1930 Grant Wood Oil Painting
GUEST:
I think I've had it about 60-plus years. And I bought it from a gallery here in Chicago. And it's by Grant Wood, who was an Iowa painter, and I'm from Iowa, so it had a sentimental attachment. And I think the title of this is "A Doorstep in Amana," Amana, Iowa, which is an Amish community not too far away from where I was born. I just wanted to know how it stacks up in his paintings. I know it's not one of his significant ones.
APPRAISER:
Grant Wood, of course, is one of the premier American regionalists, spending most of his time painting in Iowa. Of course, his perhaps most notable piece is the wonderful painting called "American Gothic," which shows the couple with the pitchfork. But he also, of course, painted a lot of scenes of Iowa, rolling hills and things of that sort. Early on, he did do a little work in Europe, and his European paintings were very much in the style of yours, although yours is actually from 1930, which is well into his established career. This might've been something he would've done on site, because it's on a board, and it's small and it has sort of a spontaneous feel about it, which makes it very nice. Do you remember how much you paid for the painting when you bought it so many years ago?
GUEST:
I regret that I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever. But I think it was probably in the hundreds of dollars, not more.
APPRAISER:
In terms of the market, most people, when they think of Grant Wood, probably prefer his more typical subject matter. Grant Wood is extremely popular. His work is very marketable today. Paintings like this have, in recent years, sold somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $50,000.
GUEST:
Like this one?
APPRAISER:
Yes, absolutely. Last month, at an auction house, a painting of this size from Amana, of a cider mill, actually sold for $130,000.
GUEST:
My word.
APPRAISER:
Now, that's not to say that all works are in that range. We'd have to see, if another one came on the market, if it in fact made it in the same league, then we could evaluate this one in that category. Up to this past month, we'd probably have evaluated this in the range of $30,000 to $50,000.
GUEST:
Well, that's a good deal more than I paid for it.
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.