1885 Antonio Jacobsen Paintings
GUEST:
My grandfather acquired them, and I'm sorry to say that I cannot tell you the history of that acquisition. When he passed away, they came to my mother, who truly loved them, and she saw that I had them upon her death.
APPRAISER:
You know who they're by, right?
GUEST:
I do know who they're by, and I know that he is a top-notch maritime painter.
APPRAISER:
Antonio Jacobsen, right?
GUEST:
Jacobsen, thank you, yes. (laughs)
APPRAISER:
That's right. You know the subjects, don't you, or you know what they are?
GUEST:
The America Cup races, yes.
APPRAISER:
Absolutely. Antonio Jacobsen is a Danish artist. It's spelled Jacobsen, S-E-N. And he comes to America, living in New Jersey. Sometimes he signs these with his address, so we can date them by the address. But he actually dated this one 1885. And he has this business painting basically portraits of boats. That's almost all he does. He's painting different people's ships in harbors in and around New York. Did you ever figure out who these boats were at all?
GUEST:
No, no, I don't know.
APPRAISER:
We know it's an America's Cup race, because we have this little light ship. This is the ship that they all went around. And we know the year, 1885, so we know this is the Puritan and the Ginesta. These, I'm not so sure. We could probably figure that out. That could be known by the pennants that they have. Only one of these is signed, so it's important to keep these two together.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
If you have children, do not separate these. Because this one will validate that one, okay? This one without a signature will not ever be worth as much as the one that's signed.
GUEST:
I see.
APPRAISER:
But together, they make a pair.
GUEST:
We have two sons, and that's what I probably would have thought of doing. I thank you.
APPRAISER:
They're going to have to fight for that, yeah. The thing about Jacobsen, you rarely see racing scenes. Most of these are just plain foursquare portraits of ships. And here you have these very active racing scenes. We have the men hiking out on the sides to counterbalance the boat. You have this very dynamic sea. All these make them probably the most valuable Jacobsens that I've ever seen. Because they're known America's Cup scenes, I would estimate these to go at auction-- and this market is very hot right now-- somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, absolutely.
GUEST:
(laughs) It's mindboggling. I had no... no idea.
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.