Is there a treasure in the attic? Gold, silver, guitars, Johnny Cash's bed?

Matt Enright, vice president of media relations for Treasure Hunters Roadshow,
says people bring in all sorts of things.

"We had a lady bring in a live hand grenade from World War II a week
ago," he said. "We have a show going on in Nashville right now. A
lady brought in Johnny Cash's bed. She had it documented and verified. We see
all kinds of items that you don't necessarily see on a day-to-day basis."

The Treasure Hunters Roadshow is coming to Van Wert next week at Hickory Sticks
Gold Club, south of town on U.S. 127. Area residents will have the chance to
check on that rare item that has been passed down from generation to generation
or perhaps sell off some unused gold or silver.

According to Enright, more than 80 percent of the items that are brought to a
Treasurehunters Road Show event are purchased on the spot. Especially popular
are old coins.

"Coins dated before 1964 have 90 percent silver in them. People know that
they are worth something, but they don't know what they are worth. So when they
bring them in, they walk out with a check for several hundred dollars for a few
coins and an earring or two," he related.

The huge upswing in the price of precious metals has been an important factor
in the influx of gold and silver items like class rings and mismatched
earrings.

Over the course of an average show, anywhere from 1,000-1,500 people turn out
with items. Enright stated that even in smaller markets like Van Wert, many
people bring in their treasures for appraisal or for sale.

The event will run Jan. 12-16 at Hickory Sticks. Hours Tuesday through Friday
will be 9 a.m.-6 p.m. On Saturday, the hours will be 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Enright
explained that the decision of whether the video crew will come to Van Wert to
record the Treasure Hunters Roadshow television show will not be made until
after the show is underway.

People coming to the event will be given a number. "Once their number is
called out, we actually bring them in front of one of our experts,"
described Enright. "The experts are going to go through their items and
see what they have. If they are looking for more information, we give them more
details about what their item is, where it came from and give a little bit of
background on it. From there, we give them a value of what the item is roughly
worth in today's market. Then we actually contact the collector to see if we
can find somebody who is willing to purchase it."

Besides gold and silver items, Enright said that popular items include military
and war memorabilia, advertising items like old Coca-Cola ads, guitars and
pocket watches.

"Those are they typical things that we see on a day-to-day basis, but we
see everything," he said.