"strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember, you can't take it with you. [ airplane engine buzzing ] ♪ >>president kennedy has been assassinated. it's official now. the president is dead. >> even the most hated man in america... [gunshot ] >> [groans] >>lee oswald has been shot! >> ...gets his name on a headstone. >> the stone clearly shows oswald's date of birth and death. >> but how did it become their strange inheritance? >> i thought, "what on earth was a tombstone doing under my mother's house?" >> only after it's stolen, recovered, hidden, found, fought over, and more. >> we're going to take it back to texas, back home to the good ol' boys where it can have a lone star beer and make a lot of noise. >> you really wanted it back, dave. why? >> maybe they messed with the wrong tombstone owner. [ door creaks ]

[ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm driving down the street in dallas where president john f. kennedy was shot on that horrible day in november 1963, and i'm about to meet a man who was left with a dilemma tied to jfk's assassin. >> my name is david card. my family's not related in any way to lee harvey oswald, so i don't know what's stranger -- the story of how we inherited his grave marker, or the story of what happened after. >> hi, dave. i'm jamie. >> jamie, david card. such a pleasure to meet you. >> thank you. same here. >> yeah. >> thanks for having me in. great bar. >> since the late 1970s, dave card has owned and operated poor david's pub, a bare-bones downtown dallas club that provides a stage for up-and-coming

singer-songwriters. >> is it here? >> if you're talking about the tombstone, yes, it is here. >> dave doesn't usually keep his strange inheritance in his nightclub. he has a secret hiding place for it, but he's taken it out to show me. >> this is the original tombstone of lee harvey oswald. >> whoa. it feels wrong, but i'm just admiring the carving and everything. i mean, somebody went to a lot of trouble to make this headstone. i do want to hear more of the story. >> well, let's go have a seat and talk about it. >> okay. >> dave tells me that in november 1963, he was back in dallas after a tour of duty with the marine corps. ♪ on friday, november 22nd, president john f. kennedy and his wife, jackie, land at dallas love field. >> i was on the parade route at the corner of oak lawn and lemmon avenue as he drove by. >> at the time, dave's

stepsister, cleo, is a 16-year old sophomore in town. >> did you see it? >> the motorcade drove straight in front of our school on the freeway. >> i was feeling very patriotic at the time. >> though not exactly a jfk fan. >> i waved to him. i don't think he noticed me, but i did whisper under my breath, "i'm still not gonna vote for ya." >> 12:30 p.m. as the motorcade enters dealey plaza, shots ring out. >>it appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route. something, i repeat, has happened. >> how did you learn that the president had been shot? >> it came over the loudspeaker at school. >> what was the reaction? >> silence. nothing but silence. >>it is official now. the president is dead. >> what a horrible thing to happen, an assassination of the president of the united states, and in your city, in your hometown. >> within hours, police arrest

24-year-old lee harvey oswald, an employee at the texas school book depository building, which overlooks dealey plaza. >> oswald was a suspect almost immediately because people had pointed to him leaving the building, and that's what i remember -- that he was apprehended rather quickly. >> a shocked nation learns he's an ex-marine who defected to the soviet union, married a russian woman, and, then, disillusioned with the soviet system, came home to texas. >> so why do you think he did it? >> i think maybe he thought that this was a point in history where he was doing a great thing and maybe a touch of megalomania. i don't know. >> then, just two days after oswald assassinates jfk... >> i was watching television when it happened. [gunshot] >> [groans] >> i saw this commotion. >>he's been shot! lee oswald has been shot!

>> no one knew immediately what it was that happened, but jack ruby shot and killed him on national television. >> dallas nightclub owner jack ruby murders oswald in the basement of the dallas police department. >> it's just this person stepping forward, making a lunge like that, and then there was a shot... [gunshot] ...and it was unreal. it was incredible. i do remember my mother calling me from michigan and saying, "what's wrong with those people down there in dallas?" and i said, "well, mom. it's not us. we don't hate the president." >> does that mystery behind the shooting of lee harvey oswald add extra significance to having his tombstone? >> i really can't answer that. i just feel like the story behind it is so much bigger than what actually we know.

>> ruby claims he killed oswald to spare kennedy's widow the anguish of having to attend a murder trial in texas. and now the assassin's widow, young daughters, brother and mother must attend his funeral -- the same day as jfk's. oswald has no friends to carry his coffin, so seven reporters step up as pallbearers. it's marguerite oswald, the assassin's mother, who orders the headstone to be placed atop her son's grave. >> it happens to be the tombstone of the most famous assassin in the history of western civilization. >> like many notorious figures in history, oswald's grave attracts the grimly curious. and that presents the next big plot point in this "strange inheritance" story. in november 1967, on the fourth anniversary of the jfk

assassination, oswald's headstone goes missing. the caper is quickly solved when the father of a teenager in bartlesville, oklahoma, turns in his son and a friend. >> they came down as a prank, stole that tombstone, and were showing it off to a bunch of their high school buddies. >> it's returned to marguerite oswald, but never to the cemetery. she substitutes a more austere design. >> on the grave, she put a different headstone that was less attractive and much heavier. >> but what does marguerite do with her son's original, ornate gravestone? and how in the world, decades later, do the heirs in this "strange inheritance" tale end up with it? this is where the stories of two families, the cards and the oswalds, intersect. >> so this was marguerite oswald's house. where did your mom live? >> she lived across the street

in that second duplex from the corner. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question -- what was ronald reagan's secret service code name? was it...? the answer after the break. (two text tones) now? (text tone) excuse me. (phone tone)

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>> so, what was reagan's secret service code name? the answer is "a," rawhide.

"trailblazer" was george w. bush, and "scorecard" was dwight d. eisenhower. >> in the mid 1970s, more than a decade after the jfk assassination, dave card's father and stepmother happen to be living in a one-bedroom flat on this block in fort worth, texas. living across the street, a well-known neighbor -- the mother of lee harvey oswald. >> your stepmom and dad end up living across the street from marguerite. >> yes, and they would talk as neighbors occasionally. i don't think they were very close. >> ida card, however, admires marguerite's home, which is a little bigger and nicer than her duplex. >> well, it's a 2-bedroom. it's got a garage out back, a driveway, small porch out front. >> and when marguerite dies in 1981, donald and ida card purchase it. >> your family bought the house

that lee harvey oswald's mother lived in? >> yes, they did. >> for real? hi, cleo. i'm jamie! >> it's now home to dave's stepsister, cleo. >> i'd love to see inside. can i? >> yes! >> thank you. it's not haunted or anything? >> not yet. >> after moving in, cleo and dave's parents do some home improvements. >> it required an electrician to go under the house, through the crawlspace, and he came out, and he made a statement like, "there's a tombstone under there." >> well, that explains what marguerite oswald did with the tombstone after the oklahoma teenage thieves returned it back in 1967. >> the tombstone was about midway, centered, under this bar. >> cleo, what did you think when you first saw the tombstone? >> goodness, i thought, "what on earth was a tombstone doing under my mother's house?" >> seems marguerite just wanted

to secret the stone away, where nobody would think to look. >>the stone was wrapped in heavy plastic, placed behind a brick wall. it clearly shows oswald's date of birth and death. >> the discovery hits dallas tv news. >>the new owner of the residence is mrs. ida card. >> but notice. you only see a photo of the gravestone in this report. there's a reason for that -- ida's dispatched it to a new hiding place. >> in fact, my stepmother was rather paranoid about the publicity that it was generating back then, so she transferred it for safekeeping over to her sister's house. >> that would be ida's sister, billie, and her husband, albert, who also live in fort worth a few miles away. >>it is in a safe location, but they wouldn't tell me, and i didn't ask 'cause i didn't want to know. >> dad never tried to sell it? >> at one point, they did have a family lawyer come over and look at it, and he said, "hold on to it for a while.

it may increase in value." >> and that's just what they do. so the tombstone remains hidden -- in uncle albert and aunt billie's garage -- for decades. even after ida dies in 1994, donald doesn't remove it from his in-laws' custody. but he doesn't forget about it, either. when he passes away in 2001, along with his will, he leaves this handwritten accounting of assets he hands down to dave and brother clifford. and look. right there -- "lee harvey oswald tombstone stored in cleo's aunt's garage to be shared with cleo." it now falls to cleo and dave to figure out what to do with this strangest of inheritances. >> the oswald's didn't even want it. >> it's a rather morbid piece. >> what did you decide? >> we were just gonna leave it there until we came up

with a plan for it. >> they're not the first seemingly drawn to the headstone without quite knowing why. what do you do with lee harvey oswald's headstone? >> did aunt billie's end up being a safe place? >> unfortunately, aunt billie started to experience a little senility. at that time, her son, johnny ragan, offered to take it to his house for safekeeping. >> are you following this? let's review. lee harvey oswald's original headstone is placed on his grave in 1963. it's stolen in 1967, then returned to oswald's mother, who hides it under her house. in 1981, it's discovered by the new owners of the home, dave and cleo's parents, who then store it at cleo's aunt and uncle's house for safekeeping. it stays there, even after dave and cleo inherit it in 2001.

then around 2004, after aunt billie goes senile, her son, cleo's cousin johnny, hides it at his house. >> so johnny became the custodian, and were you and dave okay with that? >> yes. >> he was a trusted relative. >> underscore "was." >> johnny went incommunicado. holly said, "i haven't seen that tombstone in 20 years, and this is none of your business." >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you... the answer in a moment. ls ]

>> so... it's "b," andrew jackson. in january 1835, a mentally deranged painter named richard lawrence tried to shoot jackson at close range. old hickory responded by beating the would-be assassin with his cane. >> it's 2008 in dallas/fort worth, and, oddly enough, dave card and his siblings have never actually taken possession of the strange object they inherited seven years before -- lee harvey oswald's tombstone. cleo's cousin, johnny ragan, and his wife, holly, are supposedly hiding it for the heirs. then... >> unfortunately, johnny passes away in some form of an industrial accident, which involved a camper extension. >> somehow or another, he got

caught between the wall in his shop and the expansion that goes out from an rv. >> when they found his body, he was lying there crushed between the camper extension and the wall. >> oh, my gosh. >> now, how that happened is a mystery. >> despite the odd circumstances, the police call johnny's death accidental. we requested an interview with holly, but through her attorney, she declined. >> after a certain amount of respectful time, cleo went and asked holly about the tombstone and where it was. >> was everything okay? >> holly disavowed any knowledge of where it was. >> so you said, "sorry for your loss. by the way, i'd like to pick up our tombstone," and she said? >> she did not know where it was, that she didn't know what johnny had done with it. >> did you believe her? >> i had no reason to distrust her at that time. >> holly said, "this is none

of your business." we thought maybe johnny had stored it somewhere else and that eventually it would surface. >> did it surface? >> yes, it did. >> and nowhere near dallas. >> my brother, clifford card, was surfing the internet, and up came oswald's tombstone, being displayed on a website in illinois. >> how did it get to illinois? >> well... >> it didn't walk there. >> next, the going price of an assassin's headstone and the cost of getting it back. when we return. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

when you think what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. t-i-a-a.

[ wind howls ] >> now back to 'strange inheritance." >> it's 2011, and a family of texans are trying to locate their strange inheritance -- the gravestone of john f. kennedy's

assassin, lee harvey oswald. it was supposed to be at the home of a cousin in fort worth, but he's dead, and his wife, holly, is telling them to go away. where else can they go but the web? >> my brother, clifford card, was surfing the internet, and up came oswald's tombstone, being displayed on a website in illinois. >> how did it get to illinois? >> well... >> it didn't walk there. >> wondering what the heck happened to his strange inheritance, dave has his attorney call the man in illinois. >> it turned out that holly had sold it to him. my lawyer asked him, "so you bought this from holly ragan, didn't you?," and he says, "well, yes i did." >> directly? >> yeah. >> the man, who runs a small museum, claims to have paid holly $45,000 after holly showed him a document that she said proved she had inherited the stone after her husband,

johnny's, death in 2008. >> the cards were going to have to take legal action in order to get back what they truly believe, and i believe, was rightfully theirs. >> but before dave's lawyers let him unleash a costly lawsuit, they make one more call just to make sure the oswald family won't now claim the $45,000 headstone really belongs to them. >> the legal representative of the oswald estate was contacted, and there was no expression of interest in making a claim. >> but dave card is ready to press his. >> after a year of trying to resolve the issue, we finally filed a lawsuit. >> you really wanted it back, dave. why? >> i wanted it back, one, because it was ours. secondly, because of what it represents -- a dark time in the history of the united states.

>> but dave admits there may be one more overriding reason. >> maybe they messed with the wrong tombstone owner. [ chuckles ] >> after a dallas judge orders the two sides into mediation, they settle the case. >> how much money did it cost you to get the tombstone back? >> it was a bundle. >> we're talking six figures? >> we are talking six figures, yes. we have finally recovered the original lee harvey oswald tombstone. >> in august 2015, dave drives up to illinois with a friend to, for the first time, take possession of his strange inheritance. >> we're going to take it back to texas, back home to the good ol' boys where it can have a lone star beer and make a lot of noise. >> after that, well, dave still doesn't know exactly what he's going to do with it. >> justice prevailed. >> maybe he'll sell it. >> so, that's the way it is at the moment.

>> maybe he'll display it. maybe he'll -- well, that's the dilemma, that as i said at the beginning of this story, dave's inherited. it's the same one faced by marguerite oswald... >> i think we got the state line of texas coming up here soon, don't we? >> ...those oklahoma teenagers... >> yes, we do. >> ...donald and ida card and the rest. >> right now, we're in texas. >> what do you do with lee harvey oswald's tombstone... >> ♪ hallelujah >> say bye now. >> bye now. >> ...except put it back in a secret place until you decide? ♪ if you're wondering about that gold cross on oswald's headstone, he was raised lutheran, but his mother couldn't secure a christian minister for his funeral. after the assassination, oswald, a fervent marxist, told police interrogators, "what religion am i? i have no faith."

i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance." >> a precious heirloom... >> "this was once the property of george washington." you're a v.i.p. >> [ laughing ] yeah. >> ...and the pride of a modest family. >> my father was a truck driver. we got along, but we were very frugal. >> so how did she end up with washington's wallet? >> are you a descendant of george washington? >> no, i'm not. and it's quite a long story. >> a story about love of country... >> we want these things because we want a connection to these men. >> ...the allure of big bucks... >> i established a value for the wallet. >> it was a lot of money. >> ...and some good old-fashioned intrigue... >> someone took the wallet and disappeared. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm crossing the delaware river from pennsylvania into new jersey. yes, i'm following the route that general george washington took to his big victory during the revolutionary war -- the battle of trenton. i'm tracking down what i believe is the most intriguing strange inheritance i've heard of so far, something the father of our country may have been carrying that fateful night -- his wallet. >> my name is barbara farwell, and this is my daughter, linda. i inherited something from my mother, and one day my daughter will inherit it from me. >> for reasons that will become clearer as we follow the twists and turns of this story, the farwells have let their heirloom go on display right here in trenton. barbara, how are you? i'm jamie. so nice to meet you. >> i'm glad to meet you. >> hi, linda. how are you?

>> hi. i'm fine. thank you. >> so, where'd you bring me? >> this is the old barracks museum. >> and you keep something from your family here? >> yes, we do. >> come in. >> during the revolutionary war, this building housed british and hessian soldiers. in fact, it was the target on christmas night in 1776 when general george washington and his men quietly crossed the delaware and launched a surprise attack on the enemy troops who were stationed here... [ men shouting, gunfire ] ...an attack that turned the tide of the revolution and changed the course of world history. there it is! and here we are. so, this is it. it's amazing! it says, "1775." were the initials added by your family? >> no. i think that was way back when that was made. >> are you a descendant of george washington? >> no, i'm not. and it's quite a long story.

>> a story that begins back in the 1700s, when large wallets like this -- or "pocketbooks," as they're called -- are essential accessories for important men like washington. what strikes you about washington when it comes to money? >> well, he was a wealthy man, but it was mostly in land. so, in terms of cash, that was always a problem for him. >> apropos of a tale about washington's wallet, biographer richard brookhiser tells me that the great man's career revolved, more than anything, around money. the revolutionary war is sparked by cries of "no taxation without representation!" and for washington, raising an army is easier than raising the dough to pay it. >> he sees his men without shoes, he sees them without the weapons they need, and he sees them not being paid, and he is

the man who's at the center of all this and trying to cope. [ men shouting ] >> washington's ultimate victory doesn't end his country's economic woes. what do we know about the overall economic stability of our nation at that time? >> wars are always expensive. the revolution was no exception, and by the end of it, the united states was broke. >> general washington can't feel much better off. he discovers his mount vernon estate and his massive agricultural enterprise have been mismanaged in his absence. >> washington is back at mount vernon, which he's only visited once in 8 1/2 years of war. he has to get it up and running again. >> he hires this man to help, and 24-year old harvard graduate tobias lear will play a key part in this strange inheritance tale. can you tell me about tobias lear and what his role was? >> washington needs assistants, and tobias lear is one of the

people who does that for him. >> before long, duty calls washington again -- to become president of a tottering nation that, among other things, isn't paying its bills. and tobias lear goes along for the ride. washington puts him in charge of his bookkeeping, a job that, for the next seven years, engenders a close bond. that's a real relationship of trust, then, between washington and lear. >> absolutely. >> president washington does put the nation's finances on firmer footing. no wonder he's on the $1 bill. it's also why i think inheriting his wallet, of all things, is so cool. no surprise that the first person it passes to, the story goes, is tobias lear, who stays at washington's bedside at mount vernon on the night of december 14, 1799, when the former president dies at age 67.

but the modern-day heirs in this strange inheritance story, the farwell ladies, are not descendants of tobias lear, either. they invite me back to their home in morrisville, pennsylvania, right across the delaware river, to connect the dots. >> my father was a truck driver. we got along, but we were very frugal. my mother was an excellent homemaker, pretty good cook, and she was a hard worker. >> she also has a little secret. where did your mom keep the wallet? >> in a little black box squirreled away somewhere. >> after the break, the improbable path of washington's wallet, if, in fact, it's really his. she is 100% convinced this is george washington's pocketbook. are you? >> but first, our...

>> the answer in a moment.

>> ...who, in today's money, had an estimated $525 million. but give yourself half credit if you picked jfk. his father's fortune would be worth billions today. that trumps washington and makes

the kennedys the richest family to reach the white house -- so far. >> how neat must it be to possess a piece of history like this wallet owned by the farwell family, with the initials "g.w." and the year "1775"? >> he's the father of the country. >> richard brookhiser is author of books on several founding fathers, including george washington. what do those items from our past leaders add to our american history? >> well, it makes them vivid to see actual objects that they held, that they had, that they used. that makes them like us, because we all have similar things. we want these things because we want a connection to these men. >> i've seen that time and again on "strange inheritance," but the tricky part's proving that thing in grandpa's attic is the real deal.

the question's raised in episode after episode -- did those guns actually belong to bonnie and clyde? did jfk really sign those letters? did general pickett indeed wear that bloodstained uniform? >> the fancy term auctioneers and appraisers use is "provenance." i'd put it this way -- how can the farwells be sure their beloved family heirloom really is george washington's wallet? did the wallet come with any documentation? >> there was a letter, and it tells the whole story of how it came. >> it's actually an affidavit that's more than a century old, written by a lawyer named alfred bennett. >> linda, who was alfred bennett? >> my great-great-grandfather? >> yes. >> the letter, addressed "to whom it may concern" and signed by bennett in june 1900, traces the wallet back to "the selling of the estate of one of the

family of tobias lear, private secretary to george washington." and it concludes... "this pocketbook, to the best of my knowledge and belief, was once the property of george washington." you've heard how lear is said to have inherited washington's wallet. what happens next? in 1816, lear commits suicide, and, according to the affidavit, the wallet passes to one of his heirs -- likely his widow, frances. when that heir dies, a man named stacy hall handles the estate and, the letter says, takes possession of the wallet. when he dies, barbara's ancestor attorney john bennett gets it. from there it passes to john's son alfred, author of the affidavit, who bequeaths it to his daughter jane, who passes it to her daughter elva kiernan. and elva kiernan is barbara farwell's mother. she treasures it as though it's

the most valuable thing she has. it probably is! was she proud of it? >> yes. >> where did your mom keep the wallet? >> in a little black box squirreled away somewhere. >> and inside the wallet are two old paper bills that may well have been washington's. sadly, elva doesn't have the wherewithal to properly display the wallet or to protect it from theft or damage, so, in 1960, she proudly lends it to the nearby washington crossing museum. >> to see it on display and to bring your friends to see it -- "ooh! that belongs to you?" >> but things turn sour in 1976, when the museum renovates for the bicentennial. barbara is dismayed to find the wallet's been removed! >> when i took my friends to see it, to brag about it, "where's the wallet?" >> barbara's mom is beside herself.

>> she wanted more people to see it around that time. "i am taking the wallet to another museum," and she did. >> score one for jersey! elva crosses the delaware and lends the wallet to the old barracks museum here in trenton. they'll display it, and she can take it out any time she likes. would you not want it here as a center of a coffee table? >> no way. [ chuckles ] >> why not? >> i just was afraid something would happen to it. >> a legitimate fear. in january 1992, barbara's mother is staggered by a call from the museum. >> it's surprising she didn't have a stroke. >> who swiped washington's wallet? that's next. >> here's another... extra credit if you can guess

how many. the answer when we return.

>> 15 children, by two wives. [ telephone rings ] >> it's january 1992. 83-year-old widow elva kiernan gets a devastating phone call from the old barracks museum in trenton, new jersey. her precious heirloom, a leather wallet identified as george washington's, has been stolen from its case! >> someone took the wallet and disappeared. the new jersey detectives and the police were on the lookout for it. >> did you post a reward?

>> yes. total was $1,000 -- $500 from my mother and $500 from the barracks. >> it's all elva can afford, and, presumably, the barracks, too. weeks go by. then... it's back. a local lawyer followed an anonymous tip and secures the wallet's return on presidents' day, 1992. and this is classic -- the 200-year-old bills, presumably washington's, are missing. >> i was upset because i knew, as a child, i had seen the bills many, many times. >> did the lawyer ever disclose who brought him the wallet? >> no. >> do you remember, linda, if there was any information about who actually returned the wallet? >> no. >> but you gave it back to the museum? >> yes. >> that is, after the museum agrees to install a security system. and there it stays for the next decade, until the farwells finally decide to have it

insured. >> the first time i saw it was at one of my antique-appraisal events. >> lori verderame is an antiques appraiser with a phd in art history. you established a value for the wallet? >> based on comparable sales records, condition, provenance, and also my research, the insurance appraisal that i signed -- the pocketbook here was worth $75,000. >> it was a lot of money. >> enough to give any working-class family pause. >> that much money would really be a nice addition to our bank account [laughs] but my mother was very sure that that wallet shouldn't ever be sold. it should be for everybody to see. >> in fact, elva makes it all the way to 100 and never sells. she passes away in october 2008. barbara not only inherits the wallet but the cachet that comes with it when she takes her

bridge club to the old barracks for a personalized tour. tell me about it -- when you're able to share it with the ladies at the senior center. >> well, they're amazed. >> you're a v.i.p. >> [ laughing ] yeah. >> that pride in her family's small connection to the father of the country is why she agrees to tell her story to "strange inheritance." but will our questions spoil everything? i'm just curious, once we decided to do an episode of "strange inheritance," whether your thoughts about it changed in any way. >> i honestly did look in the files. >> that's next. we'd love to tell it! send me an e-mail or go to our website.

when you think what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. t-i-a-a.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> i certainly enjoy being the owner and being known as a [chuckling] celebrity.

>> something curious happened after barbara farwell and her daughter, linda, agreed to let us tell the story about how their family inherited george washington's wallet. they keep it in trenton's old barracks museum, displayed above a decades-old plaque which flatly states it belonged to the father of our country. but when we ask to shoot inside the museum, a member of its staff tells us that now they're no longer sure if that's accurate. uh-oh! i'm wondering whether you took a second look at it and whether your thoughts about it changed in any way. >> i honestly did look in the files. we did not have an exact paper trail that goes right to 1775. >> richard patterson is the director of the old barracks museum. >> we don't have a receipt from washington. if we had a paper trail that went back a century or more, when you have some items that are attributed to a particular person, particularly a famous person, that sort of adds to the

level of documentation that you would like to have. it appears to be authentic to the period, and it's something that, quite plausibly, was carried by washington. >> mild-mannered barbara can't believe the museum, after all these years, is waffling on the wallet. >> i really am very sure that that's george washington's pocketbook. >> "plausibly" just doesn't cut it for her. washington biographer richard brookhiser understands. is it okay if we just believe it, or do we really need to know for sure? >> no, we want to know for sure. >> and we do know for sure, insists appraiser lori verderame. i ask her to make her case. >> the first thing we're gonna look for is age. i'm also gonna look for construction. the binding is just like what we would typically see. it's made the same way cambridge university would actually make its books. the age of the leather is correct, and these little bands indicate where it was kept and

what was in it. >> another key detail... >> you'll notice that sunburst in between the monogram of the "g" and the "w." >> yes! >> george washington was part of the freemasons, and that particular sunburst is an image in the 18th century that was also used by the freemasons. >> had washington lived in another age, it might be easier to remove all doubt -- if he'd been photographed with the wallet or if you could swab it for his dna. but dr. lori says that for a 240-year-old artifact, you'll rarely do better than her final piece of proof. >> so, this is where people say, "oh, we don't have a document." we do have a document. >> that affidavit attesting to the chain of custody from washington to farwell's ancestors. never sold, right? >> no, never sold -- always handed down in the family. >> that provenance, dr. lori adds, has never been challenged by anyone outside the farwell family. has dr. lori persuaded you? >> the initials and so on look like they were done quite some

time ago. >> in a graceful denouement, richard patterson seems to buy it. dr. lori is 100% convinced this is george washington's pocketbook. >> cool. >> are you? >> why not? i was leaning in that direction. >> barbara farwell is also pleased to hear dr. lori thinks the wallet could fetch a higher price -- if she wants to sell. >> value has increased, and condition has basically stayed the same because it's been protected in a museum environment. so i would appraise this george washington pocketbook for $100,000. [ cash register dings ] >> but barbara and linda still say their strange inheritance is not for sale. why is it more important to own the wallet than to sell it and have the money? >> because my mother really wanted us to keep it and pass it down through the ages. it'll be more valuable and more interesting as the years go by.

>> what happens if linda sells it? >> she said she wouldn't. >> i won't. >> i think i understand it now. >> i wouldn't take it now without an escort. [ chuckles ] >> what is it you're worried will happen to it? >> i don't want it to get stolen again, that's for sure. but did you not say you'd like to see it in the smithsonian? >> yeah, eventually. >> that's where millions of people would see it. >> yeah. >> word traveled fast of washington's victories after he crossed the delaware, with or without that wallet in his vest pocket. frederick the great of prussia said, "the achievements of washington and his little band of men were the most brilliant ever recorded in the annals of military achievements." the father of our country went for broke and pulled it off and so handed down an inheritance to all americans. i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching

"strange inheritance." and remember, you can't take it with you. >> after years of scouring the ocean floor, a treasure hunter with a simple motto... >> today is the day. >> today is the day. >> today is the day. >> ...hits the mother lode. >> ...a shipwreck, which had 40 tons of gold and silver and copper on board. >> when his heirs cash in, collectors grab a piece of the action. >> a gold chalice. $100,000 to open the bid. >> but this treasure hunt is far from over. >> is it true that there's a 40-pound bag of emeralds down there? >> it's 70 pounds of emeralds. >> could you look harder?