Fraud in the Antiques Business
June 14 -- In a hidden camera investigation, PrimeTime uncovered a seamy side of the antiques world: dealers preying on naive sellers.
Probably no one did this better than George Juno and Russ Pritchard, the military artifacts dealers who became notorious for staging phony appraisals on Antiques Roadshow, the popular PBS program. But their off-camera dealings are also shocking.
Pickett Charges Into Court
In the early '90s, the city of Harrisburg, Pa. began building a Civil War museum. Harrisburg's mayor was spending millions for swords, uniforms and other artifacts, buying much of it from American Ordnance Preservation Association (AOPA), Juno and Pritchard's company.
Enter George E. Pickett V, a descendant of the man who led the ill-fated charge at Gettysburg. Young Pickett owned a trunkful of his famous ancestor's mementos, but told ABCNEWS he had little interest in them until Pritchard contacted him in late 1995.
Pritchard, armed with a letter saying he represented Harrisburg, convinced Pickett to sell the collection for $88,000. "He said the museum was paying top dollar," says Pickett, "and that he was under an obligation to the museum to appraise these items for fair market value."
Almost three years later and entirely by accident, Pickett learned the real value of the trunk's contents. Pickett found himself seated next to Jerry Coates, an expert in military uniforms, at a Gettysburg seminar. Coates estimated that the general's cap alone was worth $50,000 to $100,000.
Within days, Coates and Pickett learned that Harrisburg had actually paid AOPA $880,000 for the memorabilia — 10 times what Pickett had been paid for the mementos.
Pickett charged into court. After only three hours of deliberation, a jury awarded Pickett $800,000.
A Pistol, Military Uniform and a Cannon
The case made national headlines, but Juno and Pritchard remained Roadshow stars. According to Judy Matthews, the show's publicist, Roadshow felt the jury's verdict had no bearing on Juno's and Pritchard's performance on Roadshow.
