Although meeting Wes Cowan and chatting with him was a blast, the ultimate purpose of the Trash or Treasure events were to get the full Antiques-Roadshow-treatment for the things we didn’t know anything about.   Finding those items turned out to be the most difficult part for us:  while D and I aren’t the most focused of collectors, there’s very little in our house that we’re missing information on.   A few pieces here and there, but if it can be researched we’ve already done the footwork.   We were both surprised and satisfied that Cowan and his peers access the same resources as the rest of us, so it meant we were down to just the ’stumpers’ when it came to the appraisal fair.

We actually had two occasions for Cowan and Farnand to view our mystery items.   First was Friday night, at the VIP dinner.  Fine foods were catered by the museum cafe’s resident chef, local media hob-nobbed, and Cowan gave a short speech before reviewing the items on the front table.

Like last year, there were a lot of nice items, but none of the “$10,000-surprise” variety.  Cowan was, as every time we heard him speak, both charming and unhesitatingly honest.   One of the first items he picked was a European painting that the owner believed was at least a century old.   They learned, however, that while the frame had the darker patina of older wood, the painting’s stretcher was quite new, maybe a few decades old, and the painting itself was most likely a souvenir reproduction of an Italian master.   Another person brought a small reproduction of Whistler’s Mother, and was pleased to find out they paid the right price for it:  three dollars.    19th century books had quality issues and were of minimal value.  A — honestly quite beautiful — carved wood Italian table suffered from being stripped and repaired without a conservator’s touch.

The next day, we spoke briefly with Sue Petry, Public Information Manager for the Plains Art Museum and the coordinator behind the Trash or Treasure event, and she said she had been quite worried over the poor valuations that came out of the V.I.P. Event, concerned that the people who brought their antiques would be disappointed or offended at being told their stuff was not worth much.  Petry was reassured Saturday morning when the woman with the not-so-antique Italian painting was back with something else to glean Cowan’s opinion about.  Much of the entertainment of the V.I.P. appraisal night was Cowan’s friendly handling of the lack of value in some of the items.   He kept the event light and cheerful, without making the owner feel small for bringing in something of minimal value.   An antique book — missing quite a few pages — was worth more than a few jokes from Cowan and kept the audience laughing, including the book’s owner who shared a table with D and myself.  Everyone who brought items in seemed to have more than enjoyed themselves, regardless of the price tag put on their collectible.

As I said, Deanna and I had some difficulty coming up with what to bring to the V.I.P. appraisal fair.  D brought a small 19th century piece of advertising ephemera that Cowan couldn’t add much to what she already knew about it.   I brought in a selection from my 1930s A.O.U.W films, which Cowan said might have a marginal financial worth, but the Library of Congress would probably be quite happy to borrow from me for archival purposes.  While we both enjoyed ourselves at the event, we wanted to bring things to the general-public appraisal fair that would be less of a stumper for Cowan.

Wes Cowan seemed to have more to say about the paintings and artwork at the V.I.P. event, so D and I picked several pieces of art to bring.   Cowan also had commented that folk art was one of his recent favorites, so that also made us adjust our selections.   We picked a silk-and-watercolor piece of Japanese art, a relatively-rare paint-by-number of a bear walking along a mountain road, and the woolie D brought to last years’ Trash or Treasure.

Sue Petrie of the Plains Art Museum also said she was surprised and pleased with the turnout for the Saturday public appraisal fair.    Last year, we arrived a little late and had no trouble getting in line, but this year we had a nearly two-hour wait to get our funky art underneath Cowan’s nose.   We occupied our time with the charity rummage sale, and chit-chatting in the museum cafe.   When our number came up, however, we were ready to take what Cowan had to say about our art.

The first thing he said was, “this is where you’re supposed to say, ‘are you tired of seeing us?’” to myself and D, turning on that wit that we’d seen the previous days.   We knew we weren’t going to hear huge prices from Cowan, but were hoping for more information than anything.     He started with the Japanese silk, and said it was not as finely done as classical Japanese silk-work, but was probably a post-WWII souvenir, and definitely worth around the seventy-five cents we paid for it, give or take a dollar.    When he came to the paint-by-number, he was impressed that we had found the manufacturer, model number, and title: “you know more about this stuff than I do,” was Cowan’s response, which, of course, D is going to get printed on a t-shirt for next time she goes rummaging.

When he got to the woolie we were a little surprised, but it resolved some thoughts we had from the year before.   The Ivey-Selkirk appraiser said the woolie probably dated from the 1930s to 1950s, which the wood stretcher would indicate, but I had thought the materials looked newer and D also thought the style wasn’t as detailed or well-done as other period woolies.  Cowan pointed out that the color and style of the burlap back was very 1960s or 1970s, and his opinion was that the art was done by an amateur as a basic art project using whatever materials they had at hand.  While it moved it to the edge of being called a “woolie,” it is still a piece of amateur folk art, and his price wasn’t too far off of the Ivey-Selkirk appraisal from the year before.

All-in-all, the Plains Art Museum did an excellent job of hosting an enjoyable series of presentations, speeches, dinners, and events, bringing a little chunk of Antiques-Roadshow-style fun or our northern part of the nation.  Everyone we met had fun seeing what an actual History Detective had to say about their show-and-tell selections.  We’re already looking forward to next year!

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