GUEST: I got a couple of paintings I got at a yard sale.
APPRAISER: And how much did you pay for them?
GUEST: $35 for the pair.
APPRAISER: And have you ever had them appraised at all?
GUEST: I did have them appraised one time. My, my wife worked at the library, and they had an appraisal fair going on. And I took them down there to have them appraised. And the lady said, uh, worth about $800, $900 for the pair of them, and if I wanted to sell them, she knew somebody who would buy them off me.
APPRAISER: And do you know who the artist is?
GUEST: Yeah, I believe it's John F. Kensett.
APPRAISER: John Frederick Kensett, a major American artist. Hudson River School, Luminist School, 19th century. These are beautiful small landscapes. And he was probably best known for painting in Rhode Island. And these are both painted with oil on artist board. Now, these are not signed, but each of them has a little inscription in the lower right-hand corner inscribed to someone. This one says, "Louis Parmley, from J.F. Kensett," and then a date in July of 1853. The other one is similarly inscribed but with the initials JFK, typical for a Kensett. The American market is very, very strong at this point. And I've consulted with my colleagues at the painting table, and we feel that they're perfectly right for Kensett and that I think a very conservative estimate at auction would be $30,000 to $50,000 each.
GUEST: $30,000 to $50,000 each?
APPRAISER: $30,000 to $50,000 each.
GUEST: Wow. Holy moly.