Harold Newton Landscape Oil, ca. 1955
Watch
GUEST:
I bought this about ten years ago at an auction. It's by the Highwaymen, and they were a group of Black artists in South Florida in the 1950s.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
And they would paint along the highway. And the gentleman that was the most prominent of them-- his name was Mr. Newton-- he's the one that signed it. We've had it hanging in our dining room for ten years.
APPRAISER:
Where was the auction?
GUEST:
In Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Everybody was sitting around talking about it. And the auctioneer, a good friend of mine, says, "Well, I'll waive my commission, the first $500 buys it." I went... and I bought it.
APPRAISER:
Good, good for you! It's an oil on board, so artist's board, or Masonite, in this case.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The moniker "Highwaymen" came about because they were literally selling their paintings up and down the highway.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
You know, stopping from one exit to another, going to hotels, going door to door. They sold anywhere from $25 to $50.
GUEST:
(laughing): Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
What they were selling for. And it was a group of roughly 26 artists.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And, as you said, Harold Newton was the kind of premier, best artist of the group. And they would paint on very inexpensive materials, and often, they would frame it with just ordinary coving, molding that you would find in houses. They're pretty widely collected. The wonderful part about these Highwaymen, these African American artists from Florida, is that they painted the kind of untouched landscape of Florida in the midpart of the century.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And they started, as you said, in about the 1950s.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Painted right through about the 1980s. It's difficult to date this, 'cause it's not dated. If I look at the material and the type of pickled oak frame that it has, and the way the liner is painted with this kind of whitewash, I would say it's an early one from the 1950s-- maybe the late 1950s. They were trained, uh, pretty much by a very prominent landscape artist in, in Florida named Backus, Beanie Backus.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
He was a white artist, but he loved training African American artists.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And they got, uh, pretty successful, and they all made a living doing this. This, I think, is a rather good one. It's really an undisturbed landscape, there are no buildings, there are no people. It really captures that remote, unspoiled Florida landscape of that time period.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Today, it's so built up, as we know.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
And today, at auction, this would probably bring somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.
GUEST:
(laughs) I wasn't going to say this, but, golly.
APPRAISER:
(laughs) Yeah, there's a, there's a real, uh, collecting fad for this type of art, and you nailed one of the better ones. Congratulations.
GUEST:
Thank you very much.
APPRAISER:
My pleasure.
GUEST:
(laughing) Yeah, jeez.
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.
