Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It was a gift from my ex-husband, right before he left me. He gave me a birthday present, and this was it. Best thing he ever gave me, actually. I know that it was probably purchased in Philadelphia, and it probably cost around $1,800. I received it in 2005.

APPRAISER

It's actually a color screen print by Warhol from the first Campbell's Soup series that he did in 1968.

GUEST

What?

APPRAISER

Which is a set of ten different soup cans, all Campbell's Soup cans.

GUEST

Wow, okay.

APPRAISER

And these are based on a 1962 painted series that he had done and first exhibited at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Just as he was shifting from his career as an advertising artist in New York to more of a fine artist.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And Warhol got on the map and became a famous artist through his appropriation of everyday images.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

In this case, Campbell's Soup. And he said that one of the reasons he chose Campbell's Soup early on is because, as a kid growing up in Pittsburgh...

GUEST

(chuckles)

APPRAISER

...He was fed Campbell's Soup and ate Campbell's Soup all the time.

GUEST

Makes sense.

APPRAISER

So he made a, a set of ten different subjects, ten different soups, in the first Campbell's Soup series, number one, in 1968. These were done in an edition of 250, each of the prints, and each of them are signed in ballpoint pen and ink and numbered with a rubber ink stamp.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

And you can see that on the back of this image, because the mat is nicely cut out...

GUEST

Somebody cut it out, right.

APPRAISER

Now, he was very well known when these were made, and the reason why he made them in the late '60s, based on a painted series from the early '60s, is that he could make multiple images of them, and, using screen print, run off a lot, and ten times 250, you have 2,500 prints to be sold from this series. So...

GUEST

Not bad, yeah.

APPRAISER

Cashing in on his growing popularity. I found this one interesting, too, because up here, on the accent above the "E" on "consomm," you can see the pattern of the white screen. That's actually white ink on that, and you can see...

GUEST

Oh, my God, oh, yeah, yeah.

APPRAISER

...how it's crisscrossing with the red.

GUEST

Wow, cool.

APPRAISER

These were printed in New York and published through Warhol's publishing outfit called Factory Additions.

GUEST

Mmm.

APPRAISER

Even though he was well known at the time, a lot of people viewed these as, as... prints and sort of common images, not of great value.

GUEST

What did he sell them for originally?

APPRAISER

Originally, a couple of hundred dollars

GUEST

A couple hundred of dollars? Yeah, wow.

APPRAISER

Or the whole set for maybe $1,000? A lot were put on the wall, and from the late '60s on to today, have lost their color, have been damaged, so... The surface of a screen print is very susceptible to scratching...

GUEST

Gotcha.

APPRAISER

...and bends in the paper and breaks. Yours is in great shape.

GUEST

Really?

APPRAISER

Yes, on a scale of one to ten...

GUEST

Good.

APPRAISER

Ten being the best...

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

You're about eight-and-a-half, maybe nine with this one.

GUEST

Well, and it's been on a wall.

APPRAISER

But you've kept it, you've kept it out of the sunlight.

GUEST

It was on the right wall-- right, yeah, I did, I did.

APPRAISER

So what would you guess? What would you say is a, is a value?

GUEST

(sighs): I am, I am clueless, because, I mean-- and part of it is what you were explaining, like, there were original paintings, and then there's this series of prints and that series of prints. So, I don't know where this fits in. I'm really clueless.

APPRAISER

I'd never heard of divorce gifts, either. Is that... That's a new thing for me.

GUEST

It was a birthday gift right before the, right before he left.

APPRAISER

Okay.

GUEST

I think, maybe, we call it a guilt gift or something, I don't know.

APPRAISER

Guilt gift, I like that one-- go with that.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

In this condition, great shape, I would put a replacement value of $50,000.

GUEST

What? Come on. That's crazy. My goodness,

I don't... I'm speechless. (shudders)

I don't know what to say.

APPRAISER

The more common the soup-- take tomato soup?

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

That's a $75,000...

GUEST

Isn't it interesting?

APPRAISER

$80,000 print, because it's tomato soup.

GUEST

That's the iconic one, right.

APPRAISER

That's the iconic soup.