11-Year-Old Buys A Painting For $2, And Then The Appraiser Notices A Key Detail

Padlo was just 11 years old when he was on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. And the aspiring collector may have brought along his find in the hope that he’d make a small profit. That way, he could go to another yard sale and pick up more cheap antiques. But his mind was left blown when he heard the true value of what he’d discovered.

Padlo — who comes from New Jersey — may have been one of the youngest antiques buffs in the country at the time. With the support of his dad Frank, he had even traveled to a few Antiques Roadshow events in the past. But until that moment, he had never made it in front of the cameras. And when he did get his time with an appraiser, he knew his collecting habit had paid off.

Padlo particularly enjoyed finding pieces made from sterling silver, glassware, and art. Attending auctions in his hometown, he picked out the best items and then sold them online — just like many other folks. The difference, though, is that this sharp-eyed collector was only in the sixth grade.

But despite his young years, Padlo was confident. And he traveled a couple of hundred miles south with his dad to another Antiques Roadshow event in Richmond, Virginia. This time, he had his bargain find in tow: a charming watercolor painting.

“This piece was found at an auction down in South Jersey,” Padlo tells David Weiss in the clip. “It was so hot there my dad didn’t want to stay to get it, but I wanted to. So we waited an hour or so, and I got it for two bucks.” And clearly, the piece and its young owner stood out among the Antiques Roadshow crowd.

Padlo certainly caught Weiss’ attention. With more than 30 years in the business, the Philadelphia-based auctioneer knows his stuff when it comes to prints, paintings, and Oriental rugs. And when he met the ambitious boy, he seemed intrigued. Perhaps he wondered how an 11-year-old had already picked up such a great find.

“You must be the youngest collector that I’ve seen,” Weiss tells a beaming Padlo as they sit down in front of the cameras. Unphased, the boy simply replies, “I think so.” But it wasn’t just Padlo’s tender age that generated excitement. It was also the watercolor itself, propped up behind the pair in a wooden frame.

The painting depicts a mother and child, both seated on wooden chairs. Looking down, the woman appears to be engaged in some kind of chore, while the smaller figure at her feet gazes up in adoration. There isn’t much to go on — but that didn’t stop Weiss from doing his thing.

“I thought it was a watercolor, but we couldn’t tell because of the UV glass,” Padlo confesses to the expert on the show. Happily, Weiss was able to confirm this. He had also spotted a signature in the bottom right-hand corner of the piece.

According to Weiss, the signature reads “Albert Neuhuys” — the name of a Dutch painter from the 19th century. He’d gone to art school as a teenager and had embarked on a career as a lithographer. After his employer declared bankruptcy, however, Neuhuys began to focus on his art instead.

At first, Neuhuys painted people and historical scenes. Then, in the late 1860s, he moved cities to hone his craft at the Antwerp Academy — helped, perhaps, by a little money from the royal family. There, he switched his focus to domestic scenes instead.

Then Neuhuys’ passion drew him back to the Netherlands, where he joined a community of artists who would become some of the most influential painters of their age. Alongside such talented men as Josef Israëls, Jacob Maris, and Anton Mauve, he was one of the leading lights in what was dubbed the “Hague School” — named after the Dutch city.

As The Hague grew as a city, though, Neuhuys began to look elsewhere for inspiration. And eventually, he found it in the pretty village of Laren, where a traditional way of life still flourished. Along with Mauve, he founded an artist colony in the region, and this functioned as a sort of rural branch of the Hague School.

For decades, the so-called Laren School was key to the Dutch Impressionist movement, and the paintings created by its artists can still be seen hanging on gallery walls across the globe. Clearly, Padlo’s watercolor was a significant find — but just how much was it worth?

Well, unlike many famous painters, Neuhuys achieved commercial success during his lifetime. In fact, his work was so sought after that he often made replicas of his more popular pieces. And it’s not unusual for these to emerge at auction today — although they may cost a pretty penny.

In 2005, for example, Neuhuys’ Mother’s Little Helpers was auctioned at Christie’s in Amsterdam. Painted in oils, it depicts two small girls engaged in chores — very similar to the painting Padlo found. And in the end, it drummed up an astonishing $17,105.

At other times, though, Neuhuys’ work has fetched as little as $100. So even with the name of the artist locked in, Padlo was far from assured of making the big bucks. At least he got to be on TV — and, luckily, Weiss was on hand to tell him more about his painting.

Speaking to Padlo, Weiss compares Neuhuys’ work to that of Israëls and Bernard Pothast, who also specialized in domestic scenes. Then we get to the crux of the matter. Padlo confirms that he paid just $2 for the piece. According to the appraiser, however, it is worth much, much more.

“What do you think it might be worth today?” Weiss asks Padlo in the clip. With his hands clasped anxiously in front of him, the boy replies, “150 bucks.” But his guess is a little off the mark. The appraiser tells him, “I think it’s worth 150. I think it’s more than 150.” Just how much more, though?

“Today, if your Albert Neuhuys watercolor came to an auction,” Weiss continues, “it would probably sell for between $1,000 and $1,500.” In other words, Padlo is set to make a hefty profit should he decide to sell. And given the boy’s startled reaction, that may well be on the cards.

In the clip, Padlo raises his hand to his head, miming the gesture for “mind blown,” in response to Weiss’ healthy estimate. Smiling, the appraiser admits, “That’s a lot of money. Not bad for two bucks.” And if the painting does sell for $1,500, the aspiring collector will have made a staggering 75,000 percent return on his investment.

So now that Padlo has earned himself some decent pocket money, what else does his future hold? In the clip, Weiss says, “I think you’ve got a great career going as an art dealer. You should keep at it.” The boy happily replies, “I think I’m going to be rich.”

“Well, if you keep buying things like this, I think you’ve got a good chance at being rich,” Weiss continues. “You’ve got a head start.” But if Padlo does decide on a career in antiques, he won’t be the first youngster to do so. Take, for example, the British child prodigy Lauren Harries, who became a TV personality at the tender age of ten.

Harries first showed an interest in antiques when she was just five years old and was soon able to pick treasures from trash. In fact, before she even reached middle school, she appeared on British TV to talk about her specialist subject.

Later, at age 13, Harries published her own antiques handbook. But despite her knowledge, she did not manage to make her fortune in the art collecting world. Nowadays, you’re more likely to see her on reality TV than in an auction house. 

Of course, if collecting doesn’t work out, Padlo could have a career on the other side of the easel. Perhaps he could follow in the footsteps of Aelita Andre? She was the star of her own exhibition before most kids are out of diapers.

Or maybe Padlo has more in common with Kareem Waris. While Waris was still only 11, a portrait he made of French president Emmanuel Macron went viral. Some may even argue that his style has a direct connection to the work of impressionists such as Neuhuys.

For the moment, though, there is no indication that Padlo wishes to be anything other than what he is: a talented art collector in the making. And with experts such as Weiss behind him, he could well be on his way to a successful career. In fact, in the years since his purchase, the value of Neuhuys’ paintings has continued to soar.

According to the auction cataloging website LotSearch, there have been almost 100 Neuhuys paintings auctioned in recent years. And on the surface at least, many of these appear similar to the painting discovered by Padlo. Featuring women, children, and domestic scenes, they have similar color palettes and seem to be in comparable condition.

These paintings have been selling for far more than $1,500. In 2006, for example, a Neuhuys expected to go for less than $3,500 actually fetched over $10,000. And back in 2004 — the same year Padlo’s Antiques Roadshow episode aired — the Dutch artist’s Dinner Time changed hands for close to $16,500.

Currently, we don’t know whether Padlo has sold his painting or if he is waiting for the market to improve. But if he plans to continue collecting Neuhuys works, he’s on the right track. If past sales are anything to go by, pieces dating from the final quarter of the 19th century are the most valuable — meaning the pre-teen struck gold.

And, of course, Padlo is not the only person to hit the jackpot at a junk shop or yard sale. At a West Virginia flea market, one bargain-hunter paid $7 for a painting in an ornate frame — only to find out that it was a genuine Renoir. Initially, it was thought to be worth up to $100,000, although a judge later ruled that it had been stolen from a Baltimore museum and had to be returned.

In 1991 an equally clueless would-be collector bought a $5 painting at a California yard sale. It was only later, at the suggestion of a local teacher, that she realized the abstract swirls of color could be the mark of Jackson Pollock.

Sadly, the owner of the painting died before she could sell on her discovery, as she was reportedly holding out for a cool $50 million. But there are some who have reaped the financial rewards of sheer luck over the years. Take, for example, the investors who purchased a house in Long Island — and found something incredible stashed in the garage.

According to reports, the investors had unknowingly snapped up the former home of Arthur Pinajian, an American-Armenian artist. Initially, they paid just $2,500 on top of the property price for the paintings — only to find that they were worth around $30 million.

Clearly, there’s scope for Padlo to make his fortune in the art-collecting game. After all, if amateurs can generate millions on the back of their accidental discoveries, surely someone with talent can expect an even more glittering career? Well, for now, we just have to sit and wait and see what the child prodigy does next.

And one jaw-dropping family heirloom stands out among the treasures of Antiques Roadshow. It looks like the kind of ordinary painting you’d see at your local library, or maybe your dentist’s office. Even the woman who owned the art thought it was just something that looked good on her grandmother’s wall. But when she brought the piece onto the set, she confronted a hidden truth. It made her question everything she knew about her grandmother, her family’s past, and her own future.

Some families may pass down vintage pearls or delicate furniture, but the young woman’s heirloom was that artwork. The print of a Native American tribe leisurely walking down a mountainside had “always hung right above [her grandmother’s] bed.” And for years, she had barely paid any attention to it.

Why did her grandmother attach such sentimental value to what seemed to be a reproduction of an ordinary painting? Even the woman wasn’t sure where the piece came from, or why her grandmother loved it so much, but she was able to come up with a theory — albeit an unusual one.

“Her dad, I’m guessing, would’ve given it to her after she spent the summer at a dude ranch when she was 19,” the owner of the work suggested on Antiques Roadshow. Based on family history, she guessed that her grandma got the print sometime in the 1940s.

The woman wasn’t even sure if the work was indeed a reproduction. She couldn’t have known it then, but the difference in value between a painting and a print can be thousands of dollars — perhaps more. And while she may have assumed the work wasn't an original, a nerve-racking incident planted a seed of doubt in her mind.

“When I got [the print], there was a mosquito underneath the glass,” the woman told Meredith Hilferty, an Antiques Roadshow master appraiser. “So, I took it out to the front yard, and I opened it up.” Face to face with the print for the first time, she couldn’t help but notice something odd about the piece of art.

In order to honor her grandmother’s wishes, the young woman had intended on bringing the print with her to college. But as soon as she brushed away the mosquito, something else caught her eye. “It scared me a little,” she told Hilferty. “I closed it back up immediately.”

With a jolt, the student realized that the print wasn’t traveling with her to college. Instead, it had to go to an Antiques Roadshow appraiser. Yep, she needed to know once and for all whether what she’d seen was authentic or not. In the meantime, she did some research on her own.

“It looked like it might be real,” the woman told Hilferty of the print/painting. And she remembered a key piece of information: her family had actually gotten the artwork appraised before. Twice, in fact. Each time, they had walked away with a decidedly disappointing number.

“In 1998 it was appraised as a print at $200,” the young woman recalled. “In 2004 it was appraised at $250.” All her life, she’d assumed that her grandmother’s favorite work of art was only worth the price of a cheap suit. But after she saw the print — or painting? — up close, she knew she had to do some googling.

It helped that the artist had written the date and his own name on the back of the painting. “1892, H.F. Farny,” it read. And when she researched those details, the owner of the painting was greeted with a pleasant surprise. Farny had received quite a bit of acclaim in the latter half of the 1800s, and his admirers had included Theodore Roosevelt.

“Farny, the nation owes you a great debt,” Roosevelt once said to the painter. “It does not realize it now, but it will someday. You are preserving for future generations phases of American history that are rapidly passing away.” And as she continued her research, the young woman couldn’t help but wonder if she was a part of that “future generation."

The piece had already had sentimental value for the woman, but now she had potentially thousands of reasons to get the painting appraised. She couldn’t get the artwork’s rich history out of her mind, either. Farny had been on a quest for inspiration, and he had found it in the American Midwest.

The French-born artist once said, “The plains, the buttes, the whole country, and its people are fuller of material for the artist than any country in Europe.” And Farny was fascinated by Native Americans — so much so that he followed them in their travels. “He has associations with the Sioux tribe,” the owner of the painting excitedly told Hilferty.

That wasn’t all the woman had discovered about Farny’s passion for Native American life. “They actually ‘adopted’ him,” she said. She pointed out the symbol, a small dot, under Farny’s name. “They gave him a cipher, ‘Long Boots.'” That was the end of her knowledge, but thankfully Hilferty was able to fill in some of the blanks.

First off, Hilferty confirmed the woman’s suspicion that the piece was, in fact, an original painting. “This piece is really interesting,” she began. “It’s a dense group of figures, which is very desirable in [Farny’s] work.” Already, things were looking good, but Hilferty wasn’t done listing the piece’s winning qualities.

“1890 is around when we start seeing some of his very best paintings,” the expert said of Farny. The fact that this artwork was inscribed with the year “1892” meant the young woman had a special piece of history in her hands. The best part of the art, according to Hilferty, was the unique way in which Farny depicted Native American life.

“He represented the Native Americans in a very peaceful, tranquil way,” Hilferty noted. “He didn’t ever really bring conflict into his work as some of the other artists from that time did.” This alone gives the painting a newfound layer of meaning. It was a symbol of peace, not hostility — which was rare for that time period.

History aside, of course, the woman still had her ultimate question: how much was the painting worth? And Hilferty answered, “If we were going to put this in an auction today, I would suggest an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.” The shock on the woman’s face when she heard the staggering estimate? It was totally priceless!

The owner and her family had believed the painting was worth no more than $250. And the revelation that it could in fact earn a small fortune left her speechless. Fighting tears, she asked Hilferty, “So I can’t hang it up?” 

Anyone in such an unusual situation would have had similar concerns. Surely such a valuable piece of art shouldn’t go back to hanging on the wall, right? “So, I’ll keep it away from my dog,” the woman joked. But she was also weighing up a big decision.

With hundreds of thousands of dollars hanging in the balance, the woman had a choice to make: keep the painting in the family as her grandmother intended, or sell it for a potentially life-changing sum of money? Nobody could figure out the right answer but her.

The owner said she needed more time to consider what to do with her precious heirloom, but we’d be surprised if she didn’t at least look into selling it. The Antiques Roadshow team are usually experts at spotting diamonds in the rough, and they certainly didn’t miss the mark this time.