'Antiques Roadshow' guest thrilled as 1984 painting bought on installment is now worth a fortune
Sometimes taking a risky financial decision can pay off big time, especially if it's for rare pieces of art. This is what an "Antiques Roadshow" guest found out after getting a five-figure appraisal for his old $1,100 painting. The man who bought the 1984 Howard Finster Painting on installment was over the moon when the show's expert, Wes Cowan, told him that the artwork was worth about $25,000. In the episode, the guest shared the interesting story of how he fell in love with the artwork decades ago.
"I bought it in Washington, D.C., in 1985. There was a gallery near where I lived, and I just loved it. I couldn't afford it with the money that I had in the bank," he told Cowan. He further shared that he got the painting on installment for $1,100, which was a lot of money back then.
The guest explained that he was a fan of the artist, Howard Finster, who did the cover of the Talking Heads' album called "Little Creatures." Cowan went on to shed light on the provenance of the item. "Finster was a, a visionary artist. And you can look at this and say, 'Wow!'" he said. The appraiser then went on to explain that Finster became an evangelical preacher, but he continued to make art. "He finally moved to near Summerville, Georgia, and started the Paradise Garden. And the Paradise Garden still exists today. It's full of oddball buildings that incorporate Finster's art," he said.
Coming to the painting, the Cowan shed light on the different materials used in the artwork. "And the first thing, it's made out of boards. There's a mirror. This is a piece of plexiglass. And he's painted everywhere," he noted. "Lots of verbiage, lots of action. And then you sort of delve into this, and you say, 'Okay, here's the Tree of Life,' and there are clouds ascending from the Tree of Life," he further explained. Before appraising the item, the expert told the guest that the painting had the number 3,524, which indicates that it was one of the over 50,000 pieces of art that Finster created.
"No one knows absolutely how many works of art Finster did. But it's probably in excess of 45,000 or 50,000 works of art," Cowan added. Coming to the appraisal, the expert asked the guest if he had any idea how much the painting would be worth. After the guest shared that he once got a $3,000 to $5,000 estimate for the item. "I would differ a little bit," Cowan said in response. "In the right outsider art auction, I think this would probably bring between $15,000 and $25,000," he went on to say, shocking the guest. "Really?! That's great!" the guest said.
In the end, the guest shared that he knew his investment would pay off one day. "Great. Good for Howard. I knew it was very special when I saw it," he said in the end.
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