• Connect with us
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Our Sponsors

Discovering America’s Hidden Treasures ™
On Tour
Watch
Special Features
Appraisals Archive 
Appraisers 
 Shop
    Quick links
  • Complete Ticket Rules
  • How the Event Works
  • 2020 Tour FAQ
  • Williamsburg, VA — Canceled
  • Nashville, TN — Canceled
  • Boston, MA — Canceled
  • Estes Park, CO — Canceled
  • Santa Fe, NM — Canceled
Latest: 2020 Tour Update

Latest: 2020 Tour Update

Tour FAQs

Tour FAQs

Things We Commonly See at ROADSHOW

Things We Commonly See at ROADSHOW

    Quick links
  • Watch Episodes Online
  • TV Schedule
  • Best Moments of Season 24
  • Best Moments of Season 23
  • Best Moments of Season 22
  • Cities from Past Seasons
  • About Executive Producer Marsha Bemko
  • Roadshow's Editorial Policy
Watch | Vintage Las Vegas 2021, Hour 1

Watch | Vintage Las Vegas 2021, Hour 1

Watch | Meadow Brook Hall, Hour 3

Watch | Meadow Brook Hall, Hour 3

Watch | Vintage Louisville 2021, Hour 2

Watch | Vintage Louisville 2021, Hour 2

    Quick links
  • Find Features by City
  • Video "RoadShorts"
  • Roadshow Topics — Endangered Species
  • Roadshow Topics — Sports Appraisals
  • Roadshow Topics — Best Moments
  • Roadshow Topics — Staff Picks
  • For Teachers
  • Vintage Minute
  • AR "Extras" Newsletter Sign-up
Article | "Only Angels Have Wings": A Model Performance

Article | "Only Angels Have Wings": A Model Performance

Appraisal Update | Cut Glass Centerpiece Base, ca. 1885

Appraisal Update | Cut Glass Centerpiece Base, ca. 1885

Extraordinary Finds | Hear More from Lowry About the Auction!

Extraordinary Finds | Hear More from Lowry About the Auction!

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

1951 Zao Wou-Ki "Flora & Fauna" Etching

Value (2017) | $10,000 Auction – $15,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
This was my dad's. I used to own an antique shop, and my father would bring me things to sell, as did many of my friends and family members. But I would never try to sell something until I knew exactly what it was, because I wanted to make sure I got the right price. My father found it in either like 1999 or 2000. And I never tried to sell it because I never had the time to really look at it or have it appraised by somebody who knew more than I did. So that's why we came.

APPRAISER:
And you said your dad gave it to you. Where did you dad get it?

GUEST:
Well, my dad was in construction, and he did a lot of work at Yale University, and he found it in the dumpster at Yale University. And it had some glass on it. He took the glass, and it was amazing that it wasn't cut. So he brought it to me.

APPRAISER:
So he just found it.

GUEST:
He found it in a dumpster.

APPRAISER:
Get out of here, really?

GUEST:
Yeah, yes, found it in a dumpster.

APPRAISER:
You have an etching by a Chinese-born artist whose name is Zao Wou-Ki. And his signature in pencil is right down here in the lower right. Now, he was born in China, but in the 1940s, he and his wife moved to Paris. He was trained in China, but it was in Paris that he really started to make his mark in the late 1940s and early 1950s. And early on, he was influenced by European Modernists like Paul Klee, and even going back as far as Picasso. And this work really shows the influence of somebody like Paul Klee, who was a Swiss Modernist, decades before him. Now this is an etching called "Flora and Fauna" from early on in Zao's career. It was made in 1951, and it was produced and published in Paris in an edition of 200. So he signed it in pencil, and then there it got edition out of 200. In 1957 he took a respite from Paris and came to the United States. He had a brother in New Jersey. And pop art was just exploding on the scene at the time, and he wanted to get into that. Instead, he got very influenced by the mid-century Abstract Expressionist artists in New York, like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. He returns to Paris, and rather than start again in this vein, he began making very abstract paintings… and lithographs, and etchings. He was both a painter and an etcher. His early work from the late '40s, early 1950s, his early career work, like this, extremely hard to find.

GUEST:
Oh.

APPRAISER:
He wasn't as popular as he got in the '60s and '70s with his abstract work. Appropriately titled with the flora and fauna you can see the landscape with the trees, mountains here, all the little doodles he did around the border of the print.

GUEST:
Lot of little critters.

APPRAISER:
Yeah. He's become a very popular artist. By the '70s, into the '80s, he was hotly collected. Nowadays, he's one of the top Chinese-born artists-- even though he worked in Europe for most of his career-- Chinese national. Have you any idea what it might be worth?

GUEST:
No, none.

APPRAISER:
You didn't even know who it was by, so...

GUEST:
No, I didn't know anything about it, I'm not going to lie. (laughing)

APPRAISER:
So if this came up at auction, I would put an estimate on it of between $10,000 and $15,000.

GUEST:
That's wonderful. That is so cool.

APPRAISER:
What a find for your dad in the dumpster.

GUEST:
My dad's here with me today and he's... my mother's going to be so happy.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Todd Weyman
Prints & Posters
Swann Auction Galleries
New York, NY
Appraised value (2017)
$10,000 Auction – $15,000 Auction
Featured In
Harrisburg, Hour 2 (#2202)
Event
Harrisburg, PA (June 03, 2017)
Category
Prints & Posters
Period
1950s
Form
Etching
Material
No Materials Defined

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.

More from PBS

The Black Church

Trace the 400-year-old story of the Black church in America.

9to5: The Story of a Movement

Go inside the movement for women's workplace equality in the 1970's.

Finding Your Roots

Discover the surprising ancestral stories of a variety of public figures.

"I know there's a lot of envious people hearing that story..." Antiques Roadshow on Facebook

What’s inside the case?

@RoadshowPBS on Instagram

William Austin Burt patented the U.S.'s first "typographer” on July 23 in 1829. 110 year later came this "The Gold Royal" typewriter… @RoadshowPBS

We're soaking up the story behind this @LeslieKeno appraisal! #antiquesroadshow @RoadshowPBS

  • Connect with us
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • ABOUT ROADSHOW
  • Schedule
  • Contact Us
  • Credits
  • Press
  • For Teachers
  • Telephone Scam Warning
  • Roadshow Imitators Warning
  • Doing Business with Appraisers
  • Our Sponsors
  • Our Funders
  • Corporate Sponsorship

Funding for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is provided by Ancestry and Consumer Cellular. Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.

Produced By

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is a trademark of the BBC and is produced for PBS by GBH under license from BBC, Worldwide. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. ©1997 – 2021 WGBH Educational Foundation.

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Policy
  • Copyright
Subscribe Hide  ×

A weekly collection of previews, videos, articles, interviews, and more!