'Antiques Roadshow' guest thought heirloom was an ordinary poster — then she learnt its real value
"Antiques Roadshow" guests consider the heirloom left behind by loved ones as priceless, but even then their actual prices are mind blowig to them. Something similar happened to a woman who couldn't believe her ears after she got a staggering appraisal for her family heirloom, which she thought was just a poster. Expert Nicholas D. Lowry was the one to reveal that the item wasn't a poster but the original artwork for a Sun Valley poster created by C. Peet. Adding that it was one of the most desired posters in America, he went on to put a $4,000 price tag on the poster maquette, leaving the guest stunned.
The guest had inherited the poster from her Father-in-law, who worked in Sun Valley, Idaho. "This beautiful piece of artwork actually was hanging in my father-in-law's office in the Union Pacific Railroad outlet in Sun Valley, Idaho. Um, Sun Valley, Idaho, interestingly, was the first destination resort for skiing in this country," she shared with Lowry. She added that between 1965 and 1975, he came across the poster from Crayton Peet. "Union Pacific commissioned Peet to create these gorgeous, iconic posters for Sun Valley to bring people in, to promote Sun Valley, and they displayed them throughout their line. Apparently, this is from 1938," she added.
Taking over, Lowry told the guest that it wasn't a print but a maquette artwork for a poster, for a very famous poster, done for Sun Valley. He further added that he had handled many such Sun Valley posters, but nobody in the industry knew the artist's first name as of yet. So he wasn't sure if it was Crayton. Moving forward, he corrected the guest, saying that it wasn't from 1938 but from around that time. "The ski outfits really bespeak the 1940s. Certainly, Sun Valley came into existence in 1936. I don't think this would have been a poster that they would have done two years after the resort was founded. I believe this poster to be in the post-World War II era," he explained.
Coming to the artwork, the expert noted that it was different from other Sun Valley posters as it did not depict skiing. "This original one is actually what we call gouache on illustration board. I will say that generally, in the world of ski poster collecting, Sun Valley posters are considered the most desirable of American posters," Lowry told the guest. "I can't believe I'm hearing this," the guest said in response. However, Lowry added that since there was no skiing involved, the maquette was a little less desirable. "My estimate at auction, were this to come up for sale, would be between $3,000 and $4,000," he went on to say, leaving the guest in shock. "Oh, my gosh. Awesome! All right! I'll take it," the guest exclaimed.
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Lowry wasn't done as he went on to add that there were several collectors driving the whole field, and the market had recently softened up for Sun Valley posters. "Many years ago, this would have sold for $4,000, $5,000, or $6,000," he told the guest in the end.
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