"strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember, you can't take it with you. ♪ >> a farmer with an unusual hobby hands down a humongous collection to his family. >> anybody that collects 150 tractors -- doesn't that make you eccentric? ♪ >> he spent a lifetime, and a pretty penny, amassing it. >> definitely a method to grandpa's madness. >> is it a treasure trove of valuable americana? >> it was almost out of control maybe you would say. >> or a herd of white elephants? >> dad, are you ever gonna stop? you know, for one thing, you're running out of room. where are you going to put them all? [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and i'm just pulling into le mars, iowa.

it's a short distance from sioux city. i'm about to meet a family that's farmed this land for generations and learn about a very strange inheritance. ♪ >> my name is roma lancaster. after my dad passed away, we knew that there would be a lot of things that would have to be sorted out and gone through on the farm. >> roma's father, dave hawkins, has deep roots in this part of iowa, going back more than a century. >> my father's ancestors immigrated to the united states in late 1800s. they moved westward with the expansion of the railroad, and my grandfather, my dad's father, albert hawkins, farmed just south of here, about a mile. >> dave hawkins grew up hearing stories of his ancestors plowing this land behind a team of horses. as a young farmer in the 1950s,

just out of school, dave spots a tractor rusting in the weeds. it sparks his imagination. >> the 1920 9d is the tractor that belonged to my grandfather. that's what got my dad into the collecting again was when he restored that tractor that had originally belonged to his father. >> as his farm grows to over 500 acres of corn and soybeans, and his family prospers, hawkins seeks out the next vintage tractor to buy and restore. then the next and the next, including this one, a minneapolis-moline that hawkins bought, restored, and donated to the plymouth county museum. >> how old would this one be? >> it's a 1944 model. >> incredible. >> i meet bruce brock at the museum. a fellow history buff, he and dave hawkins went way back. >> i was proud to be his friend. he was a good businessman,

he was a good father, a good husband, a great neighbor, and a good community guy. >> i understand coin collecting and car collecting, but tractors, bruce -- tractors? what was he thinking? >> these are a representation of the past that farmers and farm families and farm relations really enjoy looking at because it brings back memories. >> tractors are part of iowa's history. in 1892, john froelich invented the practical gas-powered tractor in a tiny village about 300 miles east of here. the mechanization of farming helps america become an agricultural giant. >> alex, are you in here? >> there he is. >> and even though none of dave's four children tills the soil like he did, he does share his passion for tractors with his grandson, alex. >> i can remember as young as 3 or 4 years old, riding in the combine with my grandpa and taking naps on the floor, and if we weren't doing that, we were

driving up and down the road looking for other tractors to work on and fix up in the shop. >> pretty soon, dave's sheds are filled with old tractors in various states of repair -- more than 100 of them. >> did mom ever say, "no more tractors"? >> no, not really, but i remember dad called the tractors his "savings account," you know, to justify it. through the years, as things became tight in the sheds, and, you know, there was just kind of a joking question about "dad, are you ever gonna stop?" >> the answer is, no, he's not going to stop. family vacations become cross-country tractor hunts. ♪ >> so would you say that he was eccentric? >> he was a little crazy sometimes, but he was definitely a savvy businessman. >> over the years, grandpa probably put $100,000, probably not over a quarter of $1 million million into his collection. >> but it wasn't about the money. it was a passion, it was

a love, and it was just something he wanted to do. he didn't really get into the collecting real heavily until he had the money to help us go to college and make sure we got the education that we wanted. >> born of hardy iowa farmer stock, dave seems as indestructible as those tractors. everybody assumes he'll plow on forever. then, all of a sudden, in the summer of 2011, his 73-year-old body grinds to a halt. >> dad was a man who never complained. he was only sick for a few days. we did not even know what was wrong with him. the autopsy results came back that we found out that he had cancer. [ voice breaking ] i'm sad because my dad's gone. sorry. >> it was more than just a shock. it was a life-changing blow.

>> he went to the same church from the day he was born until the day he died. he was baptized and had his funeral in the same small country church. it was very important to him that we all knew that legacy and continued that on, also. >> at first, life on the farm continues as before. dave's son-in-law, alex's dad, todd popken, farms the acreage. alex tends the tractors. but soon, the loss of their patriarch sends ripples of change through the family. dave's widow, judy, moves into town. >> did that surprise you? >> no. mom had said for 10 years, "if something happens to you first, i do not want to stay out here by myself." >> dave's absence creates a crisis, sparking strong disagreement w should they hang on to dave's beloved collection or sell it and close out his "savings account"?

>> at the time of his death, how prepared was he for you to take on this huge obligation? >> i wish we would have even had just a couple days to ask him some questions that would have helped us make sure we made the decisions that were how he wished for them to be made. and obviously the more people involved, the harder that decision becomes. you have to know, there were some bumpy roads that we traveled there. >> that's next. >> and now for our "strange inheritance" quiz question... the answer when we return. [ bird caws ]

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[ bird caws ] >> now the answer to our "strange inheritance" quiz question... it's "b," lamborghini. >> the untimely death of iowa farmer dave hawkins in 2011 leaves his family in a state of upheaval. his widow, judy, moves into town, leaving the homestead empty for the first time in generations. dave's grandson, alex, a 23-year-old newlywed, and his wife, maria, buy the house and move in...

a bold move by the young man, who has the best shot of keeping the hawkins' tradition of family farming alive. alex says his grandma made the house deal easy for the first-time buyer. now, isn't that what grandma's are for? >> so, did she give you a good deal? >> yeah. a family deal. >> but the family hasn't even started to discuss what to do with the strange inheritance -- dave hawkins' collection of rare and antique tractors. >> we didn't even talk about it until at least a year or almost a year had passed. i don't think it was easy for anyone. and we did go through that where, you know, we weren't all agreeing. the number-one toughest decision was, can we keep the collection or do we have to sell part of it? financially and time-wise, there was nobody that could do what dad had done. >> did he tell you before he passed? >> we had talked about it, but never made a decision, or he had never made a decision about

what he wanted to do. >> finally, dave's widow, judy, asks the kids to come to a decision. it's not easy. >> how do you come to an agreement when each party has a different idea of what is right or wrong? to please five parties is a tough, tough decision to have to come to grips with. >> amid this family discord, tammy's son, alex, spends nights and weekends keeping his grandpa's precious tractors from deteriorating. >> there's a lot of expenses to keep them -- insurance, upkeep, batteries, tires, and to keep the collection and not upkeep it, in my opinion, was not an option. >> dave hawkins' pride and joy is becoming a sore point. >> i was at a full-time job, as i was just graduated from

college, just got married, and maybe some of them didn't realize all the time and work and money that it was gonna take to keep those tractors up. >> alex thinks that could add up to more than $10,000 a year. >> there just is too much of a financial and time commitment that none of us were able to exercise, and that we didn't expect alex to exercise, and we made the decision then at that point to sell the items. ♪ >> the family decides the best way to maximize the collection's value is through that great american country tradition -- the open-call auction. and they keep it local by hiring dad's old friend bruce brock, who's also an auctioneer. >> they wanted their father and their husband represented in a fashion that would make him proud because i know that he made them proud, and i think

that was important. >> what did the family tell you about how much they wanted to generate from the sale? >> they didn't really tell us anything. they just trusted us to bring them home as many net dollars as we could. >> but it's not quite that simple for the hawkins heirs, who made a curious discovery after their father died, one that could affect their bottom line and their father's legacy. from beyond the grave, dave hawkins is guiding his family on how to handle their strange inheritance. that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you... the answer when we return. [ bird caws ]

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>> so, how many acres could a farmer till in a day with a horse-drawn plow? the answer is "b," 1 to 3 acres. ♪ >> after months of discussion, dave hawkins' heirs have come to a painful conclusion -- it's time to auction off his lifelong collection of tractors. but one more family member gets to weighs in -- dave himself. >> it was discovered in my dad's desk that he had a handwritten list of the tractors that he wished for us to save. >> these tractors, going back to the 1920s, are the cream of dave's crop and must stay in the family. their dad's list gets them thinking. what else should they keep off the auction block? so, they each make their own lists. >> it had to be godly

intervention that when we got together for a family meeting and compared our lists, nobody had picked wanting the same item. at first, roma herself is undecided. >> one day, i would think, "yes, i should keep a tractor." and the next day i'm thinking, "you know what? it's only metal, and my memories of being with dad are invaluable to me." >> in the end, she can't resist keeping two bright green john deeres -- a 1943 b and a '48 m. meanwhile, alex and his dad work the family farm with this 1964 deere. okay. that's one. he asks if i want to drive it. >> over there are your brakes. >> brakes are important. >> this is your lever to select the gear that you go in. >> and, of course, he's gentleman enough to coach this city girl on the basics, like how you turn the darned thing on. >> i'm gonna start it up. i see a key. >> yep. [ engine turns over ] >> there you go. perfect. >> i wouldn't... >> [ laughs ]

>> we don't have anything like this in new york. >> nothing like this? >> no, nothing. >> you think the taxis will get out of the way? >> oh, i think so. i think everyone will get out of the way. [ engine shuts off ] unbelievable experience driving a tractor. >> my pleasure. >> thank you. that was exciting. hard to imagine that the hawkins heirs had to wrangle more than 100 of these things to get ready for auction. >> you worked hard to get ready, i'm sure. >> alex and todd popken worked through the winter ahead of that sale date getting tractors ready. >> a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, and a lot of laughter. >> auctioneer bruce brock knows the key is getting as many motivated bidders as possible to the hawkins' farm on auction day. tell me about the night before. you get a good night's sleep? >> very little.

we are entrusted to, in just a few hours, bring to fruition a lifetime of collecting and sacrifice that the family's gone through. it was a big day for us, and we had everything planned, right down to the most minute detail. >> well, every detail except one. [ thunder rumbles ] >> the day of the auction started out a little bit on the rocky side. >> that's next. [ thunder rumbles ]

>> narrator: now back to "strange inheritance." >> after months of tough decisions and hard work, dave hawkins' loved ones gather at the family farm for the auction of his collection of antique tractors. just as the gavel is about to be raised... [ thunder crashes ] it starts to pour buckets. you went to all this

preparation, though, for the auction, and the sky opens up. and what was it like? >> disappointing that it might damper the crowd, but you can't ever wish away rain if you're a farmer. >> dad would sing a song, "you are my sunshine," to all of us a lot when we were small, and so that morning, on the way over here, i had ran into town and got us four yellow roses. >> then the clouds part. >> and so, after it stopped raining, i took a yellow rose to my mother and my two sisters and said, "you know, dad will always be our sunshine." so, we all carried our yellow roses around, and he was our sunshine.

[ auctioneer calling ] >> once the bidding starts, it's immediately clear that dave hawkins isn't the only one obsessed with these big machines. was it a sell-out? >> it was a sell-out. and we were hoping to get 500 or 600 people, and we were almost double that. >> the bidders come from as far away as canada and mexico. 1936 john deere a -- sold. $2,000. '46 deere slant dash -- sold. $3,000. '49 case cs -- sold. $600 '51 oliver row-crop -- sold. $8,000. '58 john deere 730 diesel -- sold. $20,000. tractors are pretty valuable to people. >> tractors are pretty valuable, both emotionally and financially. >> the family's dedication to dave hawkins' memory pays off. the auction nets around $400,000 for his heirs. i guess you could say dave is

still taking care of his family. >> i had one child still in college, and my oldest child had graduated from college. and so, i was very excited to be able to use that money to help them with their college debt. >> dave, who hated debt, would be proud. oh, my goodness. but it could have been a lot more. if you add up the value of the 23 tractors that stay in the hawkins family, it comes to more than $180,000. still, there are a few tears as 100-plus tractors are trucked away to collectors around the country and beyond. >> it was kind of a bittersweet deal. there was a couple that i would have liked to have kept. >> i just feel bad for alex going out to all the empty sheds. >> but alex hopes the sheds won't be empty forever. >> as i get older and get my

own collection going, maybe i'll have the same problem again in 50 years. >> and remember that '29 john deere, the one that belonged to alex's great-grandfather? that very first one that dave rescued from the junk pile? so, this is it? >> this one's it. >> in his will, dave hawkins sets that one aside for alex. perhaps it will be the seed that grows into another grand collection, just like his grandpa's. >> living out here on the farm is good. you always get to walk somewhat in his footsteps, day in and day out. he's still here a little bit for me. people that grew up on farms, that's your lifestyle. you breathe and die farming. >> i couldn't help but notice alex's pride, not just in that machine, not simply a strange inheritance that turned out to

be quite valuable, but rather in the way of life that links him to those who came before him on this land and the determination of dave hawkins' heirs to keep his legacy together for at least one more generation. we learned one other story about dave hawkins from his family. he never spent time with his tractors without having one of his children or grandchildren alongside. a completely positive person -- that's how they described him. so positive that he'd answer the phone "good morning," whether it was morning or night. in fact, after he passed, they had t-shirts made that said "good morning" with "gramps" on the sleeve to wear their first christmas without dave. thanks so much for joining us for "strange inheritance." i'm jamie colby. remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a strange inheritance story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it.

send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. >> he was at the center of a scandal -- the national pastime, gambling, and gangsters. >> arnold rothstein gave them a little bit of money to, supposedly, throw the series. >> "shoeless" joe was arguably the best baseball player of all time. >> he's banned from the game... >> one weeping fan of his cried out, "say it isn't so!" >> ...and the fascination with his tale endures. >> shoeless joe's really part of pop culture. >> so why is his autograph one of the rarest in sports? >> he was virtually illiterate. >> he had a very hard time even writing an individual letter. >> he did. >> as far as we know it, there is only one known. >> one? >> just one. >> and it's this woman's strange inheritance. >> it started to dawn on me that this is a lot of money we're talking about. >> this is a biggie -- 1911

"shoeless" joe jackson signed photograph. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> hi. i'm jamie colby, and i'm heading along the shores of lake erie in cleveland, ohio. today i'm meeting a woman who inherited a rare item that recalls the most notorious episode in baseball history -- an episode that's inspired books and movies and retains an air of mystery to this day. >> my name is sharon bowen. after my husband, bill, passed away, i started to receive lots of phone calls about a scrapbook that he had kept in a trunk in our bedroom. i knew very little about "shoeless" joe jackson, but now i do. >> bill and sharon bowen raise two children in a cleveland suburb. how long were you married? >> we were married 39 years. >> bill, a professional fundraiser, works for local

universities and the salvation army. he's a native clevelander and a baseball nut. >> this is bill, probably around 5 or 6. >> bill started collecting at a very early age. >> and never stops. card collecting becomes a family affair. >> did you do any collecting with him? >> that was my thing with him and with his father -- every saturday, going to baseball-card shows, just sitting around the kitchen table and looking at all the cards. >> through work, bill becomes friends with a retired professor who shares his passion for collecting. >> and one day, the -- the gentleman's wife said to him, "i have a book i bet you would love to see." >> boy, does he! this simple paper scrapbook holds a treasure trove of photographs from the 1911 spring training camp of the cleveland naps, now called the indians. >> she inherited this book from her father, and her father received it as a gift from his friend frank smith.

>> frank smith was a photographer for the cleveland plain dealer. that spring, he takes action shots of established stars like nap lajoie, christy mathewson, and a cleveland rookie named joseph jefferson jackson. >> hi, joe. >> good to see you. >> so great to see you. to learn more about that rookie, i pay a visit to baseball memorabilia maven joe orlando. when the names of greats come up, is shoeless joe still in that category? >> babe ruth, who most people consider to be the greatest player who ever lived, patterned his own swing after joe jackson's. >> safe! >> if that doesn't tell you what type of a hitter joe jackson was, i don't know what -- what will. >> joe jackson is born in pickens county, south carolina, in 1887. what kind of family did he come from? >> well, he came from humble beginnings. he worked at a textile mill as a teenager, as a mill hand, and he

was virtually illiterate for the remainder of his life. >> but on the diamond, he's a true phenom. at the age of 13, he stars on the cotton mill's team and picks up a lifelong nickname. >> legend has it that while he was a teenager playing in a mill game, his cleats were bothering him so much that he took his cleats off and played the rest of the game without shoes, and one of the fans started to heckle him and call him a shoeless son of a gun. >> "shoeless" joe's career takes off like a blue-streak line drive. in 1908, he bats .346 for a minor league team in greenville. in 1911, he's ready to move up. >> it was his first full season in the majors with the cleveland naps. >> and photog frank smith documents his arrival in "the bigs." [ cheers and applause ] >> he batted .408, which still stands as a record for a rookie. [ bat cracking ]

>> safe! >> he may be a whiz on the field, but traveling with his teammates, joe can't even read a menu. >> if they were in a restaurant, he'd listen to what everyone else ordered and simply base his order off of that. >> he needs help just writing his own name, so he rarely signs anything but legal documents. of course, you don't need to read or write to hit a fastball. in 1915, joe moves up another notch when he's traded to the chicago white sox. >> chicago was a very good team, and he helped them win a world series in the 1917 season. >> they may have been good, but they were not happy. >> charles comiskey, who was the owner of the white sox at the time, was known as being extremely frugal. >> in 1919, the sox again capture the american league pennant and are favored to beat the cincinnati reds in the world series. but many players feel comiskey is cheating them of their bonuses. the friction creates an opportunity for a new york

gangster named arnold rothstein, who runs a sports-betting racket. >> arnold rothstein got to some of the players of the chicago white sox and gave them a little bit of money under the table to supposedly throw the series. >> when the sox lose the series 5 games to 3, rothstein makes a bundle. the "black sox" scandal erupts. a grand jury indicts shoeless joe and seven other players for conspiracy. >> several of those teammates confessed that they were part of fixing the series and implicated joe jackson. >> testimony of pitcher edward cicotte is said to have been most incriminating evidence. >> prompted by comiskey's lawyer, jackson admits taking $5,000 from teammate lefty williams, but he denies throwing the series. outside the courtroom, a young sox fan supposedly confronts his hero. "say it ain't so, joe!" he says.

but was it so? why would a player like shoeless joe throw a game, a world series game? >> well, the reality is that you and i will never know, with 100% certainty, the truth. joe jackson was virtually illiterate, so when he was confessing, did he comprehend what he was doing? >> based on the stats, it didn't look like joe jackson had anything to do with the plot. he batted .375, hit a home run, and had 6 rbis. >> although a jury acquits all eight "black sox" players, baseball commissioner judge kenesaw mountain landis bans them from the game. shoeless joe takes his trophies home and never again sets foot on a big league diamond. he lives in relative obscurity in south carolina until his death in 1951. since then, few baseball stories have captured the imagination more than shoeless joe's. being here at the baseball

field, it's the perfect place to ask you about him as a legend. >> we have movies such as "field of dreams," "eight men out," that continue to bring shoeless joe in front of new fans, new moviegoers. >> and that legend is what drives cleveland baseball collector bill bowen to covet the book of frank smith photos, which his friend showed him in 2006. take me back to the moment he first told you he wanted to buy the scrapbook. >> he came home and said, "you know, i'm gonna buy this book." >> the price -- $15,000. the missus is not amused. >> i said, "absolutely not. who would spend that kind of money for a paper scrapbook filled with old pictures?" >> your husband the baseball nut, that's who! and that's next. >> but first, our... two of these actors played "shoeless" joe jackson in

hollywood movies. which one didn't? the answer in a moment.

>> so, which actor didn't play shoeless joe? the answer is... liotta played him in "field of dreams," sweeney in "eight men out," but redford's character in "the natural" was only based on shoeless joe.

>> in early 2010, baseball fanatic bill bowen tries to convince his wife to let him buy this 100-year-old scrapbook of vintage baseball players. in it is an autographed picture of the legendary "shoeless" joe jackson. the asking price -- $15,000. >> and that's when i said, "no, absolutely not." >> bill buys it anyway, selling some of his other memorabilia to raise the cash. where did you keep it? >> it was just sitting in a trunk in our bedroom, handy, so he could pull it out and look at it and show it to people when they came. >> and sharon decides to stop giving her husband a hard time about it. really? you were that easy about it? >> i was easy, because life's too short, and -- and it proved to be true. >> in 2014, bill has a heart attack... and dies at the age of 67. shortly after his death,

baseball collectors begin calling his widow. >> we started to get some phone calls from people. did we still have the book? would we consider selling it? >> a family friend suggests they talk to heritage auctions in dallas. >> so my daughter took some pictures of the book.. [ camera shutter clicking ] ...and e-mailed it to heritage, and they e-mailed her back in four minutes. >> four -- within four minutes, you heard from an auction house? >> mm-hmm. >> chris ivy specializes in baseball memorabilia. >> when something like this comes in, it's incredibly special. >> three days later, a heritage representative flies up from dallas. >> he starts flipping through it and says, "you didn't tell me that this guy was in here. you didn't tell me you had this autograph." >> but the real money shot is that autographed picture of shoeless joe. the bowen family sends the book to the auction house. chris ivy believes the autographed joe jackson picture

is one of a kind. but before it goes on the auction block, he has to make sure it's genuine. >> we don't sell any autographs without third-party authentication. so, obviously, that's a nerve-wracking prospect. >> and the authenticators have their doubts. how likely was it that it was legitimately signed by joe jackson? >> in my head, i'm thinking, "i'm sure you also have a bigfoot/loch ness monster dual-signed baseball coming behind that, as well." >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer in a moment.

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>> ...which curved in to right-handers. it helped mathewson rack up a record 373 career wins. >> there's nothing like a day at the park -- our own field of dreams. >> that's right. >> to determine whether sharon bowen's strange inheritance -- this autographed picture of "shoeless" joe jackson -- is real, the auction house calls joe orlando, president of professional sports authenticator, in orange county, california. he's also a baseball nut. >> legend has it that shoeless joe could throw a ball 400 feet, so what you're looking at is probably a ball that would actually sail far over that scoreboard beyond the center-field fence. >> that's awesome. joe's job is to give buyers and auction houses an informed opinion on the legitimacy of sports memorabilia. >> it's our job to be skeptical about everything. >> how elaborate is the process

to authenticate something of this magnitude? >> well, that's where we're gonna head over to our offices and really give you an in-depth look at the process itself. >> it falls to psa's steve grad to determine whether the joe jackson signed photo is legit. steve, thank you so much for letting me come in. i am the most excited about this authentication part. for yet another baseball nut, it's the chance of a lifetime. >> there isn't a joe jackson photograph that i know of that's actually signed, and they're telling me it's got great provenance, great story. but i want to see that autograph first. >> steve has reason to be skeptical, and not just because jackson couldn't read or write. collecting autographs from ballplayers didn't become a fad until well after shoeless joe's career. signed photos from his era are very rare. confirming that the photo was actually printed in 1911 is psa's first challenge. what about the photograph itself? did you have any concern about the paper?

>> we have a photo expert, henry yee, and henry's really good with paper and photographs. he confirmed that, "well, this was used for a short period of time, but right during that period." he knew immediately. >> okay, the picture is legit, but how about that signature? >> so, this is joe jackson's last contract. this is 1920. >> remember, nobody has seen another autographed shoeless joe picture. but steve can compare the writing to various legal documents that the illiterate jackson did sign. >> through the years i've been able see a handful of joe jackson signatures we've deemed authentic, and i'm able to look at certain tendencies joe jackson has. so, that autograph has to talk to me. if you want to go ahead and put it in... >> we put a copy of the signed photo into this contraption, called a video spectral comparator. >> you'll see things you can't see with the naked eye... >> let's see. >> ...you could see with this. and here we go. i'm gonna drop the magnification to 8. >> it's very "csi." >> and we start to look at the formations here of the letters. you can see where he's really --

he labored. >> he had a very hard time even writing an individual letter. >> he did. >> how do you distinguish the signature that we look at and the real deal? >> so, we take the photo back, and we take a look at the signature itself, okay? what's fascinating to me -- we're talking 1911, 1920. 9 years later. look how he comes up here to the "e," okay? and we're starting to see the same thing here again. >> a straight line from the "o" to the "e" in "joe." >> 1911 to 1920 -- you take a look, it's literally the same thing. >> with what percentage are you certain you have an authentic joe jackson signed photograph? >> 100%. i had, like, this eureka moment. and i was like, "bam! there it is! that's joe jackson." >> steve certifies the autographed shoeless joe picture and the entire 60-photo collection is real. >> it's one of the coolest things i've ever handled in my entire life.

>> even better news for the bowen family -- he grades the signature a 9 out of 10 in quality. he also rates the other signatures at either 9 or 10. after more than 100 years, the photos frank smith took at the cleveland naps spring training are about to make their public debut. >> it's also very exciting to reach out to the bowens and -- and let them know that we're gonna be able to sell it on their behalf. >> this is a biggie -- 1911 "shoeless" joe jackson signed photograph... >> yeah, live auction is always a lot of fun. >> beautiful. how 'bout it? >> $30,000. >> $30,000 now. >> it was very exciting. >> have you ever seen a photo like this? >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website...

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sharon bowen's family gathers for the auction of her strange inheritance... a 1911 scrapbook of signed photos of baseball greats. the crown jewel of the collection is the only known autographed photo of "shoeless" joe jackson, but the bowens soon learn the rest of the collection is plenty valuable, too. >> lot 53, the 1911 christy mathewson signed photo. have you ever seen a photo like this from mathewson? >> $30,000. >> $30,000. now $36,000. >> the scrapbook is broken into four lots for auction. >> $36,000. now to go to $38,000. >> i said to my children, "dad would have loved this." >> $60,000! >> and will said to me, "except, mom, dad would never have done it because he would have kept that book as long as he was alive." >> now it's a level playing field. >> my dad and i had been to so many sort of auctions like that, but never one of this magnitude. >> there are a few bidders in the room, but most are online and anonymous. >> the christy mathewson photo, which had some very spirited

bidding... >> $2,500 more to you, sir. they're gonna help you pay for it, i guess. >> ...and went well beyond its initial estimate. >> $77,500 once, twice. done! it's yours, $77,500. give him a hand. [ applause ] moving along, this is a biggie. >> next on the auction block, that signed photo of "shoeless" joe jackson, the only one known to exist. >> it was fun and bittersweet, because it meant the story was over for us. this piece of bill was leaving. >> probably read some press about this. absolutely pristine condition. >> it was the pride and joy of bill bowen's lifelong collection. >> let's start the bidding at... >> $110,000. >> $110,000. give me $120,000. >> and at that point, it started to dawn on me that this is a lot of money we're talking about. >> $120,000. now to go to $130,000. >> and i think at some point, my left knee started to buckle, just a little. >> i was very excited for -- for sharon bowen and her family, as well. it speaks to her husband,

bill bowen, that he had a great eye. >> now we got to $150,000. i need a buck and a half. $150,000 for the shoeless joe. $150,000. anyone else? done! $150,000! >> when the auction house commission is added, the joe jackson picture brings in $179,000. in the end, one anonymous bidder buys the whole collection. >> i thought -- you know, it's silly. they're not siblings, but, still, it made me happy that they stayed together. >> the scrapbook that bill bowen bought for $15,000 garners just over $300,000. not a bad return on investment... and a nice chunk of cash for his widow. >> he knew on some level that this would be a legacy to us and it would be security for me in my retirement and enable us to do some things for our children that he would want us to do. >> in a bygone era, an

enterprising photographer shoots a picture of an up-and-coming ballplayer and gets him to autograph it. the player sees stardom, then scandal, obscurity, then immortality, as the photo passes to a daughter, a friend, a co-worker, and, finally, a wife, once skeptical, now profoundly grateful that her husband had the sense, at least this once, not to listen to her. bill's daughter, meredith, told me that she has her own "field of dreams" vision of her father up in the baseball section of heaven, playing catch with "shoeless" joe. joe looks at him and smiles and says, "ain't it crazy? my signature on that old picture just got your wife a whole big pot of money." and just maybe bill is getting "shoeless" joe to explain exactly what happened back in chicago in 1919. i'm jamie colby for

"strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ bat cracks, crowd cheers ] ♪ >> a century-old movie theater -- the passion of a small-town businessman. >> his dying words were, "angela, don't let the theater go." >> but from here to eternity could be a long haul. >> anything that could go wrong went wrong. >> are the final credits about to roll? >> did he know that you would step up? >> i didn't get to tell him. i'm sorry. >> or will there be an encore performance? >> do you ever think to yourself, "i wish my grandfather would've just left me the house?" >> i wished that so many times -- more than you know. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]