Antiques Roadshow guest laughs at value of art that's spent decades the wrong way around

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WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow guest had been hanging a painting worth a small fortune, the wrong way round for decades. 

It was expert Alasdair Nichols’ job to appraise a painting on the PBS series that had caused some confusion among the owners’ friends many years ago. 

Having had the painting for a whopping 45 years, he asked if she’s always had it hanging vertically at home. 

She explained: “Well I had it the other way and everybody said: ‘Grace, you’re wrong.’ 

“And friends came to the house and did it this way, wired it that way and it’s been hanging that way for over 40 years.”

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Antiques Roadshow guest laughs at value of art that's spent decades the wrong way around. (Image: PBS)

“Some friends”, Nichols joshed with the guest stating how they thought they were being “smart”. 

The expert then took it upon himself to put the painting’s correct, placing it horizontally on the easel. 

Its owner questioned: “Yeah but then the basket isn’t sitting on the table”, which is when he pointed out the “vague” signature in the bottom right corner which indicates what way the painting should be presented. 

He stated that it was the work of artist Levi Wells Prentice who was born in around 1850 in the Adirondacks. 

When asked where she got it from, the owner replied: “On Third Avenue, they had art shops and they were very reasonable and it had a broken frame so I put this ‘quote’ terrible frame on it.”

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An Antiques Roadshow guest spent more than 40 years hanging an expensive painting vertically rather than horizontally. (Image: PBS)

Nicholas chuckled: “I wouldn’t disagree with that, it’s a terrible frame. It really doesn’t help the painting. 

“Prentice is a marvellous artist. He’s one of these painters who, I feel, when you’ve seen one of his paintings, you’ll always recognise other ones. 

“He’s got a very distinctive realist style. He tended to work in two kinds of painting mode, either landscapes or still lives. 

“You did well getting the still life, you see, because they tend to be much more coveted by collectors.”

He elaborated that Prentice usually painted fruits “quite often tumbling out of a basket” before adding: “Hence the confusion about which way it should be hanging.”

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An Antiques Roadshow expert valued a Levi Wells Prentice painting for at least $20,000. (Image: PBS)

After informing him that she only paid around $50 for the artwork, Nichols summarised: “You’ll be pleased to hear the market’s moved on quite a bit for Levi Wells Prentice and there’s a lot of demand for his work these days and particularly for this kind of still life. 

“At auction, these days, it would fetch probably in the region of $20,000 to $30,000.” 

The guest instinctively laughed: “That’s ridiculous. I loved it! 

“I mean, it’s such a wonderful, wonderful painting.”

Nichols then teased: “It deserves a better frame!” 

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.