APPRAISER: I immediately thought that she was painted by a school of painters that worked in Boston in the mid-19th century. It's called the Prior-Hamblin School. William Matthew Prior and Sturtevant Hamblin. They worked in the 1840s and '50s. And there's a really large group of people that seek their work. It's got a folkie quality to it, and the faces are sort of animated. One of the reasons that people wanted them to paint these portraits was the fact that they could give the people rosy cheeks and put a smile on their lips, because at that time, they were competing with early photography.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: If you got your picture taken back then, you weren't going to smile, because you had to sit there for a few minutes.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: To make sure the picture wouldn't blur. It's such a nice, pleasant image. Value-wise, you're looking at $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST (laughing): Wow. Wow!
