1 00:00:02,235 --> 00:00:07,440 GUEST: Well, I inherited this painting from my parents. My mother wanted to give my father a gift 2 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:13,046 that he would really love. And he loved reading to his children books that had illustrations. 3 00:00:13,046 --> 00:00:15,015 APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. 4 00:00:15,015 --> 00:00:19,786 GUEST: And this is one of the illustrations. She knew how much he would love to get one of those, 5 00:00:19,786 --> 00:00:24,457 so she decided that she needed to make this a secret. So what she did was, 6 00:00:24,457 --> 00:00:28,928 she saved five dollars from her food money every week for probably two years. 7 00:00:28,928 --> 00:00:29,562 APPRAISER: Oh, wow. 8 00:00:29,562 --> 00:00:31,531 GUEST: And didn't tell him this. 9 00:00:31,531 --> 00:00:33,299 APPRAISER: Amazing right. 10 00:00:33,299 --> 00:00:37,604 GUEST: And then it's either his birthday or their anniversary, gave him a card that said, 11 00:00:37,604 --> 00:00:39,706 "You can go down to the Schoonover Studios and pick out a painting." 12 00:00:39,706 --> 00:00:40,573 APPRAISER: Oh, that's... 13 00:00:40,573 --> 00:00:43,009 GUEST: And he was elated, to say the least. 14 00:00:43,009 --> 00:00:45,011 APPRAISER: Oh, how exciting. 15 00:00:45,011 --> 00:00:48,148 GUEST: And so we went down as four kids and the mom and dad, and 16 00:00:50,517 --> 00:00:53,853 we chose a painting. What I remember, this would have been in the early '60s. 17 00:00:53,853 --> 00:00:54,587 APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. 18 00:00:54,587 --> 00:00:56,990 GUEST: Early to mid-'60s, I'll say. APPRAISER: Okay. 19 00:00:56,990 --> 00:01:00,794 GUEST: Dark wooden floors, paint. I think there were big windows at one end. 20 00:01:00,794 --> 00:01:02,729 APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. 21 00:01:02,729 --> 00:01:09,602 GUEST: And there was partially completed canvases here, there was, you know, old, probably, 22 00:01:09,602 --> 00:01:12,505 I'll say discarded ones there, and, you know, then there was... There was sort of stacks of them 23 00:01:12,505 --> 00:01:13,973 . APPRAISER: Mm-hmm. 24 00:01:13,973 --> 00:01:16,676 GUEST: This is the one with the clipper ship, which he thought was extraordinary. 25 00:01:16,676 --> 00:01:17,710 APPRAISER: Right. 26 00:01:17,710 --> 00:01:19,412 GUEST: And then this galleon, and... I don't know, he just, 27 00:01:21,514 --> 00:01:22,982 he decided on that one, and we all, of course, were thrilled. 28 00:01:22,982 --> 00:01:24,584 APPRAISER: And the title of the painting is... 29 00:01:24,584 --> 00:01:28,254 GUEST: "Privateers of '76." 30 00:01:28,254 --> 00:01:32,859 APPRAISER: Right. The story was written by an author named Ralph D. Paine, who apparently 31 00:01:32,859 --> 00:01:38,865 wrote several books in the early 20th century, and a lot of them relating to history. On the back of 32 00:01:38,865 --> 00:01:44,804 the painting, we have the inventory number for the painting, which is number 1248. Mm-hmm. There is 33 00:01:44,804 --> 00:01:49,109 a label, which actually is handwritten, and maybe by Schoonover himself, that says it, 34 00:01:49,109 --> 00:01:53,980 it's from chapter 13. The title of the illustration is "At a hail from the boat, 35 00:01:53,980 --> 00:01:56,149 he went to the rail." "At the hail of the boat," meaning the one below, 36 00:01:58,318 --> 00:02:02,622 the figure on top comes to the rail. Now, Schoonover, of course, 37 00:02:02,622 --> 00:02:05,825 is one of the premier artists of the Brandywine School. And he studied with Howard Pyle... 38 00:02:05,825 --> 00:02:06,693 GUEST: Yes. 39 00:02:06,693 --> 00:02:07,260 APPRAISER: ...who is considered the father of the school... 40 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:08,495 GUEST: Yes. 41 00:02:08,495 --> 00:02:10,063 APPRAISER: ...at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. 42 00:02:10,063 --> 00:02:11,998 GUEST: Oh, I didn't know that. 43 00:02:11,998 --> 00:02:16,035 APPRAISER: And Schoonover was very good at, at wanting to get to reality. So not 44 00:02:16,035 --> 00:02:20,306 only did he go out west, but he also went down to the bayous in Mississippi 45 00:02:20,306 --> 00:02:24,077 to sort of get a sense of how the pirates would have lived in that environment. 46 00:02:24,077 --> 00:02:26,880 He had a house in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, in Pike County, which is in the Poconos. 47 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:27,514 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 48 00:02:27,514 --> 00:02:29,883 APPRAISER: And he would spend his summers there. 49 00:02:29,883 --> 00:02:34,020 But he used the landscape of that area in, in many of his paintings. 50 00:02:34,020 --> 00:02:37,724 GUEST: You know, I think that the card that Mr. Schoonover gave my parents when they purchased 51 00:02:37,724 --> 00:02:40,593 this said that it was painted in Bushkill-- is that what it's called? 52 00:02:40,593 --> 00:02:41,828 APPRAISER: Yes, Bushkill, Pennsylvania. 53 00:02:41,828 --> 00:02:42,929 GUEST: Yes, yeah. 54 00:02:42,929 --> 00:02:48,468 APPRAISER: And certainly, he was very popular, especially in the early part 55 00:02:48,468 --> 00:02:52,205 of the 20th century, because he illustrated such classic books as "Robinson Crusoe"... 56 00:02:52,205 --> 00:02:53,606 GUEST: Mmm. 57 00:02:53,606 --> 00:02:55,808 APPRAISER: "Swiss Family Robinson." And he did a whole series of books for, 58 00:02:57,577 --> 00:03:00,346 on Zane Grey Western novels. 59 00:03:00,346 --> 00:03:01,381 GUEST: Oh, really? Oh, my gosh. 60 00:03:01,381 --> 00:03:03,917 APPRAISER: So he was quite into it, as well as magazine illustrations. 61 00:03:03,917 --> 00:03:05,552 GUEST: Mmm. 62 00:03:05,552 --> 00:03:12,258 APPRAISER: He was born in 1877 and he actually lived to 1972. So he was primarily painting in 63 00:03:12,258 --> 00:03:16,229 the early 20th century, and really, I think, up until he passed away. The painting, 64 00:03:16,229 --> 00:03:20,233 of course, is oil on canvas, and looks like the original frame. This painting 65 00:03:20,233 --> 00:03:24,204 is dated in the lower right '23, 1923, and that's when the novel was first published. 66 00:03:24,204 --> 00:03:25,772 GUEST: Hm. 67 00:03:25,772 --> 00:03:31,211 APPRAISER: He is popular as an illustrator nationwide. If this were in a gallery, I think 68 00:03:31,211 --> 00:03:39,986 that it would sell in the range of $125,000. GUEST: (chuckles) I know you're kidding me. 69 00:03:39,986 --> 00:03:44,624 APPRAISER: No, I'm not kidding you. It's a wonderful... 70 00:03:44,624 --> 00:03:44,357 GUEST: (softly) Really? APPRAISER: Yes. 71 00:03:44,357 --> 00:03:45,425 GUEST: Really? 72 00:03:45,425 --> 00:03:46,259 APPRAISER: It's a wonderful painting. 73 00:03:46,259 --> 00:03:49,629 GUEST: (breathes deeply) 74 00:03:49,629 --> 00:03:54,200 My father would be so thrilled to know that people were being turned on to illustrations. 75 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,002 APPRAISER: Yeah. 76 00:03:56,002 --> 00:03:59,072 GUEST: And my mother would be really thrilled at what you just said. 77 00:03:59,072 --> 00:04:01,307 APPRAISER: Yeah. (both laughing) Well, it means that her investment was a good one. 78 00:04:01,307 --> 00:04:02,842 GUEST: Oh, yes, oh, yes. Wow. 79 00:04:04,978 --> 00:04:08,281 APPRAISER: There's a big surge of interest in illustration. 80 00:04:08,281 --> 00:04:14,787 GUEST: Well, I love this painting. 81 00:04:14,787 --> 00:04:16,122 APPRAISER: Yeah. 82 00:04:16,122 --> 00:04:16,623 GUEST: I love this painting.