You never know what is hiding in someone’s closet, and you’d be surprised at what can be found in Prince George’s attics and cupboards. Some of these treasures will see the light of day at Huble Homestead Historic Site’s biennial Antique Appraisals fundraising event, returning this weekend, April 13 and 14.
The event, structured similarly to the classic Antiques Roadshow television program, is a rare opportunity for locals to have items appraised by an experienced appraiser. Ted Pappas supports Huble Homestead once again by bringing his skills from more than 40 years in the auction business to tell you all about your heirlooms, collectibles, and curiosities.
For just $15 Pappas can appraise any item or set you may have, or direct you to an expert who can. Though he has particular specialties in art, jewelry, and First Nations artifacts, he’s seen a huge variety of items and is able to provide information on the value, origin, or function of each piece. Only once or twice has Pappas been stumped by an item in the decade he’s been working with Huble Homestead on this event.
The venue for the event has been graciously donated by Huble Homestead’s partner museum, The Exploration Place, and will take place in the sunny atrium at 333 Becott Place, at the end of 20th Avenue in Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park, each day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appraisal tickets are cash-only at the door, though general admission to the event is free and everyone is welcome to watch Pappas appraise items live in front of the crowd.
Items that are too large or difficult to move can also be appraised, as long as you bring good, well-lit photographs of the items. Photographs must be printed and any notes about markings or labels on the items are also helpful. If you are downsizing or just have too many items to bring, Pappas is also available for home visits; contact Huble Homestead to discuss if this is the option for you, pricing, and appointment times.
This event will be Pappas’s ninth with Huble Homestead, and he has a personal reason for returning to support the local attraction: his family has roots in Prince George and ties to the Huble family. Pappas’s grandfather, Theodore Pappas, left Greece as a young man in 1910, finding his way to B.C.’s north and working on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway as a water boy by 1913. Once the rail line was completed to Fort George, he started seeking other opportunities, and by 1918 he and his wife owned a grocery store on George Street. In 1919 he began buying furs from local Lheidli trappers and made a great deal of money in fur auctions over the intervening years.
The Pappas family were contemporaries of the Huble family, and his son, also named Theodore Pappas, had fond memories of spending time on the Huble property with Al Huble Jr. in the 1920s. The Pappas family fell on hard times with the sudden death of Mrs. Pappas in 1928 and the stock market crash of 1929; in 1931 Pappas took his son and relocated to Vancouver where he founded Pappas Furs, selling fur garments and auctioning raw furs, solidifying the Pappas family name in the auction business.
