'Antiques Roadshow' erroneously appraises high school art project at $50,000
Kids, hold on to your macaroni art, because the Roadshow isn't always right.
Years ago, Alvin Barr purchased a mysterious clay jug for $300 at a Eugene, Oregon estate sale. Unsure about the piece's origins, he brought it to appraiser Stephen L. Fletcher when PBS's Antiques Roadshow came to Spokane, Washington.
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Fletcher was stunned. "This, in its own way, is really over-the-top," he told Barr, also likening the many-faced sculpture to a work by Picasso. He estimated the piece was made in the late 19th or early 20th century, and valued it at around $50,000.
"What?" shouted Barr, understandably.
Unfortunately for both Barr and Fletcher, these estimates were a little off the mark. The jug was actually made in the early 1970s — not by a professional potter, but by horse trainer Betsy Soule in her high school ceramics class.
When the Roadshow episode aired in January, Soule got a call from a friend: "You’ve got to get on the internet and look up Antiques Roadshow. That weird pot you made is on there.”
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Eventually, Antiques Roadshow and Soule cleared up the mistake. Fletcher has since posted a correction to his appraisal on the PBS website. "Obviously, I was mistaken as to its age by 60 to 80 years," he wrote. "I feel the value at auction, based on its quality and artistic merit, is in the $3,000-$5,000 range."
"Still not bad for a high-schooler in Oregon," he added.
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[H/T: cfile]
Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.
