Jefferson City native featured on 'Antiques Road Show'

Michael Kuster, left, poses in front of a banner featuring an image of his great-great-great-grandfather, Joe Miller Wayland. The poster was commissioned in 1901. Antiques Roadshow appraiser Gary Piattoni is shown at right.
Michael Kuster, left, poses in front of a banner featuring an image of his great-great-great-grandfather, Joe Miller Wayland. The poster was commissioned in 1901. Antiques Roadshow appraiser Gary Piattoni is shown at right.

A Jefferson City native was featured on an episode of "Antiques Road Show" that aired Monday on PBS, looking for information on a family heirloom from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Michael Kuster lives in Chesterfield, but grew up in Jefferson City. His family has kept a poster featuring his great-great-great-grandfather, Joe Miller Wayland.

Wayland, who lived in Fayette, had the poster commissioned in 1901. It pictures him with his claim as the "longest bearded man in the world."

"He knew the fair was coming and hung it around the fair," Kuster said. "It's over 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide. It's been kept rolled up and is in good shape."

Kuster and his wife had applied for tickets to the show, which was to be filmed in July in St. Louis, but lost the lottery to get in. However, they got a second chance.

"A couple of days before the taping, a person at my wife's office had won a couple of tickets and was unable to attend, so we got those," Kuster said.

While they had always kept the poster, Kuster said, no one could tell them much about it.

"After the taping, I was put in touch with the St. Louis World's Fair Society," Kuster said. "They located an article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, which validates that he was at the fair and used his beard to get free admission."

Kuster said he was told the episode will be available to view at pbs.org/show/antiques-roadshow.