1 00:00:01,167 --> 00:00:05,505 GUEST: Well, I am directly, uh, descended from 2 00:00:05,505 --> 00:00:10,443 these two. They were my great-great-great- grandparents. They were painted in 1826. 3 00:00:10,443 --> 00:00:12,946 APPRAISER: Did they descend in your family or...? 4 00:00:12,946 --> 00:00:14,080 GUEST: Well... 5 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,782 APPRAISER: I mean, to you? 6 00:00:15,782 --> 00:00:18,818 GUEST: As you can imagine, there are a lot of branches to this tree. 7 00:00:18,818 --> 00:00:22,188 APPRAISER: Right. GUEST: I got them about 20 years ago from a lady 8 00:00:22,188 --> 00:00:24,958 who was at the end of one of those branches, and had no descendants. 9 00:00:24,958 --> 00:00:26,092 APPRAISER: Okay. Okay. 10 00:00:26,092 --> 00:00:28,795 GUEST: And she found out I was their direct, 11 00:00:28,795 --> 00:00:32,799 also their direct descendants, and so she gave them to us, as a gift, yeah. 12 00:00:32,799 --> 00:00:33,366 APPRAISER: That's, that's very cool. 13 00:00:33,366 --> 00:00:34,734 GUEST: Yeah, it really is. 14 00:00:34,734 --> 00:00:35,969 APPRAISER: And the name is Meb, Meb... 15 00:00:35,969 --> 00:00:39,773 GUEST: Me, Mebane. Mebane. There's a town in North 16 00:00:39,773 --> 00:00:43,343 Carolina by that name. Same family. I am fascinated by family history. 17 00:00:43,343 --> 00:00:45,545 APPRAISER: Right. GUEST: And this helps a lot, so... 18 00:00:45,545 --> 00:00:47,547 APPRAISER: And, and you've traced them back to their original ownership, right? 19 00:00:47,547 --> 00:00:49,315 GUEST: Right. 20 00:00:49,315 --> 00:00:51,584 APPRAISER: In the town that your ancestors founded, which is in North Carolina. 21 00:00:51,584 --> 00:00:52,786 GUEST: Yeah... 22 00:00:52,786 --> 00:00:55,789 APPRAISER: When these came up to the folk art table, my eyes got really big... 23 00:00:55,789 --> 00:00:57,257 GUEST: (chuckles) 24 00:00:57,257 --> 00:01:02,662 APPRAISER: ...and I, my heart started pounding, and, because I love great folk art. They have 25 00:01:02,662 --> 00:01:07,600 this, this appeal to them, this... The great colors. Look at the faces staring straight at you. 26 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:13,106 They're very direct. It's literally a record of their lives in 1826, David and Elizabeth Mebane. 27 00:01:13,106 --> 00:01:14,607 GUEST: Right. 28 00:01:14,607 --> 00:01:19,045 APPRAISER: There are a group of portraits done in Guilford County, 29 00:01:19,045 --> 00:01:25,185 North Carolina. And this artist is called the, the Guilford County Limner. 30 00:01:25,185 --> 00:01:30,190 And a limner is an artist who moved around while he worked, he was... Most were itinerant artists. 31 00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:30,957 GUEST: Oh. Oh. 32 00:01:30,957 --> 00:01:33,059 APPRAISER: And they traveled to different counties. 33 00:01:33,059 --> 00:01:35,995 GUEST: So we, no one knows the name of the artist. 34 00:01:35,995 --> 00:01:40,100 APPRAISER: The artist has not been identified yet. And some 35 00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:45,672 of the characteristics are the very large eyes with, literally, eyelashes. And I'll 36 00:01:45,672 --> 00:01:48,641 say your great-great-great-grandfather looks like, rather like Paul McCartney... 37 00:01:48,641 --> 00:01:49,442 GUEST: (chuckles) 38 00:01:49,442 --> 00:01:51,144 APPRAISER: ...even, even with the British haircut, right? 39 00:01:51,144 --> 00:01:52,278 GUEST: (laughs): Yeah, he does. 40 00:01:52,278 --> 00:01:56,249 APPRAISER: The flowers in the background of both the male and female portraits. Also, 41 00:01:56,249 --> 00:01:58,818 the architectural details that are very bright in the background. 42 00:01:58,818 --> 00:02:00,487 GUEST: Hmm. APPRAISER: Those are all characteristics of 43 00:02:00,487 --> 00:02:04,557 the Guilford Limner. These are fabulous watercolors on paper. 44 00:02:04,557 --> 00:02:05,859 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 45 00:02:05,859 --> 00:02:11,264 APPRAISER: And they've kept their vivid color. The Guilford Limner was known for 46 00:02:11,264 --> 00:02:16,836 these bright colors, this brilliant lime green, this really great red. Those colors 47 00:02:16,836 --> 00:02:21,040 are just like they were painted yesterday. Considering what a fragile medium it is, 48 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,112 these works have survived extremely well. They're the essence of folk art. This 49 00:02:26,112 --> 00:02:30,750 limner only worked in Guilford County during the years of about 1826 to 1827. 50 00:02:30,750 --> 00:02:32,418 GUEST: Oh, oh. 51 00:02:32,418 --> 00:02:37,757 APPRAISER: I feel that a conservative estimate on this pair at auction would be $20,000 to $30,000. 52 00:02:37,757 --> 00:02:38,525 GUEST: (gasps, chuckles) Whoa! (chuckles) 53 00:02:38,525 --> 00:02:45,431 APPRAISER: On a good day, they could get up near $40,000. 54 00:02:45,431 --> 00:02:52,572 GUEST: Whoa. So... (chuckles) I hope my family is listening. (both laughing) Well... I'll tell them. 55 00:02:52,572 --> 00:02:53,806 APPRAISER: (chuckles) I'm, I'm pretty sure you're going to keep 'em, though. You're gonna keep 'em. 56 00:02:53,806 --> 00:02:55,742 GUEST: Oh, absolutely, I treasure them. 57 00:02:55,742 --> 00:02:57,377 APPRAISER: You should insure them for $40,000. 58 00:02:57,377 --> 00:02:59,145 GUEST: Wow. APPRAISER: At least. 59 00:02:59,145 --> 00:03:00,046 GUEST: (chuckling): Yeah, I'll be sure to do that.