When Dolores Church bought a 1950s-era Disney school bus lunch box at a garage sale, it was as a keepsake. It had belonged to a former student she had when she taught at Carpenter Elementary School in Ann Arbor for 27 years.

Gross entertained and informed during an 'Antiques Road Show'-like event at the Recreation Park Community Center in Ypsilanti, part of the senior center’s twice-weekly Talk of the Neighborhood series.

But Church learned Wednesday night that the lunch box had more than sentimental value. Auctioneer and antiques expert Steve Gross told her the lunch box - complete with its original thermos - was worth around $150. Still, Church said, she had no plans to sell it.

About two dozen people paid their $5 to have Gross, a professional auctioneer who for 20 years owned Depot Exchange Antiques in Ypsilanti's Depot Town, appraise everything from a mechanical bank to a schoolroom clock to a postcard of Adolf Hitler.

He discussed each piece with the audience, telling anecdotes about antiques and appraising them.

While much of what he sees has little more than sentimental value, each show brings at least one surprise, Gross said. “You never know what’s going to come through the door,” he said. “There’s always at least one jaw-dropper.”

There was the time a women brought in what she described as an ugly clock that she kept hidden away in a closet. She was shocked when Gross told her it was a Pairpoint bent panel lamp with a reverse painted shade valued at $10,000 to $15,000.

“She packed it up to take it home much more carefully than when she brought it to me,” Gross said.

And there was the time someone brought a document signed by Lincoln to one of his road shows. While Gross thought it was authentic, he took it to a Lincoln expert to have it confirmed. A value couldn’t be placed on it, he said, unless it went to auction.

Gross said mantel clocks are the item most commonly brought to his appraisal events. “A lot of people think because something belonged to Grandma, that it’s as old as the hills and has value,” Gross said. “They don’t realize that just because it belonged to Grandma doesn’t mean that it’s old.”

Some of the items he appraised Wednesday night:

• A covered sugar bowl from Shawnee Pottery, made in Zanesville, OH, in the shape of corn. Value: $125.

• An old school house clock from the Chelsea Clock Company in Boston, circa 1910. That it was made in historically significant Boston added to its worth, Gross said. Value: $400-$500.

• An occupational shaving mug from 1880, with gold lettering and scroll work. The mugs came blank from France and were painted by American artists. Value: $200-$300.

• A cast iron mechanical bank featuring a dog. While non-mechanical banks have failed to hold their value, mechanical banks are still strong, Gross said. Value: Hundreds of dollars.

• A small novelty statue made of pot metal sitting on an agate base from the 1920s depicting a formal looking woman dressed in a full-length coat and turban hat. A small lever opened her coat to reveal a nude. “It’s a great piece,” said Gross, who had never seen anything like it. He could only make a guess of it’s value: $300-$600.

• An original postcard of Hitler. As repulsive as Hitler was, there remains a strong market for his memorabilia, Gross said. Value; $30-$50.

Gross stressed that he was giving the insurance value of each item, not what it would fetch if sold to an antique dealer. Dealers would likely pay less - sometimes much less - in order to make a profit and because of the soft economy. He also said there’s sometimes a fair amount of guesswork when figuring values.

Still, most of the audience was there out of curiosity, not to turn a profit. Charles and Sharon Leach of Dexter brought several items that had been cluttering their closets, including a Big Boy piggybank, a pair of eyeglasses from her great grandfather and antique records. Sharon Leach said they might someday consider selling the items if they are valuable. “But if it’s not worth much, I’ll hand it down to my kids.”

Gross stressed that monetary value is not the only measure of an item's worth. “Something doesn’t have to be worth a million bucks to be wonderful,” he said.