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Vintage Tattoo Flash Art

Value (2011) | $15,000 Insurance – $20,000 Insurance
Watch  

GUEST:
When I first started getting tattooed, I met a gentleman who tattooed me in Iowa. And as his health wasn't doing too well, he knew that I was just intrigued by the art, and he offered to, you know, sell it to me, if I promised to just hold onto them and preserve them. And since then I have become a tattoo artist, and looking at this stuff and doing the research of who these people are got me interested in tattooing. And ten years later, I'm still tattooing, so...

APPRAISER:
Well, that's wonderful. And what we have here is vintage tattoo flash and some design work. These are the designs that the tattoo artists would have in their shops. And people would pick out, you know, what they liked, and then they'd go for it. Now, we have some really interesting tattoo artists represented here, correct?

GUEST:
Yes. Over there you've got a drawing by Sailor Jerry Collins, who tattooed all over the world, but ended up in Honolulu and tattooed a lot of the sailors out there during the war. You've got Cap Coleman over here, who everyone looked up to. His motto was "Bold Will Hold," so he kept it very simple with a lot of black shading. Black pigment held the longest out of color. They knew the secret of putting enough black into a tattoo so that ten, 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now the tattoo still looks like how it did the day you got it. A gentleman by the name of Eddie Peace, they called him Tex Peace, who still has a shop in Augusta, Georgia, with a third-generation tattooer. Stony St. Clair, tattooed in Columbus, Ohio. He was in a wheelchair. He was a sword swallower in the circus, and Cap Coleman had taught him how to tattoo. Bert Grimm, another tattooer who tattooed all over, but ended up tattooing on the Pike in Long Beach. And then you've got Percy Waters over there, who was one of the main distributors in tattoo supplies.

APPRAISER:
And what about the one with the blue background here? What do you know about that?

GUEST:
Well, I really don't know much about it. A lot of tattooers back then really didn't sign their art. They didn't really think anything of it, because back then, tattoos were very taboo.

APPRAISER:
And boy, today the popularity of tattoo art has just skyrocketed. And it's such a wonderful thing to see these beautiful vintage examples, all hand painted, hand drawn. And you're dealing with art from the '30s, the '40s, the '50s, the '60s.

GUEST:
Mm hmm.

APPRAISER:
It's really quite a remarkable collection. How much did you pay for it?

GUEST:
It came with a bunch of other equipment. I gave him $500 for it, which at the time was a lot, but I knew that it was something that was special.

APPRAISER:
With the popularity and the interest and the rarity of this material, you have an amazing collection now. This is just some examples of the collection. You have more. A collection like this I would insure for $15,000, $20,000, somewhere in that range.

GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, wow.

APPRAISER:
Yeah, it's a remarkable collection.

GUEST:
Wow, that's great. Oh, wow. Oof. That's exciting.

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Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Simeon Lipman
Collectibles, Sports Memorabilia
Appraised value (2011)
$15,000 Insurance – $20,000 Insurance
Featured In
Minneapolis, Hour 2 (#1617)
Event
Minneapolis, MN (July 09, 2011)
Category
Sports Memorabilia
Period
20th Century
Form
Drawing
Material
Ink , Paper

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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