Antiques Roadshow guest annoyed as he ‘unfortunately’ can't sell valuable family heirloom
An Antiques Roadshow guest didn't look too pleased when he was told just how much his grandfather's painting was worth.
Antiques Roadshow guest reacts to value of grandfather's painting
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest “unfortunately” couldn’t sell a family heirloom, despite it’s incredible price tag.
The PBS series travelled to Austin where they were met with plenty of guests with items that had both sentimental and monetary value, including someone who went to see expert Colleene Fesko.
Kicking off the appraisal, she said: “Tim, your grandfather was a really interesting artist but this is such a luscious painting.
“Henry Siddons Mowbray was born in, actually, Alexandria, Egypt, in 1858, studied in Paris, and died in 1928.”
When asked roughly when he thought it had been painted, its owner said 1895 as this is when other paintings of his grandad’s of a similar nature were made.
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Fesko continued: “Well, apparently your grandmother wrote that your grandfather was very much influenced by classical themes, with themes of the American Renaissance and with figures of muses and virtues and these lovely allegorical figures are terrific.
“You were telling me that you would wake up to this painting in your bedroom when you were 16 years old.”
“He considered his murals much more important than his easel paintings like this but I was much more enamoured by these paintings than the murals”, the guest replied.
Fesko went on to talk about how the guest mentioned that his grandfather was “great friends” with the likes of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the architectural firm of Stanford White, McKim, Mead and White.
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“And the great mansions that were being built in Newport and New York have design programmes that were commissioned by these architects that your grandfather worked on.
“Because it was the American Renaissance period, they were building Renaissance-style architecture and interiors that went along with it.
“So a lot of Roman scenes, a lot of classical scenes, and again, these absolutely beautiful figures.
“A beautiful palette. We have the roses, the pastel colours of the figures, a great aesthetic accomplishment in the easel format.”
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Concluding her appraisal, Fesko said: “It’s just a terrific example of the painting and of the period.
“Given that, at auction, I would estimate it at between $50,000 and $75,000.”
The guest raised his eyebrows at the price, stating “Wow”, but he didn’t look too happy.
With a hand on his hip, he went on to add: “I could never sell it, unfortunately. It would stay in the family.”
Fesko joked: “Nice to wake up to [nonetheless]. Thanks for coming.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.