The first time Ed Kowalski walked into Lillie's grocery store, he was an 18-year-old Air Force airman stationed in London. Three years later, the owner's daughter became his wife.

It was a special time in his life, and for decades, he has kept the clock from the store to mark the time.

"When you walk in that store, you see that clock," he said of the 1800s-style, wood-rimmed timepiece. "It was really something."

Kowalski brought his clock to the Hilton Garden Inn in Cheektowaga on Monday as the International Collectors Association's Treasure Hunters Roadshow came to town. It will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.

The show, presented across North America and Europe, offers local residents a chance to electronically match their long-held antiques with willing buyers. Versions of the shows are held in 40 to 50 cities per week and specialize in instantly matching up sellers with buyers through an electronic database. If a buyer is found, sellers receive their payment on the spot.

Monday, the show attracted everything from the old London grocery store clock -- value: $300 -- to a sleek Civil War-era Union sword dating to 1864 to a tin Omar Tobacco sign and scattered gold jewelry. Eddie Stambaugh, Roadshow field team manager, described electric and acoustic guitars as one of the more popular categories.

Behind the shiny electric models sat a wooden, worn 1929 Martin 00-17 blues guitar. While it looked like an antique, the roughly 120 potential sellers who wormed their way through the showroom Monday probably had no idea it helped make a legendary 1960s blues tune.

The guitar, Stambaugh said, once belonged to Billy Cox, a renowned bluesman from Nashville who toured with Hank Williams and penned his own hit, "Filipino Baby," which was released by Cowboy Copas in 1962.

Cox's niece now lives in Lackawanna, and after scouring local antique stores for a place that was interested in buying the guitar, her family came to the Roadshow.

"They were the last people in line," Stambaugh said. "They couldn't find anyone to give it to. ... They were tickled pink."

While Stambaugh helps find buyers for valuable antiques, such as the 200 silver dollars sold by a man Monday, the show is also a bonanza for those who just feel like cleaning out their antique-stuffed attics.

"We get the woman whose mom just [passed away], and they have no idea what to do with a house full of stuff. We get the people in their late 20s [whose] grandpa gave them something, and [they] don't want to carry it around anymore," he said. "I had a woman who came in and said, 'I need $400 for a washer.' I said, 'I can't do that, ma'am, but I can give you $650 for what's on the table.' She bawls out crying."

"She just about hugged everyone in here on her way out," said Jason Zyla, district manager.

Stambaugh said Western New York tends to sell a lot of silver dollars and gold coins.

He said collecting is cyclical in that different items are considered "hot" for a certain time before they lose their value. Gold and silver coins, jewelry, war memorabilia and guitars are all popular now, while pottery, dishes, stamps, glassware and trains have lost their value for the time being.

"It's just a lifelong passion for me," Stambaugh said. "Making people smile with a check, ... it's all rewarding. It's awesome."

 cspecht@buffnews.com null