- An Antiques Roadshow guest brought an Oscar Wilde poem for evaluation
- The poem was signed by Christian Gauss, whom Wilde knew.
- The owner of the poem thought it was worth around $5,000 before the big reveal.
An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned after discovering the appraised value of a gift he received for grooming show dogs in college.
The guest had brought a sonnet written and signed by the legendary 19th century author, poet, and playwright Oscar Wilde that had been given to him by a woman he worked for when he was a student at university.
He told Martin Gammon, an appraiser, that while he was being given the antique, the woman told him that it had been the property of her father-in-law, Christian Gauss, to whom Wilde had signed the poem.
“She came up to me one day and said, ‘I know you’re an English major, would you like this,’ and she handed it to me,” he said on the show.
The guest had brought a sonnet written and signed by the legendary 19th century author Oscar Wilde that had been given to him by a woman he worked for when he was a student at university.
He told Martin Gammon, an appraiser, that while he was being given the antique, the woman told him that it had been the property of her father-in-law, Christian Gauss, to whom Wilde had signed the poem.
Although the manuscript is titled ‘Ideal Love: A Sonnet’, the auctioneer told viewers that it was Wilde’s most popular poem, ‘The New Remorse’, written by him in 1891 for his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. .
Gammon then told viewers that Gauss was a professor and dean of a college in Princeton.
In 1899, the renowned professor was present at the Dreyfus trial and was writing articles about it when he met Wilde.
Although the manuscript is titled “Ideal Love: A Sonnet,” the auctioneer told viewers that it was Wilde’s most popular poem, “The New Remorse,” written by him in 1891 for his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. .
Gammon, who called the gift a “fascinating piece of history,” asked the guest what he thought the poem was worth, to which the astonished guest replied “between $5,000 and $6,000.”
But then, to his surprise, Gammon revealed that the manuscript was actually worth between $10,000 and $15,000.
Gammon revealed that the manuscript was actually worth between $10,000 and $15,000.
Wilde was an Irish poet, playwright, and spokesman for the aesthetic movement of the late 19th century in England, which advocated art for art’s sake.
The Dreyfus trial was a political scandal that rocked France between 1894 and 1906. French army captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish man of Alsatian descent, had been accused of selling secret documents to the German army in late 1894.
The guest, who was absolutely stunned to learn the value of the historic gift, responded: ‘Great, great.’
The Dreyfus trial was a political scandal that shook France between 1894 and 1906.
French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew of Alsatian descent, had been accused of selling secret documents to the German army in late 1894.
During the closed trial, Dreyfus was found guilty of treason and sentenced to life in prison.
In addition to being a poet and playwright, Wilde was a spokesman for the aesthetic movement of the late 19th century in England, which defended art for art’s sake.
At the end of his life, he was subjected to numerous civil and criminal lawsuits related to homosexuality, which led to his imprisonment.
