GUEST: This print was in my grandparents' home in Indianapolis, Indiana, and when I was a little girl, I would see it on the wall in the guest bedroom where I always stayed when I visited my grandparents. And I absolutely loved it, and it was the one thing I wanted to inherit from my grandparents when they died.
APPRAISER: This print, by Gustave Baumann, is titled here, "Grandma Battin's Garden," but it's also known as the "Hoosier Garden."
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: He's a German artist, immigrated to the United States when he was a young man. But in the teens, he lived in Indiana, and he did scenes of homes like this, rustic homes with beautiful gardens. And it's a beautiful example of what he's really known for, which is color woodblock print.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: This looks like an early proof. Some of the colors are different. Some of the blacks are not in the roof or the sky. So it looks like you have a wonderful artist's proof of a very early, significant Gustave Baumann print. This was printed in, around 1927. Most of these prints were printed in New Mexico, where he later moved, and that's what he's best known for, his New Mexico scenes. But this is a very desirable print because it's a very early print and has such rich color. At auction, I would value this at $15,000 to $25,000.
GUEST: Wow. Really?
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: Wow. That's... I'm not going to sell it, though. I love it. I love it, but that's amazing.
APPRAISER: It was a pleasure.
GUEST: I thought it just had sentimental value.
