Antiques Roadshow guest in stitches over value of | TV Shows

Nichols agreed with a laugh, “I wouldn’t disagree with that, it’s a terrible frame. It really doesn’t help the painting.

“Prentice is a marvellous artist. He’s one of these painters who, I feel, when you’ve seen one of his paintings, you’ll always recognise other ones.

“He’s got a very distinctive realist style. He tended to work in two kinds of painting mode, either landscapes or still lives.

“You did well getting the still life, you see, because they tend to be much more coveted by collectors.”

Delving further into Prentice’s technique, he noted that the painter frequently depicted fruits “quite often tumbling out of a basket” which led to some confusion about the proper orientation for displaying the piece.

Upon learning that the guest had acquired the artwork for roughly $50, Nichols revealed: “You’ll be pleased to hear the market’s moved on quite a bit for Levi Wells Prentice and there’s a lot of demand for his work these days and particularly for this kind of still life.

“At auction, these days, it would fetch probably in the region of $20,000 to $30,000.”

The owner couldn’t help but laugh incredulously at the valuation: “That’s ridiculous. I loved it!” Expressing her admiration for the piece, she added: “I mean, it’s such a wonderful, wonderful painting.”

With a hint of jest, Nichols then commented: “It deserves a better frame!”.