GUEST: I went to a farm auction about five or six years ago, about 20 or 30 miles west of Minneapolis here.

They were in a box, two together, and I bid on them.

And I started the bidding at a dollar, and somebody bid three or four of them-- anyway, I wound up getting them for five dollars.

APPRAISER: Five dollars for both of them?

GUEST: For the both of them, yeah.

APPRAISER: And did you, uh, know anything about them when you bought them?

GUEST: No, I did not-- I just like the looks of that one particular.

I thought this one was kind of ugly, but... APPRAISER: (laughs) GUEST: So I got them and took them home, and I-I hung that one in my living room... APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: ...for quite a while, and I hung this one in the family room.

And, uh... I've just enjoyed them since I had them.

APPRAISER: The painting on the top is by an artist named Spencer.

It's signed in the lower left, and it's actually a painting that was done more recently, certainly in the latter half of the 20th century, and probably by an artist who is a bit more commercial and painting for more decorative reasons.

We put a value of around $100 to $200 on that... GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...if you were to find it in an antique shop.

Now, the second painting- were you able to read the signature on this?

GUEST: I couldn't see the name, so I couldn't look it up.

APPRAISER: Well, here we have the signature in the lower right.

And the name of the artist is Victor Higgins.

Victor Higgins grew up on a farm in Shelbyville, Indiana.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: He was born in 1884, died in 1949.

GUEST: Oh, you know all about this.

APPRAISER: Well, he's-- he's a well-known artist.

GUEST: Really.

APPRAISER: He's actually a member of what's called the Taos Society of Artists.

GUEST: Hm.

APPRAISER: Now, when you bought this, did you think this looked like a particular area?

GUEST: I go to Arizona in the wintertime, and I thought it looked like, uh, down in Arizona and New Mexico, down in that area.

APPRAISER: Well, you're absolutely right.

He moved there permanently from Chicago around 1915, and he remained there till the end of his life.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: He was well-known for painting pueblos and, uh, the life of the Native American, as well as landscapes like you see here.

His style started out in a more impressionistic manner, but by the time this was painted, he became a little bit more of a modernist.

You see some of the hard-edge lines and the forms that denote modernism as opposed to Impressionism.

Now, the date of this painting... is not exactly known.

However, the painting itself is on Masonite.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And Masonite was not really in use until after 1926.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: So we can say that this was done after 1926.

GUEST: Is that oil or acrylic?

APPRAISER: That's oil.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And... you can see that it has sort of a yellow cast over the surface.

It's very dirty.

GUEST: Does it need... Does it need cleaning, that's what I... APPRAISER: It needs cleaning.

Right up at the edge, you can see there's a little bit lighter blue.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And if it were cleaned, it would-- that sky would actually be a bright blue.

GUEST: But it should be cleaned by somebody who knows really what they're doing, not me, right?

APPRAISER: Yes, right.

Yes, that's right.

GUEST: (chuckles) APPRAISER: And the-the cost of cleaning something like this would not be very expensive, because it's otherwise in excellent condition.

The frame is original; it's very typical of what he would use.

And you can see it's a, a painted frame, as opposed to gold leaf.

If this were for sale, in an art gallery in Santa Fe, for example, which is where he probably would sell best.

I think it would sell in the range of $75,000.

GUEST: Whew!

You blew me away!

$75,000?

APPRAISER: Yes, yes.

GUEST: I don't believe it.

(laughs) APPRAISER: Well, if it were cleaned, it could even be up-- closer to 100 depending on how it cleaned up.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: That's quite a find.

Terrific.

GUEST: $75,000.

APPRAISER: Yeah, it's, it's wonderful.

GUEST: Unbelievable.