GUEST: About two or three years ago, I was in the Connecticut area, and I purchased it at an estate sale. I bought this and another painting and I paid about $3,000 for both paintings. I just liked the look of it. And also, I think several years ago, ROADSHOW had a painting on by this artist. So that kind of provoked me to buy it even more. I haven't cleaned it, touched it, or altered it in any way.
APPRAISER: How about Bannister himself? Do you know anything about him?
GUEST: I believe he's an African American artist that was prominent in the Newport, Rhode Island, area in the late 1800s. And that's about all I know.
APPRAISER: Edward Bannister was born in 1828 in Canada.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And so the interesting thing about, thinking about that is, that's less than 40 years after George Washington was elected the first president of the United States.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: And uh, he is in Canada, and that's a good thing for him, because imagine what would have happened to a Black man born in the South. His chances of developing his skills as an artist would be minimal.
GUEST: True.
APPRAISER: As a young boy, his father died. Then his mother died. So he ends up coming to Boston. And between Providence and Boston is where he spent most of his adult life. And this painting was probably done while he was in Rhode Island, ‘cuz most of his work comes from his period in Rhode Island. So this is an oil on canvas. If you noticed, it almost is an impressionistic rendering, because of the way his brushstrokes are. The overall appearance is a little muddy, and I think if you had it cleaned, it would improve its appearance tremendously. In addition to that, if you can see, the, there's a little bit of cracking in there. This is to be expected because I would estimate this painting-- it's, it's, it's not dated. I know you said earlier that it might be dated 1888.
GUEST: I thought it was, but it's hard to see that now.
APPPRAISER: Yeah. It's probably from roughly around that period-- I would say 1885, somewhere in there. So it's an old painting—you would expect for it to have some problems. And then finally, you can kind of see there's these little points where it looks like something got spilled on it or splattered on it.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And that has to be removed. Once a conservator works on it, I think it will greatly improve your chances of selling it at the best possible price.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So as is, I think I would probably price it at around $40,000.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: But if you get it cleaned up, it could probably go for maybe $90,000 or $95,000.
GUEST: Wonderful.
APPRAISER: Retail, in both cases, yeah.
GUEST: Wow. Well, thank you so much.
APPRAWSIER: Absolutely-- it's a great painting.
GUEST: (exhales forcefully)
APPRAISER: And by the way, I would also keep the frame.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: I can't say for certain that it's original, but it looks like it's, fits the painting pretty well. And it's pretty old, too. It needs attention, too.
GUEST: Okay. Well, thank you for your time.
APPRAISER: Of course. Thank you, thank you for bringing it in. It's a wonderful painting.
