Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

I happen to love estate sales, and I love seeing beautiful works of art. I came across this one a few months ago.

APPRAISER

Ah, uh, how much did you pay for it?

GUEST

Oh, I paid $22. And I love it, I love the colors, I love everything about it. And it's hanging in my office.

APPRAISER

Oh, excellent. And so, were you able to find out anything about it that you can share with us?

GUEST

I just found out a little bit about the artist, that he was one of the first African American comic book illustrators, is what I read.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

And that he was from Harlem. I know he's deceased.

APPRAISER

Okay.

And that's it. APPRAISER

The artist, that's Alvin Hollingsworth. As you say, he's from Harlem, but his parents were from Barbados.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

And he was born in Harlem in 1928, which is only nine years into the Harlem Renaissance, a very significant period in the development of African American art across the board. In other words, not just visual art, but literature, et cetera. And this piece is a color lithograph. It is numbered at the bottom left corner in pencil, 99 over 250. In the middle is the title, "Attack at Dawn," and to the right, it's signed A.C. Hollingsworth. It's not dated. So, I would actually say this piece was probably done in the late 1970s. And this is from his "Don Quixote" series. So that's actually Don Quixote and his partner attacking these windmills that they think, or at least he thinks, is a ferocious giant. Lithographs are done either traditionally on stone, or now, more modern times, they use either metal or, uh, plastic. So there's one plate for each one of the colors that you see in this image. I noticed it's not sealed in the back. And the problem with that is, insects can get in there.

GUEST

Oh...

APPRAISER

So sealing the back prevents that from happening. In terms of the value, do you have any sense of how much you think this might be worth?

GUEST

No, I don't-- it was kind of all over, and, um, to me, I like it, so...

APPRAISER

It doesn't matter, right? And that's beautiful. But you, you paid $22 for it.

GUEST

I did, I did.

APPRAISER

And I would place it at around $950.

GUEST

Wow, wow.

APPRAISER

Which is not too bad a return on your investment.

GUEST

Right. APPRAISER & (both laugh) Right? Oh, my gosh, and I like it, that's the thing.

APPRAISER

And that's the best part.

GUEST

Oh, thank you so much, I really appreciate this. Thank you.

APPRAISER

Excellent-- my pleasure. Thank you again for bringing it in.

GUEST

Oh, most definitely.