1876 Centennial Exhibition Sketchbook
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GUEST:
This is a book that was created by my great-great-grandfather, a man named John Collins. He was an artist and a lithographer, lived in Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Isaac Collins the printer. He did this book for or from, or something to do with the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. He supposedly made one for each of his daughters. But this is the only one I've ever come across. I have looked for the other two, contacted several descendants of the other sisters, and nobody's ever heard of one. My mother inherited it from her father, my grandfather, when he died, and then she passed it on to me. She's still alive, but, but she passed on the book to me, because I sort of collect the family artifacts.
APPRAISER:
This is a sketch book that he put together, and it starts with some original photographs in it. So this is an 1876 photograph of the Centennial Exposition. It was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the country, but in the exposition, it was essentially a World's Fair. It was showing what was going on in the world, what the relations the United States were making. What type of industrial and artistic things were going on. It was a big success. One of the hardest parts that I found in this book was choosing just a few.
GUEST:
(laughing)
APPRAISER:
I'd like to show every page of this book. He was an incredible artist. I mean, this is absolutely gorgeous, showing what it looked like.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The ceilings, the detail. When you get watercolors this old, a lot of times, they fade. They're not sharp. And you can really tell the precision that he did. This is sort of showing...
GUEST:
Yeah, I love this one.
APPRAISER:
The fishing of the country. The beautiful flags hanging, the people looking, the costume, the, all of the different fish that were part of the industrial U.S. It's very unusual, because this was sort of a multidimensional item. I asked a few of the people in the art tables, and everybody goes, "Wow, look at this!" Not only do you get people who might be interested in the art. But there are a lot of collectors who are very interested in expositions, World's Fair. So you have all of those people.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And one of the people I consulted is from Philadelphia, and he just said, "People will go crazy in Philadelphia for this." If this came up, you have one chance in your lifetime to buy it. And you say that you believe there were two others of these.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRIASER: Boy, would I love to see those. Since it's staying in your family, you're looking more for insurance, insurance appraisal.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISAL: And of course, it could never be replaced in any case.
GUEST:
It's just, for the family, it's priceless.
APPRAISER:
An insurance value would be $12,000 to $15,000.
GUEST:
Okay, whoa. That's, that's a lot, but not nearly enough to make me depart with it. Or anybody else in the family.
GUEST:
This really made my day.
APPRAISER:
I'd love to take it home with me.
GUEST:
(laughing)
APPRAISER:
But I'll leave it to you.
GUEST:
Well, thank you.
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