Leigh Ronald Keno and Leslie Bernard Keno (born March 14, 1957, Herkimer County, New York) are American antiques experts, authors, and television hosts.[1][2]
The Kenos specialize in stoneware, early American furniture and vintage automobiles. They are widely known as appraisers on the PBS series Antiques Roadshow, for favoring preservation of antiques over restoration, and for their engaging, high-energy personalities. [3]
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As the identical twin sons of Norma and Ronald Keno,[4] who were both themselves antiques dealers, the Kenos grew up in Mohawk, N.Y. Leigh was born 13 minutes before his brother.[5] Their father collected and restored vintage sports cars, and both their parents specialized in folk art and country furniture.[6] Their mother would take them out of school on Fridays to regional flea markets and antiques shows.[7] The brothers took interest, were earning "$200 or $300 a weekend by the time they were in the fourth grade,"[7] and by age twelve had entered in their joint diary "We are Antique Dealers."[6] While also enjoying more typical boyhood pursuits (football, fly-fishing, playing in a rock band) the twins took a special interest in stoneware.[7] At age fourteen they set the world record for American stoneware, paying $3,500 for an American salt-glazed stoneware jug.[6]
Leigh attended Hamilton College, and Leslie attended Williams College, graduating cum laude in 1979.[4]
Leslie Keno, at the time a senior vice president and the director of American furniture and decorative arts at Sotheby's, married Emily Becnel, an administrator in the English furniture department at Sotheby's in New York in 1995, with whom he has two children, Ashley and Schuyler.[4] Leigh, who had been an appraiser at Christie's, operated an antiques store in New York. [7] He owns a 1938 SS 100 Jaguar 3.5-liter, purchased from his father, [8] which he has driven on the track at Lime Rock Park which he and his brother drove on Louis Vuitton Classic China Run,a thousand mile drive from Dalian to Beijing.[8] Leigh serves as judge at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. He also has a son, Brandon.[9]
The twins' older brother, Mitchell Keno, is an antiques appraiser.
The brothers have appeared as furniture appraisers on the PBS series Antiques Roadshow since 1997, have hosted the WGBH series Find! together starting in 2003,[10] and have been hosts of the internet show Collect This! with the Keno Brothers on MSN's Tech & Gadgets guide site since 2008.
In 2000, the twins co-authored a book on antique furniture with Joan Barzilay Freund, Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture. Leigh opened his own antique dealership in New York City in 1986 and Leslie heads the American furniture and decorative arts division at Sotheby's. Both were awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2005.
In 2008, the brothers joined then-First Lady Laura Bush on a History Channel televised tour of the White House.[11][12]
In 2009 Leigh launched Keno Auctions[1] a full service auction house.
In 2010 they created a furniture line called Keno Bros.[13] that is manufactured by Theodore Alexander.
In 2011, the brothers are co-hosting a reality show, Buried Treasure, on the Fox network.[14]