CURRENT APPRAISERS | ALL APPRAISERS

Leila Dunbar

Details

Leila Dunbar Appraisals & Consulting, LLC
Washington, DC
Toured In
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29

Leila Dunbar is a professional appraiser of pop culture memorabilia, including sports, entertainment, all types of posters, comic books and art, animation art, toys, advertising, records, coin-op, transportation memorabilia, vehicles wine, related photography, art and books; with more than $1,000,000,000 valued throughout her career. Her company, Leila Dunbar LLC, provides written appraisals for insurance, donation, estate tax, divorce, gifting, etc. Leila also prepares USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) compliant valuations.

Some recent clients include the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, MLB, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grammy Museum, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sotheby's, the New York Yankees Museum, St. Louis Cardinals Museum, Lloyd’s of London, McLarens, USGA and the PGA; and the estates of Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali, Count Basie, Johnny Cash and Gregg Allman; and the costume collection of Glenn Close.

Leila is the 2020 Chair of the Appraisal Foundation Board Of Trustees; is an Appraisers Association of America certified appraiser in sports, entertainment and wine; and a professional member of the International Society Of Appraisers.

Prior to opening her own business in 2008, Leila served as senior vice president and director of Sotheby’s Collectibles department. In nine years, sales totaled more than $75 million worth of memorabilia.

High-profile entertainment highlights include: the estate of Katharine Hepburn; the estate of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash; and property from the collection of Cher.

In sports memorabilia, highlights include the bat that Babe Ruth used to hit the first home run ever on Grand Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, for $1.25 million, a record for a bat; and the 1919 contract selling Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees, for $996,000, a record for a sports contract. Estates sold also include Pee Wee Reese, Casey Stengel, Lefty Grove, Arthur Ashe, Ernie Lombardi, and Jim Murray. Other sales include Boston Garden, Wilt Chamberlain, the Lone Ranger, Marilyn Monroe, "Seinfeld," the Beatles, Madonna, Cher, Billy Martin, Muhammad Ali, Secretariat, and the Barry Halper Baseball Collection Part II, the Shagmobile from "Austin Powers," and the last New York City taxicab.

Leila is also a licensed auctioneer, having sold at Sotheby’s as well as at numerous non-profit auctions, raising more than $4 million for charitable causes. Using her journalism degree from the University of North Carolina (Go Tar Heels!), she also writes occasional blogs for her accounts on Linked In, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, which are also available on her website, www.leiladunbar.com.

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is an antiques appraisal event and television production; we do not buy or sell objects, and conducting any business with an appraiser at the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW event is strictly forbidden.

If you decide to do business with an appraiser who has appeared on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, please keep in mind these tips before consigning or selling an item:

  • Get more than one referral and check references
  • Get valuations of your item from more than once source
  • Compare options between different types of sellers, i.e., a dealer versus an auction house
  • If you are considering consigning an object for auction, be sure to inquire how the item will be priced, the size of the fee, and the expected amount of time the process may take. Find out what will happen if it doesn't sell.
  • Check the appraiser's professional associations (such as International Society of Appraisers, American Appraisers Association, National Auctioneers Association)
  • Consult an attorney before signing a contract
  • Whatever kind of transaction you decide to enter into, always get a detailed written receipt for your records

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s pool of experts are professionals with a wide range of experience in the antiques, fine art and collectibles community, and they are from a diverse background of auctioneers, dealers and appraisers.

All ROADSHOW appraisers are independent volunteers who donate their time and expertise to PBS and who pay their own expenses to be on the show. All business transactions are independent from ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.