Extraordinary Find: Jane Peterson "The Answer" Oil Painting
GUEST: I felt like I was in convulsions (laughing) when you told me what the price was. (chuckles) I was going... (laughs)
HOST: At the Albuquerque ROADSHOW in 2014, Debra Force met a guest named Carol who brought in a mysterious painting called The Answer that posed some intriguing questions. But what happened afterwards has left a smile on everyone's face.
GUEST: In... golly, I guess it was 1963, I did my junior year in Madrid, Spain.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And I lived right close to the Joaquín Sorolla Museum in Madrid.
APPRAISER: Mm-hm.
GUEST: I just fell in love with this.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: Because it reminded me of Joaquín Sorolla.
APPRAISER: Oh, how wonderful.
GUEST: You know, the-the light and the-- Spain, and, and... so I just fell in love with her. And I've lived with her for, golly, almost 50 years.
APPRAISER: Jane Peterson did not really paint figure works like this. Some of her best-known pieces were done on the piers in New England on Gloucester and areas like that, but she rarely focuses on just one sitter. It was just overall an exciting work. The label on the back tells us the title, and it's called The Answer, and it's very mysterious. I guess she's perhaps writing an answer to someone.
GUEST: It almost looks like her beads have broken.
APPRAISER: Yea- They do, they do. It looks like the chain is broken.
GUEST: I was wondering if she was so pensive that maybe she was writing a Dear John letter or maybe she had received a Dear what, whoever her name is.
APPRAISER: Whatever.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The owner, Carol, was very excited about this painting, and she kept referring to the painting as Jane, meaning for Jane Peterson. So it was, it was quite charming, and we, we hit it off, actually, quite well. Carol is, is going to arrive shortly and I'm very excited to see her, to talk about this painting, which was so near and dear to her heart. You said you purchased it unframed, did you not?
GUEST: Yes. As I recall, I paid $150 for it.
APPRAISER: $150? I think that a gallery in New York would be asking $300,000.
GUEST: Where's a chair? (both laugh) Now I need that chair.
GUEST (voiceover): Knowing the value, it was almost disturbing. I finally talked to my children, and I said, "I've always loved this painting. "I know you've lived with it all your life. Do you want it?" And they said, "Gee, Mom, no, I don't think so," given what, what the value was." So I called Debra, right?
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: I picked up the phone and went-- (pleading): "Debra!" (both laugh) "Help!"
APPRAISER: I was very excited to hear from her, because I loved this painting. After I did the, the spot in Albuquerque, I had no idea that I would be called by Carol, to, uh, to talk about selling the painting. We sold it close to our $300,000 mark. I have colleagues who have sold some of the Gloucester pictures for this amount of money or more. But this would be the most valuable Peterson that I have-- I've ever sold.
GUEST: My son, who lives in Albuquerque, we were taking a walk, and we saw... these fields of the geese...
APPRAISER: Mm.
GUEST: ...and they were like open fields in the North Valley. There was property for sale. It was a total of three acres. "Jane" actually helped me purchase land and build a house, where I'm living now.
APPRAISER: That's wonderful.
GUEST: I love the painting, but, ya know, you can't take it with ya. May she live a very long time.
APPRAISER: Yeah, exactly.
GUEST: You know, I'm sure she will. She will certainly outlast us. (laughing)
APPRAISER: Yeah. That's true.
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episode
Extraordinary Finds 3
Revisit remarkable ROADSHOW finds whose stories didn’t stop even after we yelled "Cut!"
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.
