Carved & Painted Folk Art Plaques, ca. 1920
![](https://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/antiques-roadshow/__sized__/Images/Fargo_20190601_01/201904T22/201904T22_3_001-crop-c0-5__0-5-676x380.jpg)
GUEST:
These are wood carvings that my great-uncle Sam carved back, well, 100 years ago or more. Sam was one of the typical bachelor farmers in North Dakota. He was just a wonderful guy.
APPRAISER:
These carvings are just charming. And the skill set to accomplish these works is actually quite high. So here he is, he's a farmer. You have these long winters here in Fargo.
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And he's carving, he's making these objects, he's painting them. And in terms of the folk art spectrum, they are wonderful. The one that is right over there, is that the family homestead?
GUEST:
Yep, that's their house, the farm.
APPRAISER:
There's different levels of valuation for pieces like these.
GUEST:
Yep.
APPRAISER:
Because they're family pieces, and they're not going to be sold, we tend to put insurance values on these. But if they were lost, you really can't replace them.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So for today's purposes, I'm going to actually put retail values on them.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I think the one of the family homestead would probably be in the $400 to $500 range. The small one over here would probably be $200 to $300. But these two plaques are pretty major. And I feel that these would quite easily achieve in the area of $2,000 each in the folk art marketplace.
GUEST:
(exhales) Yeah, yeah. (chuckles) (stammering)
APPRAISER:
Boy, he really knew what he was doing.
GUEST:
Yeah, they're wonderful.
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