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Forrest's Collection of Andy Griffith Memorabilia Contains Some One-Of-A-Kind Items

Published in THE MOUNT AIRY NEWS September 1, 2003

By Wendy Byerly Wood
Staff Writer

MOUNT AIRY- Most of the area's antique dealers and appraisers spent the last few days in Hillsville, Va., for the 36th annual VFW Gun Show & Flea Market, but two from Columbia, S.C., spent three nights this week at the Mount Airy Visitors Center where they appraised Emmett Forrest's Andy Griffith memorabilia.

Mike Safran and Dr. Mark Foy worked for several hours Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights to measure, compare and debate about each and every item in Forrest's collection, better known as the Andy Griffith Museum.

"A lot of this is very scarce and Emmett has built up a tremendous collection," said Safran, who owns his own antique shop in Columbia. "Many pieces I've never seen...and the props (the signs that Griffith gave Forrest last October, such as the doors of the jail house on 'The Andy Griffith Show') are certainly unique, irreplaceable items.

"Andy has always been collectible, even some things common are desirable, but Emmett has even come up with things that I didn't know existed - Mount Airy memorabilia from the oldest piece being the rocking chair his father made that his mother sat in when she was pregnant with him to the most recent memorabilia of the road dedication."

Safran said the most valuable and rarest pieces in the collection, beyond a doubt, are the "Sheriff" and "Justice of the Peace" signs that were actually on the set of the show.

"There was very little memorabilia saved from the show. In this case, a lot went by the wayside," he said. "Props from that day were just not saved."

Foy added, "There were very few people who collected stuff like that."

Forrest confirmed, "I have never seen a piece on eBay that could actually be identified as something from the show."

Safran and Foy said the way values are determined is based on the scarcity of the piece and the condition of it - but mainly supply and demand.

The two said they had been debating the worth of the signs from the set for days and never would pinpoint a value, except to say that they are worth far more than the "Matlock" suit that Griffith gave Forrest, which was appraised between $5,000 and $8,000.

"It is just kind of fun to think about, if they were sold individually which would go for more and how much would they go for together," said Safran.

Foy added, "These signs have only been three places - Hollywood, Manteo and Mount Airy. Not too many people even know of their existence. Even though there are a lot of rare things, I still think those are the rarest. The recognition is probably the biggest thing about them."

"And the prominence and fact that Andy has had them so long," continued Safran. "They might have been all Andy had from the show."

When it came to appraising specific prices, the pair said that values varied widely. Forrest's collection entails records, photos, TV Guides, play programs and more. They said the records were promotional only, which means few were made, are worth more than the mass production records. Also, the nationally known T.V. Guides are not worth as much as the local T.V. guides from places like Minneapolis and other cities around the country.

"Here with even comic books," said Safran, "he has rare books and even one printed in Mexico.

"I mean who would ever think of saving food wrappers," commented Safran in reference to the brand of food that Griffith had.

When it comes to how many items the two had to appraise, at the beginning of their work Wednesday night they were already at eight pages with 30-33 entries per page. Those came from just the first room of memorabilia.

When asked what is his favorite piece - with the exception of the signs that they couldn't stop talking about - Safran said, "Emmett's my favorite piece of memorabilia."

"If you hadn't sold him the black-eyed peas (Griffith's brand-name food) you would have never met him," Foy recalled.

"I think our relationship with Emmett has been my favorite piece," reiterated Safran. "Other than that our favorite is the signs."

As far as Griffith's movie memorabilia, much of it in Forrest's collection, Foy said the larger the poster the better. Also, the ones made in Europe are worth more because there were fewer made and fewer survived.

Safran noted, "The artwork was of a different higher quality in Europe."

Some of the rarer things that Safran said he has never seen before are things like Griffith's writing tablet, the Spanish comic book, an article in the Moravians' "Wachovia" magazine on Griffith and some of the regional T.V. guides.

Forrest will not hear for a few weeks about the estimated value of his collection.

Ann Vaughn, director of the visitors center, noted that the house and collection are protected by security systems.

Website Link: Visit the Mount Airy Andy Griffith Museum Website