1898 Charles Partridge Adams Oil
Watch
GUEST:
My parents go to Texas for the winters. They have for the past 15 years, and they brought it back. They got it at a flea market down there.
APPRAISER:
Do you know anything about the artist?
GUEST:
No, I don't.
APPRAISER:
He's one of the most important painters of Colorado. He was painting there around the turn of the century. The painting's signed and dated, Charles Partridge Adams, 1898. And 1898 is a great year for Adams because in many ways he had reached his full mature part of his career and he's painting these pictures which are quite impressionistic. So there's that wonderful light, that wonderful space, which is important to American painting. He was actually born on the East Coast, in Massachusetts, spent time in Colorado, and then moved west and actually died in Pasadena, California. He did some paintings in California as well, but he's really known as a great Colorado painter. And I think when you look at this painting here you get a great sense of that wonderful Colorado sky with a sense of light and space and here you have these tall, majestic trees looking out to this expansive horizon. A beautiful Rocky Mountain vista. Do you know anything about this little hole down here that I noticed?
GUEST:
Not really. We figure somebody probably tried a shot and they missed.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, coming from Texas, you've got a little bullet hole down there. It sounds like a pretty good story that it might be a bullet hole. Unfortunately, that brings the painting's value down a little bit. The value of the painting is quite significant. There's been tremendous interest in Colorado painters. And my sense of the painting's value is in the range of $10,000 to $15,000.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
Yep, so it's a handsome picture.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
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.
