GUEST: This is a painting by Henry Sharp that's been in our family for as long as I can remember. My great-uncle had a trading post, or was part of a trading post, in Montana. The trading post sat close to the cabin that Henry Sharp built there in about 1905. And my understanding is that he was friends with the owners of the trading post, and that's how they met, and how the painting came to our family.
APPRAISER: Do you like the painting?
GUEST: I love the painting, because it makes me think of a lot of people that I love.
APPRAISER: Well, I can understand that. It's been in the family for some time.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: The painting is, as you say, by Joseph Henry Sharp, who was born in 1859, lived to 1953. And it's clearly signed here on the bottom. The "J.H. Sharp" in block letters is very consistent with his signature. However, it's not dated. Many of the paintings where you have this sort of horizontal vista were done in the first quarter of the 20th century. Sharp was considered the founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. It's a lovely little painting. It's an oil on a cigar box top. And I love the painting for its detail. I love the fact that you've got the Indian encampments dotting the horizon line here, and we have the teepees here. And the painting is in unrestored original condition, which is great. It's a little hard in this painting to tell precisely the location. But I love the fact that the painting is really kind of like a little jewel.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Your Sharp painting, if offered at auction, would sell between $12,000 to $18,000.
GUEST: Oh. That's... (laughs)… that’s a lot for a little painting, isn't it? I know my mom, who just passed away, would be thrilled.
