Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

My mother, when she was growing up, used to go to the Cleveland Museum. And she loved "The Turtle Baby." And when she married my father, they moved to Houston. And she had pictures throughout the house of "The Turtle Baby" when I was growing up. So my dad, on their 25th wedding anniversary, surprised us and said that we were going to New York for a visit. So we flew to New York, and my dad handed an address to the taxicab driver. So we drove, thinking we were going to the hotel, but in turn, we stopped at a gallery. And there was "The Turtle Baby" draped. They had an unveiling. He said, "Happy 25th wedding anniversary, Mama."

APPRAISER

And what was her reaction?

GUEST

She almost fainted.

APPRAISER

Your father actually contacted the...

GUEST

Edith Parsons...

APPRIASER

...a dealer to have it commissioned and have it cast?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

In 1959, it was?

GUEST

I believe it was 1959.

APPRAISER

Yeah? And you have that correspondence, which I looked at. And he paid $1,150 for it.

GUEST

That's correct.

APPRAISER

Plus $20 to ship it to Houston. Edith Parsons was an American sculptor. She was born in the 1870s. She studied in New York at the Art Students League, and one of her teachers was Daniel Chester French, who is the famous sculptor of the Lincoln monument in Washington. And she was one of a number of women artists at this time, in the teens and the '20s and '30s, who did outdoor sculpture. There was a great big building boom. A lot of people had country houses, and they wanted these outdoor sculptures. And Parsons did this wonderful one called "The Turtle Baby." She did one called "The Duck Baby." She did one that was "Frog Baby."

GUEST

"Frog Baby." I've seen it.

APPRAISER

And they're all very similar in conception. You have this wonderful little girl...

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

With this incredible sort of ecstatic expression...

GUEST

Glee.

APPRAISER

Grabbing each of these turtles by one foot. And then her glee is somehow also translated into the actual way her toes are raised here. And then you have the base is supported by turtles, and water spouts out. So was it set up in your house, in your yard?

GUEST

Outside, my mother and dad had an enclosed brick patio made with a fountain. And then when they passed away, I took it.

APPRAISER

And now you keep it indoors, yeah.

GUEST

I've been keeping it indoors.

APPRAISER

Yeah, yeah. Because it has been outside. It affects the value somewhat, but it's just a wonderful piece, it's one of the great examples of American 20th-century garden sculpture. If we had this in our shop, we would charge between $35,000 and $40,000 for it.

GUEST

You're kidding.

APPRAISER

No, not at all.

GUEST

I knew I loved her. (both laughing)