Not everyone has an eye for paintings or drawings. Most of us non-experts would typically glance and think, ‘Oh, this looks pretty,’ and move on. This is the same with a woman who had a picture hung on top of her grandmother’s bedroom.
However, when she brought the painting to the show “Antiques Roadshow,” she was shocked when the appraiser told her the truth about the picture. Making her question everything she had known about her grandmother. Intrigued by what truth lies in the image? Keep reading to find out more!
An Uncommon Inheritance for a Granddaughter
When someone talks about inheritance, you would think it was something like a piece of valuable jewelry, a house, a land, or something else. But this woman was given a piece of art of “a Native American tribe leisurely walking down a mountainside,” and it was hung above her grandmother’s bed.
For years, the woman didn’t think much about it. However, she did wonder why she was given such a gift. Was there some sentimental attachment her grandmother had with the picture? Even the woman didn’t know where the picture originated in the first place until she brought it to the show.
The Start of the Suspicion
On the show, the owner of the work stated that her grandmother must’ve received the gift from her father when she was 19 years old. Based on their history, her grandmother probably got it sometime in 1940.
In honor of her grandmother’s wish, the woman initially planned to bring the picture to college. However, when she took the image for a closer look, she noticed a mosquito on the picture. She brushed it away and realized it looked like an actual painting when she had always presumed it was a copy.
Picture or Painting? The Long History
The woman mentioned that she had gotten the picture appraised twice before and stated that the piece was worth $200-$250. Refusing to believe that her grandmother’s favorite picture was worth just a few hundred dollars, the woman did her research and was in awe of what she had discovered.
The original painter, H.F. Farny, went through a long quest to find inspiration but found it during his time in the American Midwest. There, Farny was fascinated by the Native Americans that he joined them in their travels and was ultimately “adopted” by the natives.
To Sell or To Keep?
After much suspicion, Hilferty, the appraiser, confirmed the woman’s intuition that the picture was an actual painting worth around $200,000 to $300,000. This made the woman shocked to tears upon hearing the news.
Will the woman sell the painting, or will she keep it? It is normal to be indecisive, especially when the woman believes that the worth of the painting was just merely $200. Whether or not she decided to sell the painting, it made for a brilliant story.