PBS’sAntiques Roadshowis a idiot box show where citizenry have their furniture , art , and other collectibles appraised by a panel of experts to the delight of the at - dwelling audience . The experts count over each man and give their good estimate on its source and value . Since it ’s just for entertainment , theappraisalsare considered “ verbal approximations of economic value ” and not necessarily entirely accurate . Past appraisals will even sometimes get update on the show ’s site with more exact values , but for the most part , the panel more often than not land somewhere in the approximate range of the actual worth of the item . That is , until they accidentally appraised a high schooler ’s art task for $ 50,000 .
AsHyperallergicreports , last yr , PBS aired an episode ofAntiques Roadshowwhere an Oregon man named Alvin Barr brought in a " grotesque brass jug . " The jugful had six different contorted faces on it along with a variety of scales and patterns . Barr find it covered in feathering and clay at an estate cut-rate sale in a b in Eugene , Oregon . He bought it for a mere $ 300 .
Expert appraiser Stephen L. Fletcher examined the piece and reckon that it was from either the later 19th 100 or early twentieth 100 . He assigned the jugful a hefty note value of $ 50,000 . clearly , Barr was floored . It did n’t come to lighter until later on that the jug had actually been made in the 1970s by an Oregon high school day student cite Betsy Soule .
Soule was alert to her artwork ’s television premiere by a friend who saw the sequence in January . “ You ’ve got to get on the cyberspace and appear upAntiques Roadshow;that uncanny pot you made is on there , ” the friend said , accordingtoThe Bulletin .
The creative person contacted the show and let them know about their mistake . She accompanied the chronicle with a picture of herself as a student surrounded by the various jugs she make . Roadshowadmitted their error and tot up the correctionto their website . They also include a tidbit from Fletcher , who explained that he started to feel doubts after his initial estimation :
you may watch the whole episode on thePBS website .
[ h / tHyperallergic ]
