Woman Freaks Out after 'Antiques Roadshow' Reveals Value of Family Painting
Certain items passed down through generations hold sentimental value. In many cases, they also carry the memory of loved ones — connecting the past with the present time.
For one Pennsylvania woman, it was a painting passed down by her late grandmother.
She took it to the Antiques Roadshow to get an estimate, and while there, she also gave a little backstory on the artwork.
As the story goes, the painting was given to her grandma around the 1940s. Her dad passed it down to her when she was only 19 years old.
It was a very special canvas that stuck with the granny for years to come. “Always hung right above her bed,” the woman told the evaluator, Meredith Hilferty.
When asked if she had ever brought it to an appraiser before, the owner implied that the estimations were ever-changing.
She said, “In 1998, it was appraised as a print at $200 and, in 2004, it was appraised at $250.”
At one point, the young woman doubted the authenticity of the piece of art. She thought it could even be a printed illustration.
“I took it out to the front yard and I opened it up to get [a] mosquito out, so I could take it with me to college, and then it kind of scared me a little,” she said.
“I closed it back up immediately because it looked like it might be real.”
Well, the painting was very real. In fact, it was the beautiful work of French artist, Henry Francois Farny.
While living in Pennsylvania in the 1800s, he became friends with the Seneca and Sioux tribes.
His paintings, like this particular one, were known for displaying the “tranquil” side of the Native Americans.
Therefore, this antique piece was actually worth $200,000 to $300,000. As expected, the woman instantly freaked out saying, “That’s so much. I don’t even know what to say.”
I’m sure none of us would know what to say after finding out a family painting was worth thousands of dollars.
I guess it does everyone some good to hold onto special family heirlooms, even the ones we find insignificant, because they may just be worth more than we could ever imagine!
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