Customer found this in a carport

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JBergelin

JBergelin

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
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374
Loc
Big Rapids, Michigan
Our customer found this in a carport in Florida and is convinced that it is very valuable. Maybe I am missing something but it looks like a print that was mounted to chipboard. however she thinks that it is a watercolor or pastel. There is no signature that we can find. She says that it is Custer's Last Stand....

the piece has vivid color where it has not aged, it is mounted to some sort of chipboard that is peeling layers from the back. the color appears to be turning to powder, along the edges there are tears and at the tears it looks like a torn poster.

Is there a way that I can tell if it is indeed a print/poster or if it is something that she needs to take to an appraiser?

I think I have seen the original somewhere but I cannot place where.

Anyone know this artwork?

thanks
 

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I seem to remember it (or something similar) on the Antique’s Roadshow a few days ago. As I recall it wasn’t appraised to the level where the lady could retire, but wasn’t worthless, either.

It looks pretty beat up, though, but I’d suggest an appraiser in any event.
 
Thats a blast from the past

When I was a kid in Pennsylvania, this image was hanging in the local diner/bar. It was mesmerizing and horrifying. I have thought of it often over the years. What a hoot to see it again.

Other than that, I am no help.

Smile Away
Nancy g

PS I'm pretty sure it was Custer's Last Stand
 
I know you've heard it before! Most of us aren't trained art appraisers, are you?

I would think that if you had a loop or a strong magnifying glass you might be able to tell if it is a print poster, as you would probably see dots. That would not be an all inclusive test, but if there is a dot pattern present that would tell you it is a print and not a watercolour.
 
The frame looks interesting....old craftsman? It may be worth something.
 
I was thinking the rame was more interesting than the art. Looks a bit industrial to be craftsman...deco maybe....Baer should chime in soon....
 
Looks like an old lithograghic type print.

From what I know of US history, the only (non-native) survivor of the battle was a horse. Did he take up painting when he retired from army sevice? :D

Interesting frame design.


btw. Bill. If there isn't a person called Mr Antique you will be reported to the apostrophe police.:icon21: :icon21: :icon21: :icon21: :icon21:
 
Commanche of the Seventh - that was the horse that survived Little Big Horn - and he was in pretty rough shape, probably didn't feel much like making any art....
 
From my recollection, Commanche lived for quite a number of years after the "Last Stand." He was paraded quite often with no rider. NOT the "Riderless Horse" of Dead Presidents fame, though. Or maybe he's where that tradition developed. Can look it up...

Wendy
The Art Corner
Salem, MA
 
Yeah, Wendy, Commanche lived to a ripe old age as I recall be he had been badly injured in the battle and they had to nurse him back to health. Have a book about him somewheres that I bought from Scholastic books when I was in grade school and if I could find my book about horses in the movies it also seems to me that Sal Mineo (!) played an Indian in a Disney flick about Commanche.

Back to the print - a magnifying glass will usually reveal the telltale dots of a litho print...
 
It may be a chromolitho, from the late 19th or very early 20th century, which, as suggested, gives it some but not inordinate value.



Hugh
 
j Paul said:
I know you've heard it before! Most of us aren't trained art appraisers, are you?

I would think that if you had a loop or a strong magnifying glass you might be able to tell if it is a print poster, as you would probably see dots. That would not be an all inclusive test, but if there is a dot pattern present that would tell you it is a print and not a watercolour.
Click to expand...

I have recently attended a symposium on Early American Art. One of the exciting things that I learned is that some of the most valuable and historic finds have come been found in dusty ol' barns and basements forgotten for generations and the provenance unknown.

If you can determine that it is not a poster, then take it to an appraiser!!! OH yes! And I learned that the frame that was originally crafted for some of these peices are also worth Thousands of dollars. Do not discount the frame by any means!!!!
There is a great exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth right now on Early Texas art and the paintings are displayed in their original frames! Beatiful, Brilliant and Valuable! They dont make them like that anymore!

I found a Chagall lithograph, Unsigned and Unnumbered in an antique store recently.
It was in a broken frame and found buried in the corner covered with dust. The owner sold it to me for $5. I cleaned it. photographed it, reframed it and had it appraised and it is actually worth $1500.
If it was a signed and numbered print, it would have been worth $10,000.

The downside is that None of the Dealers I know do not have any Clients interested in Chagall prints and I have been advised to unload it in an auction. I would rather adorn my sweet house with it. ( any one interested in purchasing it is very welcome to inquire!!)
 
Being located just south of Saint Louis Missouri, current home of Anheuser Busch Brewing, I have seen a dozen of these come through the shop. Most were common bar room prints that had originaly shipped with a cardboard builtin frame on them, but 2 were from the second printing and actually valuable. Those were also larger and had beter color that the common prints. AB has print and sold these for over 100 years and current printing rights are assigned to whatever historical society thats at the actual site of the battle.
None of them ever were distributed on chipboard btw.
There is a mountain of documentaion out there about these prints and all of the printings of them.

If they like it good, but its nearly worthless.
 
PEAVY said:
I found a Chagall lithograph, Unsigned and Unnumbered in an antique store recently.
It was in a broken frame and found buried in the corner covered with dust. The owner sold it to me for $5. I cleaned it. photographed it, reframed it and had it appraised and it is actually worth $1500.
If it was a signed and numbered print, it would have been worth $10,000.

The downside is that None of the Dealers I know do not have any Clients interested in Chagall prints and I have been advised to unload it in an auction. I would rather adorn my sweet house with it. ( any one interested in purchasing it is very welcome to inquire!!)
Click to expand...

Heck, I'll give you $20 for it... that's a 300% ROI ;)
 
btw. Bill. If there isn't a person called Mr Antique you will be reported to the apostrophe police.:icon21: :icon21: :icon21: :icon21: :icon21:
Click to expand...
Yeah, I goofed. :o My pinky finger wanders from time to time. We used to have "Cap'n English" who surveyed the Grumble and pounced every time one of us used bad grammar, lousy construction, and questionable syntax. I sure do miss her.
 
Its a wood frame

Baer - the frame is wood - one of the side dowels has a streak of white paint on it. Frankly if the finish was cleaned up it could be quite nice - not the everyday frame but with some elbow grease the wood would clean up to look like the finish on many antique mirror frames - in fact I think I have seen it before in some antique shop or estate auction.

oh English is a tough language sometimes Wood...would it or not.... its late need to go to bed - nite
 
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