I’ve kept an old gift from my father for decades – I was speechless when Antiques Roadshow told me it was worth $50,000

A woman was shocked to learn that a gift from her father was worth millions.

She had her antique piece valued by expert Todd Weyman at the Antiques Roadshow.

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The woman presented her 1956 print “Rain in the Mountains” by Gustave Baumann during the hit PBS television series.

Antiques Roadshow shared the clip on YouTube, which shows the woman’s shocked reaction when she learns of the antique’s value.

She first said that her father inherited the item when she was about 10 years old in the early or mid-1970s.

Her father purchased the artwork from Baumann’s widow when she came to Colorado State University to raise money by selling works from his estate.

“And this one always held him back,” the woman remarked.

“It’s not hard to understand why. The colors are beautiful,” Weyman replied.

“It says everything about the West,” the woman added, before revealing that her father bought it for about $125.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Weyman said Baumann was born in Germany and came to the United States with his family as a child. They lived in the Midwest.

The artist trained in Chicago, Illinois, and worked in Indiana before moving to New Mexico around 1918.

He had planned to go to Taos, but moved to Santa Fe when he thought there was “too much going on there,” Weyman said.

Baumann worked in Santa Fe for more than 50 years.

“And his pictures have become synonymous with the Southwest.

“He and the Southwest are so intertwined, and New Mexico and that feeling of the Southwest.”

He continued: “The light through these colors is amazing. And the appreciation for his work has just grown over the last few decades. And he’s super trendy now.”

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Weyman then revealed that Baumann had made the original blocks for the color woodcut used for “Rain in the Mountains” in 1926.

The expert subsequently stated that the woman’s antique item was a fourth edition.

“He printed four issues on this subject over a period of 30 years, beginning in 1926 and concluding with this fourth and final issue in 1956.”

Weyman also announced that Baumann had “recut” and “reshaped” the blocks for the fourth edition.

“This is the smallest edition, but there are all these intense colors.

“And what’s also great about it is the way the rain comes down.

“It shows great talent to be able to do something like that by cutting a block of wood. And then he mixed all the colors himself,” Weyman continued.

Baumann also signed the painting with an ink stamp and the “appreciation” of these monograms has “increased exponentially” over the last few decades.

Value disclosure

The woman estimated the artwork’s value at about $1,250 to $2,000 and was visibly stunned when Weyman estimated the value at $50,000 and noted the artwork’s excellent condition.

“Oh my God, this is so much more than I thought!” she said, gasping.

Weyman called the piece “a phenomenal print” at the time.

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