Sometimes treasures are hidden in plain view.
Take a large painting appraiser Kelly Dykes discovered hanging above a couch in a Hilton Head residence last year.
The homeowner who was downsizing had asked Dykes to determine if any of the art in the house was saleable. Turns out the oil on canvas was a 200-year-old masterpiece by Italian artist Gaetano Gandolfi, which had been missing from the art world for more than a century.
The painting the homeowner hoped to get $15,000 for sold at auction for $4.1 million.
Appraiser Patsy Robertson once saw an old, cracked flowerpot in a room being cleaned out prior to an estate auction. It turned out to be a $5,500 piece of slave pottery from Edgefield. Robertson saw a second piece of slave pottery right by the front door. She told the woman she should move it and the woman quickly put it up on a top shelf so it wouldn’t get broken.
“So many times, people don’t have a clue what they have,” said Robertson of WHAM Auctions.
Greenville area residents will soon get a chance to find out.
Dykes, Robertson and Jerry Bruce, members of the WHAM Auction appraisal team will provide free appraisals during the Upstate Women’s Show at the Carolina First Center on Aug. 26 through 28.
Attendees are encouraged to bring objects no larger than what would fit inside an oven and can be carried inside, said Jacqui Bomar of JBM & Associates.
“Hidden Treasures in Plain View” appraisals will be done Thursday from noon until 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Then, the appraisers will appear on the “E” Entertainment stage at 1 p.m. Saturday to highlight some of the most valuable items brought in during the eight hours.
“Things are coming out of attics more and more today,” Robertson said. “You don’t ever know. Hopefully, we’ll find a treasure for somebody.”
But more often that not, the treasures people think they own turn out to be reproductions, she said.
“EBay and Antiques Roadshow get people’s hopes up. They think they have the same things,” Robertson said. “If they have a map and see it’s dated the 1800s, they think it’s authentic. But there are so many reproductions of everything out there today.”
Dykes specializes in appraising art, Robertson in glass and Bruce in primitive salesman’s samples.
“Traveling salesmen couldn’t carry a grandfather clock, so they carried samples of their products with them,” she said. “They are really rare.”
But there are reproductions of those, too.
“Even qualified, experienced appraisers are fooled sometimes,” she said.
If an item brought to the Upstate Women’s Show stumps the trio of appraisers, they’ll donate $5 to charity, Robertson said.
