Antiques Roadshow has had several surprising moments in the show’s run. There have been heirlooms that were worth more than the owners ever believed. Other people found items in their homes worth more than anyone could have guessed. That happened with one man who had a portrait hanging in his home for years.
The painting ended up worth more than any in the show’s history. Here is what you need to know.
Antiques Roadshow Painting Worth A Fortune
Antiques Roadshow has been a hit with fans on PBS since it premiered in 1997. With 27 years’ worth of antiques on display, fans have seen several surprising finds. The painting that ended up as the most expensive was one that sat in a man’s home for years.
The painting sat behind an open door, so no one really saw it in the home. Not only that, but the man said that he was “scared” to move it since it had been in his family since 1930. Appraiser Colleene Fesko saw it, and when she learned about its history, she had a huge reveal about its worth.
The painting is “El Albanil” by Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Rivera painted it as a teenager in 1904, depicting a bricklayer. The artist made a career of focusing on Mexico’s laborers (via The Express). The painting has been “missing” since the 1930s, and that seems to be when the man’s grandparents bought it.
Rugeley Ferguson, Sr., a Texan rancher, showed it to Marion Oettinger, the then-curator of the San Antonio Museum of Art, in 1996. She confirmed its authenticity. In 2012, it appeared on Antiques Roadshow.
What Was This Painting Worth On Antiques Roadshow?
By the time that man brought it on Antiques Roadshow, it was worth more than he ever could have believed. It was actually the most valuable painting that ever appeared on the PBS reality TV series.
Colleene Fesko said, “The painting itself is by a very important artist, it has a terrific history of being purchased in Mexico in 1930, and it’s a very beautiful and important painting, so, trifectas usually pay pretty well. I would be putting a retail estimate on the piece of between $800,000 and $1 million.”
This turned the man, who realized that the painting was behind a door that had swung open toward it for years. That wasn’t even the end of it. By 2018, the painting had grown in worth to between $1.2 million and $2.2 million.
“Now I’m really scared to carry it around,” he said, believing that it should be in a museum where anyone could see it. That is what happened, as he loaned it to the San Antonio Museum of Art once again.
What are your thoughts about this painting on Antiques Roadhouse? Let us know in the comments below.
