Tonita Peña Watercolors, ca. 1935
GUEST: They were acquired by my grandmother in maybe the 1940s or early '50s in the Southwest. She wintered in Tucson, Arizona.
APPRAISER: These are really wonderful paintings. These are coming out of New Mexico. There are eight northern pueblos. This is all along the Rio Grande Valley. So this would be right north of Santa Fe by maybe 20 miles.
GUEST: Oh, for heaven's sakes.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it's called San Ildefonso Pueblo. And these were probably done in the, uh, you-you know, late '20s, early '30s. These paintings were done by Tonita Peña, who often signed her name Quah Ah. That was her Indian given name. She was born in 1893, and she died in 1949. She's one of the earliest Native American women painters. Prior to this, people were predominantly working on pottery.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: They're doing textiles, and so this is sort of a new industry. These are watercolors. The condition is fantastic. This is actually a ritual dance of the pueblos, which is a basket dance. Look at the details that we have in the baskets. Look at the necklaces. There's coral and there's shell and turquoise, but also these great greenery. Over here, in this painting closer to you, we've got two hunters and two attendants, singers and a drummer. And then we've got, this is a deer dancer, which is part of an animal dance.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But I love all of the details, and that's what she was really known for was she was very specific. These are ceremonies that are autumnal and-and about harvest. They're about hunting, and they're about sustaining life within that village.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. I have, uh, six more of these paintings.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: My husband and I chose these three to keep. And we were going to put the other, which were much smaller, in a garage sale. And my daughter said, "Oh, Mom, don't do that."
APPRAISER: Yeah. (chuckles)
GUEST: She said, "I love those." And I said, "Well, do you want them?" And she said, "Yes." And so they're hers.
APPRAISER: She saved them from a garage sale?
GUEST: (laughing) She saved them from the garage sale.
APPRAISER: Oh, I love this, yes.
GUEST: Yeah. We did not think that they were maybe valuable. We just love them.
APPRAISER: Yeah. I'll start with this one closer to me, the basket dance.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: So this particular painting, if it were coming up for sale in a retail situation, would be worth about $4,500.
GUEST: Oh, my word.
APPRAISER: (chuckles) Yeah.
GUEST: That's a real surprise, yeah.
APPRAISER: Yeah. So the one closer to you...
GUEST: Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER: ...maybe just a little less, maybe around $3,800?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Yeah. This smaller one is going to be worth around $1,600.
GUEST: That's beautiful. Thank you. That's a surprise.
APPRAISER: Fantastic. They may have been sold for $20, $15 at the time.
GUEST: (chuckling)
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Understanding Our Appraisals
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