Top Find: Carrie Bethel Basket, ca. 1958 | ANTIQUES ROADSHOW | PBS

[@SAOS451316]

It looks like a fine basket but when you see the close-up footage you see it is in fact a spectacular basket! It's truly a masterpiece and it's a travesty that it wasn't so highly valued when Carrie Bethel was alive.

[@TheSnuffda]

I agree.. amazing.

[@Valkonnen]

It's a common story, unfortunately . Vincent Van Gogh never sold even a single painting in his lifetime and died a pauper.

[@SAOS451316]

@@Valkonnen He was ahead of his time too which didn't help. I'm sure both van Gogh and Bethel would be pleased that people care about their work now.

[@oltedders]

$180 in 1960 was nothing to sneeze at. That was $50 more than the mortgage payment on our newly built 4 bedroom 2.5 bath, brick house w/full finished basement and heated 2 car garage, C1962.

[@SAOS451316]

@@oltedders That's very true, but remember that at the time mortgage payments were a much smaller percentage of one's income. And the great length of time spent to make these baskets is also something to consider. Unfortunately people wouldn't pay a year's wage for a basket unless they obscenely rich.

[@derickyyy]

This is one of my favorite items ever on ARS. Such a beautiful story, and a gorgeous basket!

[@shirleyefting5194]

Would you consider purchasing it?

[@katherineohara6943]

I love Antiques Roadshow! How interesting! What a special basket! I had no idea how intricate basket weaving could be!

[@georginashanti4605]

Wow! I learnt so much from this. Imagine the patience and workmanship (should be workwomanship) that went into this basket! Love and culture interwoven. Just fascinating.

[@SuperMan-xy8ui]

Fascinating! It was a very nice appraisal.

[@pdruiz2005]

At 1:47. From the pic, she was clearly Native American. A Native American woman living out in the boonies in Montana/Wyoming in the 1950s and 1960s--she was going to be discriminated against. Badly. And that's precisely what happened here. She got no recognition and clearly no money. But her incredible baskets are expensive collection items for connoisseurs only 40 to 50 years later. I wouldn't be surprised to find out her children and grandchildren have never seen any of that money.

[@choctawcat5676]

It’s absolutely gorgeous!! It stands alone !!

[@Goomlahexpress]

That is gorgeous. Hope it gets redone.

[@shirleyefting5194]

OMG! It’s a beautiful piece. I’m so happy for your new found wealth. ❤

[@pamelaharrison3196]

Oh that is such an absolutely beautiful basket the Native Americans were so very talented when it comes to weaving baskets

[@anndownsouth5070]

This is not even anywhere near my culture, but the back story has gotten me all emotional.

[@nathanielalgernon975]

OMG, she put plants in it. Just looking at it there is no way I would put plants in it, I would treat it like a work of art that it looks like.

[@Yvolve]

Treasure hunters rule of thumb: If a mundane looking object is carefully stored in a container for an expensive item, which isn't in the box, it is often not a mundane item. The original owner went out of her way to store a woven basket, so it either had personal or monetary value.

[@mathewturner7528]

That is a nice basket I've seen a lot of basket worked in Yosemite . I could see where she got these materials to make this basket have a nice day

[@sutats]

*A beautiful basket.*

[@DeathAngelHRA]

It looks like something I'd see for $10 at a thrift store. Now I need to start watching for baskets when I go hunting.

[@jadelee6555]

I always find it off putting when I hear how much these pieces sell at auction when the person making them made literally next to nothing while they were alive.

[@emmaleebuzzard1023]

That has happened to a lot of artists throughout history.

[@johnnyd386]

Amazing story, but also sad since Miss Bethel isn’t around to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

[@rondaswager7668]

This is sad 😞 Carrie Bethel is my great great great auntie. This is so disrespectful and most of the people received her baskets. Are you cheating her taking advantage of her. The basket should go back to her family or the Mono Lake, Kutzadika’a Tribe. Our people have been taken advantage of for years. My grandma and my great aunt are still alive, and no many stories of their auntie.

[@Dawghome]

Yeh man, that's some top notch work and it's better than Picasso, I'm joking honestly, not sure I'd refurb it though, that's a tough one!

[@misaeire]

It's a shame the Indian and 1st nations people's, art of all kinds is not being passed on or thought to most of the nxt generation they should be paid to give lessons and it should be documented ,their art works should be getting millions at auction

[@PM-rm7nr]

Did Carrie do her basket weaving under water?

[@elizabethharttley4073]

Quite the beauty. Note the inside pattern is perfect too. Beware the imitations found nowadays

[@elizabethhurtado2829]

❤

[@junebennett978]

Thank You another Great Episode!! God the Father Jehovah and Jesus Christ Bless You all!!

[@jamespanter6768]

Master craftsman

[@ivanolsen7966]

I would like to see someone ' repair' that

[@MichaelandCathy1999]

I’d keep apples in it.

[@charlottelange7164]

This beautiful piece of Carrie's basketry needs to be returned to her loved ones. She lived in beautiful Lee Vining to be disrespected, which was not very nice for Carrie and her family.

[@aaronxalapa]

lol why? she sold it.

[@MiaTheodoratus]

Shouldn’t her ancestors get a percentage of the sale like other artists?

[@francisphillips53]

It’s a shame that that Native American lady’s work was only worth a lot after she died. 😢😢😢

[@hdrider05]

I wonder if anyone has ever passed out on this show

[@straceshow3212]

Excellent presentation by the expert but I wish the owner of the basket would have shut up while the expert was talking. Very annoying and distracting, drowning out the expert's information. Also, the TV audience was not interested in the owner's reactions.

[@pendrew]

To be told another basket sold for $200,000, then find out a couple minutes later that this one was worth $75-85k (before repairs) had to be a bit of a letdown. I know as an uninvolved viewer, I was disappointed for her.

[@broth6]

For a basket she found in a closet? Get real.

[@pendrew]

@@broth6 I have no doubt that when she first arrived at the auction she had no such expectations. But after hearing another basket was worth $200k, anyone would naturally have their mind start racing. She was put on a roller coaster, that had an ending she couldn’t have expected that morning, but for two minutes seemed like it could have been higher.

[@AbsentWithoutLeaving]

@@broth6 AND that she used to put plants in!

[@AbsentWithoutLeaving]

@@pendrew Yeah, I'll bet she felt REALLY bad about the plants 😱 That's probably where a lot of the damage came from - moisture and humidity.

[@motorbike650]

Vultures

[@nunyabusiness3920]

Pawn stars, best I can do is fifty cents

[@jasone830]

so original

[@syx3s]

it's disgusting to me that something like this that takes so much skill and time and effort to make can be worth less than some drug addled deviant's fifteen minutes of work to make an ugly scribble like mess on a cavass.

[@pdruiz2005]

The drug-addled deviant, however, is probably male and white, lives in the most fashionable NYC neighborhood, has degrees from the right art schools, and hob-nobs with the rich and famous. This poor woman was out in the Montana boonies, was not male or white, was practically illiterate and had absolutely no connections to anyone rich, let alone famous. Hence why her hard work was so undervalued during her lifetime while the scribbles are worth millions.

[@syx3s]

@@pdruiz2005 not true at all. more value seems to be placed on the persons race and perceived slights by society.

[@ValleyoftheRogue]

@@pdruiz2005 Yosemite is in California, not in Montana. Carrie Bethel was born in Lee Vining, California, right outside of Yosemite National Park, and died there.

[@Sarnarath]

This basket was later sold for billions.

[@robertknight2556]

You silly ninny.

[@AbsentWithoutLeaving]

Yeah...Jeff Bezos bought it and called it a bargain!

[@hedgeowlinvest7902]

Didn’t she technically stole this?