Collectibles

Keith Haring Collection, ca. 1985

Appraisal: Keith Haring Collection, ca. 1985

Transcript

GUEST: I brought in a portion of my Keith Haring Pop Shop collection. Started when I was a kid, and Keith Haring was on Sesame Street, and by the time I was old enough to ask, I asked to go to the Pop Shop in Manhattan. We were from Queens, so it was just a trip over the bridge to Manhattan. And I got to see the store, and, uh, I, I've always just been in love with his work.

APPRAISER: Keith Haring as an artist, I don't even know where to begin. I mean, the man was so prolific in his career. He's one of the most important, what we would say, forefather, founder, godfather of the street, urban art movement, but the crazy thing is, he actually was not from New York. He grew up in rural Pennsylvania, had a quick job in Pittsburgh, working at the arts center there, and then he finally came to New York in 1978, where he studied at the School of Visual Arts. And really he started back in the day just going into the subway stations, and they used to have these blank black, where advertising space was blank, and he used to take out his chalk, draw his iconic characters, and he really did have a cast-- I mean, when you look here on the tank top, that's the "Radiant Baby." It's one of the most iconic characters in Keith Haring's ensemble. Pop Shop stuff today is so hot because Keith Haring's art is just so unobtainable for a lot of people, that this is what they really dive into, want to collect. So that's what, you loved his art. And then you said, "I want to go put it in the Pop Shop," and...

GUEST: And I really liked the accessibility of all the objects. They were commercial objects. You could buy a pin for a dollar. (stammers) That's all I remember from the actual shop.

APPRAISER: (laughs)

GUEST: Everything else I bought at garage sales and, and here and there, but I, I try not to pay a lot for it, 'cause I like that idea of not paying too much, and ha... and taking a piece of art home with you.

APPRAISER: And that tank top back in the day, you would have gone to the Pop Shop, however much it would have been, $15, $20, $25. But that tank top alone is a $200 to $300 tank top today. I mean, the retro t-shirt market is so hot, it's ridiculous.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: People would kill, oh, yeah. I mean, I want to wear that right now. That is an awesome tank top. You transition here to the little vinyl blow-up pillow. It has his iconic dancing characters on it, and you just see that radiating energy with the lines. Today's market, a small vinyl pillow like that is in the $250 to $350 range. I know, your eyes are flooding! We're not even getting to the big stuff yet.

GUEST: Oh, wow-- okay.

APPRAISER: (laughs) Moving down the line here, we have a Keith Haring radio, again, iconic character, the three-eyed monster. In the box, it has some moderate wear, but it presents overall very well. The radio on its own, at auction today, is a $500 to $800 item.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Now the poster, 1983 exhibition at Fun Gallery, and this is a really early exhibition in the terms of his career as a fine art artist. There's some minor creasing and wear around the edges, but overall it presents very well. And so in the world of auction today, the Fun Gallery exhibition poster's in the $800 to $1,200 range.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: So I would definitely throw that in a frame, for sure.

GUEST: I, I think it deserves it.

APPRAISER: And finally, to the book, this is a really cool piece, the "Art in Transit." He had a photographer follow him along and document his journeys through the New York subway system doing these chalk drawings, and the really great part when you look at this, when we flip to the iconic centerfold of him being taken out by the police, you'll notice here we have a signature with an artist's remarque. Learning point of the day for me, I did not know a remarque was actually when an artist does a small little sketch or doodle along with their signature. So here we have the Keith Haring, dated '84, to which is the year the book was published, and we also have the nice crawling baby. This book alone is tied with the poster that, at auction, would be in the $800 to $1,200 range.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Now, there is a caveat to this, because Keith Haring's artwork, as it's so popular, uh, is very hard to authenticate, and actually, the Keith Haring Foundation doesn't authenticate anymore. So do you, any idea of how this, uh, sketch and, uh, artist's remarque was obtained?

GUEST: I, I literally picked it up at a bookstore.

APPRAISER: Okay!

GUEST: And it... I didn't even know the signature was in there until I got home.

APPRAISER: I spoke with our colleagues here today and they said yes, that signature, that drawing looks 100% on as being authentic. Conservatively, at auction for the group we have on the table, you'd be in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: (laughs)

GUEST: Wow, that, that's something else, because I don't think I spent more than $150 on everything.

APPRAISER: Yes, so you got a winner there, buddy. That's awesome.

GUEST: That, that's amazing.