Wednesday, November 4, 2009

ROADSHOW APPRAISER SENTENCED AGAIN

Russell Pritchard III, who gained TV fame on the Antiques Roadshow with the appraisal of a valuable sword that the "owner" claimed to use to cut watermelons, is in the news again. He used the TV publicity to enhance his reputation, then cheated his clients while appraising or selling their antiques. He was serving a 4-to-8-year sentence in prison when he had to appear in court in October in a new case. Following a plea bargain, he was sentenced to 4 to 8 more years for yet more crimes, the extra years to be served concurrently with his earlier sentence. But the plea bargain means he also has to repay over $65,000 to his latest victims.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's 7:45 Eastern Time, and I just opened my email from Kovel's Komments. To tell you how popular your site is, when I "Googled" Russell Pritchard III to see a picture,it came up as the 59th most popular Google in the past hour. That's amazing considering all the people in the world using Google for all sorts of things. This had to come from people receiving your newsletter.

Anonymous said...

I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING FOR OVER 50+ YEARS AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH GREED AND LACK OF ETHICS AS WE SEE TODAY. I EVEN THINK ABOUT HIRING ANOTHER APPRAISER TO MAKE SURE I NOT WRONG. WERE TAXES PAID?WAS INVENTORY AND BUYERS KEPT,HAD THEIR BEEN ANY COMPLAINTS ON FILE WITH BBB OR OTHER ENITIES.ROAD SHOW SHOULD BE IN ON THIS UP TO THEIR HEADS WITH COMMENTS AND REBUTTALS AS WELL AS DISCLAIMERS.

PURE GREED AND LACK OF CONSCIENCE FOR YOUR FELLOW MAN CONSTITUTES A MUCH HIGHER FINE AND SOME TIME WITH REAL PEOPLE.

Anonymous said...

In response to the 11/4 - 10:14 comment, Antiques Roadshow severed its relationship with Pritchard long before his initial sentencing. When AR discovered the farse of the "watermelon sword" they dismissed Pritchard. PBS (I am informed) recalled VHS tapes that were gifts to donors. They edited these to remove the popular sword segment. I believe AR/PBS has done everything they can to sever their relationship with Pritchard. It is understood, but yet unfortunate that the title of this Kovel news piece still connects them.