GUEST: Well, it was my father's. He had it for many, many years. And when he passed, I got the painting. I don't know when he got it, whether it was before I was born or later.
APPRAISER: And is there any connection to the family with the boat, or...?
GUEST: Well, we lived in Gettysburg.
APPRAISER: Oh, okay. There you go. Well, this is done by an Italian artist named Tommaso de Simone. And he was born in 1808, and he was really one of the better ship painters in Italy. In fact, he's so good at rendering ships, that in the 20th century, when historic ships needed to be restored, they would often refer to his paintings to make sure they got the rigging correct and the proportions of the ship, and so forth. This was painted in the Bay of Naples, probably in the late 1870s. It's signed in the lower right corner, and there's part of a date we can see. And I see "187," and then it's blank. So I'm going to guess it's obviously painted in the 1870s.
GUEST: I guess.
APPRAISER: The artist died in 1888. It's a pretty impressive American ship that was commissioned in 1864. And it was bought from the Brits. It went to an international auction, and the Americans bought it and recommissioned it the Gettysburg. You get to see the waterline just beautifully going across.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: The rigging is just perfectly done. And I love having the American flag flying off the rear mast. I think it's just great. So there's a strong demand for Tommaso de Simone's work. I bet at auction today, this would bring somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.
GUEST: Okay. Thank you.
APPRAISER: My pleasure!
