I held onto piece of art my husband got for $80 for decades – I was in tears when Antiques Roadshow said it’s worth $20k

A MAN was shocked to find out his antique art was worth thousands.

He made the fascinating discovery while speaking to expert appraiser Todd Weyman on Antiques Roadshow .

PBS

PBS

The man presented his Roy Lichtenstein art piece to Weyman at Swann Auction Galeries in New York City . He also appeared as a guest in the Season 21 episode, which debuted in February 2017 and aired again in August 2024.

He revealed that he inherited it from his late husband, Peter, who purchased it sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, per the PBS episode clip .

Peter was working as a landscaper and landscaper designer in Shelter Island, New York , when he came across the antique item.

While designing a gate for one of his clients, he “became friendly with the gentleman,” he invited Peter inside to show him some artwork.

Peter “loved” the Lichtenstein piece and offered the client $80.

“He thought it was a valuable piece of art, and he also liked the iridescent effect,” the guest continued.

“I mean, it’s kind of interesting. I looked up Lichtenstein, and I saw that he did a lot of, like, very large posters type of stuff. But I couldn’t find anything on this particular piece.”

Weyman then revealed that the “unusual” antique was “a screenprint, printed in black, that Lichtenstein made on mirrored colored Rowlux, which is a type of layered plastic with indentations in it.”

He continued, “If you feel the surface of the print, you can feel some texture on it.

“And what that does is, it gives it this optical effect, and the mirror gives it the reflecting. So there’s various layers of color in that plastic.

“And the only part that’s printed on it is the black seascape here. It’s really amazing.

Weyman then said that Lichtenstein made the screenprint in 1966 as an edition print, meaning he created more than one of them.

“Yet when the catalogue raisonné for his prints was being published in the 1980s, they could only find one other example of this image,” the expert appraiser continued, revealing that the guest’s “is the only one I’ve ever seen outside of that.”

Valuable thrifting finds revealed

Here are some of the best thrift store finds:

• Tiffany & Co. earrings that sold for $0.34 and are valued at $430
• American Girl doll that sold for $5.99 and is valued at $300
• Bionicle toy that sold for $14.95 and is valued at $18.101
• Gold record plaque for DJ Quik’s 1992 album Way 2 Fonky that sold for @20 and is valued at $200
• Rothy’s brand Sugared Berry pointed-toe flats that sold for $155 retail and are valued at $250

Per Weyman, the artist had created two other similar screenprints on Rowlux for his gallerist Leo Castelli in New York in 1964 and 1965, “and this smaller one he took on as a project by himself.”

He continued, “And it’s assumed that it was more or less a failure, that he wasn’t able to sell as many as he thought he was going to out of the edition of 70. And perhaps only a few survived.”

Weyman said he suspects “that the fellow on Long Island might have gotten it from the artist himself, who, in 1970, had moved out to Southampton and probably had several of these impressions with him. Because it wasn’t for sale publicly.

He then described the art piece as “a very scarce, colorful, optically fun, wild print on plastic” and revealed that the 1966 Lichtenstein screenprint is worth around $20,000.

“Oh my God! That’s incredible. I had no idea,” the guest said through tears.

“Peter would be overjoyed. He would be absolutely overjoyed,” he added.

OTHER ANTIQUE SURPRISES

Many people have been surprised to learn the value of their items while appearing on Antiques Roadshow.

In 2010, one woman learned that an old mobile was worth between $400,000 and $600,000 at auction , though it could retail for $1 million.

However, in 2021, the mobile’s retail value increased to $2 million.

Another woman discovered that her thrift shop coffee table was worth $1,600 .

She had purchased the antique item for $20 in the 1980s.

PBS

PBS