance doesn't square with family lore, people get upset, he said.
"You have to practice how to deliver the information," he said.