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GUEST: I have two Eschers that 
my husband bought from Mr. 
Escher in '61. He and a friend

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of his were interested in art, 
were looking around for what 
they could invest in. He didn't

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like Andy Warhol's tomato soup 
cans, he thought it was ugly at 
$15, didn't want it, and moved

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to Mr. Escher for the prints. 
And I got them and the letters 
from Mr. Escher saying that

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if he wanted to buy more, 
buy them all at once, he's a 
feisty guy and didn't want to

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keep going to the post office.

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APPRAISER: So, of course, we're 
talking about M.C. Escher. 
M.C. Escher. His visual imagery

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is probably some of the 
most well-known, nowadays, 
to college students 
across the United States,

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who all have a poster of some 
of his work on their walls.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: At the time when 
your husband had bought it, he 
wasn't as well-known. He was

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living in the Netherlands 
as of 1941, in Baarn, until 
1970. This one is "Belvedere."

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GUEST: Correct.

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APPRAISER: "A beautiful view," 
belvedere, in Italian. He 
lived in Italy from about 1923

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until 1935, and the view is of 
the Abruzzo mountains. This is 
based on Escher's impossible

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cube, this was an idea that he 
had about a cube which cannot 
exist in reality. And what

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he was famous for was 
depicting, in two-dimensional 
form, that which cannot 
happen three-dimensionally.

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That structure itself cannot 
exist. The ladder, the way it's 
placed, cannot exist. But all

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of it looks so natural. 
And a lot of it is very 
highly mathematically 
informed. Although

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he did not consider himself a 
mathematician, he was writing 
and corresponding with a lot

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of mathematicians. This 
lithograph, it's signed, 
lower left in pencil, 
in the margin, and it's

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also numbered eight out of 
51, and it has a Roman numeral 
"II." The Roman numeral refers

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to the state. States are one 
grouping of the lithographs. 
Some little change was made,

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and that made into a different 
state. Let's also talk about 
"Ascending and Descending."

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When we're looking here, what 
we see are these figures walking 
up and down a staircase, but

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really, it's an 
impossible staircase.

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GUEST: They don't go anywhere.

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APPRAISER: Because it never 
ends. This one was done in 
1960, "Belvedere" was in 1958.

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This one doesn't have any 
Roman numerals, but it does 
have a pencil signature and a

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number, 26 out of 52. Can 
you tell me how much your 
husband paid for that?

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GUEST: I think they were 
$30 for each, and two 
dollars for postage.

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APPRAISER: And two dollars' 
postage. Have you ever 
had these appraised?

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GUEST: We did. In 2004, 
we had our artwork 
appraised for insurance.

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APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

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GUEST: And at that time, 
they said "Belvedere" 
was $20,000, and the 
"Ascending and Descending"

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at $17,500. And we mentioned the 
letters, but they didn't seem 
to be, go into the, anything

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into the equation.

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APPRAISER: The letters 
are letters from Escher 
himself to your husband, 
and it actually shows

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his wry sense of humor, telling 
him to, as you had mentioned, 
to buy more at one time.

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He was famous for his wry 
sense of humor. And there are 
a lot of fake Escher prints

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on the market, so we know that 
with these letters that these 
works are real. Okay. And,

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in addition, even Escher 
autographs, even without 
prints, are valuable 
in and of themselves.

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For value's sake, today, I would 
insure these at $50,000 each.

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GUEST: How nice. Thank 
you! That's nice.