Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

This was a piece that hung in my grandmother's dining room, hung in my mother's dining room, now hangs in my dining room. I don't really know where the piece came from. It's one of a few that we have similar, but not quite alike.

APPRAISER

Now, where did your grandmother live?

GUEST

My grandmother grew up in Mayfield, Kentucky. Now, her dad was a U.S. senator and traveled to Washington, DC, all the time. I don't know if it came from his side or where it actually came from.

APPRAISER

But you said you had a group of these?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

It's actually from the Mary Balch School of Providence, Rhode Island. It's quite a wonderful one, one of the most elaborate ones I've ever seen. It was done around 1800 to 1810.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

There are several features that are special. Number one, it's a very large size. Number two, this wonderful original glass mat, which was painted on the reverse. It's known as an glomis mat, which is quite unusual to have the original and the original beautiful gilded frame. This was done at the school, or the academy, and then the framer would come in with the glomis panel and the frame, and frame them, usually right in the school. There are some very unusual features on the needlework. Number one, it's silk on silk, and also has chenille motifs here. And the chenille is actually a nubbly type of silk thread, and chenille in French actually means caterpillar. And if you look down here, it looks like the surface of a caterpillar's skin. It is what is known as a mourning picture, and these were done when somebody died, and it was a memorial to them. So I think it's a great New England historic documented piece, done in a known school. Now, have you ever had it appraised?

GUEST

No, I have not.

APPRAISER

Well, it has a retail value of between $20,000 and $30,000.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

Because of its all-original condition.

GUEST

Wow.