Philip R. Goodwin Oil Painting, ca. 1910
Watch
GUEST:
It belonged to my grandfather. It was in his man's room. He died in 1918, and it's gone then to my grandmother and then to my uncle, and then nobody wanted it, so I got it. And it's been in closets and with my daughter and... And so the current family attitude towards this picture is... It's not one of our favorite paintings. My sons both want to sell it when I'm dead.
APPRAISER:
The artist here is Philip Russell Goodwin.
GUEST:
Yep.
APPRAISER:
He was born in Connecticut in 1882. He later had a studio in New York, even though he was painting Western subjects. And he also studied at RISD, amongst other places. He was a very precocious artist. By age 11, he had already sold his first work to Collier's magazine.
GUEST:
At 11!
APPRAISER:
So he kind of began his career as an illustrator. He did work for calendars; he did advertising work; he illustrated some books, including "Call of the Wild" by Jack London and also one for Theodore Roosevelt called "African Game Trails." He was really always into these kind of hunting and fishing subjects, and he also did pictures about life of cowboys on the ranch. So very much a Western orientation. Now, here we have kind of a dramatic moment. It's called Landing a Beauty. And we see two sportsmen about to net this fish.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And there are these wonderful reflections in the water and this dramatic yellow sky, which is reflected in the water below. I would think it's probably around the turn of the century. He didn't live a long life; he died in 1935. And he really had not had a lot of success in his lifetime. He was one of these artists who got discovered more after his death. Do you have any idea of what it might be worth?
GUEST:
I did look up what another painting had sold for, but it was a very pretty painting, as opposed to this one, and it was smaller than this, but it was an oil. And that was the only thing I had to compare it with, and that was $140,000, and I do know that prints sell for $1,500 on the Internet. And that's all that I know.
APPRAISER:
There are a few things that I have concern about. This paint is going on top of the treetops here. I'm not sure why. When we look down here by the signature...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
There's this difference in the background color, and I think that can be explained by the fact that it may have been cleaned at one point and they decided not to clean around the signature so that it wouldn't become any lighter or...
GUEST:
Well, I believe they did clean it when I repaired it. It had a little tear in it, so I had that repaired and they did clean it, and I don't know whether they did that or not, because I've really never taken as close a look at the painting as I have today.
APPRAISER:
And there is this line going across here, which is from the stretcher bar. But that can easily be remedied. But because of these few little condition things going on, I would think that in a retail gallery, it might sell for about $125,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my God. I won't have to live with my kids for that much... So... yeah. A retail gallery. So where is a retail gallery? (laughing) Really? That is just something. Oh, my God, it's so amazing...
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Since no one likes it.
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.
