METAMORA - History buffs and antique collectors got a taste of the Antiques Road Show from the Woodford County Historical Society.

The society brought Jeanne Brennan of Metamora and her parents, Marvin and Pat Eckhoff of Benson, to evaluate antiques brought to the meeting by members and guests.

A long table was filled with items as varied as a pickle caster, toy fire trucks, a spinning wheel, various kinds of glass work and many others.

Brennan explained the difference between insured value, which is higher as you need to look for a similar replacement item; wholesale value, which dealers pay and averages about 50 percent; and retail value, which is what dealers charge.

"We're going to try to just give you an idea," said Brennan, who has a shop at Illinois Antique Center in Peoria. "If you're going to insure it, you're going to need a written appraisal."

Speaking at a recent November event, she said dealers often attend estate sales and will pay about half of what an item might sell for at retail.

"If you want 100 percent, what you're going to have to do is get a license, set up in the antique mall and take two to three years to sell it," she said.

Brennan and her parents, who have collected and sold antiques for decades, occasionally refer to reference books and the Internet to estimate a value.

"We're just ultra-conservative in mid-America, too conservative, when we put a price on antiques, I think," Pat Eckhoff said. "It takes something very unique before you get what you feel it should be."

The market for many types of glass is depressed now, Eckchoff said, advising collectors to hold onto such items until the market goes back up.

Brennan described how knock-off antique glass is imported from China, which is difficult to distinguish from the original, and drives down the price.

An item that didn't have significant value but drew attention was a medical kit for teething babies from 1878. It had a booklet and an unopened bottle of elixir that contained opium. Brennan recommended the owner display the items in a shadow box.

Some items stumped the appraisers, including a metal rooster with a mark they didn't recognize. They said it was most likely pewter, but they hadn't seen anything like it.

The value could be anywhere from $25 to $2,500.

Some of the more expensive items appraised included a spinning wheel and antique payphone, each valued at $500, and a globe bank that might bring $400 to $500.

The society meets monthly and maintains a research room and mini-museum across from the courthouse in Eureka at 112 N. Main St. Volunteers open the room to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. For information, call Karen Fyke at (309) 360-6772 or Barbara Bradle at (309) 467-3106.