GUEST: I've had it for years, and I love it, and this was painted of Charleston in 1854. We didn't become a state until 1863.
APPRAISER: Oh, my goodness, so not only is it before the Civil War...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: ...it's before statehood for West Virginia.
GUEST: Correct.
APPRAISER: So this scene of Charleston was at this point Charleston, Virginia.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: It's a wonderful panoramic landscape by the artist Edward Beyer, signed lower right and dated 1854. Beyer was born in Germany and came to the United States in the late 1840s and came, as many people do, to Virginia for the wonderful spring waters. While he was here, he did a series of... I think it was 40 panoramic views of the state. And then with these paintings and with the notion of panoramic paintings in general, he would show them, people would come and look at them and have magnifying glasses and really enjoy them as paintings. Toward that end, he sold subscriptions of five dollars a piece to turn into portfolio lithographs.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: The Album of Virginia is what it's called, which now resides at the Historical Society in Richmond. This is just a wonderful example of what I really suspect, with more research, may prove to be one of the original 40. So did you inherit it, or buy it, or...?
GUEST: I inherited it. When he came to Charleston, a number of Charleston businessmen paid so much money to pay for the painting, and then they had a drawing, and one of the persons would get the painting, and it was my grandfather, and it's been passed down through the family, and I have it now.
APPRAISER: Since this is my first time in Charleston, can you give me an idea of what we're looking at?
GUEST: Well, this is the Kanawha River going through here, this is from the south hills, and this would be the city of Charleston on this side. Now you have the boulevard going along here, which of course wasn't built in those days.
APPRAISER: You've had it restored and cleaned, which is terrific. It's in great, stable condition, and the more you look at it, the more wonderful it becomes. You see little figures and little buildings, people on the water, the beautiful, beautiful mountains. And it's so fresh, it looks as if it was done yesterday. What a treasure. I would value it for insurance at $250,000.
GUEST: That's nice, that's very nice. (laughs)
