Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

Well, I inherited this painting from my parents. My mother wanted to give my father a gift that he would really love. And he loved reading to his children books that had illustrations.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

And this is one of the illustrations. She knew how much he would love to get one of those, so she decided that she needed to make this a secret. So what she did was, she saved five dollars from her food money every week for probably two years.

APPRAISER

Oh, wow.

GUEST

And didn't tell him this.

APPRAISER

Amazing right.

GUEST

And then it's either his birthday or their anniversary, gave him a card that said, "You can go down to the Schoonover Studios and pick out a painting."

APPRAISER

Oh, that's...

GUEST

And he was elated, to say the least.

APPRAISER

Oh, how exciting.

GUEST

And so we went down as four kids and the mom and dad, and we chose a painting. What I remember, this would have been in the early '60s.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

Early to mid-'60s,

I'll say. APPRAISER

Okay.

GUEST

Dark wooden floors, paint. I think there were big windows at one end.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

And there was partially completed canvases here, there was, you know, old, probably, I'll say discarded ones there, and, you know, then there was... There was sort of stacks of them.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

This is the one with the clipper ship, which he thought was extraordinary.

APPRAISER

Right.

GUEST

And then this galleon, and... I don't know, he just, he decided on that one, and we all, of course, were thrilled.

APPRAISER

And the title of the painting is...

GUEST

"Privateers of '76."

APPRAISER

Right. The story was written by an author named Ralph D. Paine, who apparently wrote several books in the early 20th century, and a lot of them relating to history. On the back of the painting, we have the inventory number for the painting, which is number 1248. Mm-hmm. There is a label, which actually is handwritten, and maybe by Schoonover himself, that says it, it's from chapter 13. The title of the illustration is "At a hail from the boat, he went to the rail." "At the hail of the boat," meaning the one below, the figure on top comes to the rail. Now, Schoonover, of course, is one of the premier artists of the Brandywine School. And he studied with Howard Pyle...

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

...who is considered the father of the school...

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

...at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia.

GUEST

Oh, I didn't know that.

APPRAISER

And Schoonover was very good at, at wanting to get to reality. So not only did he go out west, but he also went down to the bayous in Mississippi to sort of get a sense of how the pirates would have lived in that environment. He had a house in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, in Pike County, which is in the Poconos.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And he would spend his summers there. But he used the landscape of that area in, in many of his paintings.

GUEST

You know, I think that the card that Mr. Schoonover gave my parents when they purchased this said that it was painted in Bushkill-- is that what it's called?

APPRAISER

Yes, Bushkill, Pennsylvania.

GUEST

Yes, yeah.

APPRAISER

And certainly, he was very popular, especially in the early part of the 20th century, because he illustrated such classic books as "Robinson Crusoe"...

GUEST

Mmm.

APPRAISER

"Swiss Family Robinson." And he did a whole series of books for, on Zane Grey Western novels.

GUEST

Oh, really? Oh, my gosh.

APPRAISER

So he was quite into it, as well as magazine illustrations.

GUEST

Mmm.

APPRAISER

He was born in 1877 and he actually lived to 1972. So he was primarily painting in the early 20th century, and really, I think, up until he passed away. The painting, of course, is oil on canvas, and looks like the original frame. This painting is dated in the lower right '23, 1923, and that's when the novel was first published.

GUEST

Hm.

APPRAISER

He is popular as an illustrator nationwide. If this were in a gallery, I think that it would sell in the range of $125,000.

GUEST

(chuckles) I know you're kidding me.

APPRAISER

No, I'm not kidding you. It's a wonderful...

GUEST

(softly) Really?

APPRAISER

Yes.

GUEST

Really?

APPRAISER

It's a wonderful painting.

GUEST

(breathes deeply) My father would be so thrilled to know that people were being turned on to illustrations.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

And my mother would be really thrilled at what you just said.

APPRAISER

Yeah. (both laughing) Well, it means that her investment was a good one.

GUEST

Oh, yes, oh, yes. Wow.

APPRAISER

There's a big surge of interest in illustration.

GUEST

Well, I love this painting.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

I love this painting.