BBC Antiques Roadshow guest refuses to sell despite receiving value 20x HIGHER than purchase price: ‘Won’t be parting’
Antiques Roadshow expert Frances Christie was able to share some exciting news to a guest in an an episode that featured an early work by the late Scottish painter, Jack Vettriano, who died earlier this month at the age of 73.
The classic instalment originally aired last year but is being repeated on Sunday, and sees the painter’s owner refusing to sell the artwork despite it being valued 20 times higher than the price her parents originally paid for it.
Examining the painting, Christie explained: “Now, you’ve brought a really distinctive early work by one of Scotland’s most well-known artists, Jack Vettriano.
“But it’s not signed Vettriano, it’s signed at the bottom right, you can see he’s signed it Hoggan, which was his real name – his birth name before he switched to his mother’s name, Vettriano. How did you get it?”
The guest replied: “I inherited it from my parents, it’s been in the family since the mid-80s, and they’ve passed away now, so it’s come to us.”
“When Jack Vettriano was painting as Jack Hoggan, he really wasn’t very well-known at all,” the art specialist noted.
She continued: “He had quite an unconventional route to being an artist.
“He only started painting in his early 20s because he got given a set of watercolours, I think for his 21st birthday.
Detailing the painting itself, she added: “What he would do is paint scenes by very famous artists and to me, I think they’re oyster catchers, they’re in shallow water.
“But to me this feels like a scene from a much earlier Scottish artist, William McTaggart.
“What Vettriano would do is look at these great pictures and essentially copy their strokes, that’s how he learnt,.
“So, it’s quite an important thing because it really shows how he learnt his craft – he literally taught himself.”
Emphasising why the particular painting was significant, Christie concluded: “So for me, what’s interesting about it is it’s the story of his development.
“And today Vettriano probably is one of Scotland’s most famous living artists. Do you have any idea what [your parents] paid for it?”
“They didn’t pay a lot… I’m sure it was under £100,” the owner of the painting answered.
Looking delighted for her, Christie shared: “That’s a pretty good spot by them because I think if this was to come to auction today as an early painting by one of Scotland’s most well-known artists, I think we can put it in the region of £1,500 to £2,000.”
Despite the figure being 20 times the amount her parents had paid for the painting, the guest seemed surprisingly nonchalant.
“Oh right, ok,” she responded before admitting: “I wouldn’t part with it though – I love it. Thank you.”