An unearthed Antiques Roadshow clip has revealed that the moment a woman discovered a chair she thought was worth $2,000, it was actually valued at $50,000.
Melinda Murphy brought several items belonging to her father that were created by or previously owned by artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell.
Murphy explained to appraiser Alasdair Nichol that, as a child model, she worked with Rockwell on several occasions, including appearing as the baby in his famous painting Babysitter. His late father Gene was also her photographer.
They left her several works by the artist, famous for his fascination with small-town American life, and even a signed letter addressed to Gene.
But Murphy was particularly surprised by the value of the Rockwell chair that appears in some of his most famous works.
Melinda Murphy was shocked to discover from appraiser Alasdair Nichol that a chair owned by Norman Rockwell was worth at least $50,000.
The chair belonged to Murphy’s father, Gene, who was Rockwell’s photographer. Gene took the chair after Rockwell planned to throw it.
When Nichol asked her how much she thought the chair was worth, she replied: “I have no idea” before adding “maybe a couple of grand.”
To his surprise, Nichol then reveals that appraisers had estimated its true value at $50,000.
“It’s pretty iconic to look at this painting and think about the incredible paintings he made when he was sitting in this chair,” he said in the 2012 clip that aired as a special on PBS last week.
However, the chair was not the most expensive item Murphy brought to the event.
One of the paintings she showed on the PBS show showed her eating a spoonful of cereal for what could have been a Kellogg’s ad.
“I was supposed to be on the cover of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Box, so Norman did two boxes, me and my brother,” she told Nichol in 2012.
But the company didn’t select Murphy or his brother for the cereal box because they were both “too pretty.”
‘They wanted healthier, American-looking children. So they sent the paintings to Norman and he gave them to my dad,” she said.
The artist wrote a personal note on the painting that read: “Best wishes to Chickie Pelham from Norman Rockwell.”
Nichol told Murphy that the rejected Kellogg painting was worth between $80,000 and $90,000.
The least expensive item Murphy brought to the show was a replica image of her and her brother in a DuMont television advertisement with a letter signed by Rockwell.
Murphy regularly went to Rockwell’s studio and appeared in more than one of the late artist’s works, including a painting worth between $80,000 and $90,000.
Murphy and his brother appeared in a DuMont television advertisement. Rockwell’s former model brought a reproduction of the artwork, which was not worth any money.
The picture itself was worthless, but Nichol told Murphy that the letter signed by Rockwell was worth a few hundred dollars.
Murphy had a variety of insights for the appraiser while speaking with him about the items he brought to the show in 2012.
Rockwell’s old model first appeared in his 1947 painting, The babysitterin which she was the crying baby.
‘I was the baby in the nanny’s box. “My mom told me many years later how bad she felt because they had to stick pins in my feet to make me cry,” Murphy said.
Murphy first appeared in Rockwell’s 1947 painting The Babysitter, where he played the crying baby.
“She thought that was wrong, but I guess they couldn’t find another way to make me cry.”
Rockwell later created Christmas cards with Murphy before she and her brother participated in DuMont’s television commercial.
Murphy and her brother sat for more than 15 hours in the pose from the TV ad with breaks in between, but she still loved the atmosphere.
‘It was wonderful. “I went there so often that I became very familiar with his studio and he had a coke machine in his back room,” she said.
“He was very kind and soft-spoken, but he was very detailed in the way he wanted you to sit.”
