and videos on our website, foxnews.com/propertyman. i'll see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] >> you want thrills, you'll get them all at the roller derby. >> talk about hell on wheels! >> she's the paragon, the symbol for roller derby. >> i wear hot pants all the time. >> she was a star. i mean, there's no doubt about it. >> a star who leaves an attic full of roller derby history... >> let me see this. they're very, very, very small. >> ...to her lifelong fan. >> this is ann's last jersey. >> why did she leave you her inheritance? >> the answer -- it's a little tricky. >> whoopsy. [ laughs ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby in san francisco today, home of the bay bombers. if you know that is the most storied franchise in roller derby, then you watch too much saturday morning tv. and if you don't know what i'm talking about, no worries! just strap on your helmet because you are in for a rollicking good time. >> my name is jim fitzpatrick, and when one of my childhood idols died in 2006, she left me hundreds of her mementos from her roller derby career. >> hi, i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. nice to meet you. i'm jim. >> inside his house, jim fitzpatrick has arranged his strange inheritance into a shrine, to the woman who left it to him, annie calvello, the hottest star from his favorite sport's glory days. >> a lot of fans went for different reasons. some of them, it's obvious. they went to see girls. some went to see the fights. >> calvello keeps driving. and she's past four and hit in there, knocked down...

>> it's back in the 1960s when the gutsy roller goddess makes a big impression on 8-year-old jim fitzpatrick. but let's not get ahead of ourselves. 1929 -- that's when we'll begin ann calvello's story, here in san francisco, where she grows up the oldest of six children. tony calvello is ann's younger brother. >> ann was a tough one. [ laughs ] i can remember getting in a fight in front of the house, and she came up and broke up the fight, then i was the one getting hit. >> as a teenager, ann takes to the latest craze -- roller skating. >> she might have been termed a "tomboy," and very often better and faster than the boys. >> around this time, a movie theatre chain owner named leo seltzer comes across a mind-blowing stat. 95% of americans have tried roller skating at one time or

another, so he creates a new sport -- roller derby. >> my father came up with this idea -- "let's put the competitors on roller skates." >> jerry seltzer is leo's son. >> the women would skate for 12 minutes against the opposing team. then the men would come out and skate for 12 minutes against the opposing team. >> here is the pack now, a girl has broken away from the pack. she is called jamming skater. for each one of the opposing teams she passes, she'll get a point. >> calvello keeps driving. >> it catches on like wildfire. [ cheers and applause ] >> were the audiences co-ed? >> the audience got more and more co-ed, and that was one of the secrets of roller derby. the wives come, the girlfriends come, and their boyfriends and husbands become fans. >> in 1948, the seltzers send scouts to san francisco to look for skaters, and 18-year-old ann calvello sparkles at a tryout.

>> ann calvello was a heck of a skater. >> later that year, roller derby makes its television debut in new york, and before long, stations across the country are picking up the game. suddenly, roller derby stars are household names. >> annie calvello, and calvello's on the move. >> it didn't take our skaters long to learn that the bigger personalities they became, the more attraction they had. >> down in right, they just tore off the front half of ann calvello's jersey, and this gal is a little angry. uh-oh! she hit the referee and gets ruled out of the game. >> we actually had a rule how far could the women zip down their jerseys, and there's one who violated it all the time. that was ann calvello. >> she was very proud of what she termed her "tickets." that's what they referred to their breasts as -- tickets -- and she'd say "tickets up!" and she'd stand up real straight. she was really quite funny.

>> every grudge match needs a villain. ann is happy to oblige. >> watch it! she's got more trouble! >> everybody wanted to come and see ann, primarily to boo her. >> were those real fights, or were they laying it on? >> let me tell you what i would say to the skaters. "we do not want fights. but if you're gonna fight, you better fight because there's nothing worse than a phony fight." >> judy arnold skated against ann calvello. >> annie loved being the villain. >> and now three shamrocks start to finish the job! >> most of the skaters off the track loved her. >> oh, there's bad blood here! >> on the track, things change 'cause you want to win. >> there she is, right behind the hammerlock. >> but ann's not just a roller derby queen. she's also a world-class packrat who saves every knee pad,

jersey, and piece of fan mail from day 1. >> 1948, when she's a teenager, she's recruited to skate for the first time professionally, and this was her original skate case. >> this is her helmet? >> this is one of ann's helmets. she kind of decorated hers with scarves and she added her name to it. and she was a leo, very proud of it, so she -- >> that's pretty cool. >> women born under the sign of leo are said to be difficult to resist, and a handsome roller derby referee named roy langley can't. they wed in 1951 and have a daughter named teri, but the marriage soon goes over the rail. >> roy was very jealous of any attention that ann got, especially from men. i believe he expected them to be settled, and that wasn't what ann wanted to do. >> what ann wants is to go back to roller derby, and she does.

the couple divorce, roy's mother raises teri while ann tours the globe. >> when she was on the track, she wasn't only queen of the track. she was queen of the world. ♪ >> color tv allows ann to amp up her flamboyant style. >> annie would color her hair. >> when i come back, you're gonna be so sorry... >> she'd do part pink, part green, part blue, and in those days, that was not the thing to do, but annie did it. >> one of her nicknames -- demon of the derby. after a few broken schnauzes, the most famous is banana nose. >> banana nose! >> banana nose! >> then in the late 1960s, she grabs the attention of a certain 8-year-old boy. >> it was a saturday morning, and all of a sudden, i see this bizarre sport.

>> tickets up! how jim becomes a superfan and then ann's heir. next... >> b first, r question.inheritance" quiz real life roller derby star judy arnold was the stunt double for which actress in the 1972 film "kansas city bomber?" the answer after the break. i've been blind since birth. i go through periods where it's hard to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. learn about non-24 by calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com. dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one.

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>> so, which actress used judy arnold for her stunt double in the 1972 film "kansas city bomber?" it's raquel welch. judy wore a brunette wig to do raquel's action scenes. >> by the late 1960s, ann calvello has been burning up the roller derby track for two decades. jim fitzpatrick is a young boy watching tv when he first sets eyes on the demon of the derby. >> it was 1968. >>those of us who loved him... >> bobby knedy was assassinated, and it was a saturday morning, and they had the funeral procession, which was airing on all the channels. >> the only alternative for a sports-crazy kid... ...an independent tv station airing a raucous battle. >> they were skating at this wild, blinding speed, hitting

each other, banging each other. people are falling. >> he's hooked and unable to avert his eyes from the veteran vixen with the bod of a 25-year-old. his strange inheritance contains the proof. >> these are her shorts while she was on the midwest pioneers, and she was already at this point, 41 years of age. >> they're very, very, very small. >> "if you got it, flaunt it," the saying goes, and ann does. >> i wear hot pants. i mean, at 42 years old, people say you shouldn't wear hot pants. i say, "hey, look, when you're my age, you should look so good in hot pants." >> as jim grows up, he doesn't outgrow his roller derby fascination. he takes up skating himself, and after high school scores a job on the track crew with the hometown bay bombers. it's a skate in the door. >> one night, i walk into the oakland auditorium, and the owner comes over to me and he goes, "you're skating tonight." that's when i went, "holy crap,

am i ready for this?" >> jim goes on to skate with teams across the u.s., in bueno aires, and on a u.s. all star team in japan. >> i pursued my dream. >> you were too determined. >> yeah. >> but after 5 years, injuries forced jim to switch jobs to part-time ref. next thing he knows, he's facing off with ann calvello, now 56 years old and swinging a handbag. >> she grabbed the purse, took the straps, she swung it around, and she nailed me on the side of the head. >> in time, that lump on jim's head will get replaced with a soft spot in his heart for a battered and aging roller derby queen still busting chops but worried about fading away. that's next. >> i can't believe i'm doing this. >> here's another quiz question for you. ronnie robinson, one of the top

roller derby stars of the '70s was related to what more famous figure? boxing champ sugar ray robinson, former first lady michelle robinson obama, or baseball great jackie robinson? the answer when we return. [vo] when it comes to investing, looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. it can provide what we call an unlock: a realization that often reveals a better path forward. at wells fargo, it's our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and wealth management firms in the country. discover how we can help find your unlock.

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built for business. the shlike a bald penguin. how do i look? [ laughing ] show me the billboard music awards. show me top artist. show me the top hot 10arti. they give awards for being hot and 100 years old? we'll take 2! [ laughing ] xfinity x1 gives you exclusive access to the best of the billboard music awards just by using your voice. the billboard music awards. sunday, may 21st eight seven central only on abc. >> so, who w ronnie robinson's famous relative? it's a. his dad was boxing champ sugar ray robinson. >> by the mid-1990s, jim fitzpatrick has left behind his days a pro roller derby skater. the profession, he says, isn't what it once was.

>> the sport has gone through so many ups and downs. the traditional roller derby was a totally legitimate game, but there have been other people that have come along, and they've just taken it in a whole bizarre direction. >> just wait till you see these skaters take on the 14-foot high wall of death. >> i've seen some that have had a wall of death... >> he's getting him onto the rail! he's putting him in the pit! >> ...an alligator pit... >> i can't believe what we're witnessing here tonight! >> i got to go! >> the changes don't seem to bother annie calvello. even as she nears 70, she's still selling those tickets. >> they want all the young girls, you know, with the nice figures, but i don't have a bad figure, and they're real! >> what's all too real -- the off-track life of an aging roller derby demon who never remarries, never saves money, and makes end meeting pushing carts and bagging groceries at the safeway. it's around this time that jim

runs into ann at a roller derby reunion. he's compiling a book about the history of the sport. >> i kind of put it together for just some of the skaters as a keepsake. i started asking her questions for my book. >> over a string of long interviews and sharing stories, they become close friends. so close that jim's by her side when ann learns she has eye cancer, then it spreads to her liver. ann confides to jim her worry that she'll be totally forgotten when she's gone and her wish for one last night in the spotlight. >> she really wanted to skate, and she was 70 years old, and i really thought that this is not a good thing to do. >> in august 2000, ann calvello skates before cheering roller derby fans one last time. >> she doesn't take you know what! [ whistle blows ] >> and there they go! ann calvello puts him up into the rail, and look at her go!

one lap to go. if she gets there first, she's gonna win this thing! she can get it... and she got it! she knocked him down with an old roller derby move! old banana nose is back, and what an outpouring of love for ann calvello. >> that red jersey is the last thing ann calvello places in her lifelong collection of roller derby memorabilia. >> i'm gonna miss all you guys! >> and then she delights jim by announcing she's leaving much of it to him when she dies. >> i go by my own rules! >> it's on march 14, 2006 ann calvello hangs up her skates for good, succumbing to cancer at age 76. >> i remember going over to her apartment, and it was a sad day. and when i saw what i had, i was blown away by it. >> jim gathers up his strange inheritance -- trophies,

pennants, fan letters, skates, knee pads, jerseys, and more. >> this is the madison square garden's program for the first ali-frazier fight. they have a section in here on other great athletes that performed in the garden, and sure enough... >> it's ann! >> yeah, two pictures of ann. so she represented roller derby. and then this is after she had some real knee problems and she was starting to wear a special brace. this is touching. ann saved all of her fan mail. i even have a lot of her letters when people were wishing her to recover after the brain tumor surgery. >> stuff any roller derby fan would covet. >> jim, you ever have any of this stuff appraised? >> not really appraised, but what i have noticed over the years, i've seen people sell items on ebay. there was one jersey that was sold for about $3,000. i think ann is just as much if not more of a star, so... it might go for more. >> but as you're about to see, jim has another idea for his strange inheritance, one he'll

try out in his new position as general manager of the storied san francisco bay bombers. coming up, how do you bring back roller derby's glory days? it won't be easy... >> i promised my mom i'd wear these. >> what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. what if technology gave us the power to turn this enemy into an ally? microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. there are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. with the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. if we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin.

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stay with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and. >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> roller derby legend ann calvello saves practically everything from her 50-year career -- skates, jerseys, programs, photos, pennants, trophies, and on and on and on. fellow derby legend judy arnold is glad she did. >> annie had a heart to preserve what she did. i think it's wise that she did that.

i didn't think that way. >> when ann dies, she leaves all this to jim fitzpatrick, her lifelong fan whom she inspired to join the roller derby himself. he's sure it's worth many thousands of dollars, but knows ann had a plan for him. why did she leave you her inheritance? >> i love the sport, and she knew that i was doing the best i could trying to bring roller derby back to where it should be. >> jim now manages the san francisco bay bombers, one of the first teams calvello skated for. but if roller derby has a future, it's now in the hands of skaters like stacey blitsch. malibu stacey who skates for the l.a. firebirds is in town to face the bombers. >> oh, my goodness! hello! >> so she, jim fitzpatrick, and judy arnold teach me some tricks of the trade. >> so, jim, what are you gonna teach me today? >> we're gonna start out with a whip. and a whip is a way of propelling a skater or teammate

down the track. it accelerates their speed. >> now it's my turn. i'm gonna do this. stand by. ♪ i promised my mom i'd wear these. >> whoopsy. [ laughs ] >> let's try that again. >> right, left. right, left. hey! >> she's got it! >> okay, i'm getting the hang of this. >> that's it? [ laughs ] no biggie. >> hey, if raquel welch can use a stunt double, so can i. thanks, stace. >> walking... >> it's clear i'm not gonna help

jim reach his goal of returning roller derby to its former glory years, but he believes his strange inheritance might. see, jim understands that while some fans like him might get hooked on a sport after catching it on tv... >> bay bombers! >> ...usually fandom is passed down from a parent or grandparent. he figures it will only help if he can draw connection between today's skaters and those who raced around these banked tracks in generations past. >> today's game is dedicated to the original roller derby legend and former san francisco bay bomber ann calvello. >> that's where his strange inheritance comes in. >> we love this and we want to try and carry it on and carry the tradition on. >> yes, there are some empty seats, but jim sees a promising mix of kids, moms, and old-timers who take in ann calvello's treasures, fondly

remembering old banana nose. >> i loved to see her, the way she used to fight and skate around. she was wonderful. >> come on, baby! take her out! take her out! >> so, can ann calvello's heir bring their sport back to the days of big ratings and sold-out stadiums? >> star of the night, annie calvello. [ whistle blows ] >> it sounds like a pipe dream. >> get in front, [bleep] get in front! fight! >> calvello's on the move. the fans are very excited about this, look at them stand up and watch. >> you never know. [ cheers and applause ] in fact, the federation of international roller sports has been lobbying for decades to get the derby into the olympics. skaters say they were almost a demonstration sport in 2016, but they lost out to rugby and golf. better luck next time, jammers. i'm jamie colby.

thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> a great president from humble roots... >> "abe lincoln, the rail-splitter" made him sound like a man of the people. >> is this the kind of thing that lincoln used as a yog man? >> he would use mauls and mallets splitting fence rails, working around the farm. >> but did young abe swing this? >> it was just a relic that was around our house. we didn't really give a lot of thought to it. >> it's their strange inheritance, but it's never been put to the test. >> even though, in our minds, it was 100% real, just because we think so doesn't make it true. >> anybody could have carved their initials "a-l." how do you know it's really lincoln's? [ applause ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in indiana. the hoosier state boasts that it's the childhood home of abraham lincoln, and i'm meeting a woman who believes she's inherited the very tool that lincoln used as a young man to split rails. if so, that would be amazing. lincoln's image as the rail-splitter was a key to his unlikely election as president in 1860. >> my name is andrea solis. when my father died in 2015, my brother and i inherited an heirloom that had been in our family for more than 150 years. we were always told it belonged to abraham lincoln, and i believe it. >> hi, andrea. i'm jamie. so nice to meet you. >> hi, jamie. nice to meet you. my family has something here that i think you might like to see. you want to go check it out? >> yes, please. >> okay. >> andrea's strange inheritance is on loan here at the state museum in indianapolis

in its abraham lincoln collection. it has the initials "a-l." >> he was known as "the rail-splitter," and i'm sure that he used it to split wood to make fences. >> growing up, was there a whole story behind it? >> yes. abram ncoln lived near my great-great-grandfather, and abraham gave the mallet to him, and then it has been passed down for generations in my family. >> how do you check out a story like andrea's? start 200 years ago across the border in kentucky, says lincoln scholar dale ogden. what was lincoln's early life like in kentucky? >> he was born to a subsistence farmer family. his father actually was more of a carpenter than a farmer. >> in 1816, when abe is seven, thomas lincoln moves his family 100-miles west to the indiana territory, the same year it becomes a state. >> what brought them to indiana? >> it was a lot easier to

prove ownership of your land than it was in kentucky. the other reason was that indiana was a state where slavery had been made illegal. i think thomas was just intrinsically opposed to the idea of slavery. >> the lincoln family settles on 160 acres in what's now spencer county, 150 miles south of indianapolis. here thomas lincoln becomes a sought-after cabinetmaker. >> he built beautiful furniture, and that was a very valuable skill on the frontier where there wasn't a whole lot that had been previously built. >> he often presses abe into service. >> the idea was, of course in that time, the father would pass on his skills, his occupation to his son. >> did he learn it? >> a little bit. abraham, whenever he had the opportunity, would kind of sneak off and read. >> when he's not behind a book, teenage abe works splitting rails -- a job done with heavy wood mauls. what's a rail-splitter? >> building fence would have been one of the first things you would have had to do on

the frontier to separate your land from other people's land, first cutting down a tree and then splitting it into rails to make fence. >> growing to 6'4", trim and strong, abraham gains a reputation as a fierce rail-splitter. he wasn't just tall, he was imposing. >> he intimidated pretty much everybody that he came in contact with, both physically and intellectually. >> in 1830, when abe's 21, his father moves the family northwest to illinois in search of better farmland. young lincoln pursues a career in law, and by 1846 is elected to congress. his reputation as "the rail-splitter" follows him wherever he goes. his presidential campaign in 1860 uses this portrait of a lean, powerful lincoln wielding his maul. it looks different from andrea's, but we'll get to that later. suffice it to say, lincoln's image-makers are on to something. >> lincoln had some very

accomplished political handlers. they thought that the idea of the rail-splitter, it made him sound like a common man. >> a political cartoon even shows lincoln being carried on a fence rail with the caption -- "the rail candidate." the strategy works. lincoln is elected the 16th president of the united states. he goes on to fight and win the civil war, end slavery, and save the union. his assassination cements him in the pantheon of american heroes. overnight, anything lincoln touched becomes a relic. so if andrea's ancestors do have a gift from their old neighbor, no surprise they treasure it -- and their descendants do, too. it's a century after lincoln's death, in the 1970s, when andrea's older brother, keith cart family's cherished heirloom. >> my earliest memory of the mallet was that my grandfather had stored it in the basement

of his house in a crevice by a steel beam. >> whenever he takes it out, grandpa carter recounts that equally cherished family lore about how abraham gave his friends the mallet before departing indiana in 1830. grandpa carter bequeaths the mallet -- and the yarn that goes with it -- to keith and andrea's father. but instead of hiding the hammer, their dad sets it out, right there, on the fireplace. >> we didn't really talk about it a lot, but when people came over to our house, they would see it, and it would be a talking point. >> we didn't really give a lot of thought to it. i think my sister took it to school one time. >> how old were you? >> it was kindergarten show-and-tell. >> did anyone believe you? >> my teacher questioned it, like that is amazing, but why would you have something that valuable in our classroom? >> you didn't trade it for a peanut butter sandwich? >> i didn't, no. >> thank goodness. so the mallet just leans against the fireplace in the carter home

until keith and andrea's father dies in 2015 and the mallet is passed to them. >> my parents' will said that my brother and i get things equally. >> you sure can't cut this in half. >> you can't, no. [ laughs ] >> so the heirs decide to do something, well, risky -- something that could obliterate that wonderful family tradition linking them to one of the great men who walked the earth. they decide to find out whether the mallet is really lincoln's. >> even though, in our minds, it was 100% real, just because we think so doesn't make it true. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. of which literary work did lincoln say, "i think nothing equals it"? the answer after the break.

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♪ >> so, of which literary work did lincoln say, "nothing equals it"? it's "a," shakespeare's "macbeth," which lincoln claimed to have "gone over as frequently as any unprofessional reader." >> in 2015, andrea solis and her brother, keith carter, inherit what family lore says is a hand tool built, used, and initialed by abraham lincoln. did this have any paperwork, no letter from lincoln that says --

no. nothing. >> nothing. >> at their dad's wake, the fascinating heirloom becomes a topic of conversation with one of their cousins, tom brauns, who, turns out, is a lincoln buff. >> it was kind of a surprise -- didn't know he had it. >> i told him it had "a-l, 1829" on it, and he got really excited about that. >> he said, "well, how do i get it authenticated?" i said, "well, i have some ideas," so he handed it to me right then and said, "go do your thing." >> really? cousin tommy runs an appliance repair business. what does he know about authenticating a lincoln artifact? did tommy have any special skill that let you think he was the right guy for the job? >> tommy is amazing at doing ancestry work and researching history. >> was this your first authentication? >> yes. >> were you scared? >> at first i was excited when keith handed it to me, but on the way home i thought, "this is a heavy responsibility." >> to help shoulder the burden, tom leans on some other local

lincoln enthusiasts, including his friend steve haaff, a retired school teacher and lincoln fanatic who's studied the furniture making of thomas and abraham lincoln. >> i love lincoln, and i always have. it kind of started as a hobby, but then it's really grown since then. >> the duo begin by asking, what exactly is this mallet and where did it come from? see the half-moon shaped groove? it looks like part of a hole that had been drilled into a larger chunk of wood. steve concludes that that hole once held a much longer handle, and that this mysterious relic began as a completely different tool. >> okay, i brought with me today a maul which looks pretty much identical to what that mallet would have looked like originally. >> is this the kind of thing that lincoln used as a young man as the rail-splitter? >> absolutely. and if you look at the lincoln mallet, you can see it broke,

and it really split almost symmetrical. >> so, lincoln's broke and was repurposed? >> yes, into a smaller bench mallet. now we're no longer hitting wedges to split rails with it, but something a lot smaller. >> it's on the freshly exposed surface that the new mallet is dated with nails that steve confirms are consistent with 1829, and, of course, its inlaid "a-l," which is most unique. there aren't that many out there, right? >> no. as far as we know, this is the only maul out there that has abraham lincoln's initials in it. >> more on those initials later. meantime, tom, the genealogy buff, is putting the carter family lore to the test. remember, the story goes that before abe left indiana for illinois in 1830, he gave the mallet to andrea and keith's great-great-grandfather, one barnabas carter jr. >> if there was a defining

moment, it was whenever barnabas carter received that mallet. that's where it all began. >> the next step is to find out if all the characters in the purported chain of custody are in the right places at the right time. and tom and steve do unearth evidence of a lincoln-carter family connection even earlier than keith supposes -- going back to the early 1800s when the families were neighbors in kentucky. what do you have? >> well, we have tax records, for one. there were eight carter brothers who lived in kentucky beside the lincolns. >> then the guys uncover another clue -- an indiana land-plot map. it shows that the lincolns and the carter clan moved to the same section of southern indiana at nearly the same time, between 1815 and 1816. >> thomas lincoln lived in this area right here, has his name on it. right below his property, you see a small square that says, "nancy hanks lincoln grave."

>> that's his mother. >> that is abraham lincoln's mother, and she is buried on the carter's farm. so, very close connection, not only personally, but in proximity to where they lived. >> but was young abe himself friendly enough with the carters to give them a gift that would keep giving through the years? digging into lincoln's writing they find a lighthearted poem by lincoln about a boyhood adventure in indiana. >> abraham lincoln wrote a poem about a bear hunt, and in that bear hunt, he mentions the carters. >> penned sometime in the mid 1840s, one stanza reads... >> abraham lincoln didn't forget about the carters, and, to me, it really shows that relationship was so strong, it carried with him even years later. >> the amateur history sleuths seem to be getting warmer. time to really home in on those initials, "a-l."

that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. at 6'4", abraham lincoln was the tallest president. who was the second tallest? the answer when we return. break through your allergies.

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♪ >> so, who was the second tallest president after abraham lincoln? it's "c." lbj was 6'3 1/2," just a half inch shorter than lincoln. >> in 2015, andrea solis and her brother, keith carter, are having a treasured family heirloom authenticated -- this mallet, which they believe was made and owned by abraham lincoln as a young man

in indiana. leading the charge, two amateur researchers -- their cousin tom brauns and tom's friend steve haaff. they've established a relationship between the carter and lincoln families. now they tackle those fancy letters, "a-l." would lincoln really inlay his initials on an old mallet? >> i think that abraham lincoln was tinkering. people did mark their stuff for ownership, to make sure that it wasn't stolen. >> the guys confirm lincoln did initial at least one other tool. in a blacksmith's shop in the 1830s, witnesses recall abe etching his initials into an iron wedge. it's on display at the smithsonian. those initials look very similar to the "a-l" on andrea and keith's wood mallet. that these letters are inlaid is another key to steve and tom's authentication. >> not just anybody could do inlay work. one of the questions you have to ask yourself, did abraham lincoln have the ability to inlay the metal into

the mallet? >> if no, that's a problem. if yes, it's another reason to believe the tool was lincoln's. the guys find their answer in an example of abe's carpentry work, a cabinet door usually on display at a nearby museum. >> abraham lincoln inlaid the letters "e-c" because this cabinet was built for elizabeth crawford, a neighbor of the lincoln's. >> steve tells me both sets of initials are consistent with the meticulous technique abe used to inlay the letters. >> it was a skill that was learned from his father, who was a highly skilled cabinetmaker. we can trace this mallet from the current owners back to abraham lincoln. >> you have any doubt in your mind? >> no, i don't, and i'm a hard person to convince. >> but it's one thing for a couple of lincoln buffs to convince themselves. a ving will be ather story.s for you guys are not exactly professional researchers. there's a ton of fakes out there. >> absolutely, there's a ton of fakes.

>> and this man knows it. you must get those calls all the time. >> it's kind of like the picasso behind grandma's portrait. >> that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. ♪ you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief, try doctor recommended gaviscon. it quickly neutralizes stomach acid and helps keep acid down for hours. relieve heartburn with fast- acting, long-lasting gaviscon.

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and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. ♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> andrea solis and keith carter think they have confirmed that a 150-year-old family y about their stranginritance is true -- that once belonged to abraham lincoln. >> our enthusiasm didn't really start until tom brought this information forth. it's really incredible. >> no wonder they're excited. verified lincoln artifacts can fetch big bucks. a lock of his hair sold at auction for $25,000. a white house admittance card from his funeral -- 12k. and then there's this stovepipe hat, authenticated as lincoln's,

appraised for $6.5 million and sold in 2007 to the lincoln museum in springfield, illinois. but there's a lot of phony lincolnalia out there. just ask dale ogden, the chief curator of history and culture at the indiana state museum. you must get those calls all the time. >> i get probably about a call a month. it's kind of like the picasso behind grandma's portrait. >> i mean, what are the chances that something that's just sitting around, let alone by the fireplace, is going to be real? >> the chances are very slim. >> yet, andrea and keith's story entices dale to take a look. he examines the mallet, the inlaid initials, and the brief prepared by two amateur history detectives, tom brauns and steve haaff. >> you got two amateur supersleuths that do all the research. did they do a good job? >> i was really impressed. they spent a lot of time looking into genealogical records, land-purchase documents, making the connection between

the lincolns and the carters. >> more than impressed. the curator's convinced. he says it's really abe's mallet and part of a maul the legendary log-splitter once used to make fence rails. >> i've probably been approached with 100 objects that somebody or anotherlaimed was ainco artifact, anthis is the only one that we've settled on. >> so now that the siblings are confident they've inherited something of great historic value, putting it back by the fireplace just isn't an option anymore. but what should they do with it? >> it is sentimental value, and you have to weigh out what your grandfather would have wanted done and your ancestors, my father. >> until they decide, they lend it to the indiana state museum. governor mike pence is ecstatic. >> it is going to draw people from around the country and around the world who will come to see those initials, and when they do, they will know

abraham lincoln was a hoosier. >> i'm ecstatic, too, when dale ogden offers to give me a look at the lincoln relic outside its glass case. >> we'll be real careful with it here. >> so, as a curator, would you let me hold it? >> [ sighs ] >> i got big hands. [ gasps ] >> i won't let go. >> that's okay, but you truly believe this is a piece from abraham lincoln, and i am holding it in my hands. i need a souvenir photo. i don't want to make you nervous. you've been so generous. >> i am nervous, yeah. >> just between you and me, what do you think it's worth? >> it depends on what the prince in dubai, as opposed to the businessman in hong kong would be willing to pay for it. >> everybody wants a piece of lincoln. >> yeah. >> what's the significance of this for your family? >> well, i just hope everyone can understand the importance of abraham lincoln and what an honor it is for our family to have received this. he's our greatest president in my mind. [ chuckles ]

>> would andrea and her brother ever sell the mallet? andrea says they've spoken to one auction house and are leaving that door open. if someone were to come to you and say it was worth $100,000, $50,000 each -- sell? >> no. but my feelings could change down the road, i don't know. >> like at $1 million, it might change? >> that's a lot. it would have to be a game-changer. [ laughs ] >> of course, even lincoln experts second-guess themselves. take that stovepipe hat we showed you. after critics began questioning whether the hat could really be traced to lincoln, some museum board members said they wanted the state police to test it for lincoln's dna. that never happened. the museum determined that testing a 160-year-old hat for dna was sure to be inconclusive, but hats off to the seller who got the museum to spend millions for it. i'm jamie colby.

thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. online poll results quickly. there you are. 93 percent. ♪ >> it's crazy. >> don't call me crazy.