GUEST: These are two illustrations by my great-uncle John Vassos. There were so many images that he created. It's, um, unbelievable to think what he accomplished in his life, and this is just one part of his life. He was also an industrial designer and he worked for RCA.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. He was born in Romania to Greek parents. He did fight in World War I and then he emigrated to America. He was known as a Deco artist. Why Deco?
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: Because of the hard lines. Because of this gradation of blacks and grays and whites. This one over here is from one of the books that he co-wrote with his wife. His wife wrote the text and he did the illustrations. It was called "Ultimo." This is about what happened in the book when everyone had to go live underground because of climate change, because of an ice age. This one is titled "Island of the Dead." What's interesting, though, is where they're ferrying the body to looks in some ways a lot better than where it's coming from. This is the 1930s. This is a time where there's a lot of uncertainty in the world. There is death and destruction. Fascism growing in Europe. He was very politically conscious...
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: ...and didn't shy away from imbuing his, his own fine art with that consciousness. After this period, he turned his efforts towards industrial design. Not many people may know his name...
GUEST: Exactly.
APPRAISER: ...but they know exactly what he created. One of things he created, which I personally love, is the New York City Subway turnstiles. The old ones.
GUEST: That's right.
APPRAISER: He is known within the collecting community...
GUEST: Gotcha. Yes.
APPRAISER: ...especially for collectors of the 1920s and 1930s. These gray-tone gouaches are the ones that are most popular in terms of the market. At auction, this smaller one from "Ultimo" would probably have an estimate of about $6,000 to $8,000.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: And I think that's conservative.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: This one, even though it's not published, is, is larger and it has a little bit more going on. I would easily put this at $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST: Okay.
