Augusta Savage Sculpture, "Gamin"

Appraised on: June 22, 2002

Appraised in: Cleveland, Ohio

Appraised by: Eric Silver

Category: Metalwork & Sculpture

Episode Info: Roadshow Remembers (#1017)
Cleveland, Hour 1 (#707)

Originally Aired: September 15, 2003

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (1:43)

GUEST: My mother had a friend, Miss Foster, and Miss Foster was 90 and going into a nursing home, and mother said, "She would like you to come over and pick out something from the apartment." And I saw this young boy, and I said, "He's darling; may I have him?" And Miss Foster said, "I'd love you to have him."

APPRAISER: This is a sculpture by an artist named Augusta Savage. And she was a black artist who worked in New York in the 1920s and '30s. And this is her most famous work. It's called Gamin. And it's actually inscribed on the front, "Gamin."

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And the piece is signed on the back with her name, "Savage." And what's interesting about this piece is that while it looks like it's bronze, it's actually made out of plaster, and it's painted to look like bronze. And if you look on the bottom here, you can see the white plaster. She didn't have the money to cast them in bronze. It was a very expensive process. This is a wonderful piece, it really capture the spirit of the young boy.

GUEST: It does.

APPRAISER: It comes in this size, and there's another version that's slightly larger.

GUEST: Oh, did she make many of them?

APPRAISER: No, not really, because there just wasn't a demand for them, and I think even if she made a lot of them, because they're plaster, they're very fragile. In fact, yours knocked over and cracked.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Well, I think you might be surprised. This is worth between $15,000 and $20,000.

GUEST: With a crack?

APPRAISER: With a crack, yes. Isn't that great?

GUEST: That's wonderful. I cannot believe that. I...

APPRAISER: It can even bring more.

GUEST: Thank you very much.