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GUEST: About eight years ago, I 
had the pleasure of meeting Maya 
Angelou, and... I just fell in

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love with her from my time when 
I knew of her back in my college 
years for her poem "Phenomenal

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Woman." And my wife's a 
huge fan of hers. And I 
met her in Winston-Salem. 
And unfortunately,

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she passed away not too 
long after I met her. 
They had a auction of her 
estate in Kernersville,

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North Carolina. I didn't 
even know she was a 
North Carolina resident. 
And she had told me how

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she lived in North Carolina, 
and she worked at, uh, 
Wake Forest University. 
And so I went through

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the pre-auction guide, and I saw 
these. The name of the award is 
the Spingarn award. Well, my mom

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went to Spingarn High 
School in Washington, 
D.C. She was the first 
graduating class. So I said,

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"Hmm, that's interesting." 
So I delved even deeper, 
and the first recipient of

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this w, award was my 
fraternity's founder, 
Dr. Ernest Everett Just. 
So the connection even,

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grew even more. This one is 
ten-karat gold. And, and I 
looked at who won this award,

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and it's a prominent 
award given by the NAACP 
to African Americans. 
Oprah Winfrey has one,

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Sidney Poitier has one. 
Martin Luther King has 
one. Harry Belafonte has 
one. Very, very many.

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APPRAISER: Jackie Robinson. 
GUEST: Jackie Robinson.

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APPRAISER: Hank Aaron.

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GUEST: Hank Aaron. The 
list goes on-- yeah.

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APPRAISER: Paul Robeson, also.

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GUEST: So I said, "I've 
got to have this." And 
so, uh, my friend went 
to the auction, and I was

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supposed to go, but my 
father had gotten sick. 
And so I got on the phone, 
and I was really willing to

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go as high as I had to go to get 
this. I thought it was going to 
go for at least $5,000, but it

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didn't. It went for around gold 
price, which was $1,100. Now, I 
had forgotten about this one. So

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what I found out was, they give 
two awards, they give one that 
the recipient walks around with.

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APPRAISER: Right.

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GUEST: And in case it gets 
snatched or gets stolen or 
something like that, or lost,

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you still have the real 
one. So my friend who 
was at the auction, he 
purchased this for me

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for $80. My 50th birthday came 
along, and he presented this 
to me-- I already had this one.

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APPRAISER: I did find 
another auction record 
of a walk-around selling.

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GUEST: Wow.

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APPRAISER: Uh, and surprisingly 
enough, it brought $3,000.

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GUEST: Wow.

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APPRAISER: So, you know, 
for an auction estimate 
on the walk-around...

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GUEST: Wow.

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APPRAISER: ...about 
$3,000 to $5,000.

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GUEST: Wow, for the walk-around?

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APPRAISER: For the walk-around.

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GUEST(laughs): Okay.

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APPRAISER: Now, you said...

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APPRAISER: That's 
pleasantly surprising.

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APPRIASER: Y, y... That's 
a good surprise. You said 
you spent $1,100 on...

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GUEST: Yes.

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APPRAISER: ...that piece, 
and that was the gold value.

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GUEST: Yeah, yeah. 
APPRAISER: Well, good news 
is, gold has gone up.

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GUEST: Absolutely.

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APPRAISER: And the gold value on 
that piece now is over $2,000.

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GUEST: Yes.

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APPRAISER: But that's 
peanuts compared to what I 
think it's really worth. An

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important award-- I wouldn't 
be surprised to see it go in 
the $20,000 to $30,000 range.

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GUEST (breathily): Wow, wow.

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APPRAISER: Uh, I think 
that would be a, a fairly 
conservative estimate,

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and I wouldn't be surprised 
to see it explode even higher.

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GUEST: Well, that's great to 
hear-- I, I wouldn't... It's 
something I won't sell. But I,

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I'm proud to be the guardian of 
it. But, um, it's great to know 
that it has a value, and I'm,

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I'm just happy to have it, and, 
and I'm happy to have this piece 
of African American history.

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APPRAISER: And if you're 
keeping it, which is the plan...

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GUEST: Mm-hmm. APPRAISER: 
...then you probably 
want to insure it.

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GUEST: Yup. I will now.

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APPRAISER: Um, something... 
I would probably want

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you to insure it for around 
$50,000 to protect yourself.

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GUEST: Wow.