Houston Man Finds Out Parents' Sculpture Is Worth About $500K at Antiques Roadshow Event in Fort Worth

An unsuspecting Houston man found out his parents' Auguste Rodin sculpture was worth somewhere in the range of $400,000 to $500,000 at an Antiques Roadshow event in Fort Worth.James Kenner brought the sculpture, titled "Eternal Spring," to the event on July 23, 2016, and the episode aired Monday night on PBS. He told appraiser Eric Silver that the piece passed hands from his great-aunt, to his grandmother and finally to his father.After giving him some background information on Rodin, Silver tells him he has a feeling the sculpture is an "authentic period one done somewhere between 1880 and 1917 or 1918, during his lifetime or very shortly thereafter," which increases the value of the piece substantially.He says a similar sculpture was auctioned off for $450,000 in June at a London show. Silver says Kenner could pull in anywhere from $400,000 to $500,000 for his piece."It's really remarkable," Silver says. "We actually see a lot of Rodins on the show, and every single one is a fake or reproduction. Same way we see Remington bronzes at every show. They're all reproductions. In the 21 years of the Roadshow, there's been one authentic Remington bronze, and you've probably come in with the only authentic Rodin bronze ever to come in to the show."During the show, Silver told Kenner he would need to get a certificate from the Committee Auguste Rodin in France, verifying the authenticity of the piece. According to Antiques Roadshow, Kenner did just that after he found out the sculpture's potential value."Following careful inspection, [the Committee Auguste Rodin] informed the owner that his bronze is an authentic Auguste Rodin lifetime cast and will be added to Rodin's catalogue raisonné," according to a statement from Antiques Roadshow.Kenner told the Dallas Observer he was "completely blown away" at his discovery."I didn't expect a number like that at all," he said. "I was thinking maybe a few thousand. You can probably see it on television. It was a little bit of disbelief there at that amount."He said he's since given the statue back to his parents, who plan to auction it off."Hopefully it's sold for a lot of money," Kenner told the Observer. "It really depends, from what we understand, on what the bidders want to bid. At the same time, it's just an estimate. We hope for more."  Continue reading...