From Kyle’s notes for the first show:
When Mr. Combs brought this painting in, I just thought it was a nice Victorian still life. As I did research, I learned that the artist was Charles Ethan Porter (1847-1923), an African-American and a popular still life painter in the late 19th century. I was able to do some additional research on what his works are selling for today and determined that a value range of $20,000 to $30,000 was appropriate.
As Kyle notes, and as the owner himself also thought, this appeared to be just "yet another Victorian still life". You can see Mr. Combs’ surprise and delight when he learns that it is considerably more than that.
You can watch this clip in segment 1 of the first show here.
The postscript to the story sees Mr. Combs send his painting off to Nadeau’s Auction Gallery in CT. They are auctioning it on March 27th. And, in fact, are using the painting as the headline piece for the auction. Well done all!
From Kyle’s notes for the third show:
Mr. Ed Carlmark of Palm Springs brought in a figural cast-iron mechanical bank from the late 19th century. He only knew that it had been handed down in his family. I believe he thought it might be valued for a few hundred dollars. This bank turned out to be one called "The Stump Speaker" that features a black man wearing a top hat and standing next to a carpet bag that opens to accept the money when it is activated. His bank had very good paint and I was able to determine it could sell in the $1,500 to $2,500 range.
As Kyle noted, Mr. Carlmark thought that perhaps his mechanical bank might be worth a few hundred dollars, perhaps even $500. Well his bank turned out to be an original Shepard Hardware Stump Speaker mechanical bank. This bank was patented in 1886 by Charles Shepard and Peter Adams. Though of somewhat questionable taste today, these banks have quite a history and are eminently collectible. By virtue of its perfect mechanical state and still having much of the original paintwork, Mr. Carlmark’s bank it turns out is a quite desirable item.
You can watch this clip in segment 1 of the third show here.
