GUEST: My grandmother found it at a yard sale or flea market, and the woman that was selling it was selling it for the frame for about $25-- and it's not this frame, it was another one. Grandmother recognized it as being a William Aiken Walker painting and felt guilty, so she paid $35 for it. And then she left it to me when she passed away, and that's how I have it.
APPRAISER: How long ago did your grandmother make this purchase at $35?
GUEST: I believe it was in the '70s, '60s or '70s.
APPRAISER: William Aiken Walker was born in 1838, died in 1921. He's from Charleston, so he's a Southern individual, and he was actually in the Civil War.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: Was wounded and went back to Charleston, where he could do more painting. It appears that he's pretty much a self-taught artist. It seems that he spent some time in Germany after the Civil War, but settled in Baltimore, where he did most of his work. And it's probably post-Civil War, somewhere from 1870 to 1890, a date in there, and it's an oil on board. What people think of when they think of William Aiken Walker is what we have here.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Tell me about the subject. You like her.
GUEST: I like her. If you look really closely, she's got this great, big smile on her face, and I just like that.
APPRAISER: It's an interesting period in American politics. Most of his work was done after the Civil War. I think it's important to note that the African-American cotton pickers and folks that he painted were emancipated slaves. His paintings reflect a time, and he's true to form in this painting. This is a sweet example of his work. I think the painting might improve with a cleaning. You can see the varnish has yellowed.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: I talked to some of my colleagues, and even though it's small, it's very nice and it's nicely done. We're thinking an auction range of somewhere between $5,000 and $8,000.
GUEST: Really? But it's so little! (laughs)
APPRAISER: We can't do anything about that. (laughs)
GUEST: Wow. Well, Grandmother always did have good taste.
APPRAISER: I think so.
