Paintings of the southern New Hampshire woman and her brother, Gene, who posed for their dad’s painter friend when he was commissioned by Kellogg’s in the early ’50s, were rejected by the Battle Creek, Mich., cereal company.
Over the weekend, Melinda, now 65, was bowled over when the folks at PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” appraised the one she still has by the master of Americana’s painting at $40,000 to $60,000!
“(Kellogg’s thought) we were too pretty,” Murphy (nee Pelham) told the Track at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. “They wanted red hair and freckles!”
But not all antiques aficionados, hand-me-down hoarders and yard sale scavengers are as lucky as Melinda, who said she’s going to hang onto her Rockwellian breakfast scene for the moment.
Appraiser Colleene Fesko, who specializes in American paintings from the 18th through 21st centuries, said that more often than not, folks who come to her thinking they’ve found a masterpiece are generally mistaken.
“It’s because of the accessibility of the Internet,” said Fesko, who once was approached with a painting signed by “Winslow Homer.”
Upon a quick analysis, Colleene knew the painting was no work of art.
“It was painted three or four weeks ago!” she told the Track.
Among the masses of eager New Englanders who packed into the convention hall on Saturday was Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who brought along an Aldro Hibbard painting rescued from the attic at the Mather School in Dorchester. It’s been hanging in the Parkman House.
“I heard everybody said its worth a lot,” the mayor told us.
And he was right. Fesko appraised the winter landscape scene, a classic example of the artist’s post-Impressionist style, at $50,000.
But don’t expect Hizzoner to sell off the Hibbard for some quick cash for city coffers.
“No, no, no,” said Menino, who plans to insure the painting. “We know how special it is.”
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