Antiques Roadshow: Chess set valued

An Antiques Roadshow guest couldn’t believe her luck after discovering the value of a painting she’d had in her home for more than 40 years.

The owner of the painting appeared on the show’s PBS version in the United States. She decided to have the scruffy artwork, complete with several holes, appraised after years of curiosity.

Inspired by previous episodes where similar pieces fetched astonishing prices, she hoped her family heirloom would yield a similar surprise.

She said: “I was watching Antiques Roadshow and in the feedback booth, a gentleman stated that he found out his Edouard Cortez was a fake and a light bulb went off. I ran downstairs and sure enough, this painting that had been hanging on our wall for 40 years said Edouard Cortez.

“I just found his bio on the internet and he was best known for his Parisian street scenes. He was born in 1882 and died in 1969.”

Initially believing the pinholes scattered across the canvas were flaws, the guest was taken aback when the antiques expert revealed that they were actually intentional.

The artist used this technique to establish vanishing points and create perspective in his paintings. She said: “I thought it was a flaw!”

After a thorough examination, the expert said: “He would take a little pin and he would stick it in the canvas and he would do that to establish the vanishing point, to determine the perspective in the painting and the drawing.

“If you look at the lines, they all converge and come to this point. Now that, of course, is not conclusive but there’s a gallery in New York and there’s another gentleman who will authenticate this works.”

Finally, it was time for the much-anticipated valuation. The expert made the announcement, leaving the guest in tears of joy and disbelief.

He said: “There’s no question that this work is indeed by Edouard Cortez. At auction, an 18 by 22-inch canvas like this could fetch between $30,000 and $50,000.”

This equates to between £23,578.50 and £39,297.50.

Overwhelmed by the news, the guest couldn’t contain her emotions and broke down in tears.

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