![]() “We work until seven or eight at night to see every last guest, and we don’t have a lot of time with each one of them.”Īlternately, you can reach out to a local gallery or a dealer, or search online for an appraiser (the Antiques Roadshow website lists contact information for those who have appeared on the show). “Especially at the fine art table, people are often lined up starting at five in the morning,” Spanierman said. Potential downsides include the show’s restricted schedule-it only tapes during the summer in certain cities-and the extensive wait time. One option is Antiques Roadshow, where appraisers will offer opinions about your work’s origin. Your first move is to find a knowledgeable advisor who can help in identifying the artist. Or-okay, fine, you have no idea who it is. “But if you illuminate it with a flashlight and use a magnifying glass, you can usually ascertain if something is signed or not.” “Sometimes the painting is really dirty, and you can’t tell at first glance,” Force noted. And, of course, check for a signature or monogram. If it’s mounted behind glass, there’s a good chance it’s a print of a painting, not the painting itself. If it’s an oil painting, for example, the brushwork should have left some visible surface texture. If not, there are some rules of thumb you may follow. Force suggests determining the medium first in some cases, it may be noted on a label affixed to the work. For those of us lacking an extensive art-historical background, however, there are a few signs that may indicate whether or not your artwork is the real deal. Below, find five steps informed by expert advice to determine if you’re part of that lucky 0.1 percent.Īfter years spent working at Sotheby’s, Deborah Spanierman, an appraiser and president of DGS Fine Art Consultants, Inc., said she’s developed a “second sense” about authentic work. “Ninety-nine percent of inquiries we get, maybe even 99.9 percent, are junk, or they’re reproductions,” said Debra Force, a New York art dealer and regular appraiser on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. Is this it? Have you finally found your masterpiece?ĭon’t get your hopes up. You think back to the French family who, while investigating their leaky roof, stumbled upon what some experts have declared a long-lost Caravaggio worth $136 million. A painting, tucked deep into a shadowy corner of the attic. There-between a trunk of your great-great grandmother’s letters and a box of tacky Christmas ornaments-you see it.
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