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1957 & 1964 Broadway Costume Sketches

Value (2019) | $4,000 Auction – $6,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
I bought this at an auction, a charity auction, in the late '80s, early '90s, and this one was also in a charity auction about five years ago.

APPRAISER:
What did you pay for them?

GUEST:
I know I paid $500 for this. I'm not sure about that, but I would guess about $1,500.

APPRAISER:
What drew you to these?

GUEST:
Well, when I was 11, my grandmother took me to the first film showing of "The King and I," and I fell in love with the American musical. And so, I've always been interested in acquiring part of its history, and these are sort of iconic pieces.

APPRAISER:
What we have here next to me is a costume sketch by Irene Sharaff of Chita Rivera, who portrayed Anita.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
Both in the 1957 Broadway debut and the West End debut of the play in London. On your side, we have, obviously, Carol Channing, in probably her most famous role, from the 1964 original production of "Hello, Dolly!" And this one's by Freddy Wittop. These are pretty great productions to have pieces from, because obviously they're both award-winning. This one was done by Irene Sharaff, a very famous costume designer. She was nominated for best costume design on this, but didn't win. And that one, Freddy Wittop, he actually did win the award for best costume design for "Hello, Dolly!" This won two of its six Tony nominations for scenic design and choreography, and "Hello, Dolly!" won ten of their 11 Tony nominations, which actually was a record that held for 37 years. So, this is really one of the most famous musicals, I think, also having Academy Award- winning film made out of it, and this role really was Carol Channing.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
She not only did the original production in '64, she did a 1995 revival, which is extraordinary. All those years later, she was still able to carry that show. And sadly, we obviously lost her in January of 2019.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
The "West Side Story" piece in front of me, we see that Chita Rivera has signed the mat for you. And she signed below this depiction of herself in her two primary costumes from the musical. The "West Side Story" piece is a gouache and ink on board. The Carol Channing is actually framed so that we can't see the edges to tell if that's board or paper. But, it is also gouache. Each of these are signed by the costume designer. Sharaff has signed it and then also listed the name of the production, and listed "America," because these are the costumes that she would have worn during that most famous number. And the Carol Channing is also signed by the costume designer. And it's actually signed in paint. When you brought them up, the first thing I think about with value is, in the marketplace, we generally don't see many Broadway pieces as compared to Hollywood pieces, the film costumes. And they traditionally don't sell as well as the film costume sketches for these very famous roles. But, when you look at these, you have to look at who is portrayed, what's the production, is it the original production, what's the character, how visually desirable are they. And both of these tick every single box you could possibly hope to tick, because they're both really important shows. They're both visually appealing. I think your, your Carol Channing is probably the most visually impactful here. A lot of times, when there are charity auctions, the whole point is actually to overpay for things.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
You're there to support a charity. It's a little bit of a good news, bad news on this, This one, you probably paid closer to what it is worth now. But years ago, when you, when you bought it back then, and you probably overpaid for it just a little bit. Now, it probably has caught up to where you're at, and the auction estimate would probably be $2,000 to $3,000.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
On the Carol Channing, I'm very conservative in this, because I think the fact that she just passed away, I anticipate that the market for her is about to shift, and I would expect there'll be more pieces of hers in the market, and so we'll have more data to go by. Right now, I would conservatively estimate it at $2,000 to $3,000, as well. But I expect that that would do better if it came up, because it's just such a great, striking piece.

GUEST:
That's great. But I really didn't buy them as an investment. I bought them because I like the work.

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Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Laura Woolley
Collectibles
The Collector's Lab
Los Angeles, CA
Appraised value (2019)
$4,000 Auction – $6,000 Auction
Featured In
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Hour 1 (#2401)
Event
Winterthur, DE (June 18, 2019)
Category
Collectibles
Period
1950s , 1960s
Form
Drawing
Material
Gouache , Ink

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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