Man Brings Severed Ear To Antiques Roadshow

Kentucky resident Alvin Schoenbachler (31) showed up at the Antiques Roadshow stopover in Louisville with a severed human ear. For those who are unfamiliar with the Antiques Roadshow, it is a popular PBS television program that travels around the country giving citizens a chance to have their antiques and heirlooms examined by professional appraisers. "Mostly we get furniture and dolls," said Chester Knobbs, the producer of the long-running show. "Sometimes we get paintings or a Confederate battle sword, toys. Stuff like that. A human ear -- now that's a bit unusual. Folks don't usually bring in body parts."

Shoenbachler claims the ear belonged to his grandfather who removed it from the corpse of a Japanese soldier at the battle of the Tarawa Atoll in 1943. "It's a part of history," Shoenbachler said. "It's gotta have some kind of value. I wanna know how much."

Donnie Kemp, the show's expert appraiser of war antiques, was at a loss in trying to ascertain the value of the small piece of desiccated flesh. "Honestly, nothing like this has ever come up at auction before. I have no idea how much it might be worth. I know many U.S. marines took morbid souvenirs like this in the Pacific campaign, but their families usually destroy the items out of an overwhelming sense of guilt, shame and disgust. This may be one-of-a-kind. Of course the hard part is verifying its authenticity. We have to make sure this isn't merely a forged knock-off."

Again, Chester Knobbs, the show's producer: "I guess the only thing I can compare this to is when that old Russian lady in Pittsburgh brought in what looked like a twelve inch piece of beef jerky and claimed it was Rasputin's penis."