Marjorie Reed Oil Painting, ca. 1955
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APPRAISER:
We've seen a lot of Western paintings on the "Antiques Roadshow" by cowboy artists, but we don't see too many by cowgirl artists. What can you tell me about this painting by Marjorie Reed?
GUEST:
Well, my grandfather bought it for my grandmother, and according to the records I have, in 1961. And he bought it from a guy named Ray Jacobs, who owned the Julian Hotel. And my grandparents lived in San Diego. And I don't really know where Julian is, but I think it's in the desert somewhere close to San Diego.
APPRAISER:
This was probably brand-new in... I would say in the '50s. Marjorie Reed was born in 1915 in Illinois and she and her family moved to California. And she studied art with her father, who was a commercial artist. And she even spent some time at the Walt Disney Studios. But that was really too mild for her. She was an outside girl, she loved the landscape, she loved the cowboy life, the cowgirl life. In the 1930s, she heard about the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route. It was a stagecoach that ran from St. Louis to San Francisco, and then San Francisco to Yuma. It was an extensive route that was from 1857 to 1858. So in the '30s and '40s, she packed up her dog-- which I can appreciate-- and her Model T, and traveled the route of the Butterfield Overland Stage Route. And during that time, she recreated stagecoach pictures of the scenery and the images that would have been in the 19th century. The stagecoach pictures are what she's best known for.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
But in some ways, those are history paintings. And this is really more of what she would have seen while she was out there. She was an interesting artist in that she often signed a man's name to her work. She often signed her husband's name, Harvey Day, or sometimes Fred Day. She was a very prolific artist, and one of the very few American women artists who lived the life. It's a period frame, and this is a linen liner. The painting is oil on canvas, and is in really wonderful condition. At auction, I would estimate it between $7,000 and $9,000.
GUEST:
Wonderful, that's nice. I'm glad it made the trip back, then. I might have put it in a box if I'd have known that.
APPRAISER:
I would say probably around $15,000 for insurance.
GUEST:
Okay.
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