'Antiques Roadshow' guest stunned after hearing the real value of item she bought for $200

It isn't unusual for "Antiques Roadshow" guests to be surprised by high appraisals for family heirlooms or artifacts that are precious to them anyway. But some of them come from the antiques business with a better level of knowledge. One such guest was the owner of "The Four Seasons" by Alphonse Mucha, who walked in with classic decorative panels, which she had held on to for more than half a century. While she paid only $200 for the item created by the greatest Art Nouveau artist of his time, the expert, Nicholas D. Lowry, delighted her with an $18,000 estimate.

The guest brought the large decorative panels to get a fair idea about their history and value. "They are Alphonse Mucha's 'The Four Seasons,' spring, summer, autumn, and winter. And I've had them for the last 50 years. I used to be in the antique business, my husband and I, and we were thumbing through a local newspaper and saw the Four Seasons advertised, and we were familiar with him," she shared with Lowry, adding that she paid only $200 for the item.

Taking over, the appraiser explained that the item on display was a significant piece of artwork. "Alphonse Mucha was arguably the single greatest Art Nouveau artist of the year. In fact, Art Nouveau is often referred to as the Mucha style. They named the form after him, and this is sort of a masterwork of his artistry," Lowry noted. He went on to add that Mucha worked with a printer in Paris called Champenois, who realized early on that the artist had incredible potential, and his skill should not be limited to designing posters for rolling paper or for bicycles.

Thus, the Champenois licensed Mucha to create more than posters, for items such as decorative panels. "This was the first series of decorative panels that Mucha designed for the printer. And this series of decorative panels was so popular, all of a sudden, people in Paris, who hadn't been able to afford oil paintings, were able to buy these lithographic paintings and decorate their homes relatively inexpensively," Lowry shared. He added that the series was designed in 1896, and the designs included brooding, beautiful women in theatrical poses. "And each one is sort of clad in a revealing and a secret way, hiding something, showing the other," the expert added.

Lowry explained that the printer was a clever marketer, and he began licensing Mucha's images out to home decorators and fabric printers. Thus, the panels in question were not printed by Champenois himself. "And I say that for two reasons. One, the printer's name appears nowhere. The second reason is that Mucha's signature appears nowhere," he said. 

While he estimated that the panels were printed much later, probably around 1897, they were still in great condition and worth quite a lot. "I would estimate these four as a group [to sell at auction] between $12,000 and $18,000," he told the guest. The woman, despite being in the antiques business, was astonished to hear the number. "That's awesome! That's really awesome," she exclaimed. 

In the end, she thanked the appraiser and said the panels seemed more beautiful to her now.

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