GUEST: It's a folk art painting I acquired many years ago, and I know nothing about it. It was at an estate sale, and I walked in, and this was on the wall next to the stairs, and I thought, "Yes, I have to have that."
APPRAISER: Now, how long ago was this estate sale?
GUEST: About at least… ten to 15 years.
APPRAISER: Okay, do you remember how much you paid for this?
GUEST: $25.
APPRAISER: Well, this is a wonderful early 19th century rendering of an early campus. It looks New England to me just by virtue of the buildings. It's pastel, charcoal, and sand on paper.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: And so you get a little bit of the shiny glitter will show through of the sand.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And usually, these works are in charcoal, they're black and white, and this is worked in beautiful, brilliant color. The buildings are a little... they're quite well done, but they're probably a little bit out of perspective. The condition is fabulous, it's a very large piece, and many times, we don't have… we don’t have a photograph of these structures as they appeared at this time, maybe 1820, 1830…
GUEST: Oh, my.
APPRAISER: Something like that. If this were to come to auction, if we don't know where this place is, if it's an unidentified academic setting, academic landscape, I would say an auction estimate would be $3,000 to $5,000. If we identified this location, and I do believe we could with a little bit of time, you've got an $8,000 to $12,000—
GUEST: Oh, my!
APPRAISER: --Estimate on this. It's a wonderful, wonderful piece. It was such a treat!
