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John McGhie Oil Painting, ca. 1915

Value (2013) | $6,000 Auction – $10,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
My mother, who was a collector of paintings and art, came across it about 40 years ago traveling around southern Ontario, the rural towns of Ontario, and she fell in love with it and purchased it.

APPRAISER:
Well, I was certainly interested to see it because, as you can probably tell from my accent, I'm from Scotland, and indeed this painting is also originated from Scotland and it's by an artist called John McGhie, who was born in Glasgow. And this is a very typical work by him. In fact, he worked in Pittenweem, which is an area of the kingdom of Fife and did many, many of these paintings of children on the shoreline and there are always boats in the background. So it would date probably from the early part of the century, around about 1910, 1920. He'd studied at Glasgow School of Art-- famous art school-- and then gone on to Paris. And this is a nice example of Scottish Impressionism. It's the original frame. I would imagine that this painting should easily fetch at auction, $3,000 to $5,000 and possibly even more than that.

GUEST:
(chuckles) I'm really surprised. Very good.

APPRAISER:
Excellent.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Alasdair Nichol
Paintings & Drawings
Freeman's Auctioneers
Philadelphia, PA
Update (2013)
$6,000 Auction – $10,000 Auction
Appraised value (1999)
$3,000 Auction – $5,000 Auction
Featured In
Toronto, Hour 2 (#0412)
Vintage Toronto (#1828)
Event
Toronto, ON (August 07, 1999)
Category
Paintings & Drawings
Period
20th Century
Form
Painting
Material
Oil

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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