'Antiques Roadshow' guest left in tears after expert revealed the value of her family heirloom

People who come to "Antiques Roadshow" usually walk in with little to no clue about the monetary value of a vintage item or heirloom that they possess, although in their heart, it has immense sentimental value. This is what happened to a guest who brought a Kaneda Kenjiro sculpture in one of the episodes of the hit PBS show. The owner of the bronze sculpture showing a man in a rice field had no idea how valuable it was, and in the end, the expert Mark Larson nearly left her in tears with a massive appraisal of $12,000. 

In the episode from 2018, the lady who brought in the unique sculpture shared that she got the item from her beloved grandmother. "When I was a teenager, I saw this man at my grandmother's house. She said, 'One day I'm going to put this in my will and it'll be yours'. Recently, she just gave it to me," the guest told Larson. She explained that the statue was something she always treasured as it was different. "I like the fact that his hat is missing, it's gone, but he's trying to get to it. I like the movement that's in his clothes," the guest went on to say.

The appraiser then took over to explain the scene set by the sculpture. "So this fellow was working, and then the hat blows away, and it's blowing away on a wave. This is water. You can see, it's kind of breaking and frothing and so on," he said, astonishing the guest. He further explained that the man was in a rice field. "On his back, this is where he would put the hoe, and here he is, just leaping forward, just this spontaneous reaction," he added. Looking at the make and style of the sculpture, Larson said that it was characteristic of a particular school of artisans who were working in the late 19th century in Tokyo. "It was in response to a change in Japan, during the Meiji period, where there was a real effort to industrialize Japan and move it forward to become part of the world of nations, to become part of international commerce," he explained.

Coming to the artist, Larson noted that it was created by Kaneda Kenjiro, a prominent artist of the era. "This happens to be one of the very best examples that we know of by this particular artist," he noted. Explaining the details of the sculpture, Larson said, "This is a wisened old man who's gone through a whole lifetime of work. From a technical standpoint, creating a figure that's supported by one leg is hard. You've got to balance the weight," he added. The expert noted that despite being a fairly heavy object, the sculpture was perfectly balanced by the extended platform and the leaning man.

Coming to the appraisal, Larson told the guest that, "For retail replacement purposes, I think a figure of $12,000 would be about right." This shocked the guest, who was at a complete loss for words. The guest closed her eyes and said, "Really? I had no idea," before nearly breaking down.

In the end, the guest kept repeating that she had no idea how valuable the sculpture was before thanking Larson for the appraisal.