I've had the photograph, below, for a while. It is from November of 1952, and is of a weekly program on the DuMont Television Network, Trash or Treasure.
The program, an early-TV precursor to Antiques Roadshow (which began airing on PBS in 1997), featured appraiser Sigmund Rothschild.
Mr. Rothschild's appraisals had previously--in 1948 and 1949--been the focus of another show, on CBS-TV, called What's it Worth. (The show's host, during that time, was Gil Fates. Fates would later produce CBS's What's My Line?, beginning with its debut in 1950; he produced the show until its network run ended in 1967--and then produced, for a number of years, the syndicated versions which followed.)
Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, in their Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946--Present (Ballantine Books, multiple editions), note that after What's it Worth, Mr. Rothschild was--from 1950 to 1952--a periodic guest on Kate Smith's daytime television show on NBC; his segments on Ms. Smith's show were called "Trash or Treasure."
Mr. Rothschild then brought his program--now also called Trash or Treasure--to the DuMont Network in October of 1952.
To the left of the above photograph is the show's announcer/host, broadcast veteran Nelson Case. He had for years been a network radio announcer (for such programs as The Lanny Ross Show, The Lowell Thomas Show, The Carnation Contented Hour, the NBC Symphony Orchestra program, and The Vaughn Monroe Show), and then began working in television. I don't know the identity of the man standing between Mr. Case and Mr. Rothschild in the photograph. Perhaps he was the owner of the item being handled by Mr. Rothschild--an item I am assuming was in some way related to, or possibly a part of, the lock mechanism at the front of the table (a lock, as indicated in the handwritten notes on the back of the photo, manufactured by the Yale & Towne Company).
Nelson Case appeared on Trash or Treasure from its DuMont debut in 1952 until March of 1953. When he left the show, his position was taken over by Bill Wendell.
The program (the title of which was changed, the month after Mr. Case's departure, to Treasure Hunt) aired until October of that year.
In 1952 and 1953, one also notes, Bill Wendell was the host of another DuMont program, Stage a Number. As Mr. Brooks and Mr. Marsh write, in their television encyclopedia: "This was one of many low-budget talent shows on TV during the early years. The acts presented [on the program] were young professionals, or aspiring professionals, who were introduced by a 'sponsor' and then 'staged their number' before a panel of show-business judges (producers, actors, etc.)." Mr. Brooks and Mr. Marsh write: "The acts tended to be theatrical, such as dramatic acting or ballet, with several appearances by the Nina Youshkevitch Ballet Workshop, among others."
In the mid-1950s, Mr. Wendell was the announcer for (and participated in sketches on) a morning TV show starring Ernie Kovacs, which aired on NBC. He was also part of another Ernie Kovacs program--the summer replacement, in 1956, for Sid Caesar's NBC show Caesar's Hour. Mr. Wendell became well-known, through the years, for the various game shows on which he served as announcer. He was also the announcer for the full run of David Letterman's late-night show on NBC (on which he occasionally also appeared in sketches), and remained with the program, for a couple of years, after the show moved to CBS.
(Above photograph: Nelson Case, at left; unidentified man, at center; Sigmund Rothschild, at right.)
(Update, 8/31/23: The Ernie Kovacs mid-1950s morning television show, referred to above, was not, as I had understood it, a local New York show; it was, in fact, a network program, on NBC. The post has been corrected.)
