1993 Howard Finster Mixed-media Artwork
GUEST: I brought an original Howard Finster piece that I purchased in 1993 when I visited Paradise Gardens in Summerville, Georgia. I was a high school art teacher, and I was bringing my students for the day to walk around. And at the time, they didn't charge you admission. You could just walk around. And I was told that sometimes he'd be in the shop, and you could get him to sign pieces and I happened to look out that day. He was there. I saw him sitting in the rocking chair. He was very engaging, and he talked for a really long time and he let us take a lot of pictures and he signed our pieces that we bought.
APPRAISER: Finster was born in 1916, and he pretty much had a religious life. Early on, he had a Baptist radio show.
GUEST: Oh, I didn't know that.
APPRAISER: Uh, in the '30s and the '40s. He started to create art, and this garden became a, a destination for a lot of people that loved what at that time, and still to this day, they call "outsider art."
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: He operated outside the boundaries of the normal art world. In the 1980s, he did an album cover for R.E.M. and an album cover, a great one, for Talking Heads.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And that's what put him on the, on the map. And then everyone started to come to the garden. And was the garden just, like, overflowing with artwork?
GUEST: Yes, everywhere you turned. He turned anything he could grab into art. There were piles of bicycles, what people would call junk.
APPRAISER: When you read about Paradise Garden, sometimes the account is, there were over 40,000 pieces of art that were installed there.
GUEST: It was everywhere.
APPRAISER: It's, it's mind-blowing.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: It really is-- so this is a wonderful little house. He used very light wood, it's almost like balsa wood. It took paint easy, and he used paint, and in this case, he used glitter, which is kind of nice.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And a magic marker. And on the back, it's dated when you bought it, in March of 1993. And it has biblical sayings on it. "Set thy house in order." "Kingdoms divided cannot stand." "Families who pray together stay together." It's signed on the bottom, "To Evelyn."
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: So he personalized it. In the back, we see a priced tag.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And how much was that?
GUEST: $35.
APPRAISER: And you didn't ask for a discount?
GUEST: No.
(both laugh)
GUEST: We weren't allowed to. There was a little sign that said "priced as marked." (laughs)
APPRAISER: Ah, okay. He's had a bit of a resurgence and there are a lot of new collectors that want a piece of his work. I think people are familiar with his angels...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...and his Coca-Cola bottles.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: So I'm going to say, in a retail setting, I feel comfortable placing a value on this somewhere between $4,000 and $5,000.
GUEST: Wow. (laughs) I'm-- everybody says wow, but wow!
(both laugh)
GUEST: I had no clue. My, my family's made fun of me for years with this, that ugly piece of art that I've had on a shelf.
$4,000 - $5,000 Retail
Featured In
episode
Georgia State Railroad Museum, Hour 3
Premiered Mon, Feb 9, 2026 — Travel with ROADSHOW to historic Savannah and learn about intriguing Georgia discoveries!
Appraisal Extras
See Howard Finster's Album Covers
See Howard Finster's album covers for R.E.M. and Talking Heads.
20th Century
appraisal
Comic Wind-up Toys, ca. 1930
appraisal
Barbie Accessories & Case, ca. 1960
appraisal
William Moorcroft Pottery, ca. 1910
appraisal
Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
