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Pittsburgh's 'Hidden Treasures' Invites People To Showcase Their Heirlooms

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The line will form on the right for "Pittsburgh's Hidden Treasures" at Heinz History Center on Sunday. But why wait till then?

"We have a signature of what we believe to be Mother Teresa," says Mark Seifert of McCandless. He wonders what value Caliban Book Store owner and appraiser John Schulman might place on an autograph found in a prayer book once owned by his late mother. He's not even sure how the legendary Mother Teresa came to sign it in the first place.

"Her brother was a missionary," Seifert adds, "so it is a possibility that he met with her at one point, and brought it home to her."

A search through his parents' paperwork offered no clues.

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It's not out of the question that Mark's mom might have met Mother Teresa. After all, she was about to take her final vows as a nun when the Mother Superior said, "Maybe you're a little too wild. Why don't you go out into the world and see what's out there."

Well, she met Mark's future dad, and that did it.

Mother Teresa was widely admired for her tireless support for the poor. She was world famous. But what about that signature?

"In one month, she's going to be canonized, and that would make her a saint. So, from a three hundred to five hundred dollar autograph, this might become a booklet that's worth close to a thousand dollars."

But Mark Seifert isn't selling. It's not every day that you can get the signature of a saint.

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