GUEST: Well, the painting was done by Hamilton Hamilton. I believe he was born in England, but came and lived in this country, and painted here for many, many years. Did some portraiture, but also a lot of landscapes. And I believe he was a member of the Silver Mines School.
APPRAISER: Certainly all of that is true. He was from Oxford, England, and as a young boy came with his family to an area right outside of Buffalo. He did study briefly in Paris and then came back to the States in the early 1870s. And by 1873, he was lucky enough to be able to go on an expedition out west, to Colorado. And he did several paintings out there, which really brought him fame. By 1876, several of those paintings were actually shown at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
GUEST: Interesting.
APPRAISER: And that was quite a coup for a young artist. He settled in Connecticut. So you're absolutely right. He was part of the Silver Mine Art Guild, and this was a group of artists who were living in Norwalk, uh, Wilton, and New Canaan, Connecticut, and they sort of bonded together to have exhibitions and things of that sort, and they still exist today.
GUEST: Hmm.
APPRAISER: He was actually one of the founders when it was incorporated in 1924. Now, the painting is signed and dated in the lower right. And the date is 1882. He established a studio in, uh, New York City in 1881. So this would have been done around the time that he had a studio in New York. It's oil on canvas. There is a plaque on it with a title, which is "Coming Thru the Rye." It may lay reference to Robert Burns's famous poem "Comin Thro' the Rye," which was written in 1782. How did you acquire this painting?
GUEST: This painting was actually from my maternal grandparents. Shortly after I was married, my mother sugg-- who had had it in her attic for many years, since her parents' death-- said to me, "I think this would look well in your home." And she offered it to my husband and myself, and we immediately said yes. I got the painting in about the mid-'70s.
APPRAISER: When it was found in the attic, what did it... Was it in this kind of condition?
GUEST: No, unfortunately, it wasn't. There was a bit of a slash through the center of the painting. There was some mold on her face and some other places where the paint had kind of chipped away, as well as some issues with the frame. So we took it to a local conservator at the time and they fixed it up for us.
APPRAISER: Do you remember how much you paid for the restoration when you had it done?
GUEST: I would imagine it was maybe in the $400 or $500 range.
APPRAISER: The restoration was done beautifully. The restoration really would not have any effect on the value. This type of painting is called a genre painting, and this type of art in today's world is not quite as in vogue as it was, let's say, 25 years ago. If this were in a gallery, it probably would sell in the range of around $15,000.
GUEST: Ah, well!
APPRAISER: If you were going to insure it, you would probably have put $20,000 on it...
GUEST: Okay, that's good to know.
APPRAISER: ...for, for insurance purposes. 20 to 25 years ago, we were selling them more in the $40,000 range.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: Brown furniture and gold frames are not en vogue.
GUEST: Yes
