book. lou, i love your no nonsense style. your book looks like a wicked read. and thanks for being with us, good night. >> she won't sell out. >> the 84-year-old seen here turned down $1 million payout. >> he's caught in the middle. >> i promised her that i wouldn't let them take her away. >> that's a really big promise. >> what's "up" with that? >> people from all over the country and even around the world have stopped by this house. >> they put balloons on the house, and that's how it became the "up" house. >> it is amazing. i can't believe that she held out. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today,

i'm in seattle, headed toward the ballard neighborhood. it's an upscale area once known for sawmills and commercial fishing, and just down the road is one man's strange inheritance and a story with a hollywood ending. >> my name's barry martin. i inherited a tiny, hundred-year-old house from a little old lady. if there ever was a real-estate niche, this is one. >> hi, barry. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. nice to meet you. >> i meet barry in front of this little house. yep, this is it -- his strange inheritance. it's just 600 square feet, and it's now surrounded by a huge shopping mall -- a mall that the unlikely heir in this story helped build. >> who leaves this to somebody? >> well, edith left it to me. >> edith? >> yep. >> love to learn more. >> okay. come on. >> barry explains that when this house was built over a hundred years ago, ballard, washington,

was the shingle-mill capital of the world, with 20 mills producing 3 million shingles a day. >> there was fishing on elliot bay there, and the shingle-mill industry, all along shilshole avenue here. >> cass o'callaghan from the ballard historical society tells me more. did the neighborhood really change over the years? >> in about the late '30s, early '40s, the commercial district moved north and businesses moved out. nobody wanted to be here anymore. >> with the exception, that is, of edith macefield and her retired single mother, alice wilson. edith's early life is a bit mysterious. we know she was born in august 1921, and that her parents divorced shortly thereafter. during her 20s, edith disappears -- to england, she says, where she seems to have gotten married once or thrice. but, again, it's hard to tell fact from fiction. [ camera shutter clicks ]

by the 1950s, she's back in ballard, single, and working as a store manager for spic 'n span dry cleaners. edith buys this house for her mother and the two name it whitewood cottage. edith is able to pay off the $3,700 mortgage in just a few years. in her off hours, she babysits for next-door neighbor gayle holland. hi, gayle. you know why i'm here -- to hear about edith. >> i've got a lot to tell you. come on in. our street was very quiet and edith would play games with us. >> so she was older, but she loved to hang out with children? >> oh, yes. everybody liked edith. she would play her saxophone or her trumpet outside. we would sit and listen to her, and she'd let us blow on her instruments. >> what a character! they ask her about her past, and, oh, the stories she tells. >> i know she had a son who died of meningitis.

>> edith shares only a few sketchy details -- that the boy was born out of wedlock, that his father was jewish, that james macefield, a much older englishman, married her to help save the boy from the nazis. it's all very complicated. you see, edith was spying on hitler for britain at the time. is it all true? who knows? gayle just loves hanging out with her eccentric neighbor, until her family, like so many others, abandons the area. so, you left and edith stayed. >> yes. it was the early '60s when we moved away. >> in 1976, edith's mother, alice, passes away on the couch in the front room. not long after, edith retires and spends her days watching greta garbo videos and listening to big bands on vinyl. more and more, whitewood cottage stands apart -- her oasis amid

urban blight. by the '90s, homeless -- living in parked cars -- provide an edgy backdrop for the grunge-rock scene. but all the while, developers are slowly gobbling up edith's neighborhood, says real-estate broker paul thomas. >> each time a parcel came up on the market, they'd just quietly acquire it and let it sit in an llc, and they assembled the whole entire block, except for her house. >> it's in early 2006 when edith gets the knock at her door. it's a representative of kg investment management, which wants to put up a shopping mall. the developer makes a proposal they think the 84-year-old can't refuse -- $750,000! what do you think the house was worth? >> $150,000. [ chuckles ] it wasn't worth very much. >> edith could buy five whitewood cottages. even so, she does refuse the offer. and the bulldozers roll around

her. >> i have a picture when they tore everything down in the whole block and it was just her house in the middle of the block. >> reporters catch wind of the story and turn edith into a local folk hero -- a steadfast champion against yuppification, standing up for seattle's old neighborhoods, defying the encroaching chain boutiques, food courts, and those $6 lattes. that's how they portray edith. and that's exactly who barry martin expects when he becomes construction manager of the mall. how did you meet edith? >> i always go visit the neighbors and give them my card so that if they have any problems, they know who to get ahold of, and i walked past her yard and introduced myself. she was actually very pleasant and said she was looking forward to the activity. >> turns out, edith wasn't watching garbo flicks because she "vanted to be alone." that becomes clear with edith's

beauty-shop appointment. she needs a ride, so she calls barry. not exactly what he was thinking when he dropped off his card, but what the heck? he drives her. they get to talking. >> a lot of people thought that she was against development, and that wasn't the case at all. it was more she just didn't want to go through the exercise of having to move. >> indeed, edith actually makes fun of the anti-development types, who, among other things, are trying to get landmark status for the local denny's. edith's view -- things get built, things get torn down. that's the way of the world. it wouldn't be their last car talk. soon, barry's co-workers call him "driving miss daisy." could you rattle off for me some of the errands you were asked to do for her? >> i would take her laundry out to be done. we would go get her lunch. i would take her to all of her doctor's appointments. >> she didn't pay you. >> no. she just needed it. >> you're not a saint.

>> nope. >> but his wife and two high-school-age children surely have the patience of job, when barry spends more and more time at edith's. >> i made her meals three times a day, seven days a week. on the weekends, basically, i'd stay there, and if not, then i had made sure that somebody else was there. >> barry isn't there one night when edith falls and lands in the hospital with broken ribs and a platoon of social workers insisting she should no longer live alone. then tag-teaming executives from the development company show up again with a deed ready to sign and another big fat check. >> they offered her $1 million and actually offered to buy a house for her in ballard and she refused that, also. >> $1 million for a little old granny and a new house in her neighborhood, and she says no. >> yes. >> what would you have done? >> i would have probably taken

the money and had somebody fanning me with big feathers and feeding me figs. >> the 84-year-old seen here turned down $1 million payout. >> it just adds to the edith macefield legend -- a story that can't help but go national. what's infuriating barry is that he believes he's cast as one of the black hats, trying to manipulate old edith into selling out. the truth, he says, is just the opposite. >> i promised her that, um, i wouldn't let them take her away and that she could stay there and die in her house. >> that's a really big promise. >> it is. and it became a lot bigger deal than, you know, i had originally anticipated. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question -- where was america's first indoor shopping mall built? the answer in a moment.

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>> it's "b" -- minnesota. the southdale center in edina, the country's first fully-enclosed, climate-controlled mall, opened in 1956. >> in 2008, 86-year-old edith macefield and her

whitewood cottage stand in the way of a shopping mall. barry martin's job is to build that mall. but he's also made it his life's work to keep edith in her home. barry didn't even know edith two years before. now he just doesn't know what to make of her. >> she had a lot of stories to tell and she never really finished a story. >> but, boy, the way she drops names, you'd think she's forrest gump. like hitler -- she met him several times, ended up in a concentration camp, and was sprung by the fuhrer himself. benny goodman -- her cousin, she claimed -- he gave her her clarinet. tommy dorsey, the band leader -- once, when he was short on cash, she bought his sax. mickey rooney -- she taught him dance steps. and so on. barry has one thought -- edith's a wack job. >> i was thinking "crazy old lady" for a while.

>> but in the winter of 2007, edith's health suddenly declines. just as suddenly, the construction manager finds himself doing things he really never signed up for -- helping edith shower, use the bathroom, take her medicine, including insulin shots. a big question occurs to barry -- what happens when the mall is done and he moves to another job? what happens if edith lives to 100? that won't happen. in april 2008, edith is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. she declines treatment and, knowing she'll soon need someone else to make her decisions, gives barry her power of attorney. it's a big responsibility. did you really want it? >> i didn't really want it, and i didn't really understand exactly what all it meant. >> uh-oh. >> yeah, uh-oh. i said, "do you understand the power you're giving me?" and she said, "why do you think i chose you?" >> did you know all along that you were going to get that house? >> no. i didn't know until after she

asked me to become her power of attorney. then she said that she wanted to redo her will at that same time. >> barry's a bit sheepish, knowing many suspect him of angling for the house from the beginning. but that's her wish -- like her desire to die on the same couch as her mother three decades earlier. and on june 15, 2008, death does come -- as a friend -- to whitewood cottage. >> i promised her that i wouldn't let them take her away and that she could stay there and die in her house. >> does it make you emotional? >> it does. >> why? >> um... because i got to help her end her life the way she wanted to. >> the little house in the big mall is now barry's.

but soon he'll discover that, thanks to a hollywood blockbuster, edith macefield fans will claim it as their own. >> there were people out on the sidewalk taking pictures and leaving little notes and putting up balloons with messages on them. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. you've met barry martin, the construction manager in this story. the answer after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

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and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. >> it's "a", john ratzenberger. just a coincidence he's a dead ringer for barry martin, the heir in this "strange inheritance" story.

>> it's spring 2009, and barry martin is trying to figure out what to do with his strange inheritance -- a house he helped build a mall around. the owner, edith macefield, had died the year before, and barry assumes memories of her will fade, too. but then disney comes a-calling. it's ready to release an animated feature called "up." it's about a crotchety old man who, just like edith, refuses to sell his house to a developer. disney wants to use edith's house to promote the film. >> they wanted to put balloons on the house for their premiere here in seattle, so they came out and put balloons on the house and took a picture and that's how it became the "up" house. >> did you think it was a good idea? >> i thought it was rather funny, myself, and then after i saw the movie, there's actually some photographs that look very similar to the picture in the movie. >> soon, edith's cottage and

that of character carl fredricksen are associated as one. >> there were people out on the sidewalk taking pictures and leaving little notes and putting up balloons with messages on them. >> and inspirational, it sounds like. >> very. inspirational to different people for different reasons. kids loved it because they thought it was really the house from the movie. you'd see grown-ups crying on the sidewalk. >> she stuck to her guns, you know, even though she could have made a ton of money. >> this woman was kind of the last holdout. she wanted to keep her home, and that's huge. >> it's amazing. i can't believe that she held out. >> but by the time the movie "up" comes out, the nation is in a downer -- the great recession. and barry's real life is anything but a storybook fantasy. >> that was right about when we had our downturn. i was out of work. >> so, barry decides it's time to sell edith's house. she once turned down $1 million for the place, but the window on that offer closed long ago. >> did she tell you she would be

okay with you selling it? >> oh, yeah, and she told me to hold out until i got my price. >> what did you sell it for? >> i sold it for $310,000. [ cash register dings ] >> what did you do with the money, may i ask? >> paid for my kids to go to school. i invested the money and got money back monthly, and it made my house payment. >> that's not nothing. plus, barry says the new owners planned -- in the spirit of "up" -- to raise edith's house 20 feet off the ground and make a public tribute to her below. but they run out of money, and the house falls into foreclosure. >> what was your role in all this? >> i was hired by the bank to sell the house for them. >> the bank includes a provision in the face of pressure from local community groups who want an homage to their folk hero. >> one of the terms of the sale was that each person was required to memorialize edith in some way. >> 38 offers come in, but it's the 39th that wins -- at $450,000.

[ cash register dings ] the buyer? the same folks who offered edith $1 million years before -- kg investments, now the manager of the shopping mall. they plan to knock the house down, eventually. so, ultimately, edith's house went to the organization that wanted to buy it all along. >> well, it's kind of neat in a way because she got what she wished for and the shopping center ended up being able to buy the property at a lot lower price than they originally had offered. >> will they do anything to remember edith? >> the ownership has committed that they'll put up a brass plaque that memorializes edith. >> it will be just one more way the ballard community pays tribute to its folk hero. there's also an annual edith macefield music festival. ♪ you can even get a tattoo of edith's house with the legend underneath -- "steadfast." for the heir in this "strange inheritance" episode, that's further proof edith was

misunderstood. maybe even, he'd discover, by himself. >> you must have learned an awful lot about edith once you started to go through her things. >> i learned a lot more than she had let me know. 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. ♪ [brother] any last words? [boy] karma, danny... ...karma! [vo] progress is seizing the moment. your summer moment awaits you, now that the summer of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> barry martin doesn't just inherit edith macefield's home, but everything else she owned. >> wow, you must have learned an awful lot about edith, once you started to go through her things. >> i learned a lot more than she had let me know. >> and enough to question whether all her stories were as wacko as he once thought. >> did she have a vivid imagination, or do you think most of it was real? >> i'm a little -- i'm not quite -- >> you still don't know.

>> i still don't know. exactly. >> what did you find? well, evidence that she was benny goodman's cousin -- this album, inscribed "your cousin, benny goodman." and quite personal notes from a-list actors -- clark gable, katharine hepburn, spencer tracy, and errol flynn. >> there's charlie chaplin. there's tommy and jimmy dorsey. >> okay, okay -- nothing about meeting hitler or being a spy. still, it dawns on barry that the most valuable thing edith bequeathed to him could be her story -- now his. >> i had an agent contact me about writing a book, and she actually talked me into doing it. >> you ever write a book before? >> no, never written a book before, and she got me a ghostwriter, and we did it that way. >> what's the story? >> the story is basically about edith and myself and our little adventure and then the lessons that i learned. >> "under one roof" gets barry a

$75,000 advance from the publisher. and that's not all. >> actually in the process of making a deal with fox searchlight. >> did you ever think you'd be making a book and a movie about all this? >> no. i just about fall down on the floor laughing because it's hysterical to me. >> i think it could work. i'm picturing a "driving miss daisy" type of guy meets a female forrest gump and they go on a real-life "up" adventure. and definitely got to give john ratzenberger the lead. there's a scene in the movie "up" that sounds exactly like one edith might have had with barry. carl fredricksen, the man whose house the real-estate company wants to buy, says to the construction foreman, "tell your boss he can have my house." "really?" asks the foreman. "yeah, when i'm dead," growls carl and slams the door. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance."

thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> the heyday of hollywood. >> it was exciting. bette davis, marilyn monroe, joan crawford. >> a star-struck teen bit by the bug. >> before there were paparazzi, there was jack kuster. >> this autograph hound takes names like no other... >> elvis and, oh my gosh, robert redford. >> you name it, all of them. >> it's probably the best collection in the world. >> ...and leaves his stunned heir a lot to sort out. >> what, in your wildest dreams, is this collection worth? [ theme music plays ] ♪ i'm jamie colby, and today i'm

in tampa, florida, to meet a man whose strange inheritance, a massive autograph collection, began with a chance encounter. one thing led to another and then, well, i'll let him tell you. >> my name is juan carlos saucedo-campos, and in 2012, my dear friend jack kuster left me his estate, including a collection that nobody has ever seen. come in. >> hi, juan carlos. >> hi, jamie. how are you doing today? >> thank you for inviting me to your home. >> it's my pleasure. thank you for coming. >> it looks like you've been busy. >> i've been working on putting everything together. elvis presley, james dean. >> wow. >> marilyn monroe. >> vivien leigh, paul newman even. >> paul newman. >> most of these photos are original pictures that juan carlos's friend jack kuster snapped with his own camera, then collected an autograph for each one of them. >> oh, look at jane fonda!

>> when she was just a teenager. >> so he took all these pictures and on top of it got the autographs? >> yes. >> how did this all get started? well, according to juan carlos, jack kuster acquires his first autograph in 1943 at the age of 14, when broadway and hollywood star carmen miranda pays a visit to his hometown, rochester, new york, for a uso show. the teenager musters the courage to approach the flamboyant singer for her swirling signature. from that moment forward, jack knows who he is -- an autograph hound. it takes a lot of guts for a 14-year-old kid. >> for jack, collecting signatures was his calling. soon afterwards, jack and his mother move to new york, where film and stage stars abound. jack secures a day job as a graphic artist. at night, the stage door exits of manhattan's legendary

theaters are his favorite stomping grounds. today i'm making a quick side trip to times square to meet bob levine, one of jack's fellow autograph hounds. >> hi, jamie! >> bob, how are you? >> how are you? nice to meet you! >> like jack, he began dogging the stars in the golden age of motion pictures. what is the thrill of autograph collecting? >> i don't know, but i get a thrill out of it. i started in '46. then i met jack, and we were friends all through the years. >> i'm wearing my hollywood glamour red lip, to represent the era of autograph signing. >> yes, ha ha ha! >> what was hollywood like back then? >> hollywood was so glamorous, and when the movie stars came to new york, like lana turner or bette davis, it was a different era, and they treated the fans

with respect. >> and now? >> the glamour is gone. today they have bodyguards. these young kids, they all sign initials now. the autographs that we got then, you could still read them. jack was so fussy, if he didn't like it, he'd ask them to sign it again. >> was he obsessive about collecting? >> yes, yes. he was. that's what his main purpose in life was, to take care of that collection. >> to save money and pursue more autographs, jack rents a tiny apartment on the city's upper west side. >> jack told me many times, "juan carlos, this is my profession. it's hard work, but somebody has to do it." >> a profession that requires coast-to-coast travel. in the 1950s, jack hits the road to the back lots of hollywood studios. >> clint eastwood was found by jack in 1954 outside hollywood studios in california. he was nobody at that time.

he was so surprised to be asked for an autograph. jack believes that that signature was the very first autograph ever given to anybody by clint eastwood. he got james dean, elvis presley, and many more before they were big stars. ♪ >> was there anyone that was particularly nasty? >> many. i remember the story of katharine hepburn. she would never sign. she would always go, "no, never, never, never on the street." very determined and difficult. >> did he ever get her? >> he had to earn it, but she's right there. >> i see she doesn't look very pleased. jack's persistence pays off in a big way. he shares a taxi with rock hudson and takes this photo. he captures this image of a typically deadpan alfred hitchcock. this one of joe namath in 1969, the year he won the super bowl.

and sharon tate before her shocking murder. in time, he even begins traveling the world in pursuit of celebrity signatures. throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, he snaps up sports figures, bollywood stars, politicians, and one of his favorites -- mexican telenovela actors. it's on a trip to mexico city in 1993 that jack -- now 64 years old -- approaches a struggling young mexican soap actor for an autograph. now, the young guy in that picture looks a little bit familiar. who is that? >> [ laughs ] you're funny. i was an actor. it was the end of winter in 1993 that i met jack in mexico city. i see jack coming up in the distance. i just know he was somebody different, and he says, "are you an actor?" i was ever so flattered.

when i met jack, this is the card that i signed for him, and this is the picture he took of myself. >> oh, my, juan carlos, look at you. was this a love at first sight? >> well, it's one of those things that when you know you've found your soul mate. call it what you want it, our chemistry was very compatible, how about that? >> how about that? was it wonderful? >> it was amazing. juan carlos and jack keep in touch over the years. in 1996 juan carlos moves to new york to pursue acting in the states, and jack offers him a place to live. >> that was the turning point. jack made it possible for me to be american citizen. >> one of juan carlos's oldest friends is spiro verras. he got to know jack as well. >> juan carlos is an incredibly caring person. jack needed someone in his life to care for him. >> in 2006, juan carlos decides to give up show business and

become a certified skin care specialist. he leaves new york and moves to tampa, florida, to open his own spa business. >> i had already been trained as an aesthetician. and a medical company made me an offer that i could not resist to start my own practice, my own business. >> and jack's reaction? >> jack was not very happy. however, he knew i needed to do something for my future and i needed to have a real profession. >> ultimately, jack is the one who told him, "you need to do this." >> wow. >> "you have to move on with your life." >> back in new york, jack continues to add to his collection daily. how many autographs does he have? seems only jack knows. >> did you think it was 10,000? 30,000? >> i would even say, "do you have about 2,000," thinking that that was a lot. and he would just laugh. >> would he part with any of them? >> absolutely not. he would never sell.

>> but juan carlos worries about his friend jack, who is now 81 years old and living alone. he checks on him every day by phone. and as jack kuster grows more frail, it becomes a favorite topic among his competitors -- what will happen to his famous collection? >> i wrote to a lot of the auction houses. the largest ones knew who jack kuster was before i wrote to them. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question -- what pestered personality called autograph seekers "mosquitoes"? "sleepy hollow" author washington irving? supermodel kate upton? or pro wrestler andré the giant? the answer in a moment. go, go!

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[ theme music plays ] >> so, what pestered personality called autograph seekers "mosquitoes"? it's washington irving, annoyed by autograph seekers who showed up on his doorstep. >> by 2010, jack kuster, an aging new york autograph hound, has accumulated a jaw-dropping collection -- thousands of celebrity signatures from all over the world and matching photos he took himself. jack tells his friend juan carlos saucedo-campos that he plans to leave it all to him. one condition -- jack wants to keep his intentions a secret. >> he wanted to sound like the

eccentric little man that he was and trying to keep it as a mystery. >> he liked the intrigue. >> he loved that, yes. >> juan carlos now lives in tampa, florida, but every single day, he calls jack on the phone, and jack always answers. on july 24, 2012, jack doesn't pick up. >> i called 911. they went to his apartment right away. they found him dead on the floor by the door. he had a massive heart attack. >> as promised, juan carlos is named the executor of jack's estate and the heir to his entire collection. did you really know how big it was going to be? >> i just did not know the magnitude of everything. >> in addition to screen stars like grace kelly and pop icons like michael jackson, jack has hundreds of international

figures whom juan carlos has never heard of. how many signatures are we talking about? >> we're talking about over 35,000 signatures. >> wait, 35,000? >> thousand. >> plus 1,700 original photos and hundreds more signed promotional stills. juan carlos carts the whole kit and caboodle back to tampa and locks them inside a fire- and waterproof safe. then, he calls his friend and attorney, spiro verras, for help. >> initially, i handled this as i would handle any probate in my practice. i wrote to a lot of the auction houses, and they were all extremely interested. the largest ones knew who jack kuster was before i wrote to them. >> what, in your wildest dreams, juan carlos, what is this collection worth? >> it's hard to put a price on it. >> well, what would an appraiser say? what kind of numbers are we talking about? give me a ballpark. that's next.

>> here's another quiz question for you. according to autograph magazine, which one of these celebrities is most unwilling to give autographs? beyoncé, angelina jolie, or tobey maguire? the answer when we return. casper makes one perfect mattress. supportive and comfortable. premium foam layers. breathable for airflow. perfect rebound, plus perfect lift. pick your size, you get 100 nights to test it out. test the layers, be a layer, casper.

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[ theme music plays ] >> so, which of these celebrities is known as the least likely to sign an autograph? it's tobey maguire. according to autograph magazine, the "spider-man" star ranks among the most unwilling signers. >> in 2012, juan carlos saucedo-campos inherits over 35,000 celebrity signatures and more than 1,700 photographs from his dear friend

jack kuster. among a tight circle of new york city autograph hounds, jack was a legend. juan carlos recruits his friend and lawyer, spiro verras, to shop the collection around to auction houses and see what it's worth. >> we would get a reasonable market value for the items. juan carlos was struggling to grapple with the vastness of it. >> to get the ball rolling, let's bring in tim luke, who owns treasure quest appraisal group in south florida. before that, he was a director of collectibles at the famed christie's auction house in new york. 35,000 autographs in a collection, is that a stalker or an autograph hound? >> well, it borders on hoarder almost, but it actually is a passion, and like insanity is on the edge of genius, it's that kind of same thing with a collection this large. the other thing that i love about this is that jack got all of these signatures.

the provenance is so important because there are a lot of fakes that are in the marketplace. >> now, this blew my mind, alfred hitchcock, the photo, but also that he would draw his profile! >> also adds to the value because the doodle is something. it's his profile. that became very iconic to alfred hitchcock. >> so, james dean, this is a very early, early photograph, isn't it? >> this is great, and this becomes a whole nother category when you look at james dean and also bruce lee because they both died unexpectedly early. so you have limited number of these signatures out there. the rarer is bruce lee because we also have a doodle from his character from the films. >> ah, norma jean. >> [ chuckles ] >> tell me about these early pictures of marilyn monroe. >> the early photos, this is really great. very desirable to any monroe collector. >> tim figures the james dean autograph could fetch up to $4,000 at auction.

bruce lee, $5,000. and the marilyn monroe, $6,000. if these are some of the gold nuggets, what's the whole collection worth? what kind of numbers are we talking about? give me a ballpark. >> i would say for insurance purposes, this is a million-dollar collection, easily, because of the condition. >> in tim's opinion, it might have been worth even more. >> there's a lot of variables that go into this. let's take a look at the elvis photograph, for example. you see it says "to jack"? >> yes. >> well, because it says "to jack," that's limiting the market because is jamie going to be interested in something that says "to jack"? i'd rather just have a regular signature. so, with the "to jack" on it, you're looking at the $800 to $1,200 price range. >> i contacted several of the largest auction houses that deal in autographs. one suggested they will put together a book to honor jack kuster and market the

product as the jack kuster collection. juan carlos asked me, does this mean that people would be able to buy particular items out of the collection from this catalog? i said yes. >> the heir will have to think about that. so, you have full control over all this. >> a hundred percent. aren't i lucky? >> you are, but what's next? juan carlos's big decision. >> jamie, this is what i want to show you. would you do the honors? that's next. [ gasps ] what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail, or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> it's 2015 in tampa, florida. juan carlos saucedo-campos has inherited a collection of photos and autographs from his beloved friend, jack kuster.

it turns out that they could be worth a million dollars -- but to get the highest price at auction, he'd have to split them up. as the offers come in, juan carlos thinks it over -- thinks about the money and about dearly departed jack. his decision? >> i'm in no position to destroy this phenomenal legacy that my dear friend jack left to me. i want to keep it intact. >> but if he won't sell, will the money be there tomorrow? or will it fade away like those golden-era screen stars jack adored? you know, ten years from now, some of these autographs won't be as relevant as they are right now. timing is really an issue. will he ever feel like he missed an opportunity? >> i don't know. it's something that i've actually thought about quite a bit. >> i'm gonna keep it safe and in great condition, as it was left to me. maybe in the future, i might

change my mind. i don't know, but for the time being, i like to keep it close and admire it. every time i see one signature, i think about jack. >> it seems like you put in a lot of hours to try to make some opportunity happen for him. did you feel disappointed? >> not at all. not at all. it's a rare person who chooses sentiment over money. >> so, instead of collecting a check, juan carlos immerses himself in the painstaking task of archiving the autographs and transferring -- by hand -- the hundreds more photos from film slides to digital archive. >> jamie, this is what i want to show you. would you do the honors? >> today, juan carlos has invited tim luke and me to see the culmination of that effort... what? ...the crown jewels of jack kuster's collection, on display for the very first time. i cannot believe this.

hollywood glamour everywhere? hello! >> i have categorized by the vintage actors on this wall and the vintage actress on this wall over here. >> wow, hotties over here and babes over here. i like it. jack met all of these people face-to-face? >> he saw them face-to-face, and they all handed their signature to jack. on this part of the gallery, i have all these boxes full of signatures. >> latin tv hosts, mexican stars, soaps. >> british actresses, ballet and dance. >> the forties, the fifties, the sixties, you name it, i have them all. >> oh, my god. >> what do you think that jack would say if he saw this room? >> i can almost see his face right now. he will be absolutely thrilled to see what i've done with his collection, exactly what he

wanted me to. >> it's beautiful. >> well, my collection would not be complete if i don't have -- >> exactly. >> what's a jamie colby going for nowadays? >> especially with this provenance, it's priceless. >> it's not every day that someone asks for my autograph. i feel like you felt the first time jack asked you for yours. >> oh, well, it's a pleasure. >> a collection that took a lifetime to acquire, now preserved for another lifetime, perhaps, thanks to juan carlos's admiration for his cherished friend. pop star taylor swift recently observed that with the advent of smartphones and front-facing cameras, no one even asks for her autograph anymore. all these kids today want is a selfie. oh, hey. >> hi, are you jamie colby? >> yes. what's your name? >> taylor. would you mind taking a selfie with me? >> i would love to take a selfie with you, taylor.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." and remember, you can't take it with you. ♪ >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]