Bob Ross Alaskan Oil Paintings, ca. 1970
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CREW: You're all looking at Laura. We're not even here. GUESTS: Okay.
APPRAISER:
We've put together a little Bob Ross appreciation society today. So I, I'm a fan, and I actually didn't think that I'd ever possibly either see one in person or ever have a hope of perhaps finding one for sale somewhere. They just never come up for auction. And trust me, I keep my eyes out. This is kind of a big deal for me, personally. I watched when I was a kid, and he's the reason I picked up a paintbrush for the first time. (voice breaking): So people have a very emotional connection. Look, I'm tearing up.
GUEST:
Oh...
APPRAISER:
People have such an emotional connection to Bob, and you can say whatever you want, whether you like the scenes or you don't or they're your style, but he's therapy for so many people, and people love him, so his paintings sell for a lot of money. I'm holding one of your paintings.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
So you have two, and you each ha, have another Bob Ross. How did you get 'em?
GUEST:
Well, my parents got 'em in the '70s.
GUEST:
A Quonset hut sale.
GUEST:
Salvation Army!
GUSET: It was a Christmas gift to my parents in the n, in the 1970s.
APPRAISER:
They were all acquired locally and they were all done by Bob Ross when he was at Eielson Air Force Base in the '70s. And when he left the Air Force, he went back to the Lower 48, and he began his TV show. Actually, in 1983 out of a small PBS station in Virginia was the first series, but it didn't have very wide distribution. So it wasn't really until 1984 that most of the country was starting to see The Joy of Painting. And ten years later, in 1994, they wrapped it up after doing 31 seasons and over 400 episodes. We have two Northern Lights paintings. Yours specifically was a commission of a cabin that your parents, uh, encountered. And then we have some very similar mountain scenes. You can see where he was building his, his style and his skill set back in the '70s, before he started the TV show. What we're discovering, there is a bonanza of Bob Ross paintings in Alaska that I'm so excited to find out about.
(all laughing)
APPRAISER:
'Cause I didn't know! One of the things I wanted to point out is, he actually specifically says on the stretcher s, stamps that all of your paintings have, which is how we know these are his from the '70s, he calls them Alaskan oil paintings, 'cause that's what they were back in the day.
GUEST:
Hm.
APPRAISER:
So, it's a little tricky, because these were not on the show, and most of the prices we have are from paintings that were on the show. In the current marketplace, Bob Ross paintings like this would sell in the $15,000 to $25,000 range.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh!
(all laughing)
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
How much did you guys pay?
GUEST:
Really?!
(all laughing)
APPRAISER:
Do we have any prices here? So you inherited...
GUEST:
$12!
APPRAISER:
12, you win, I think.
GUEST:
Mine was five!
APPRAISER:
Five dollars?
GUEST:
(laughing): At the Quonset hut.
APPRAISER:
Quonset hut? Paintings from the TV series sell in a certain range. There was one that recently did $41,000, and the most expensive one that we've heard of was from the very first TV show, and that did six figures.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER:
From humble beginnings came The Joy of Painting.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Which was obviously a beloved franchise for PBS, so we're keeping it in the family today.
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