William Hollingsworth Watercolor
Watch
GUEST:
It's come down in my husband's family. The family history is that William Hollingsworth and Karl Wolfe were living in an apartment in my husband's grandmother's house in Jackson, Mississippi, couldn't pay the rent one month and paid with paintings.
APPRAISER:
And what do you know about the artist?
GUEST:
He is a Mississippi artist, grew up in Jackson, attended the Art Institute of Chicago, met his wife Jane there, they married and came back to Jackson. He painted there for quite a while. During the Depression, for a while, he worked as a clerk in one of the federal programs, and then they decided that he would paint full-time and she would work. And in the early '40s, his father had passed away, and he became depressed and he committed suicide.
APPRAISER:
Well, my understanding about him...and I will be the first to say that I knew his name, but not very much at all about him until you brought this, and I found the quality of the picture so very high and very interesting. I think that this picture dates from right around mid to late 1930s. The style in which it's drawn suggests that, and we have a really nice signature down here. He did eventually paint for a living, but apparently was prone to depression and prone to mood swings, as it was described, and sadly, was only 34 when he took his own life in 1944. What I enjoyed very much about it is that it's a two-sided watercolor, which you I assume have had framed in such a way that we can see both sides. And while the first side we've been looking at represents this kind of urban situation, on the other side, we have this absolutely, totally countryside picture. I think this palette with the purples and the yellows and the golds and the watermelons, his color sense is really extraordinarily beautiful. And I wonder, have you ever done any research in terms of a market for him or seen any of his works for sale anywhere?
GUEST:
Not really, no.
APPRAISER:
Your watercolor is painted on a traditional watercolor paper mount. And it's one sheet that is painted on one side, and then he flipped it over and painted the other side. I suspect he felt that this was the more predominant side, maybe what he was happier with. For whatever reason, it's the side he signed. And usually that means it's the side the artist probably intended to be the finished product.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I'm going to suggest that if this were a picture that were coming to auction, I would expect to see an estimate on it of between $8,000 and $12,000.
GUEST:
Oh, wow. Thank you, I appreciate it.
APPRAISER:
Thank you.
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.
