Original Artwork of Norman Rockwell?

Original Artwork of Norman Rockwell
As an illustrator, Norman Rockwell almost never created works as objects of fine art. His drawings and paintings were created for one of the many magazines or advertising accounts he illustrated for, and as such, had little or no value at the time. In his early career, works were often just given away. Ad agencies may or may not have kept the work. An art director at an agency may have laid claim to the work or passed it on to someone in his staff. No one then could have imagined the demand for his artwork nor foreseen the price it would command today.

Collectors now pay well over $800,000 for the privilege of owning an original oil painting. A post World War II finished oil painting used as a Saturday Evening Postcover could easily be worth $1 million  or more. Oil studies have sold for over $600,000 and charcoal and pencil drawings for near $400,000.

'Barefoot Boy'

“The second call just came out of the blue,” says Ryan. “The grandson of the president of the calendar printing company called us and said, ‘Hey, we have this painting, we think it’s real.’” Ryan says he receives calls like this all the time from people, but it usually turns out to be an extremely old print. This time, it really was a Rockwell original. “You could see the brush strokes and everything,” he says. Coca-Cola won’t disclose how much it bought the paintings back for, but a recent Antiques Roadshow segment on the Coke Rockwells appraised the works at $400,000 to $600,000 each, a number that Ryan says is “pretty close” to the real price. “Let’s just say the family sent their kids through college with that painting,” he said.