Henry Botkin Oil Painting, ca. 1935
Watch
GUEST:
We've actually had this painting probably a little over 20 years. My husband inherited it from his great-aunt, who lived in New York City.
APPRAISER:
So do you know who this artist is, have you any idea?
GUEST:
No, we have no idea.
APPRAISER:
There is a signature on it, but you can't read it. We've tried to decipher, but we can't really tell. And it is quite difficult to read, but I'm a great proponent of saying, if you don't see something on the front, it's always worth having a look at the back.
GUEST:
Ah!
APPRAISER:
So I sneaked a peek, and let's see whether we can just do this. There was a backboard on it. Thank you.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
So I want to slip this out, excellent.
GUEST:
Just pull it out.
APPRAISER:
We see, can you read that? It says "Botkin."
GUEST:
Botkin?
APPRAISER:
Yes. Okay. This is by Henry Botkin.
GUEST:
Ah!
APPRAISER:
And he was from Boston, originally, he was born in Boston, but he lived most of his life in New York. So I suspect that's where your husband's aunt got it from. He studied there at the Art Students League, and it was really pretty much his home for the rest of his life, although he spent about seven years in Paris in between times. But what was interesting to me is that here we are in Charleston, and in fact he had a connection with Charleston, and that was in 1934, he came to Charleston, and more specifically Folly Beach, and there he worked with his cousin, who you may have heard of, George Gershwin. So George Gershwin, of course, the great American composer was in Folly Beach at that time. And why was he there? He was writing his great opera Porgy and Bess, because both he and his cousin Botkin, Henry Botkin, were very interested in African-American culture, and so while Gershwin was writing it, he was painting the visual counterparts to the opera at that time in '34. And of course the opera came out, I think, in '35, so they were very close in fact, and Botkin taught Gershwin how to paint and encouraged his painting. He helped him form his art collection. So they were very close cousins, and I thought that was a wonderful connection.
GUEST:
Absolutely.
APPRAISER:
And quite coincidental, you know, that here we are in Charleston and they had worked here. Whether this was painted here or not, one cannot say. This rather louche-looking character in a restaurant, café interior, it's almost as though he's harking back to his days in Paris. So, really nice little painting. It's an oil on canvas, laid down on board, and fairly typical of the work he used to do in the '30s, because he became better known as an abstract painter in the '40s and '50s. Have you any idea about the value of it?
GUEST:
We don't, you know. We've had people tell us they think it's of value. We just have absolutely no idea.
APPRAISER:
Okay, well, at auction I would feel reasonably comfortable putting an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000 on it. It's a nice piece, I almost feel... you see paintings and you feel they should be worth more.
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.
