Antiques Roadshow USA: Olin Travis art valued by expert
An Antiques Roadshow expert agreed to keep the value of a painting a “secret” as the owner didn’t want to give it back to her mum.
The PBS daytime show returned to film in Boise, Idaho, where expert Colleen Fesko was met with a woman with an Earl Moran pin-up girl painting.
Explaining its provenance, she said: “As much as I can remember, it spent 10 to 15 years at my mum’s house.
“She bought it at an estate sale and she paid I think around $200 for it.
“And I’ve been begging her for this picture ever since I’ve seen it.”
Read more: Antiques Roadshow legend dies aged 53 as Fiona Bruce leads heartbroken tributes
“I’ve just remodelled my house and I made it all 1950s.
“I kept telling my mum: ‘So can I have the picture now?’, so finally she gave it to me.”
Fesko began to give a little background information on Moran, including that he was born in 1893, died in 1984 and that he started off as a “white shoe illustrator”.
She then said that while he studied art in New York, it wasn’t until the mid-century that he found “fame and fortune” in Los Angeles creating pin-up calendar art.
Don't miss...
Antiques Roadshow guest loses balance over massive dying aunt's painting value [REACTION]
Antiques Roadshow guest to ‘retire’ mum with late dad’s ‘very rare' sculpture [REVEALED]
Antiques Roadshow expert shares staggering off-screen valuation in show first [EXPLAINER]
“This was probably done as an advertisement for a car company or even a sporting company, because you also have the sailboat and the motorboat but its real appeal is in being a pin-up”, Fesko commented.
When asked if she’s had it priced before, the guest replied: “No I have no idea, honestly. I just painted a wall in my house the pink on the car so -”
Both of the women laughed with Fesko interrupting: “A girl after my own heart.”
The guest continued: “And it looks really good in my house, so as to the value, no, I’ve never, never looked into it.”
It was then time for the expert to summarise and going by the owner’s reaction, she was not expecting to hear just how much her painting was worth.
Fesko said: “Well, Moran’s paintings are valued on a sliding scale but not the usual sliding scale.
“The more clothes that slide off the pin-up girl, the more valuable they tend to be.
“This is a very special one, she’s a lovely wholesome young girls, wearing the bright green bathing suit.
“The great period car, the period sailing vessels and motorboat, the cute dog, the nice signature - I would be estimating it between $20,000 and $30,000 at auction.”
Instantly, the guess began to laugh before saying: “Is my mum going to see this? Because I’m not giving it back!”
Fesko joked: “It’ll be our secret”, before the guest stated: “OK! Oh my gosh, really? Oh my goodness.”
“She’s well-presented, shall we say”, said Fesko as the owner added: “And she looks good on my pink wall.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.
