GUEST: It was a gift
from my ex-husband, right
before he left me. He gave
me a birthday present,
and this was it. Best thing he
ever gave me, actually. I know
that it was probably purchased
in Philadelphia, and it
probably cost around $1,800.
I received it in 2005.
APPRAISER: It's actually a color
screen print by Warhol from the
first Campbell's Soup series
that he did in 1968.
GUEST: What?
APPRAISER: Which is a set
of ten different soup cans,
all Campbell's Soup cans.
GUEST: Wow, okay.
APPRAISER: And these are based
on a 1962 painted series that
he had done and first exhibited
at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Just as he was
shifting from his career as an
advertising artist in New York
to more of a fine artist.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And Warhol got on
the map and became a famous
artist through his appropriation
of everyday images.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: In this case,
Campbell's Soup. And he said
that one of the reasons he chose
Campbell's Soup early
on is because, as a kid
growing up in Pittsburgh...
GUEST: (chuckles)
APPRAISER: ...He was fed
Campbell's Soup and ate
Campbell's Soup all the time.
GUEST: Makes sense.
APPRAISER: So he made a, a set
of ten different subjects, ten
different soups, in the first
Campbell's Soup series, number
one, in 1968. These were done
in an edition of 250, each
of the prints, and each of
them are signed in ballpoint
pen and ink and numbered with
a rubber ink stamp.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And you can see
that on the back of this image,
because the mat is nicely cut
out...
GUEST: Somebody
cut it out, right.
APPRAISER: Now, he was very
well known when these were
made, and the reason why he made
them in the late '60s, based
on a painted series from the
early '60s, is that he could
make multiple images of them,
and, using screen print, run off
a lot, and ten times 250, you
have 2,500 prints to be
sold from this series. So...
GUEST: Not bad, yeah.
APPRAISER: Cashing in on his
growing popularity. I found this
one interesting, too, because
up here, on the accent
above the "E" on "consommé,"
you can see the pattern of
the white screen. That's
actually white ink on
that, and you can see...
GUEST: Oh, my God,
oh, yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: ...how it's
crisscrossing with the red.
GUEST: Wow, cool.
APPRAISER: These were printed
in New York and published
through Warhol's publishing
outfit called Factory Additions.
GUEST: Mmm.
APPRAISER: Even though he was
well known at the time, a lot
of people viewed these as,
as... prints and sort of common
images, not of great value.
GUEST: What did he sell
them for originally?
APPRAISER: Originally, a
couple of hundred dollars
GUEST: A couple hundred
of dollars? Yeah, wow.
APPRAISER: Or the whole set for
maybe $1,000? A lot were put
on the wall, and from the late
'60s on to today, have lost
their color, have been damaged,
so... The surface of a screen
print is very susceptible
to scratching...
GUEST: Gotcha.
APPRAISER: ...and bends
in the paper and breaks.
Yours is in great shape.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Yes, on a
scale of one to ten...
GUEST: Good.
APPRAISER: Ten being the best...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: You're about
eight-and-a-half, maybe
nine with this one.
GUEST: Well, and
it's been on a wall.
APPRAISER: But you've
kept it, you've kept
it out of the sunlight.
GUEST: It was on the
right wall-- right,
yeah, I did, I did.
APPRAISER: So what would
you guess? What would
you say is a, is a value?
GUEST: (sighs): I am, I
am clueless, because, I
mean-- and part of it is
what you were explaining,
like, there were original
paintings, and then there's this
series of prints and that series
of prints. So, I don't
know where this fits
in. I'm really clueless.
APPRAISER: I'd never heard
of divorce gifts, either. Is
that... That's a new thing for
me.
GUEST: It was a birthday
gift right before the,
right before he left.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: I think, maybe, we
call it a guilt gift or
something, I don't know.
APPRAISER: Guilt gift, I
like that one-- go with that.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: In this condition,
great shape, I would put a
replacement value of $50,000.
GUEST: What? Come on.
That's crazy. My goodness,
I don't... I'm speechless.
(shudders): I don't
know what to say.
APPRAISER: The more common
the soup-- take tomato soup?
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: That's a $75,000...
GUEST: Isn't it interesting?
APPRAISER: $80,000 print,
because it's tomato soup.
GUEST: That's the
iconic one, right.
APPRAISER: That's
the iconic soup.