Mary Elizabeth Price Painted Screen, ca. 1925
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CREW: My grandparents moved to Bethesda, Maryland, in 1965, and they acquired it fairly soon after they moved to D.C. My grandmother, unfortunately, she passed away in 2015, and now I'm lucky enough to have it.
APPRAISER:
But you don't know where she got it.
GUEST:
It was at an estate sale in the Bethesda, Maryland, area. D.C. metro.
APPRAISER:
Any notion of what Grandma might have paid for it?
GUEST:
I have no idea. Maybe $1,000?
APPRAISER:
$1,000.
GUEST:
She ten, she wouldn't spend much more than that. When she would go to estate sales...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...she, that was kind of her limit. (laughing): She wouldn't spend more than that.
APPRAISER:
$1,000 is a lot of money in 1965.
GUEST:
It, yes, absolutely.
APPRAISER:
So... And do you know about the artist?
GUEST:
I do know-- Mary Elizabeth Price was from Pennsylvania. And I'm from Pennsylvania, as well.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
So that was... And, and my grandparent, my grandmother was from Pennsylvania. She had just gorgeous oil paintings on with gold foil. That was kind of her thing.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
Um, heard she didn't have a lot of screens, but I have read that her, her brother made the frames for the screens on her oil paintings, but I don't know a whole lot more than that. I think that's true.
APPRAISER:
Uh, her brother is Reuben Moore Price. He's actually a pretty well-known frame maker...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...in his own right for, uh, the New Hope Colony artists, primarily, he made the frames. And it is our understanding that he made a lot of the screens that she would then paint, uh, the panels for.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
I think that it is a subject and a format that she revisited a number of times.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
She's a member of the Philadelphia Ten, and, uh, she was one of the most active members in the group. From 1921 to 1945...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...actually, she showed 65 times.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And from the records, I found 13 different screens.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So we don't know for sure if this is one of them, but we know she did at least that many.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The flowers are definitely one of her most well-known subject matters.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Most of these are almost certainly from her garden.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
She had a big garden with a lot of flowers.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It was, uh, a little cottage on the Delaware Canal, just above New Hope, and it was bright yellow.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And apparently, because of its size and color, she called it the Pumpkinseed.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
Date-wise, I would say late 1920s. They're actually very difficult to date with any precision.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It's, uh, oil paint and gold and silver gilding on a Masonite panel. It is signed here, "M. Elizabeth Price."
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And this has the sort of quintessential gold leaf, right?
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And silver leaf. You can see both colors. Actually, there's a number of different shades, uh, at, at work here, and that's inspired by a trip that she took to Europe.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Where she studied Sienese painting.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So panel painting from the 15th century.
APPRAISER:
There's a number of areas of abrasions...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...which you can see on the edges.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
There's some actually outright losses.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
But actually of more concern is, there's a number of areas of discoloration.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Uh, where we have some tonal shifts due to...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...I think, mostly dirt, mostly soiling.
GUEST:
Oh, oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
Um, some of it, although, I, I think, is also a result of maybe some inexpert cleaning at some point.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So because of that, I think as it sits, at auction...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...we would suggest $60,000 to $80,000.
GUEST:
(breathes deeply) (laughing) Well... (laughs) That's wonderful.
APPRAISER:
It is a gorgeous thing. If it were in perfect condition, we would probably say $80,000 to $120,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Now, some of these have made north of $150,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
There's a lot of interest among the collecting community...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...in particular for the painted screens.
GUEST:
Yeah.
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