>> a hard-charging real estate mogul who's ahead of his time... >> edmund was a real visionary. >> ...meets a cutting-edge furniture designer. >> there was a lot of synergy when the two of them came together. >> he fills one home with ultra-modern pieces. then another and another. >> they jumped on it. they puked on it, they came in from the swimming pool and sat on it. >> when he's gone, his heirs are in for the surprise of a lifetime. >> and it rachets up, and it rachets up. i'm sitting there next to my son, slapping his leg, going, "matthew! matthew! matthew!" [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in tucson, arizona, to meet the family of a man who spent his entire life building beautiful homes, and it led him to amass a collection of what some would say was less-than-functional furniture but others insist were works of art. >> my name is diane bennett. i was married to edmund bennett for 30 years. he left us an inheritance that had collectors around the world buzzing. >> hi, diane. >> hi, jamie. >> diane was ed's third wife. this is the last of eight homes they shared until his death in 2013. oh, my. >> this is a history of 33 years of a blended family, ed's children, my children, ed, and me. >> diane, tell me about edmund. >> well, he was a very complex man. he was very pragmatic

but a real romantic. ♪ >> born in washington, dc, in 1920, bennett serves in both world war ii and korea. by 1953, he's ready for peacetime and takes a job at the state department. he and his first wife, wilda, are making their own contribution to the baby boom. he buys two lots in washington, with plans to build a home on one and sell the other. >> as soon as he would start to build one, someone would offer him enough money that would inspire him to sell it. >> so he bought two more lots and built two more houses, and the same thing happened. actually, it was five houses before the family got to move into a larger house. >> suddenly, bureaucrat edmund bennett has a new career as a real estate developer. in 1962, he lands his first big project -- carderock springs, maryland, a 300-acre upscale

subdivision. >> he was an artist, and he was very aware and wanting to preserve the natural habitat, making each neighborhood unique. >> bennett demands complete control of the project. buyers are subject to strict rules -- no metal fences, no outdoor clothes lines. you don't like it? don't buy the house. >> he had a vision always of what he wanted. it was difficult sometimes for him to understand that those in his immediate circle might have their own vision. >> what's it like to live with a man like that? >> not calm. when there were differences, we had to learn how to negotiate those differences, and sometimes it was at the top of our lungs. >> to furnish his model at carderock, bennett wants something that has a wow factor yet matches his own naturalistic design philosophy.

his search leads him to the studio of an idiosyncratic woodworker named george nakashima. >> nakashima was known for taking naturally felled wood and creating inherently individual works for that specific piece of wood. >> nakashima's story oddly parallels bennett's. born in washington state, he earns an architecture degree from mit. in 1942, just as ed bennett is being inducted into the army, nakashima, his wife, and young daughter are among more than 110,000 japanese americans forcibly interned in war relocation camps. it's a dismal experience, but he meets a master woodworker who teaches him to craft simple but beautiful furniture using traditional japanese hand tools. after the war, nakashima builds

a workshop in new hope, pennsylvania, where he uses these centuries-old techniques to create modern masterpieces. "every tree," he says, "has its destiny." >> we're allowing the wood to speak for itself. i am trying to reveal the beauty that is in the wood. and part of that is this beautiful natural edge, which is a real characteristic of nakashima work. >> to better understand this zen modernism, i turn to ben mcnitt of tucson, one of legions of contemporary craftsmen deeply influenced by nakashima. i'd love to help you make this table. >> well, to get started, what i'd like you to do is take this chisel, and in very light little taps... >> i can see what it means to give a tree, in nakashima's words, a second life through this technique. look, i'm doing a good job, i think. >> you're doing a very good job. >> i also see why edmund bennett is dazzled when he first steps into nakashima's studio in 1963.

soon, george's workshop is humming with furniture for the carderock model. dozens of pieces, including lounge chairs, benches, and headboards. bennett commissions some items, like this lamp, for as little as $110. >> it quickly became a marriage made in heaven. they recognized in each other a tremendous appreciation for design. >> that marriage is memorialized in extensive correspondence between the two men about the carderock project. and nakashima personally checks out the installations, including this $350 wall case, when he visits the development. >> it was a bonus for mr. nakashima because it was a showplace for his furniture, as well as being a bonus for ed in terms of having people come see the community. >> and when the carderock model

opens, it's clear that the design vision shared by bennett and nakashima is a winner. >> that first weekend, that generated over a thousand visits through the model home. so it was a huge success. >> before long, bennett sells out to american cyanamid and pursues other opportunities in real estate and banking. but he hangs on to his friend george's quirky furniture. for the next 40 years, he fills every one of his homes with it. elizabeth, your dad let you play on the furniture. did you let your kids play as well? >> they played on it. they jumped on it. they puked on it. they came in from the swimming pool and sat on it. >> that's before they knew what it was worth. nakashima achieves superstar status in 1973 when new york governor nelson rockefeller commissions 200 pieces like these for his mansion in westchester. nakashima's reputation keeps growing even after his death in

1990. in 2014, a half century after ed bennett's first visit, nakashima's workshop is designated a national landmark. the developer and the woodworker -- two men ahead of their time. >> the george nakashima couch -- $4,500 on the internet now. >> just how far ahead? ed bennett's family is about to find out. >> lot number 245 is one of the lots from the bennett family. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer in a moment.

>> so, what piece of furniture sold at auction in 2004 for a record $36.7 million? the answer is "a," the so-called badminton chest, commissioned by the 3rd duke of beaufort in 1726. it was made of ebony and encrusted with amethyst, quartz, and other jewels. >> for half a century, real estate developer ed bennett fills his homes with quirky furniture from master craftsman george nakashima. elizabeth soto and bruce bennett, two of bennett's four children, grew up

surrounded by the stuff. the tables and chairs, the bench in the hall, all crafted by nakashima. but one piece in particular embodies the close bond shared by both edmund and diane's children. >> my favorite piece by far was the dining room table. we would gather around this table, and it turned out that we blended quite well. >> a black walnut tree given that second life by nakashima. bennett cherishes it for the rest of his. >> well, the dining room table was the center of the family. i look at it -- there was four generations of our family that sat at that table. it just seemed like if there was another person, somehow, another chair fit there. >> in march of 2013, the family gathers around it for a meal. edmund is 93 and seriously ill. >> he was sitting up at the head of the table where he always

sits. >> we didn't know for sure that it was going to be his last one, but it was his last one. >> two weeks later, edmund bennett dies. so kind of you to share. his will provides generously for diane. however, he leaves his large nakashima collection to his four biological children. ♪ what ed's children don't inherit is his almost obsessive love for it. >> we all talked first -- "does anybody wanna keep any of these pieces?" >> some of it was pretty big. it was a pretty easy decision because the process of downsizing warranted that we weren't all gonna be able to keep the furniture. >> they decide to sell. but how? where? and for how much? that's when pam hardie, an ex-girlfriend of bruce's and often one of those extra chairs at the nakashima table, offers to help.

>> i'm a huge antiques fan, and i'm a huge bennett fan, so it was a match made. >> she's always been just a tremendous family friend and has always stayed close to the family. >> pam, a director in a marketing firm, first wants to get an estimate for the value of the collection. she takes this lamp to a professional for an appraisal. >> i get on the phone, and i called elizabeth. >> she called me. >> i could hardly breathe and said, "you've got to sit down." >> she goes, "liddy! liddy! liddy! do you know how much this lamp is worth?" and i went, "no, pam. tell me!" and she said, "$10,000!" >> and there was a thud on the other end of the phone. [ laughs ] >> if a single lamp is worth $10,000, the bennett heirs must be sitting on a small fortune. the excitement just built from there. >> $20,000, the bid now. any advance over $20,000? $22,500... >> that's next on "strange inheritance." >> here's another quiz question

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>> so, where does the most expensive furniture wood come from? the answer is "c," southeast asia, where a single pound of agarwood can cost more than $13,000. >> so many memories. >> there are. sometimes i just come and stand here and reminisce. >> in 2013, when ed bennett dies, his four children inherit more than 60 pieces of furniture by master designer george nakashima. all sorts of stuff -- lamps, a

rocking chair, and a dining room set beloved by four generations of the family. it's been half a century since edmund bennett first walked into george nakashima's workshop and nakashima installed his work in bennett's model home. since then, nakashima -- who died in 1990 -- has become one of the most iconic and collectible american designers. still, bennett's heirs are not interested in keeping their strange inheritance, so they decide to sell the collection through a los angeles company, la modern auctions. a perfect excuse for me to pay a visit to the auction house owner, peter loughery. peter? >> hi. >> hi. how are you? i'm jamie. >> good! welcome. >> ah! and there's a nakashima. >> yeah, this is one our favorite pieces. it's a round table in a round space. >> turns out peter has studied and collected nakashima furniture for almost 30 years.

>> i think the first nakashima piece i bought, i may have been 18 or 19 years old. it was still considered used furniture. >> once loughery sets the auction date, the family ships the bennett collection to la. did you have a reaction when you saw the furniture being packed up and taken out? >> we had our last family dinner, and we sat around the table, and we talked about edmund. we all held hands, and we said a prayer of thanksgiving for the table and for edmund, and hoped that the next family that had the table have the pleasures that we had with it. ♪ >> as the big day approaches, diane bennett and three of ed's children fly to la. elizabeth brings her two children, and, of course, pam hardie is there, too. >> i wouldn't have missed being at that auction for the world.

>> we all said we were going to sit on our hands in case we accidentally buy a piece back that we don't want. [ laughs ] >> take me inside the auction room that day. >> nervous, everybody was nervous. >> lot number 245 is one of the lots from the bennett family, >> i take out my phone. i start filming. >> the first nakashima piece is that wall case bennett bought for his carderock model home in 1963. loughery estimates it's now worth between $20,000 and $30,000 -- many times what ed bennett paid for it. could it really go for that much? >> $20,000, back of the room. >> i was floored. >> we just were speechless. >> all through? >> that's next.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> february 23, 2014. >> one of the lots from the bennett family. >> edmund bennett's family watches with anticipation as the

bidding begins on his collection of zen modern furniture by george nakashima. the first piece up, that wall case from bennett's model home way back when. bidding begins at the low estimate -- $20,000. >> and it ratchets up. and it ratchets up. and another phone bid comes in. and an online bid comes in. peter would say... >> all done, all through? >> and then somebody picked it up again. >> i'm sitting there next to my son, slapping his leg, going, "matthew! matthew! matthew!" >> the next thing you know, it is far above the high estimate. >> all done, all through? >> pam and i are like this. [ laughs ] >> sold!

>> the hammer price was actually $52,500. that was crazy. >> it's almost twice the high estimate and 150 times what bennett paid for it back in the 1960s. >> the george nakashima couch, $4,500 on the internet now. >> that first piece sets off a bidding frenzy. >> sold. this is the conoid headboard from the bennett family commissions. >> conoid bench -- $32,500. sliding-door cabinet -- $16,000. "q" bench... >> sold it. >> 14,000. pam's lamp, the one she had appraised, goes to the la county museum of art... >> sold it! >> ...for $12,000. and that dining room table with 12 chairs, the one around which ed and diane's sons and daughters, grandchildren and friends shared so much joy...

>> any more? sold. >> ...they sell for a total of $90,000, more than anything else in the collection. >> my daughter had like a little mini breakdown. >> george nakashima couch, the george nakashima lounge chairs, george nakashima table lamp. >> to her, it was like, "you're selling grandpa." >> $3,750. $4,000 is bid. $4,500 i have. fair warning... >> once she talked through it with me... >> sold. $7,000. >> ...she realizes it was a very good thing. >> yeah, it's bittersweet. i mean, he meant a lot to me. and he was a self-made guy. you know, he came from that greatest generation. >> the auction yields almost $400,000, a new standard of value for the works of george nakashima. i guess ed bennett knew what he was doing, lugging all that furniture from one house to the next. the bennett family's strange inheritance -- born in the forests of pennsylvania, given a

second life by the hands of a master craftsman, then witness to decades of happy family life -- is shipped off to collectors around the world, treasured now as high art. george nakashima was right -- each tree does have its own destiny. and one tree's destiny will be to rock to sleep another generation of bennetts. it's the one thing ed's daughter keeps for herself. >> my dad had a rocking chair here that i really liked, with a free-form arm, so that was the piece that i decided to keep. i was thinking in the back of my mind, "oh, someday somebody will rock a child in this rocking chair." >> diane bennett has now furnished her house with other great american mid-century designers. the nakashima furniture is gone, and edmund is gone. what is that like for you every day? >> i miss edmund terribly.

i go by a saying that's important to me, which is "do not mourn that which you've lost. rejoice instead that you had it." we had a wonderful life together. >> edmund bennett not only insisted his home be filled with nakashima furniture -- he also had very definite ideas about what would or wouldn't work on the walls, right up till the very end. weeks before he died, he saw diane hanging some things on the wall, and he looked chagrined. he turned to one of his kids, and he said, "i'm very worried about diane and all of her european art." well, ed's gone. the european art has stayed. he's still resting in peace, diane says. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us?

we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. >> the victors in the battle of little bighorn welcome an outsider into their ranks. >> once they trusted him, they would share things with him. >> he paints their portraits and gets the inside scoop on custer's last stand. >> white cow bull was the sioux warrior that shot at the officer. >> his life's work becomes this woman's strange inheritance. she's convinced it's worth millions, but will anyone buy it? >> was he an artist or just someone who documented a side of history? [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

i'm jamie colby, and today i'm just outside great falls, montana, known for its wide prairies and stunning waterfalls, but it's also steeped in native american history. and that's the connection between montana and its native american culture that's brought me here to learn about a strange inheritance and its unusual odyssey from right here to hollywood and back again. >> my name is sandi solomon, and, in 2006, my dear friend passed away and left me the entire estate. and the inheritance is an obligation. >> sandi's talking about a huge collection of paintings, drawings, photographs, and historic artifacts that she inherited from the estate of hollywood technical advisor and artist david humphreys miller. >> all of these are my people,

my relatives, my dearest friends. >> miller's people and the subject of his artwork are the survivors of the most famous indian battle of all time -- the battle of little bighorn in june 1876... [ gunshots ] where colonel george armstrong custer and all his men were slaughtered. i've come to montana, the state where the battle took place, to learn more about miller and the strange inheritance he left behind. brad hamlett is a gallery owner and fifth-generation montanan, who, as you'll see, stumbled into his own stake in this strange inheritance. >> the life work of david humphreys miller was to find and paint the survivors of the battle of the little bighorn. >> david miller is born in 1918 and raised in van wert, ohio. his parents are both artists,

and they teach him to paint, too. at 16, david becomes obsessed with history -- in particular, the battle of little bighorn. he goes to his parents with an unusual request -- allow him to travel alone to the western plains and search out the native american survivors of the battle. david really went on a very unique journey, didn't he? why do you think he did it? >> he just believed that some of these people were still alive and that maybe he could talk to them. >> his parents trusted him, and david had to promise that, when it was time to come home and go to school, he would. >> in 1935, with his parents' plymouth coupe and $100, david heads to south dakota, home to the sioux and blackfoot indians, such as those seen in this rare film footage from the era. >> this is the first photo. you can see how young he was. >> but he has his sketch pad and his pencils, and he's drawing away.

why do you think they trusted him? >> he was a very loving individual, and i think he just slipped right into their lifestyle. >> miller came at the right time, and he was young. they knew he wasn't working for the government. and because of that, he earned their trust. and once they trusted him, they would share things with him. >> this is white cow bull. he's a very famous indian, and they were friends. >> one day, while sketching joseph white cow bull, the elderly indian warrior starts talking about the famous battle fought six decades before and recounts seeing the man the indians called "longhair." he describes him as wearing a white buckskin jacket, the one that custer famously wore, and leading the charge. then white bull begins to tell david his secret -- that his shot may have changed the battle.

>> the officer in buckskins fell into the little bighorn, and they retrieved him and then turned around and went up the hill, and that seemed to change the whole tide of the battle from an attack to a retreat. >> did this young artist solve a 60-year-old mystery -- who killed custer? from 1936 to 1941, david travels back and forth between south dakota and ohio. he learns 13 tribal languages and is adopted by a sioux warrior. he draws dozens of sketches and paints oil portraits of indians from numerous tribes. many of these indians confirm white bull's story. >> you have to understand this is the indian side of the story, what they said happened that day. and i think you better pay attention to it because they were there. >> for the young david miller, his journey of discovery is a rite of passage,

what the indians might call a "vision quest." it certainly set him on a unique career path. after serving in world war ii, david heads to hollywood. studios are churning out westerns like there's no tomorrow. david establishes himself as a leading consultant to directors looking to cast native americans in their films. david works on dozens of westerns, including "tomahawk," "how the west was won," and "cheyenne autumn." he also works on the tv series "daniel boone." an entertainment reporter named jan boheme writes a profile on david. they fall in love and marry. she gets him to write a book drawing on his experience. "custer's fall" tells the indian side of the story. in the 1970s, david and jan move to rancho santa fe, north of san diego. that's where they meet sandi solomon and become good friends. tell me what it was like to walk

into their home with all of david's work everywhere. >> i've seen people walk in the front door and tears start down their eyes. people just were absolutely captured by that wall. >> the wall features 72 of david's many paintings and drawings of indian warriors from the battle of little bighorn. in 1990, david is diagnosed with lung cancer and dies two years later. his ashes are scattered on mount coolidge, in the black hills of south dakota, where he first met the indian warriors. sandi helps her friend jan sort through his estate -- a mind-boggling collection of paintings, sketches, photos, and also century-old drums, headdresses, and other artifacts. in 2003, jan, who has no children of her own, tells sandi that, when the time comes, she wants to leave the entire estate to her. but the bequest came with one

condition, sandi says -- she must protect david's legacy. >> there was no one else to do it, and i felt that there was a mission, you know, there was an obligation. >> three years later, that time comes, and sandi is in for a big surprise. >> i wasn't allowed in. by then, jan was gone. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. which of these western films grossed highest at the box office? is it the 2010 remake "true grit," the 1990 movie "dances with wolves," or the 2011 animated feature "rango"? the answer in a moment. my "business" was going nowhere... so i built this kickin' new website with godaddy. building a website in under an hour is easy! 68% of people... ...who have built their website using gocentral, did it in... ...under an hour, and you can too.

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>> so, which of these western films grossed highest at the box office? it's "b," the 1990 film "dances with wolves," starring kevin costner, which grossed $424 million worldwide. >> this is... there was no one else to do it, and i felt that there was an obligation. >> in 2003, sandi solomon is promised a strange inheritance, including dozens of portraits of the survivors of the battle of little bighorn. they're the work of david humphreys miller, whose ailing widow, jan miller, is sandi's best friend.

three years pass. in january 2006, sandi gets a troubling call from jan's caregiver. >> she had died in her sleep the night before. i was told that the sheriff had been there and that they'd locked the doors. >> the county of san diego says jan died without a valid will. it takes a year, but a court finally rules that sandi is jan's legal heir. she spends months sorting through david's artwork, photographs, and artifacts and clearing it all out of the house, which she sells for $1.9 million in what turns out to be the nick of time. >> firefighters have been working furiously to knock this... >> soon after the sale, a wildfire sweeps through the area and burns the house to the ground. if she hadn't moved quickly, the entire collection could've been lost to the flames. >> these were in an album that david had in his desk

that he looked at all the time, and nobody really knew that that album was there. and... >> how did you know? >> jan had shown it to me. >> how much did you think your inheritance was worth? >> i absolutely had no idea because things hadn't been valued, and, of course, the artifacts can't be sold. they have to be donated because they have eagle feathers on them, even though they're over a hundred years old. you can't sell anything with an eagle feather. >> but sandi believes miller's art has significant worth, and she's flabbergasted when a probate court appraiser says otherwise. so, what did they come back and tell you? >> they told me that it was worth $20,000 -- the entire collection. >> on what basis? >> they didn't believe there was any value to the artwork. they were more interested in silver and pots and pans. >> no value to the artwork? sandi makes it her quest to prove the appraisal is wrong.

>> and i kept saying to everyone, "but you have to see this. you have to see this." >> in 2007, she's put in touch with a montana rancher, state senator, and gallery owner who agrees with her -- brad hamlett. how did you find out about this collection? >> well, i got a call from a friend, and he mentioned david humphreys miller. yeah, i remember that name because i had actually read that book, and i thought it did a lot to resolve what really happened at the battle of little bighorn. and i was even more intrigued when i found out that there was all these sketches and painting that he'd done from life of these indians. he caught their soul. he caught a moment in time that nobody else was bothering to do, and that's one of the reasons it's valuable. >> brad and sandi start working with a new appraiser, barbara stone, a former museum curator who started her own art-consulting firm in denver. she declares the miller collection is worth a heck of a lot more

than $20,000. and your value would be? >> $3,500,000. >> that and the story of one little girl trying to get our attention in that rare film footage next on "strange inheritance." >> here's another quiz question for you. which movie star never acted in a hollywood western -- cary grant, sharon stone, or frank sinatra? the answer in a moment. is this a phone?

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>> so, which of these stars never acted in a hollywood western? the answer is "a," cary grant. >> what makes one artist's work

worth millions and another's next to nothing? that question hangs over this strange inheritance, which includes portraits of indians from the battle of little bighorn, sketched and painted by david humphreys miller. when a california court values his entire collection at only $20,000, heir sandi solomon launches a quest to prove them wrong. along the way, montana gallery owner brad hamlett takes up her cause. hey. how are you, brad? >> welcome to wrangler gallery. >> brad has framed the entire collection and put it on display in his gallery. >> so, you've made your own investment -- not just your time, but also in the frames. how much was that? >> cost is roughly about $50,000, but i felt we had to do it to show the value of it. >> you're now financially invested in it, as well as emotionally. >> there'll never be another collection like this come on the market that's photographs, artwork,

artifacts, research notes. >> for the descendants of those who survived the battle of little bighorn, the collection provides a direct link to their past. here's a fleeting shot of a little girl prancing around in the background of this footage of the indians shot in the late 1920s. hi, gertie. >> hello. >> and here is that little girl now. thank you for coming by. i wanted to show you something. 90-year-old gertie heavy runner of the blackfoot nation. as she walks through the exhibit, she recognizes the elders from her own childhood. >> this man here i want to talk you about -- juniper. >> juniper old person. >> juniper old person, he was very prominent man on our reservation where i grew up. he was an indian judge. and he took care of all the children, and anytime nobody didn't keep the curfew, you had to go see judge old person. >> uh-oh. >> so, he was very strict.

>> without david, we wouldn't have the native american side of this story. >> should that come into play in appraising sandi solomon's strange inheritance? "yes," says art appraiser barbara stone. was he an artist or just someone who documented a side of history? >> he's an artist, absolutely. when you can produce something like this with your hands, that's an artist. >> so, who's interested in a collection like this? >> this should go to a university, a museum that can share it with the american public. >> why? >> because of the historic background. because he has captured the essence of the individual. >> which sounds descriptively like they're very nice pictures of people who were interesting, but how do you go about your appraisal? >> well, when you look at a painting, you're going to look at uniqueness. this is one of a kind.

it's not a reproduction. >> okay, well, i do see it's signed with the year 1939. >> right. >> this must be the name of the subject, possibly his signature? >> it is, which is rare. >> as someone who studies and evaluates and appraises native american art, were you very excited about this collection? >> yes, i was excited. but when you start doing the appraisal, you must be objective. it doesn't matter if i love this piece. how much is it worth? >> keep in mind, the court appraiser in california dismissed miller's art as nearly worthless when it valued the total collection at $20,000. and your value would be? >> $3,500,000. >> but once someone hears that there was another appraisal for less, they'll question which one is right. >> they might. what you have to have, though, is not just a straight appraiser. you have to have somebody who knows the material.

and that's one of my fields -- native american. >> $3.5 million would suggest each painting might be worth tens of thousands of dollars. if that's true, it's great news for sandi solomon. which one do you think is correct -- $20,000 or $3.5 million or something in the middle, sandi? >> i think it's priceless. so, you know, give me an offer. [ laughs ] >> but will she get one? that's next on "strange inheritance." we all depend on trucks. chevy, chevy, chevy trucks. we think it's because chevrolets are the most dependable dependable dependable trucks. built to last a long long time. with durable durability and rugged ruggedness. i like the extra power hauling power maxi power!!! and quality. seems they make them strong extra strong mile after mile after mile.

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with an expertise in western art pegs the value of this strange inheritance at $3.5 million. and seven years later, even though there have been no takers, barbara stone stands by her estimate. so, who's right? why hasn't the collection sold? >> number one, the desire that it all stays together, and that puts limits on it. >> she's giving up getting some money for it by selling it off piecemeal. was that a good decision? >> well, yes, because she was very good friends with the millers, and she is simply acting for them. they would've wanted it all to go one place. >> montana gallery owner brad hamlett does try to market the collection to museums and universities to no avail. >> museums have no money. we need to find an individual that will purchase the collection, and then they can gift it, and there it will be for everybody to look at

in the future. >> you think that the beneficiary of this collection will get their price? >> i think they will. they have to hold fast. >> and maybe for a while longer. "so be it," says sandi solomon, who insists the real bottom line of her strange inheritance has less to do with money than an obligation to honor david humphreys miller's legacy. that's the promise she says she made to his widow, her benefactor jan miller, and it's a promise she vows to fulfill. what do you think she's saying to you? >> she's telling me just to keep going, keep on keeping on. >> there are many questions about the battle of little bighorn that may never be answered. even the slightest details were hotly debated from the start. let me give you an example -- david miller's native american sources. they all agreed the battle started at noon, with the sun directly overhead,

but official military accounts said it started around 3:00 p.m. that's a three-hour discrepancy. miller did some research, and he figured out the problem back in 1876 was there still no uniform time zones across the u.s. cities and states. they all had different time standards. so even though the 7th cavalry was 1,500 miles west of chicago, it was fighting the battle of little bighorn on chicago time. one detail that is agreed on is that the battle was quick and it was bloody, taking such little time that one native american witness said, "it lasted only as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal." i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks for joining us. and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story

you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. >> i need an ambulance right here. >> i saw three or four people laying on the side of semi school all covered in blood. at first i thought this was a high school prank. >> compost near the location. >> this was an act of terror. a particularly cowardly act of terror. >> breaking news this morning. kerry new york city. the suspect pledging allegiance to