GUEST: My mom in the '60s, '70s loved antiques, loved funky art stuff because she was an artist. And she bought this bench when she lived in the Allentown, Pennsylvania, area. Now, she went to New York a lot, she also lived in Rhode Island, so I don't know where she got it, but I think she said she got it from a store that was going out of business, like a ladies' fashion store. She always told me it was by a famous '60s artist named John Risley or Raisley. I've tried to look it up on the Internet. There's just all kinds of stuff that looks like it, but I never could tell for sure if it was this artist or if it was a knock-off.
APPRAISER: It is a John Risley, absolutely, it's right as rain.
GUEST: Oh, good!
APPRAISER: And it's a wonderful piece of Risley. He made a whole series of different stools and chairs and benches. This is his most iconic piece.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The gentleman always looks like a 1910 driver and the lady driving in an open car. And what I love about post-World War II modern design is it can be whimsical, it can be almost... this borders almost on folk art, I think. At auction, it's probably worth $2,500 to $4,500.
GUEST: Wow!
APPRAISER: Absolutely.
GUEST: How exciting.
APPRAISER: Most of them I've ever seen were painted black. This one's white. But it's original-- you can repaint this. One of the great things about modern design is that it's a very forgiving clientele that buys this sort of thing.
GUEST: Well, yee-haw! This is great, thank you so much.
APPRAISER: Thank you very much.
