APPRAISER: So this is a
charming-looking scene.
What do you, what do
you think's going on

here?

GUEST: I think this boy might
be in a little bit of trouble.
Got his ball in the flower

bed there. And Mom
doesn't look too happy.

APPRAISER: Yeah, she looks none
too pleased, the wagging finger
right there. I'm sure many

of us can relate to this
scene from our childhood.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And tell me a
little bit about the painting.
How, how did you come by it?

GUEST: I bought it at a
rummage sale a few years ago.

APPRAISER: A rummage sale.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: Less than ten bucks.

APPRAISER: Less than ten
dollars, okay. And do you
know who the artist is?

GUEST: Um, Andrew Loomis.

APPRAISER: Andrew Loomis, yes.
It's signed down in the bottom
right here quite clearly.

GUEST: Yep, right.

APPRAISER: And he was best
known for being an illustrator,
but he was, actually, he was

also very well known
as a, as an educator.

GUEST: Huh.

APPRAISER: He wrote a series of
books, how-to books. The first
one is "Fun with your Pencil,"

I believe it was called. And
that was published in 1939. So
these books were really, really

popular and influenced a whole
generation of illustrators and
art students about drawing,

and how to do figure drawing,
that kind of thing, so... But
what we're dealing with here

is the illustration art side
of his career. And he was from
New York state originally,

born there at the tail
end of the 19th century,
1892. But mainly connected
with Chicago. Spent

quite a lot of time there, set
up his own design studio, his
own, his own business there.

He'd previously worked in
advertising for companies who
worked with Coca-Cola, Lucky

Strikes, um... Kellogg's--
all those sort of things. But
this one was probably done

for a magazine. We don't know
which one yet. We will probably
need a little bit more research

on that. Looking at the,
the costume and just the
overall feel of it, it
may have been painted

in the 1930s or so. This is
oil on canvas. And it tells
a very nice story here. It's

an interesting market for
illustration art just now. For
many years, the American art

market was really very much
focused on 19th-century
paintings-- you know,
the Hudson River School,

American Impressionism, that
kind of thing. And while
there's still a lot of interest

in those fields, they've kind
of been taken over by Western
art, modernism, and very much

illustration art. And
the big sales of American
art that you would get,
quite often, illustration

art back in the day was
relegated to the end
of the catalogue. Now
it's likely to be on

the front cover, so
there's a lot more interest
than there used to be,
led by the great titans

of illustration art-- artists
like Norman Rockwell and N.C.
Wyeth. Now, Mr. Loomis isn't

quite of that caliber, but
he's still very well regarded.
You know, you could think of

him as sort of second or third
tier, perhaps, of illustration
artists. Have you ever given

any thought as to the value
of the work that you bought?

GUEST: Well, I know it was
worth ten bucks. (laughs)

APPRAISER: I think it's
worth a little bit more
than ten bucks now.

GUEST: Great.

APPRAISER: I think at auction,
you should be looking at,
comfortably, $4,000 to $6,000.

GUEST: Nice!

APPRAISER: Not bad, right?

GUEST: Very nice.

APPRAISER: Not a bad return.

GUEST: That's
awesome. Thank you.

APPRAISER: Good. Well, I hope
you're pleased with that.

GUEST: Yes, very much.

APPRAISER: I hope you continue
to go to rummage sales.

GUEST: Oh, definitely.