People can have all kinds of hobbies. One of them may be spending time at yard sales and buying stuff they find interesting, then taking them for appraisal, hoping they are worth more than they were actually bought for.
After all, you never know when you might find an actual treasure.
Not so long ago, a woman took a portfolio of five prints that she had recently bought to be appraised on the Antiques Roadshow, and she was left speechless when she found out the worth of those prints.
The woman has a chat with appraiser Robin Starr, who wants to know more about how the prints ended up in her hands.
“I like to yard sale, but I get a lot of grief from my sons all the time, so I’ve been trying to, like, not do it as often,” she told Starr. “But I saw a sign and I stopped, and I saw these and I liked them.”
The woman bought all of the prints for only $25, and she knew it was a bargain, but she had no idea whether they were real or actually for how much they could be sold in an auction.
She even admitted that she bought a folder worth another $20 just the night before taking the prints to the appraiser.
Then, Starr starts discussing one print at a time, explaining what they show and giving some details about the artists.
The first print is signed by Edward Hopper, an artist for whom recognition came in the late 1920s, and whose most prominent themes were tensions between individuals and the conflict between tradition and progress.
The second print found in the folder is one by Kenneth Hayes Miller, who was important at his time but didn’t withstand time, according to Starr.
As the experienced appraiser explains, judging by the presence of these two prints together, what the woman found must have been part of a portfolio called “Six American Etchings: The ‘New Republic’ Portfolio”, published in 1924.
Starr goes on to say that in that same portfolio were also prints by John Marin, Ernest Haskell, and John Sloan. That’s when the woman points out that she did leave one behind when she bought these prints.
“I don’t know, because I didn’t have enough money. I only had, like, $25, so I left one behind,” the woman admits.
The appraiser makes an educated guess that this must have been a John Sloan print called “The Bandits Cave”.
Then, she adds that the fact that these prints were all found together means that they are probably the real ones. And then she goes on to appraise them…
To the woman’s surprise, all these prints together are worth thousands of dollars!
The Miller one could be sold for about $80-$120, the one by Haskell is worth about $300, and the one by Peggy Bacon could yield about $700.
Now to the really expensive stuff…
The John Marin print could be sold for $15,000-$25,000, while the one by Hopper is worth $30,000-$50,000.
The woman couldn’t believe that what she bought for less than $30 could help her make more than $50,000!
At least, her sons won’t complain again about her spending time at yard sales.
Watch the video below to see the woman’s reaction to the incredible appraisal!
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