George G. Kilburne Watercolor
GUEST:
My great-grandmother, her part of the family came down in the 1870s from New York City and this came with them. And so it went from them to my grandmother to my mother. And when she downsized to a very small house, I took this for my house because I have loved this ever since I was a child.
APPRAISER:
It's a wonderful painting and it's a really very, very high-style, English Victorian painting by the artist George Kilburne. We can see the signature on the lower left. It's in great condition, so all of those ancestors kept it in a nice, dark place, because there's very little fading. In the 19th century, England was expanding throughout the world, and one of the things they did was to bring back part of those adventures to London, to their homes. And that's why in the 19th century you see all these wonderful hothouses filled with these exotic flowers brought back from India and all parts of the globe, flowers that could never possibly survive an English winter, spring or summer, but inside they managed to do all right.
GUEST:
Right, they're beautiful.
APPRAISER:
It's a very, very beautiful example of Kilburne's work, and Kilburne was a very important British Victorian watercolorist.
GUEST:
I didn't know that. Okay, see, I looked and couldn't find... I just didn't look hard enough.
APPRAISER:
He was born in 1839, he died in 1924, and a lot of the watercolors that he did were costume pieces of the 17th century. So the combination of the great condition of the piece, the beauty of the painting-- the great flowers, the attractive woman-- and the fact that it is a real-time Victorian piece I think make it a more valuable Kilburne piece, and I would value it between $7,000 and $9,000.
GUEST:
Wow. My mother's going to want it back. (chuckles)
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.