'Antiques Roadshow' guest says 'I could never sell it' after hearing value of his grandpa's painting

The artwork from the guest's grandfather, Henry Siddons Mowbray was too important for him to let go.

PUBLISHED SEP 8, 2025

Screenshot showing the guest's reaction to the appraisal and the expert talking about the item (Cover image source: YouTube/Antiques Roadshow PBS)

Estimates by "Antiques Roadshow" guests about the value of their heirlooms or artifacts usually aren't even close to how much they're actually worth. But even when many of them are shocked by the appraisal by experts, they are too attached to the items to sell them. This was the case for a guest who refused to let his grandfather's artwork go, even for $75,000. While the owner of the Henry Siddons Mowbray painting was shocked when expert Colleene Fesko revealed the value, he was sure that it was going to stay in the family.

Screenshot showing the guest, the painting, and the expert on the show (Image source: YouTube/Antiques Roadshow PBS)

Fesko started by talking about the guest's grandfather and his work. "Your grandfather was a really interesting artist, but this is just such a luscious painting. Henry Siddons Mowbray was born in, actually, Alexandria, Egypt, in 1858, studied in Paris, and died in 1928," she shared. She then asked the guest if he had any idea when the artwork was done, and the guest shared that the painting was done around 1895, but he didn't know the exact date.

The expert then noted that the guest's grandmother once wrote that Mowbray was influenced by "classical themes" and the "themes of the American Renaissance". She then shared that the guest had had the painting hanging over his bed since he was 16 years old. "Yeah, he considered his murals much more important than his easel paintings like this, but I was much more enamored by these paintings than the murals," the guest confirmed.

Screenshot showing the guest talking about the painting (Image source: YouTube/Antiques Roadshow PBS)

"What's interesting to me is that you mentioned the murals and that he was great

friends with Augustus Saint-Gaudens and with the architectural firm of Stanford White, McKim, Mead, and White. And the great mansions that were being built in Newport and New York have design programs that were commissioned by these architects that your grandfather worked on. Because it was the American Renaissance period, they were building Renaissance-style architecture and interiors that went along with it," Fesko noted.

Screenshot showing the details of the painting (Image source: YouTube/Antiques Roadshow PBS)

She then explained that they painted a lot of Roman and classical scenes, like the beautiful figures seen in the artwork. "A beautiful palette. We have the roses, the pastel colors of the figures, a great aesthetic accomplishment in the easel format. It's just a terrific example of the painting and of the period," Fesko said before coming to the appraisal. She then went on to estimate that the item could fetch $50,000 to $75,000 at an auction. "Wow!" the guest said before revealing that he would never sell the item. "I could never sell it, unfortunately. It would stay in the family," he told the expert.