GUEST: It's a painting I received from my mother before she passed away, and it's been about 15 years ago. I grew up in New Orleans, and she had befriended an older couple in New Orleans and when they passed away, they gave her this painting. I know very little about the artist. I understand that maybe he was local to New Orleans and was early part of the 1930s or '40s and it's a watercolor, and that's about all I know.
APPRAISER: Well, Alexander John Drysdale is indeed a noted Southern artist from New Orleans, and this is a typical Louisiana bayou scene. When I first saw it, I thought it possibly is a watercolor, but he painted with this very translucent oil on board. He loved this sort of tonalist way of painting, which we see here. He was born in Marietta, Georgia. He moved with his family to New Orleans at age 15, where his father was the rector of a church there. He died in 1934 at age 63, and this was painted in '32. And your painting really reflects what he was best known for. What you've done with the frame is kind of interesting. You've taken the original frame and remounted it in a larger frame, and so you've maintained its originality and given it a larger presence. Did you have any sense of the value?
GUEST: Maybe $1,000.
APPRAISER: Well, that would be just about right... about 30 years ago. I would think today, I would probably price it around $12,000 to $15,000, and that's a retail price for it.
GUEST: I wasn't going to say "wow," but thank you, Peter, for all the information.
