GUEST: When I was about nine years old, a fellow by the name of Alvin Barrett gave me this painting. Alvin was a major shareholder in Curtis Publishing Company, which published the "Saturday Evening Post." And in July 31, 1954, this was the cover of "Saturday Evening Post."
APPRAISER: And so your-- is it uncle? -- received this painting from the Curtis Publishing Company?
GUEST: Yes, uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And when did he get it from them?
GUEST: I think it was October of 1954.
APPRAISER: Oh, really?
GUEST: Yeah. Because there's a shipping label on the back of it.
APPRAISER: Oh, that's great. The work is signed down here in the lower left by Stevan Dohanos.
GUEST: What's left of it. Busy little hands cleaned it, unfortunately.
APPRAISER: Well, Dohanos was in a great tradition of illustrators. He did over a hundred covers for the "Saturday Evening Post." He also designed 40 stamps for the U.S. Postal Authority.
GUEST: You're kidding, I didn't know that.
APPRAISER: He was really a serious illustrator in the tradition of N.C. Wyeth or Remington. And the "Saturday Evening Post" at this time was publishing almost about, had about a four-million circulation, which was extremely high.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And they had a large number of illustrators to do their covers. And I think this is a wonderful example. It's obviously from the '50s. It's towards the end of the illustration period. His paintings are in the Whitney collection. They're in major museums. As well as being a serious illustrator, he was also an excellent artist. I think if you wanted to insure it, I think you probably should have it insured for about $40,000. So...
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: They're highly desired. This is a wonderful example. And you're a very lucky recipient.
GUEST: Thank you.
