♪ >> they hound everyone in show biz. >> look! it's ingrid bergman! janet leigh. there's natalie wood. >> ...and get their autograph... >> audrey hepburn. steve mcqueen. ronald reagan. >> ronald reagan? is that angelina jolie? >> ...thousands of them! >> it really became an obsession and a drug. >> an obsession that fathered this man's strange inheritance. >> i basically got hundreds and hundreds of boxes. >> this is truly unbelievable. what was your reaction when you saw the magnitude of what he had? >> i was blown away. >> but does the heir really know what he's signing up for? >> $4,250. now $4,500. on the phone.

make it $4,500. last call. >> yep! >> $4,500. now $4,750. >> it's what makes an auction so exciting. >> yep! >> and it is sold! [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm outside seattle, washington, headed to meet a man whose star-struck family left him a massive inheritance. next came a scramble to turn celebrity ink into cold, hard cash. >> my name is david kuflik. my father and aunt were both rabid autograph hounds. their hobby took over their lives, now it's taking over mine. >> david asks me to meet him here at his home office. this is where he says he's been curating his family autograph collection. what do you have? >> i have lots of autographs over here. some samples i've got --

alfred hitchcock, robin williams, johnny depp -- the list just goes on and on. >> the collection is a who's who of stars from yesteryear through today. liz taylor... to cameron diaz. cary grant... to george clooney. grace kelly... to sandra bullock -- all acquired by david's father, harvey, and his aunt rhoda. is this all of it? >> oh, this is just the tip of the iceberg. ♪ >> the story of these signature-seeking siblings begins in brooklyn, new york, in 1938 when rhoda kuflik is born. little brother harvey arrives three years later. as the children of hardworking immigrants, they're often left to entertain themselves. luckily, it's the golden age of the silver screen. >> they spent a lot of their free time going to movie

theaters. [ film reel clicking ] >> and shooting their own home movies. hey, that's sophia loren... and tony curtis! in the 1950s, you can spot as many stars here as in hollywood. so rhoda starts a new hobby -- autograph collecting. >> this right here is the autograph book that started everything. >> perry como to start it off? "1953, april 6." >> we have a jackie robinson... henry fonda... lucy and desi. >> amazing. both of them. what a gem! soon enough, rhoda's dragging along her kid brother, harvey, on her autograph hunts. how do you think they found out where all these celebrities were? >> they'd go to all different kinds of events, restaurants where celebrities maybe went to, the theater district. >> the wild celebrity goose chase sends the kids all over

town. did rhoda ask her parents' permission? >> both my grandfather and grandmother worked very long hours, and i'm not really sure that they even knew the extent of what was going on. >> they were latchkey kids? >> yes, it's fair to say they were latchkey kids. >> but soon celebrity ink isn't enough. they want signed photos of the stars. rhoda buys an inexpensive camera to snap celeb shots herself. >> not only did she take the pictures, but then she went out after the fact, found them a second time, and went and got them signed. >> there's paul newman grabbing a smoke. and jimmy stewart hopping into a cab. and rhoda herself with marilyn monroe. rhoda kept some pretty good company. >> she sure did. >> but by the early '60s, that lack of parental supervision has repercussions on young harvey. >> my father got involved in drugs at an early age. i think he was a heroin addict

at 16, 17 years old. he ended up in sing sing prison at the age of 18 years old. >> after a year behind bars, harvey moves away, leaving his celebrity-pursuing sister to prowl new york alone. he gets married, has a son, david, and dedicates his life to helping other drug addicts. when he ends up working at a v.a. clinic in los angeles, harvey relapses into his oldest habit -- autograph hunting. >> he worked in the westwood area, and he would see stars when he was going to lunch, getting coffee. >> teresa priem is herself an autograph hound who worked the circuit with harvey. she tells me sometimes harvey spends all night outside a restaurant trying to spot an elusive star. other times he's crashing up to five hollywood functions in the same night. >> if it was a good event, harvey would probably get 30, 40, 50 autographs in

one night. >> there he is with robert duvall... goldie hawn... charlton heston... and so many more. ♪ in the late 1970s, harvey begins dragging his 9-year-old son, david, along on autograph hunts. >> the star will always go to the child before he'll sign for other people. >> did you love it or hate it? >> i loved autograph collecting when i was a child. by the time maybe i became a teenager, though, it's not what i really wanted to be doing. i think i retired at the age of 13. >> but harvey's not ready to hang up his sharpie. over the next two decades, he gathers thousands more signed celebrity photos. ♪ >> he was a pure collector. he did it for the love. hardest-working guy in hollywood as far as i'm concerned. ♪ >> hardest working right till the end, which comes in 2002

when harvey kuflik dies from liver disease at 61. his only child, david, inherits all he had -- all this. were you prepared for that? >> i was not quite prepared for it. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. who sent autograph seekers stock letters that read "i'm afraid i'm much too important to write notes to people like you"? the answer after the break.

>> it's "b," new mexico.

it's also one of the driest, averaging less than 14 inches of precipitation per year. ♪ >> macie ahlgren is a third-generation rancher here at bear gulch, a montana homestead that includes a half-mile-long, 100-foot-high limestone cliff, covered in unusual native american paintings and etchings. did you ever have it studied? >> not at all. >> just a regular part of life. >> it was, yes. >> that is, until a visit from archaeologist mavis greer, along with her husband, john, in 1999. so, you came here to this spot the first time? >> we did, bushwhacking up through the weeds and up to here. >> how far up here did you have to come before you had an initial reaction? >> this is as far as we needed to go. we were blown away already by

the variety of figures. >> while many sites require hours of searching to find even a few scattered traces of rock art, the wall at bear gulch is covered in it. there's one there, one there, one there. and look at that panel over there. they're one after another. >> and more as we go down the wall. >> the greers have never seen so many different types of native american rock art all in one place. they tell macie the site deserves an extensive evaluation. did you know, at that point, "i maybe have something very, very special"? >> the thought went through my mind that, "wow. maybe it is more than just a few drawings." >> but it's just a passing thought. the struggle to keep the ranch operating doesn't allow her much more than that. she also watches her kids flee, just as she did, right after high school.

ray, for one, doesn't fare so well. >> i wanted nothing more than to get out of here. and i bounced around from state to state. i was headed down a pretty, pretty dark road for a while. >> and then, in march 2000, just a few months after the greers' visit, macie's father, james, passes away at age 77, leaving macie bear gulch ranch. her inheritance includes that cliff and its strange markings. >> he asked me to please take care of mom and to take care of the place and not just sell it off. it had ended up in my hands and it was my responsibility to take care of it. >> meantime, the greers spend a half-decade trying to raise cash and assemble the right team to do their study. in 2005, they finally return to bear gulch. >> they organized a group to come and record every drawing at the site. it was a two-week venture.

>> the drawings and engravings, referred to as pictographs and petroglyphs, range from the size of a pen cap to a scene 23 feet long. take a look. there are handprints... animals... hoof prints... and even a rare childbirth scene. >> it's the only one on the northern plains. there are other scenes that show pregnancy, but this is the most explicit birthing scene. >> that looks explicit. she's giving birth. and this? >> over here, we have her spouse, who is simulating the birth in order to draw the evil spirits toward him and away from the baby. >> is that in lieu of an epidural? >> i think that it wouldn't probably help the wife all that much. [ laughs ] >> the greers are most amazed by the vast number of works that depict warriors carrying giant shields. there are so many that all of the other rock-art sites in the northern plains together don't have as many shield-bearing

warriors as bear gulch. and why warriors? >> this place appears to have been a location that people came to prior to going to war. and they drew their shields with the design that they hoped was going to bring them power and was going to bring them victory. >> the shields show a variety of battle designs, including bears, bison, and deer. other shields depict the extended hand of a supernatural hero, reaching out from the heavens to protect the warrior. they sound sacred then. >> they are. and they're definitely sacred today. >> in total, the greers and their team identify 3,000 individual pieces of rock art, making bear gulch one of america's largest indian rock-art sites and also one of its best-preserved. >> the painted parts of the rock art here are made from red ochre. and it will bind to the rock and

actually become part of it, so that's why it lasts so long. >> how long? macie is thunderstruck when she learns the age of the relics. like hundreds of years old? >> way more than that. thousands of years old. >> it's an unparalleled glimpse into the past, a national treasure, and macie owns it. so, can she cash in on her strange inheritance and save her home on the range? were people banging down your door? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. ♪

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>> it's "d," new york. the largest city in the country also has the largest indigenous population, with more than 100,000 native americans. >> macie ahlgren is desperately trying to save her family's montana ranch, but the debts are mounting. she hopes to capitalize on her strange inheritance -- this giant cliff, which, she's just learned, is one of the country's leading sites for native american rock art. so macie starts a home business, figuring people will pay to see the pictographs. were people banging down your door? >> no. i had like three people the first year. >> the first year? >> the first year, the first summer. >> the site's remote location, far from any major city or interstate, doesn't help. macie creates a website and does some advertising. word starts to spread...slowly.

by 2012, she's getting 100 tourists a year -- not exactly a thriving enterprise. >> it took a lot of patience and hard work. it took a lot of being there every day at 10:00. >> one thing macie knows would really put bear gulch on the tourist map -- if the greers would hurry up and publish their findings. then macie's mother, ida, falls seriously ill and is put in a nursing home. bills pile up. ida knows full well she's added to her daughter's crushing debt burden. how'd she react? >> she was heartbroken, but at the same time, i convinced her that it was okay. >> at long last, in spring 2012, the greers finally release their study. why did it take seven years to publish that book? >> the book is this thick with 3,000 individual figures, and each one's described in there. just is very time-consuming. >> news of bear gulch and its staggering number of artworks

spreads like a prairie fire. folks from around the world are suddenly booking tours. >> and once people started coming, pretty soon, the newspapers started coming along. >> how many people do you estimate come there every summer? >> every year, it seems to be more and more. last year was roughly 1,500. >> is it generating any revenue? >> oh, yes. absolutely. >> about $10,000 a year. hardly a windfall, but the supplemental income, along with grazing fees and a limestone quarry, are enough to stabilize the ranch's finances and keep the land in the family. but macie can still use more money. if you could come up with a dollar amount that it would take to make all your dreams come true for this property and to pay off the loans, what is that number? >> it would have to be somewhere around $200,000. >> she definitely needs more help, too. while you still have the vim and vigor to do this, there will come a day where someone else

will have to take this over. that "someone" rides to the rescue, while macie finds out what the ancient drawings might really be worth. >> the rock art's very, very valuable. this should be preserved and protected and made available for more people to view. >> 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.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." ♪ >> bear gulch pictographs, run by macie ahlgren, is the newest tourist attraction in central montana. >> it feels really great, and i hope that we can find a way to share it with anybody that wants to come. >> one of those eager to come is brad hamlett, a collector of native american relics.

>> this is something that was done probably thousands of years ago, and it speaks to us today. it's truly american history. >> hamlett's also a montana state senator. >> this site needs to be part of a public park system, preserved and protected, researched, and made available for more people to view. >> if so, you'd think senator hamlett would lead the effort to find public money to help macie, but that's a hard sell, he says. >> the problem the state has is -- they don't have a lot of money to do things with. everybody's got the things that they think are the most important, and the sad thing is -- you can't fund them all. >> he wonders, however, if macie might be able to find a philanthropist who would pay her to put a conservation easement on the property, preserving the site for posterity. hamlett thinks such a deal could net the family at least $1 million, giving them the

funds to build out a first-class tourist destination. >> the trails need to be widened out. we need to have a visitors center. there's just a lot of things that we absolutely can't afford to do it. >> wait. did he say, "we"? yep. turns out macie's son ray, who, like his mom, left the ranch as soon as he finished high school, is drawn back to the place. >> i remember, the last words my grandfather ever spoke to me -- he told me to take care of my mom. and i feel that that's what i've been doing. right here is the nose of the bear. >> and he's found a new calling as the lead tour guide. >> giving these tours has definitely changed my life for the better. i have never been doing as well as i am now. >> he's even come up with his own theories about some of the ancient native american figures and symbols. >> go ahead and turn around and put your back right here.

>> okay. >> now spread your arms out. perfect. directly above your head is a headdress drawn in the wall. just to the right of that is a bison. now, on december 21st, when the sun rises, it will actually rise in a direct straight line in front of you. i believe that is when they would actually pray for hunting or good crops. so, having all of these little bits and pieces all come together like a puzzle -- it just made sense. >> talk about coming together like a puzzle. a sacred wall native americans used to record their tales of war, family, nature, and the supernatural. a millennia of moons later, it's entrusted to a montana family who come to appreciate anew that

there's something magical about bear gulch. is it fair to say that rock art saved your ranch? >> yes. >> it's done something else that's made macie ever-grateful. it's drawn together her family's generations, too. >> i think grandma and grandpa look down on us every day with smiles on their face. >> what does it feel like to have this wall in your family? >> lately, a dream come true. >> native americans are not the only ones who wanted to tell their stories on these walls. in the late 1800s, a wagon trail ran right by these cliffs, a good place to stop and water the horses and mark your arrival on the western frontier. as you can see, the graffiti date all the way back and include dozens of names. so thousands of years from now, it may be some other archaeologist's turn to look at these scratchy letters and wonder, "who the heck wrote this stuff? and what on earth were they thinking?"

i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ >> an uptown apartment under siege. >> are you kidding? all of these? >> doesn't every new york city apartment have a soldier room? >> it's one of the biggest collections in the world. >> one man's army four decades in the making. >> when i first saw it, i was absolutely amazed. he had every soldier placed in their position. every general was placed in his position. >> but he doesn't want to leave his wife with all this. >> bob wanted to sell off the collection so carole wouldn't have to deal with it. >> what's an heir to do? turn to "strange inheritance." >> what did you think when you saw the episode about toy soldiers? >> i was knocked out. so, i reached out. >> here we are.

>> yes. ♪ ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm strolling along the swanky streets of the upper east side of manhattan. the heir in this story reached out to us just a short time after her husband died. she wanted to talk about her strange inheritance, which she tells me takes up an entire room in her home. >> my name is carole postal, and less than one year ago, i lost my beloved husband, bob. he left me nearly 10,000 toy soldiers, which he called "the guys." >> a whole room on the upper east side -- i'm hoping it's shoes. >> uh, not quite.

>> no way. it's not shoes. it's soldiers? across glass shelves, the tiny troops stand shoulder to shoulder, ready for battle. let's see. there's george washington... generals robert e. lee and ulysses s. grant... not to mention ancient and medieval warriors. a history of world combat in one jam-packed man cave. your husband must've spent a lot of time putting this together. >> lovingly, over 40 years. >> it's really magnificent. i really did need to see this. you were right to get in touch with us. >> oh, i'm so glad you feel that way. >> i would love to learn more about it. >> i'd love to share that with you. >> can we sit and talk? >> i'd love it. >> carole tells me her late husband, bob postal, was born in 1940 in the gulf coast town of

pascagoula, mississippi, where his father ran a garment factory. a shy, intense, and artistic kid, he kept to himself. >> he used to go into his room and draw. and he loved drawing military costumes. and he loved drawing battle re-enactments. >> as a young man, bob stops drawing soldiers and becomes one. he skips college, joins the army reserves, and in 1963, is stationed at fort dix in new jersey as a cook. he's never sent to vietnam. after an honorable discharge in 1969, bob follows in his father's footsteps and jumps into the apparel business in new york city, designing women's blouses for a clothing manufacturer. >> bob had a definite keen eye for what would sell, for what was hot at the time. he was very visionary. he was a workaholic.

>> james moore worked with bob during the 1970s and 1980s. he saw bob's career boom, while his personal life went bust -- three divorces by his early 40s. one thing that does last is his new hobby -- toy soldiers. his collection is his passion. >> when i first saw it, i was absolutely amazed. he had every soldier placed in their position. every general was placed in his position. and i said, "bob, i cannot fathom how you do this, knowing you at work" -- and how impatient he was -- "how can you actually do this?" and he said, "this is my relaxation." >> bob pays 4 grand for this set of more than 100 world war i figures, most from the renowned welsh toy-soldier maker trophy miniatures. these sword-wielding knights of the crusades, some from russia's famed st. petersburg collection, for $3k.

and a rare non-war piece -- the irish state coach used by the british royal family -- a steal at 300 bucks. meanwhile, bob starts his own apparel firm, mayfair industries. it takes off in 1984, when he strikes a deal with the walt disney company to license a little mouse for use on clothing. so, he was a pioneer in the industry? >> he was. he was a pioneer. the company went from $5 million to $110 million almost overnight. >> a few years later, bob comes calling on carole, who works in licensing for turner broadcasting. he's looking to secure the apparel rights to the film classic "the wizard of oz." >> he needed to get the license from me. and he walked into my office at 7:30 in the morning, and we locked eyes, and he never left. we were together from that day onward. >> was it love at first sight? >> it was instantaneous combustion.

>> wow! that was quite a meeting. changed your life. >> it did! >> robert and carole move quickly. first, dating, then it's time to introduce her to his little friends. >> when we moved into the apartment, i said, "why do we need a two-bedroom?" "we need a room for the guys." >> roommates? >> well... and the next thing i know, boxes and boxes and boxes of soldiers are coming into the door. >> some girls might go into full retreat. not carole. the couple marry a year later. bob keeps collecting. >> did you ever say "not one more solider in this house. enough"? >> he could collect as many as his little heart desires, as far as i was concerned, as long as it didn't step out of the soldier room. >> was it an obsession or just a genuine interest? >> it was not an obsession. it was a respect. >> in 1989, bob receives a sign of respect himself -- from

billionaire publisher malcolm forbes, whose 100,000-soldier collection is one of the world's finest. forbes hosts an exclusive toy-soldier event, and bob's invited. was that a huge moment for him? >> i think, for anybody who has a passion for a hobby and they meet the... >> premier. >> ...it's something that's very special. he sort of legitimized the whole collector society of soldiers. >> after forbes' death, bob is asked to another invitation-only toy-soldier event -- the auction at christie's of the forbes collection, in 1997. >> was there any way he was missing the auction of malcolm forbes' soldiers? >> no way he was missing that auction. >> the auction brings in a whopping $700,000. too rich for bob's blood, though he does walk away with an exclusive souvenir. >> he purchased a memento -- the

solider that said "i attended the malcolm forbes auction." >> bob continues buying rare soldiers into his 70s. his miniature armies now number nearly 10,000. but by 2014, bob's health is in steep decline. he's diagnosed with advanced emphysema and confined to quarters -- with his troops. >> how important were "the guys" at the end? >> very important. he would sit in that room seven days a week, surrounded by his soldiers. that made him happy. >> maybe so, but bob doesn't want his wife to have to figure out what to do with them once he's gone. did he tell you what to do? >> he did not want to leave me with the soldiers. >> bob wanted to sell off the collection so carole wouldn't have to deal with it. >> meet the man bob drafts to

decommission his army. >> when i first walked into this room, i was just kind of in awe. 'cause there's some die-hard collectors that would really just die to have some of these sets. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer after the break. ♪

>> so, which toy soldier was the single most expensive one ever sold? it's "a." a rare 1934 prototype marching guard was sold at a christie's auction in 1994 for $4,370. >> it's 2015, and 75-year-old robert postal, suffering from advanced emphysema, is getting his affairs in order. a top priority is the 10,000 high-end toy soldiers he spent 40 years collecting. they're meticulously displayed in his manhattan soldier room. he doesn't want to leave his wife the headache of dealing with then after he dies. so he hires a hobby-store owner, matt murphy, to catalog, appraise, and prepare the troops for sale.

>> what wars are represented? >> we have world war ii... american civil war... napoleonic wars... the sudan campaign... zulu war. we have two shelves of zulu war. >> what makes bob's army valuable, according to matt, is that he focused his energy on completing many sets from high-end soldier makers, such as stanton studios, king & country, and w. britain. >> another really sought-after brand is trophy miniatures, made in wales. a set of six would sell for about $100, and now they can fetch up to $300 on ebay. >> matt says this trophy miniature would go for 500 bucks. it's a tractor for transporting troops during the boer wars in africa. this british nile riverboat, used during the 19th century -- $1,500.

before matt can go through every piece, however, robert dies, at home, in september 2015, surrounded by all his guys. he's 75 years old. were you prepared to live life without him? >> no. i never thought it would come. >> and, so, you're faced with a dilemma. you're left with "the guys" -- the soldiers. then, just days after her husband's funeral, at the suggestion of a friend, carole tunes in to an episode of "strange inheritance." as chance would have it... who's this guy? ...she catches our previous story about a family and their toy-soldier inheritance. carole, what did you think when you saw the "strange inheritance" episode about toy soldiers? >> i was knocked out. i was thrilled to see other

people enjoying a passion for collecting soldiers. >> unlike bob postal, the husband and father in that story really wanted his toy-soldier collection displayed in its own museum. his children found it a bridge too far. but the episode gets our heir thinking. >> so, i reached out. >> here we are. i'll do what i can to help. what is this place, here? >> we're surrounded by about 3 million soldiers. >> that's incredible. that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right? (in unison) russ, leland, gary: yes. gary: i have a ford f-150. michael: i've always been a ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper.

gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame. james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. (laughing)

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>> so, which of these popular figures had a large toy-soldier collection as a child? it's "a," winston churchill. churchill's army numbered 1,500 pieces, which he used to re-enact british victories over the french. >> when new york apparel executive robert postal dies in 2015, he leaves his widow, carole, his vast array of nearly 10,000 toy soldiers. before his death, he encouraged his wife to sell, but to whom? how big is the market today? >> market is, we would probably guess 50,000 people worldwide collect soldiers seriously, so it's tiny. it's a niche of a niche. >> jamie delson, owner of the 9,000-square-foot toy soldier company in jersey city, new jersey. i'm here doing some reconnaissance for carole.

>> this is the world's largest warehouse that holds toy soldiers. we have about 3- or 4 million soldiers here. ♪ >> some are plastic, some metal, and valuable classics cast in lead. >> people who collect plastics will spend $20 or $50 at a time. people who collect metals will spend $2,000 or $3,000 at the drop of a hat. people who collect the most expensive soldiers may pay $200, $500, or $1,000 for a single soldier. >> jamie tells me that not having original boxes can lower values anywhere from 50% to 75%. >> this is what collectors look for. serious collectors buy things that are in the box, in original boxes from the 1940s, '30s, '50s just because it's in the box, and if you look closely, they're sewn into the box.

>> so these guys are still strapped in, never touched or taken out. >> right. no box, not a lot of value. >> not a lot of fun, either. then again, how many bedrooms the postals would have needed if bob kept all the boxes! boxes or not, matt murphy, the hobby-shop owner bob hired to get "the guys" ready for sale, says it is plenty valuable. could you put a price on this collection? >> the toy-soldier market is a little down right now. but it could fetch anywhere between $85,000 to maybe $130,000. >> but those numbers are based on retail prices, so matt can only offer carole $25,000 if he wants to guarantee himself a profit. >> i do think like that. obviously, i'm in business. >> that's a far cry from the $700,000 the malcolm forbes soldiers fetched at auction back

in 1997. but carole's not insulted. more and more, "strange inheritance" gets her thinking. it's not about the money for her. >> i don't want the cash. i don't want it. i want this to be his legacy to keep them together, and i want to donate them so that other people could enjoy his collection as much as he did. >> but what if nobody's interested? or as interested as he was? that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we would love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

. . . had planned for his wife, carole, to sell his prized collection of 10,000 rare and valuable toy soldiers. but after watching a "strange inheritance" episode about toy soldier heirs, carole

maps out a different course. she wants to find an institution to display them, in honor of her husband. for that, she needs another kind of advice. what was your initial impression of this collection? >> oh, i love it. it's one of the biggest collections in the world. >> reporting for duty -- lee drexler, an appraiser who helps clients find good homes for their bequests. step 1 is certifying a fair-market value. >> right, the teeth on the horse... >> and the bridle. >> i just love seeing the big collections of custer's last stand or civil war or world war ii or the american revolution. i mean, it's fantastic. >> honest abe, what's he worth? >> probably about $450, $500. >> lee says that's because this 6-inch, highly-detailed lincoln figure was made in england by the renowned stadden studios. ♪

what's this collection worth? >> about $300,000. >> for toy soldiers? $300,000?! if accurate, that's far more, man-for-man, than even the forbes collection -- and 12 times the $25k that matt murphy was offering. and it would certainly give me second thoughts about giving them away. what about carole? >> it's impressive, yes. so if it is worth that much, then i'm thrilled. but it wasn't ever about the money. having the soldiers find a home will be a huge part that will make me feel whole again. >> so carole and lee begin contacting new york-based museums that might be interested in housing and displaying the troops. >> our first thought, quite frankly, was west point. bob had tremendous respect for the institution. >> what did they say? >> they said no, they couldn't, with great sadness. they have no space. >> as quickly as the door closed

at west point, lee opens one at another prestigious institution -- the new york historical society. if the new york historical society were to make this happen for you, what would that mean? >> they'd be in new york, where people come from all over the world. it would be a fabulous, fabulous place. >> and your reaction if they say "game on"? >> done. >> and "game on" it is. the society does agree to give safe harbor to 5,000 of "the guys." if you split this collection up between museums, it would be easier, potentially, for them to take and more people could see it. >> it would be double the joy. >> with lee's help, a children's museum in rochester, new york, agrees to take in and display the other half of the collection. ♪ carole tells me that working with us on this episode has

helped her to grieve for robert and, in doing so, to preserve his legacy. >> that's why i reached out to you. it is my hope that people see this show and see a passion that somebody had for, in this case, soldiers, and so what i leave to the world is the robert c. postal soldier legacy collection. >> so, you never felt like you were competing with "the guys"? >> never. i was always number one. >> that's so nice to know. >> i wish it on everybody. ♪ >> remember that story about bob meeting malcolm forbes at a toy-soldier show? carole says it was one of his most treasured memories. the confederate soldier he later purchased commemorating the forbes collection remained one of bob's favorites. and right before her husband was laid to rest, carole slipped that very soldier into his suit pocket. i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching

"strange inheritance." i guess sometimes you can take it with you. lauren: breaking news this morning. disturbing video of terror in spain. a driver kills 13 people and injuries more than 100. isis is claiming responsibility. we are live on the ground and we will have announcements on the developing story. >> weak earnings and concerns about the terror attack in spain and taking a lock at u.s. stock