i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ ♪ [ cheering ] >> the original hoop dream. >> these really are the rules here -- 1891, james naismith. granddad's signature. >> incredible. >> one family's heirloom... >> you think your great-grandfather could ever envision that the game he developed could be what it is today? >> ...goes on one wild ride. >> he starts looking around and thinks, "oh, my goodness. where are the rules?" >> no. >> it's a national treasure with a big price tag. >> you paid more than the emancipation proclamation. >> yeah, well... [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm on the road in lawrence, kansas, on my way to the university of kansas home of the jayhawks, one of the most storied teams in all of basketball. now, kansas is actually not where the tale of this strange inheritance begins, but through a turn of events, it does wind up here. >> in 1939, my grandfather, dr. james naismith passed away and left us an artifact that dates back to 1891. >> he was my great-grandfather, and what he left us was the magna carta of basketball. >> naismiths. jamie. >> i'm jim. good to meet you. >> hi, jim. how are you? >> jamie, i'm sean naismith. >> great to meet you both. >> likewise. >> i am interested to hear about your strange inheritance. i'm awfully curious what the connection is to k.u. >> we'd love to show you. my great-grandfather, dr. james naismith, started the first basketball teams here at k.u. [ whistle blows ] >> but time out!

let's reset the clock. the boy who would grow up to invent basketball, james naismith, is born in ontario, canada, in 1861. at age 9, he and his brother and sister are orphaned when both their parents die of typhoid fever. >> the three kids were left with a bachelor uncle. now, that is not the softest person to be raising three kids on a farm. i know for sure that he just deeply missed his mother. >> james drops out of school at the age of 15 to work in a lumber mill. by 19, he's working hard and drinking harder. >> he was in the bar drinking too much, and there was an older man down at the end of the bar and said, "are you margaret young's son?" and he said, "i am." the response was, "she'd roll over in her grave if she saw you now." he made a decision to go back to high school at the age of 20. >> and after that to mcgill university. james letters in rugby and

soccer while earning degrees in physical education and theology. it's just the résumé one employer is looking for. >> he talked to some people that encouraged him to take a look and see what the ymca is up to. >> the y? >> ymca, yeah -- young men's christian association. >> at the time, legions of young men are leaving farm country for cities. they're rowdy and unchaperoned. jumping into the breach, the ymca, founded on the principle of muscular christianity. its mission -- to promote clean christian living through athletics. >> the thought was -- we can teach more through athletics than we can from the pulpit. james' pulpit becomes the ymca training center in springfield, massachusetts. in december 1891, he's tasked with creating an indoor activity for a group of young men during the winter. so, he dreams this game up? >> he had to start from scratch,

and that's when the thinking started. >> the light bulb goes on one night, and he's ready to start the next morning. >> evidently, he asked the maintenance man there, "i need a box -- you know, something you can put a ball in." and he came back and said, "i can't find any boxes. i got a couple of peach baskets." >> oh, my -- for peaches. james hangs one up at each end of the gym, 10 feet high -- only because that's where he could get the nails in. he picked up a soccer ball because it was big enough where you had to hold it out. you couldn't hide it. the arched shot came from the little game of "duck on a rock," a kid's game in canada. >> then, he calls the boys in. >> he describes the first game. he said, "i had multiple black eyes, a dislocated shoulder, one guy completely knocked out." >> but the new game's a big hit. his young men begged to play again, so james tries to civilize it a bit. he types of 13 basic rules and

tacks them to a board in the gym. "if basketball is your religion, these are the tablets moses brought down from the mountain." do you have a copy of those? >> i've got them in here. >> so, let me just take a look. basketball he has "basket ball." >> yeah. >> two words. >> yeah. evidently, somebody suggested naismith ball, and he said, "i don't think that'll work." >> a month later, in january 1892, naismith's basketball rules are publish in the springfield college newspaper. rule 1 says, "the ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands." and the game is supposed to be non-contact. there's no shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking. ♪ >> hey, coach. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. how are you? >> i asked some young players from the mokan basketball program in kansas city to

demonstrate for you how today's hoops differ from the original game. so, coach, the naismith version of basketball has 13 rules. now you have 150 pages of rules in the nba. what are the big differences? >> the big difference is rule #3. back in the olden days, you had to actually pass the ball, and right where you catch it, you had to stop right there. so now the guys can actually dribble and go places. i don't know -- no dribbling? you instructed the guys to give us a little demonstration of how it's done. >> go right ahead. [ whistle blows ] >> that's right. i'm calling the shots. [ buzzer ] [ bell dings ] >> at this point, they can't dribble the ball at all. they just have to move and pass. teamwork's coming into play now. [ bell dings ] the game's a little bit slower, a little bit harder to get up and down the floor. >> right. nicely done. do you ever think that

basketball went in a direction that is different than what it was originally intended? i think it's better now, and it's more entertaining. >> you think your great-grandfather could ever envision that the game he developed could be what it is today? >> he saw it change a lot in his lifetime. you know, many rules come into the game -- some he was happy about, some he wasn't so happy about. >> what was his vision? was it just about an athletic sport, or more? >> he said building character was something that he strove for, along with athleticism. >> building character through athletics -- james really spreads that gospel. when after marrying and earning his md, he joins the university of kansas as chaplain and p.e. instructor. it's 1898. his first move -- start a college hoops team. soon, basketball is played at schools across the u.s. and by newly formed professional teams.

naismith even sees his game go global, thanks to the ymca's christian missionaries who teach it overseas. your grandfather must have been a very wealthy man. >> wrong. [ laughs ] >> wait, look at where basketball is today. multi-million-dollar contracts, endorsements, and the merchandising. didn't he ever protect his ownership? >> no, he characterized the game as a gift. >> but even a christian can make a buck. >> well, that's true, but what was his bottom line? make the world a better place for having been here. >> dr. naismith said, "it's hard to describe to anybody the feeling i get when i'm in a foreign country and i see on some back road a basketball hoop nailed up to a tree. that means more to me than $1 million dollars. >> which brings us back to those original rules he wrote in 1891. what did james do with them? >> he was a woodworker, and he actually built a sideboard, and he kept a little secret

compartment that the rules were kept in for many years. >> seems he always knew he was onto something. so does his youngest son, james naismith jr. in 1931, he gets his aging father to authenticate his 13 rules with a signature. >> this says, "first draft of basketball rules, hung in the gym that the boys might learn the rules." >> mm-hmm. >> when james dies in 1939, that original statement of the rules passes to james jr., jim's father. a nail-biting ride is about to begin. did he carry it around, the original? >> he carried around the original rules. >> he had it insured, though. >> he did not have it insured. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the answer after the break. introducing stocks by the slice from fidelity.

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we love our new home. there's so much space. we have a guestroom now. but, we have aunts. you're slouching again, ted. expired, expired... expired. thanks, aunt bonnie. it's a lot of house. i hope you can keep it clean. at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. which helps us save a lot of money oh, teddy. did you get my friend request? uh, i'll have to check. (doorbell ringing) aunt joni's here! for bundling made easy, go to geico.com. hello? >> it's b, moses malone, in the 1978-79 season for the houston rockets. he was paid exactly $1 million. >> when dr. james naismith dies in 1939, he leaves his son james jr. a strange inheritance, two typewritten pages outlining

his invention -- basketball. almost immediately, the game explodes into a worldwide phenomenon. by 1959, they're even building a hall of fame in basketball's birthplace -- springfield, massachusetts. james naismith is not only the first inductee. the place is named after him. his son loans the museum the rules. >> the goal is to display them, show the world. >> by the time james naismith jr. dies in 1980, his heirs are not pleased with the hall of fame. >> i went to school in upstate new york, so i stick my head in the door. "hi, there, i'm jim naismith. i'd like to see the rules." and they would find them in the safe. >> in the safe? >> in the safe. >> not displayed? >> no, the hall of fame apparently didn't really know what to do with them or what really needed to be done. >> jim's brother, 42-year-old ian naismith, isn't just dismayed with the hall but with the game itself. for while many think basketball is enjoying a golden age --

bird, jordan, magic, the dream team -- ian sees a sport that has strayed far from their grandfather's original vision. >> he wasn't very happy with the state that basketball was in at the time. >> what's his beef with it? >> if you recall in the '90s, there were fights on the court, there were fights with fans. he felt it was time to remind the world that the game was a gift. >> underscoring ian's sense that basketball has forgotten its roots, the hall of fame building falls into disrepair and ian fears that when it's renovated, the building will no longer prominently feature his grandfather's name. >> he got upset and told them that he's gonna climb up there himself and spray-paint in orange letters. >> the new building does keep the naismith name, but ian convinces the hall of fame to return the neglected rules to the family. he wants to reform the sport and has a plan to call attention to his cause. in 1995, he hits the road in

this rv with his strange inheritance. >> what's a better attraction than the original 13 rules of basketball from 1891? did he carry it around, the original? >> he carried around the original rules. it was in a gold briefcase. it was fire-proofed, between two plates of glass. but it's in a briefcase. >> ian brings the family heirloom to schools and gives lectures on his grandfather's original hoop dream. >> people say, "well, naismith, you want everything to stay the same. nothing stays the same." sportsmanship, respect, dignity, positive role modeling, and teamwork can stay the same. and should. >> ian travels the rules to big games, like the final four and the nba all stars. >> did your dad ever have them appraised? >> he did. they appraised at approximately $5 million. >> he's driving around with a $5 million-appraised document. >> he had it insured, though. >> he did not have it insured. that premium would have been about $50,000 a year. >> so you can imagine ian's

horror on a trip to kansas city. >> he starts looking around and thinks, "oh, my goodness. where are the rules?" >> you're kidding. that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do.

talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. -my grandma. -my cousin. my great-great grandmother. she was all of 4'11" but very tenacious. a very independent woman. driven, passionate. embodied grit, perseverance. she marched. -she wrote. -she demanded. she was proud to pass on a legacy of civic mindedness to her descendants. i'm very proud to carry on her story.

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the big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. >> the answer is c. they banned the dunk shot. after lew alcindor, later known as kareem abdul-jabbar, dominated the season, the ban was rescinded in 1976. >> in 2002, ian naismith,

grandson of dr. james naismith, the inventor of basketball, is on a mission to preserve the game's true legacy in the face of what he sees as its ongoing decline. one of the 12 values that dr. naismith saw in the game was sportsmanship. and my dad felt that was the one thing that was really lacking at that time in the game. >> he spent almost a decade traveling the thirteen original rules, which have been appraised at $5 million, to schools and sporting events. touring the country with a document worth $5 million with no insurance in a gold briefcase -- >> he was a very risk-tolerant person. >> just outside lawrence, kansas, ian realizes the rules have gone missing. >> he finished up a meal, got in his van, and when he gets to lawrence, he starts looking around and thinks, "oh, my goodness. where are the rules?" >> no. >> he called his waitress, who gets on the phone and says, "mr. naismith, i can guarantee

you 100% that i saw you walk out with those rules." and he goes back out to his conversion van and starts tearing it apart. luckily, they were actually in the van. >> that was a close call. >> it was a very close call. the scare helps the family realize they can't keep their strange inheritance forever. >> my brother did talk to me and he said, "in order to properly value and protect, they may have to eventually be sold." and he and i agreed on that. ian contacts leila dunbar, then-director of collectibles at sotheby's auction house in new york. >> her first step -- make sure the rules are the real thing. >> the rules scored a 10/10 because they had come down from dr. naismith to his son to ian naismith. having his signature on it added another layer of documentation and i think added value to it. >> so, what is it worth? at the time, the priciest sports

document is the contract that sent babe ruth to the yankees from the red sox in 1919. in 2005, it sold for $996,000. >> sotheby's believes the naismith rules will fetch more. >> if you're a basketball fan, you could certainly consider them the magna carta of basketball. >> they set the minimum bid at $1.3 million. that's less than the $5 million the rules were once appraised for. the proof will be in the bidding. >> it's like a horse race. you just don't know how it's going to end. >> or where they'll end up. jim, it's like fort knox here. >> [ laughs ] >> 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." >> it's december 2010 in

new york city. the heirs of james naismith, the man who invented basketball, are ready to sell the original set of rules that naismith posted in a ymca gym back in 1891. the famed sotheby's auction house has set the minimum bid at $1.3 million. >> the auction generated a tremendous amount of excitement. >> unbeknownst to the naismith clan, a lawrence, kansas, native and k.u. grad turned texas billionaire named david booth is one of the bidders. >> i was born in lawrence. i grew up naismith drive. >> now he's in the game via telephone from austin, texas. >> this was a highly unprecedented auction. you had bobby kennedy's original copy of the emancipation proclamation. you had the only known flag that survived custer's last stand at little bighorn, and then you had the rules. >> talk about competition. the flag from little bighorn sells for $2.2 million.

the emancipation proclamation beats that easily -- $3.7 million. >> you could feel the tension building throughout the other two sales. >> the comes harlem globetrotter curly neal to introduce the basketball rules. the bidding races to $3 million. it's a jump ball between david booth and one other phone bidder. >> did you know who it was? >> i didn't at the time, but it turns out it's a good friend of mine -- david rubenstein. >> rubenstein, also a billionaire, once purchased a 13th century copy of the actual magna carta for more than $20 million. >> about $3.2 million, you could feel mr. rubenstein starting to slow down. he had to think about each bid more carefully. >> and then, the final bid. >> on my left, $3,800,000. >> sold to david booth! >> you paid more than the emancipation proclamation.

>> yeah, well, that's because there's only one original rules, and the emancipation proclamation, i think, had about a dozen. >> with the auction house commission added in, the price comes to $4.3 million, the most ever paid at auction to date for any sports memorabilia. for the heirs of james naismith, the man who invented a game that grew into a multi-billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon, it's a long overdue payday. wait! stop the clock! yes, there's but seconds left in this "strange inheritance" tale, but still time for one last twist. >> turns out, the naismiths don't cash in. they donate their millions from the sale to a charity that helps poor kids with food, clothes, and basketball courts. it was founded by ian naismith, who dies two years after the auction at the age of 73. >> really good things can be done with money, but granddad's focus was people.

>> and high bidder david booth has a surprise, too. he donates the rules to his alma mater and james naismith's old employer, the university of kansas. jim, it's like fort knox here. >> [ laughs ] >> they're keeping it under lock and key, and i can only open it for a few minutes, i'm told. >> it's been a long time since you've saw them. >> it's been a long time. that's it. >> wow. it's very emotional. >> it is emotional. i see here -- 1891. james naismith. granddad's signature. >> and what is your great-grandfather saying, knowing that they've come full circle and they're back here? >> oh, he's cheering somewhere. [ cheering ] >> speaking of goals, one of the quirks of the original game of basketball was that the baskets had no holes in the bottom. so every time somebody scored, you had to climb up there with a ladder and fetch the ball. this was obviously annoying, so somebody figured out a way to build a better basket. swoosh! nothing but net!

i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ whistle blows ] >> dad had a talent. >> there's nobody out there who does what he did. he was just that good. >> but it's lost on his son. >> when you're 16 or 17 years old, the last thing you're worried about is your dad up in a building, building models. >> this strange inheritance ultimately brings them together. >> when his father was alive, he did not want larry to touch them, and i can only imagine what he's thinking now. >> how would you describe this inheritance? >> a little bit more of a journey than i was prepared for. >> so, is it time to take a new tack? >> i know you've said, larry, that you'd never seriously considered selling, but now that you hear this... ♪

[ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] i'm jamie colby, and today i'm driving into the oldest settlement in louisiana. it's called natchitoches. it's rich in southern charm and civil war history. battles raged nearby, both along and on the red river. well, that history inspired one man's remarkable craftsmanship. but it left his son wondering what the heck to do with all the crafts. >> my name is larry atteridge. in 2008, my father passed away and left behind his life's work -- a massive fleet of amazingly detailed model ships he built from scratch. >> hi, larry. i'm jamie. >> well, hi, jamie. nice to meet you. >> great to meet you. thanks for inviting me deep into louisiana. it sure is pretty. >> well, i've got a lot to show

you. come this way. >> larry invites me in to see some of his father's civil war ships. this is one cool viewer submission. which one is that? >> this is the eastport, which was on the red river here in natchitoches parish. it was one of the largest ironclads of the civil war. it was 280 foot long, and it weighed 770 tons. >> with the civil war, i first think of great armies clashing at gettysburg, shiloh, and antietam, not naval battles. but that's the story these miniature vessels tell. when war between the states breaks out in 1861, union general winfield scott creates the anaconda plan. the idea -- blockade southern ports, take control of the mississippi, and, like a huge snake, squeeze the south into submission. the union builds a navy of more than 600 ships.

>> they would commandeer boats from people -- ferry boats, paddle-wheelers, anything that floated and they could put a gun on it. >> larry's father, william, made models of many of them. there's the c.s.s. gaines, a wooden side-wheel confederate gunboat built in mobile, alabama. there's the u.s.s. vicksburg and the c.s.s. alabama -- a massive propeller-driven ship built in secrecy in england for the confederacy. all are made precisely to scale. 1 inch here translates to 8 feet on the real vessel. where did this all begin? did dad buy a book on ship building? >> i don't remember anybody ever teaching him how to do this. it's just something you have to be born with. >> william atteridge jr. is born in 1929 in highland park, illinois, a suburb of chicago.

from an early age, he's fascinated by the ships he sees on lake michigan and dreams of one day setting sail. in 1951, during the korean war, william joins the navy and travels the pacific on the u.s.s. valley forge. the 22-year-old specializes in cosmetic maintenance, doing the detail work. >> the "45" that you see on the u.s.s. valley forge, he was one of the guys that painted the numbers on the aircraft carrier he was on. >> william is honorably discharged in 1955, returns home, gets married, and starts a family. larry's the youngest of three kids. the family settles in central louisiana, where william's artistic skills lead him to a job. >> he started out as a draftsman for the mobile-home industry. he just had an incredible talent for artistry.

>> did you inherit the artistry gene? >> no. >> when he's not buried behind a stack of blueprints, william loves to travel the country. >> he took us to national parks all over the united states. but it seemed like we always ended up at a naval air base or some military museum. >> then, in the mid-1970s, a trip to vicksburg, mississippi, sparks william's creative passion. more than 100 years earlier, the u.s.s. cairo was the first vessel ever to be sunk using a mine remotely detonated by hand. william's there to watch it go on display after being raised from the yazoo river. >> he started getting involved with the museum people over there, and next thing i knew, he was building ships. >> the 46-year-old father of three starts with his own

miniature version of the massive cairo -- piece by piece, out of pine and cypress. the smokestacks... the deck boards... cannons... even miniature ropes. it takes two months. >> you know, he would make the little doors and the little lifeboats. and then he would paint them and he would drive little nails into the deck. >> it's amazing. >> he just went haywire with it, really. >> over the next decade, william builds a civil war flotilla. there's the c.s.s. virginia, the first steam-powered ironclad warship, built by the confederate navy. the u.s.s. neosho, a union vessel with a steam-powered front-gun turret that can spin 360 degrees. that's some firepower. and the c.s.s. calhoun, a civilian steamer converted into a 500-ton side-wheel gunboat.

all with the precision you'd expect from a career draftsman. >> before he built a ship, he'd study it. he had blueprints from the smithsonian institution, and if they didn't exist, he would draw his own set of blueprints. >> down to the finest detail. >> he was a fanatic about it. >> was your mom applauding his efforts? >> not really. i recall her not being all that thrilled with dad spending a lot of time in the shop. >> but he wouldn't stop. >> oh, no. it became an obsession. >> by the time william retires in the early 1980s, he's churned out more than 500 ships. that's when the hobbyist decides to share his fleet with the world. he built an annex on his property, next to the family home in arcadia, louisiana -- his very own civil war naval museum. let's be honest -- most people would build, maybe, an addition

to their house. your dad told your mom, "i'm gonna build a museum for the ships." >> you know, for lack of better terms, i think he didn't really listen to much about what my mother had to say. >> william doesn't even let his son touch his delicate crafts. not that larry's interested. >> as a young man, i didn't pay as much attention to what he was doing. when you're 16 or 17 years old, the last thing you're worried about is your dad up in a building, building models. >> but outside the family, word is spreading about a reclusive shipwright in the woods of louisiana. they call from around the country and around the world. civil war buffs and private collectors not only want to see his work, they want to buy it. was this profit-making for him? that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the c.s.s. virginia was a confederate ironclad warship also known by what name?

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find a stock basedtech. on your interests or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. >> so, by what name was the c.s.s. virginia also known? the answer is "b" -- the merrimack. it was a union ship salvaged by the south and rechristened as the virginia. in 1862, it faced off against

the monitor in the first duel between ironclad ships. >> by the 1990s, william atteridge has built an armada of nearly 1,000 model ships. visitors from around the world travel to his makeshift museum in the louisiana woods to see his amazing craft. did he charge people to come in? >> his museum was donations only. they would drop a couple dollars in a bucket and he'd let them go through there and he would talk them to death. and, finally, it was almost like, "okay, we got to go." [ chuckles ] >> one of his early patrons -- louisiana state university historian gary joiner. do you remember the first time walking in? >> absolutely. the first thing i saw was this giant model of the c.s.s. arkansas. and i said, "you know what you're doing." >> was he a teacher? >> he was to me. he was a historical sponge.

>> gary commissions william to build ships to use as visual aids in his classes -- 17 in all. what'd you pay? >> i think i paid $175 at the time. >> was it a steal? >> oh, yes. without a doubt. he was just that good. later, even museums commissioned ships from william. was this profit-making for him? >> he didn't make enough. my dad was a very kind soul, and he did a lot of things out of the goodness of his heart. >> what would it cost for a ship? >> back in those days, he might get $300 or $400. and he would spend two months building it. >> year after year, he churns out models. then, in 2005, william is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given six months to live. larry has long since moved out. he now owns a successful ambulance company two hours away.

but he starts making the trip back and forth every week. it's the most treasured time he ever spends with his father. >> during that period of time is when he taught me the most about these ships and about him. the realization came forward that we didn't really know each other. >> do you wish you had spent more time with him? >> absolutely. we loved each other, but we just didn't have that closeness. >> william atteridge outlives his prognosis by three years. he dies in 2008 at age 78. were you with him when he passed? >> yes. it was just me and him. i just told him i loved him and, you know, kissed him on the forehead, which is probably the first time i ever remember kissing my father. >> and with that, larry comes into his strange inheritance -- more than 100 ships, the blueprints he built them from, as well as the records of another 1,000-plus models he's sold through the years --

an archive of the hobby his father elevated to an art form. have you had this collection appraised since you inherited it? >> i did when he first passed away. and i think it was around $130,000. >> would you sell? >> not for $130,000. the emotional attachment, to me, is worth a great deal more than that. >> but things can change. and, as you will see, they do for larry -- more than once. how would you describe this inheritance? >> it was a little bit more of a journey than i was prepared for. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. extra credit if you can name the war during which it was deployed. businesses are starting to bounce back.

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>> the answer is "a" -- the turtle. its inventor tried and failed to attach a time bomb to the hull of a british ship in new york harbor during the revolutionary war. >> it's 2008, and larry atteridge has just been left his strange inheritance -- more than 100 scale-model civil war ships built by his father, stacks of blueprints, and a request. do you remember your last conversation? >> what he asked me to do was to take the collection, to show them in his honor, and keep them together. >> so you're guarding the fleet? >> yes. [ chuckles ]

>> with his father's ship collection more than two hours away from his home, larry decides to move them to a closer port. a bed-and-breakfast in nearby natchitoches agrees to put them on display. these are so delicate. how do you even go about moving that many ships? >> i rented a 26-foot u-haul truck. we got furniture tarps and put them on the floor. >> larry's wife, pam, lends a hand -- with some hesitation. >> when his father was alive, he did not want larry to touch them, and i can only imagine what he's thinking now. >> the ships go on exhibit in natchitoches, with larry serving as the curator. but just a year later, with his ambulance business growing, larry decides he no longer has time to manage them. >> all of a sudden, i realize that i have to move these again. >> he reaches out to the state of louisiana, and they're on board.

for a second time, larry carefully packs up his sprawling and delicate fleet. this time, he ships it to a state museum in tioga, louisiana. five years pass. then, larry receives an alarming phone call. the museum's unstable -- literally. how unstable? >> it was about to cave in. then it became kind of a panic situation for us. >> for a third time, larry scrambles to relocate his strange inheritance. he decides just to bring it home, where the boats will be absolutely safe -- he thinks. then, early one morning... >> my stepdaughter came into the room and said, "hey, the house is on fire." >> the whole house, within five minutes, was in flames. >> in the 40 minutes it takes the fire department to reach their rural location, the atteridge house burns to the ground.

>> we lost everything. >> so, you escaped with your family, but the ships? >> they were still in the museum. >> thankfully, there'd been a delay in delivering custom-built cabinets to the house, and the models stayed put. wow. someone was protecting them. >> it was just by the grace of god, i think. >> unfortunately, most of his father's sale records for ships that he had sold were in the house and are lost in the fire. have you ever had a moment where you've said, "i do need to sell them"? >> yes. it's crossed my mind. >> we know one potential buyer -- our michael wall, founder of the american marine model gallery in gloucester, massachusetts. when larry called us, we called michael. >> i've never seen a collection like this, especially of civil war models. >> so, what's involved in appraising a collection like this? >> well, for example, i chose

this model of arkansas because it's probably one of the biggest ones in the collection. i love it because of the artistry that is done with the finish. i feel something like this would probably be worth between $5,500 and $6,500. >> wow. [ cash register dings ] >> the appraiser says william atteridge's model of the u.s.s. cairo would also go for about $6k. and larry has about 100 more. michael, what do you sense could happen if larry were willing to part with the collection? >> basically, i broke down the collection in three parts -- the high-end, the mid-range models, and then the low-range. the total was $279,000. >> okay. [ chuckles ] >> quite a collection. >> so, i know you've said, larry, that you'd never seriously considered selling, but now that you hear this...

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. i'm making sandwiches! on king's hawaiian bread! yum! king's hawaiian.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> larry atteridge is weighing his options after receiving an appraisal of $279,000 for more than 100 civil war model ships that his late father painstakingly built over a lifetime. so, larry, how does that compare to the appraisal you got years ago? >> well, it's a big surprise. it's much higher than it was. >> well, your dad did great work, and i think it's just a testament to what he put into this. >> in fact, when you consider that larry's father sold at least 10 times as many models as he kept, there may well be $2- to $3 million of william atteridge originals

floating around the world. pretty impressive for just an old guy with a hobby. so, larry, i know you've never seriously considered selling, but now that you've heard this, do you change your mind? >> [ inhales deeply ] well, got a lot to think about. um... i believe i'll hold on to them, keep them in the family and... >> great. >> ...in the bloodline. >> it's a lot of money. you couldn't use the money? >> obviously, we could use it, but we're not in that situation, so... >> yeah. >> ...we'll just hold on to them and keep them in dad's honor. >> and, finally, in a permanent home. ♪ >> well, here they are. >> very, very impressive. ♪ yep. those display cases finally arrived. so, inside their new house, larry and pam have created a

mini-maritime museum -- a contemporary version of the one william had out in the woods all those years ago. minus, of course, the workshop, the donation bucket, and the model-ship builder -- ready, as his son recalls, to talk his visitors to death. do you see your father in these? >> absolutely. you know, i wake up every day, and there they are. and i think it's my long-lasting relationship with my father. you know, if it wasn't for that, i don't know that i'd have anything. >> in that house fire, larry lost records from about 1,000 of his dad's models. well, he's hoping you can help him locate those missing ships. if you look closely at bill atteridge's work, you can sometimes find a sticker with his name, like this one here. and if you see one, e-mail me a picture at

jamie@strangeinheritance.com. thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ ♪ maria: welcome and good thursday morning, everybody. thanks so much for joining us. i'm maria bartiromo, and it is thursday august 20th, your top stories right you 6:00 a.m. on the button on the east coast. senator kamala harris making history, becoming the first woman of color to accept the vice presidential nomination. democrats using their biggest stars including former president barack obama to attack president trump on night 3 of the dnc. meanwhile president trump hitting the trail today in joe biden's hometown of scranton, pennsylvania, hours before