David,
    I read your e-mail (copied below) about the "Antiques Road Show" and 
thought you and others might want to know about a case involving the fellow 
who runs the show (sorry, I don't know his name).
    It seems that a descendant of Confederate General Pickett had quite a 
number of artifacts which had belonged to the general, handed down through 
the family.  When the "Roadshow" came to his area, (he lives in Wilmington, 
NC), he took these items to be appraised.  The fellow who runs the "Roadshow" 
offered Pickett $80,000 for the lot.
    Some time later, Pickett was attending a seminar in Pennsylvania, and 
went on a side trip to a museum nearby.  There, to his astonishment, he found 
his Pickett artifacts.  He was able to determine how, when, where, and for 
how much the museum acquired them.  To his amazement, he learned that the 
museum had paid almost $900,000 to the man who had originally bought them 
From Pickett.
    Pickett filed a lawsuit and just recently was awarded the $800,000 
difference.  Of course, the case has been appealed.  I hope that Pickett will 
be able to have a favorable outcome on appeal.
    This, coupled with the recent cases filed in Louisiana against some of 
New Orleans' most reputable art dealers, and cemetery vandalism in 
Washington, DC, ought to have put the public on notice that this sort of 
"grave-robbing" will not be tolerated.
    As for that urn that woman's dog "dug up."  I would be willing to bet 
that it contains the remains of whomever was buried in that cemetery.  Why 
else would a dog dig up something like that!  I hope that the cemetery where 
this woman "dug up" that urn sees the program and reacts to retrieve the urn. 
 If the Antiques Road Show folks are so stupid as to not know the truth of 
the matter, then they should be indicted along with that woman!
    I checked the site for the Antiques Road show.  You can access it by 
typing in www.pbs.org, then click on TV listings, when the calendar comes up 
for August, click on the 23rd.  The listings will come for the day.  Scroll 
down to 8:00 p.m. to find out when this particular show will be shown in your 
area.  I, for one, plan to watch!
    I wish I knew to whom this should be reported.  This is just another type 
of cemetery vandalism that has been going on, not just in Louisiana, but even 
in the Washington, DC area, where vandals struck the Congressional Cemetery 
where such notables as J. Edgar Hoover, well-known Congressmen, and others 
are buried.
    I wish there were some way we could get the people who perpetuate this 
sort of thing, by buying these artifacts from the graves of our ancestors.  
They should be ashamed! The following is the message you sent:

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