Antiques Roadshow viewers have been moved by one of the most ‘charming’ appraisals ever after a woman found a family heirloom she once had to remove an insect from was worth a serious amount of money.
It all unfolded during an episode of the American version of Antiques Roadshow on PBS, back in 2018.
The woman took a painting on to the TV show that has been passed down in her family for generations, with her great-grandfather originally gifting it to her grandmother over 70 years prior.
Looking for a valuation, she revealed the history behind the artwork, also saying that it had been appraised twice, once in 1998 as a print at $200 (£157), with the second time in 2004 at $250 (£196).
The woman also said that after being given the painting by her grandmother, she saw that there was a dead mosquito underneath the glass, so she removed it to take the dead insect away, but put the glass back on quickly after, as she recognised that the painting looked legitimate.
The woman took the painting to Meredith Hilferty, the Director of Fine Art Auctions at Rago, and a paintings and drawings appraiser for Antiques Roadshow.
Hilferty asked the woman if she knew anything about the artist, with the painting depicting Native Americans making their way on horseback through the American mountains.
The appraiser told her that it was good she took the mosquito out (PBS)
She said that she knew that he was born in France and had associations with the Sioux tribe, with a mark on his signature signifying that he valued his association with them.
The professional clarified that his name was Henry Francois Farny, and that he moved to Pennsylvania from France at six years old, and he formed a relationship with the Seneca tribe, taking an interest in all Native Americans.
Focusing on the landscape instead of violence around the groups at the time, the piece was truly unique, with Hilferty revealing the value that the painting would sit around, in an auction today.
She stated: “If we were going to put this in an auction today, I would suggest an estimate of $200,000 (£149,500) to $300,000 (£224,350).”
She couldn’t believe how much the painting was worth (PBS)
The seller burst into tears, speechless, before joking: “So I can’t hang it up.”
After saying that she didn’t know what to say and shedding a few tears, she asked Hilferty if she should have left the mosquito in the back.
Hilferty explained: “It’s actually not a bad idea that you took the bug out, ultimately we would like for our conservator to do that, but the bug could have continued to decay and caused a stain.”
Guests appearing on Antiques Roadshow always live in the hope that their precious items can bring them the big bucks.
And that’s exactly what happened in one classic episode, with the outcome leaving the item’s owner refusing to sell it at auction.
The historic BBC programme, which has been running since 1979, sees antiques appraisers travel the country with locals bringing them everything and anything that could have a bit of hidden value to them.
Not every item brought forward to the experts has been given a cash price, however, with one item refused due to its ‘most disturbing’ past.
Others have ‘passed out’ due to how much their item is valued at, with it growing hugely in the time since they bought it.
In our episode of Antiques Roadshow in question, the guest refused to sell their wares after getting his treasured war medals valued.
The guest had no idea about their worth (BBC)
Show expert Mark Smith was quick to put a price on the items, labelling them an ‘incredible collection’.
The medals were given to the gentleman by his late father, and were passed down through the family.
“He had a very good eye,” Mark said of the guest’s dad. “If we look at this one here, for example, it has the Battle of Waterloo on the back, and it has the word Wellington.
“Now this is really the first ever medal that the British forces ever gave to anybody.
“Before that, we gave out things like coins, they didn’t have your name on, you couldn’t wear them, you put them in your pocket.
“But at the end of the Battle of Waterloo, this medal was instituted to be given to every soldier, and instead of it being made in different metals for different ranks, so a gold one for the Generals, on this particular occasion, Lord Wellington said they should all be exactly the same because they all did exactly the same job.
“So Lord Wellington got one of these, and so did the 10-year-old drummer boys who were on the battlefield.”
And their valuation? A staggering £12,000.
“This is quite a rare medal. So you have this one as well and this one is from a famous regiment from the Battle of Waterloo,” Mark explained.
“This is the King’s German Legion, and they are German troops but fighting with the British as they had done in the peninsula, we have this German medal as well for the same period and they’re both named, they really are quite spectacular.
However, the guest decided not to part with them (BBC)
“You don’t see Waterloo medals like that unless you go to a regimental Museum.”
With the guest having no idea about the valuation, he was taken aback by the £12,000 figure after suggesting they might only be worth just £25.
But a sale looks off the books forever, with the guest saying they were to stay in his family for generations to come.
In clarifying his plans, he said they would be left to his grandson when the time comes
A man was left in tears after being told the value of a ‘random item’ that he found on the back of one of his chairs.
In a 2001 episode of PBS favourite Antiques Roadshow, a man named Ted took a blanket that he has had in his family for generations to the experts for appraisal.
He detailed that he only knew that it was given to the foster father of his grandmother by Kit Carson, a famous American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide and Indian agent from the 19th century.
The mid-19th Century Navajo Ute First Phase Blanket clearly had a lot of history behind it, if Ted was to be believed, as the TV show’s appraiser, Donald Ellis, explained the significance of the item that the guest found ‘on the back’ of his chair.
Saying that he ‘stopped breathing a little bit’ when he saw the Navajo blanket for the first time, the appraiser further explained: “It’s not just a chief’s blanket, it’s the first type of chief’s blanket made. These were made in about 1840 to 1860, and it’s called a Ute, first phase.
“A Ute, first phase, wearing blanket. But it’s Navajo-made, they were made for Ute chiefs, and they were very, very valuable at the time. This is sort of, this is Navajo weaving in its purest form.”
Saying it’s made from hand-woven wool, he comments on how smooth it is, comparing it to silk.
Ted had no idea how much the blanket cost. (PBS)
Ellis then asks Ted if he is a rich man, to which he simply replies: “No.”
He then dropped the bomb on the guest, revealing: “Well, sir, um… I’m still a little nervous here, I have to tell you. On a really bad day, this textile would be worth $350,000 (£276,000). On a good day, it’s about a half a million dollars (£394,500).”
In utter disbelief, Ted’s jaw drops, with Ellis calling the find a ‘national treasure’, as the former explained: “I had no idea. It was laying on the back of a chair.”
He began to shed some tears, as the appraiser said that he ‘just about died’ when Ted brought it in.
In today’s money, the find would be worth a cool $1,500,000 (£1,180,000) to $2,000,000 (£1,578,000) once adjusted for inflation.
Clearly emotional, Ellis gave the guest some time to process the news he had just been told before going into more detail about the blanket, and how it could even be worth more.
He couldn’t believe that it was worth half a million dollars. (PBS)
Ellis further explained that the value was not considering the Kit Carson provenance, as this is sometimes difficult to work out.
“If we could do research on this and we could prove with a, without a reasonable doubt that Kit Carson did actually own this, um, the value would increase again – maybe 20 percent,” he revealed.
Ted emotionally responded: “Wow. I can’t believe it. My grandmother (and grandfather), you know, were poor farmers. She had, her foster father had started some gold mills and, you know, discovered gold and everything, but there was no wealth. No wealth in the family at all. Whoa… I can’t believe…”
It honestly might be worth asking your family members about old things in your house.
An Antiques Roadshow guest refused to return a painting she had been given by her mother after realising what it was worth.
The woman appeared on the show with an Earl Moran painting, having no idea just how much the iconic piece was worth.
The show, which was filmed in Idaho, saw antiques expert Colleene Fesko examining the Earl Moran pin-up girl painting.
The owner explained that the piece of art had spent over a decade in her mother’s house, after she bought it for around $200 (£157).
The guest explained she had had her eye on the painting ever since it arrived at her mum’s and after recently remodelling her home, her mum ‘finally’ let her have it for her own house.
“As much as I can remember, it spent 10 to 15 years at my mum’s house,” she told Colleene.
“She bought it at an estate sale and she paid I think around $200 for it.
“I’ve just remodelled my house and I made it all 1950s. I kept telling my mum, ‘So can I have the picture now?’ So finally she gave it to me.”
Examining the painting, Colleene explained that it was during the mid 1950s that Moran found ‘fame and fortune’ with his artwork, specifically in Los Angeles where his work focussed on pin-ups.
Colleene explained: “This was probably done as an advertisement for a car company or even a sporting company because you also have the sailboat and the motorboat but its real appeal is in being a pin-up.”
The guest confessed she had never had the painting valued, adding: “I have no idea, honestly. I just painted a wall in my house the pink on the car so…
“And it looks really good in my house, so as to the value, no, I’ve never, never looked into it.”
When Colleene finally revealed the expected value of the painting, the guest was blown away.
“Well, Moran’s paintings are valued on a sliding scale but not the usual sliding scale,” she said.
“The more clothes that slide off the pin-up girl, the more valuable they tend to be. This is a very special one, she’s a lovely wholesome young girl, wearing the bright green bathing suit.
“The great period car, the period sailing vessels and motorboat, the cute dog, the nice signature – I would be estimating it between $20,000 (£15,797) and $30,000 (£23,696) at auction.”
The woman was in total shock and could be seen with her hands covering her face.
Laughing that she wasn’t going to give the painting back to her mother, she added: “Is my mum going to see this? Because I’m not giving it back!”
While it’s often funny to see someone go on Antiques Roadshow and get told their pristine family heirloom teapot is actually worth £1.50, the real attraction of the show is the people who bring on genuinely fascinating and valuable treasures.
There are some of us with weird and wonderful objects squirreled away that might be worth a lot of money, and it’s on such stuff that Antiques Roadshow is really made.
Think about the lady who was told her fancy brooch was actually worth over £25,000, or the man who was told his old watch could be worth more than £300,000.
It helps counterbalance moments such as a man who tore what he thought was a genuine Banksy off a wall being told that, without any way to prove the artwork’s authenticity, he’d be getting ‘nowhere’ and should have just left the art where it was for people to enjoy.
Meanwhile, on another episode we got to delve into the history of the English Civil War as someone had brought on relics from the final major battle of the conflict.
This portrait ended up being worth a lot of money. (BBC)
If you know your history then you’ll know that the Battle of Worcester in 1651 was the final major engagement of the ongoing clusterf**k that was Britain at the time, which includes the English Civil War, even though that was actually more like two civil wars but it’s already complicated enough as it is.
Anyhow, the battle ended up going the way of Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarians, who destroyed what remained of the Royalist army.
One of the folks who ended up on the losing side was James Stanley, the seventh Earl of Derby, who had his head hacked off a little over a month after being on the losing side in Worcester.
Back in those times people being executed could bring a friend along, so Stanley brought his buddy William Prescott onto the execution scaffold.
An impressive Antiques Roadshow haul, but ultimately not for sale. (BBC)
William wasn’t there to be killed himself, as he was instead there to put his foot on his friend during the execution to ‘make sure he didn’t wriggle’.
Centuries later, Prescott’s descendant showed up on Antiques Roadshow with a collection of Stanley’s belongings.
Brought on was a skullcap, a pair of gloves and a portrait of someone who Antiques Roadshow supposed was James Stanley, with all overseen by a big portrait of William, which was still in its original frame.
Antiques Roadshow expert Adam Schoon said it was an ‘amazing archive’, and started handing out valuations.
The large painting of William Prescott was valued at between £10,000 and £15,000, while the smaller one of James Stanley was ‘probably worth two to three thousand’, according to the expert.
Put all together, the expert reckoned that you’d get up to £22,000 if everything was auctioned off.
However, the guest decided it’d be ‘a travesty to sell them’, choosing to keep hold of his valuable historical haul.
