1867 Wilhelm Velten Landscape Oil
Watch
GUEST:
My husband's grandfather died in 2003. He was 107. And it was, uh, one of the things that was left.
APPRAISER:
It's a lovely 19th-century landscape. It does have a signature here at the lower, uh, left-hand side, "Wilhelm Velten," which is a Russian artist, and it's dated 1867. He was born in 1847, so he did it pretty early on in his career.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And the Russian market has gone through the roof. This artist normally works in a very small format, about eight by ten inches or smaller. And a lot of those paintings have come up for auction, but I only found one record of a painting this large having come up for auction recently, and it brought a lot of money. However, yours has an awful lot of condition issues.
GUEST:
Right. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
There's, there's some inpainting right here, there's a lot of craquelure, there's been a tear there. And it's, the canvas has been mounted onto a piece of plywood, so it has a lot of things going against it.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
However, I would give this an estimate of perhaps $15,000 to $25,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Wow. Okay, wow
APPRAISER:
Now, if it was in a little better condition, you could probably double that.
Appraisal Details
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.
