GUEST: I bought it at a, um, at a sale, a, um... It's not a garage sale.

What do you call it when somebody's getting... APPRAISER: An estate sale?

GUEST: An estate sale.

And they had the prices on everything.

And I looked at it and I liked it.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And I thought, well, I thought it... No, I didn't want it.

So I left.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: They had taken my name down.

And about, uh, ten days later, I got a call.

The house was empty, but she was still hanging over the fireplace.

And they said, "We will give you a good price on this "if you want it.

"We don't want to take it with us to California."

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: So I bought it.

APPRAISER: Well, it's a, it's a lovely portrait.

As we can see, uh, it's an 18th-century-style portrait of a woman.

Uh, we have a label here that says "Carl Van Loo."

Carle van Loo was a very well-known and important 18th-century French artist.

It would be consistent with him to be painting a beautiful court figure.

Uh, the issue with van Loo, though, and one that is consistent, again, with artists who were very popular during their life, is that you have pieces that are actually and completely by the hand of the artist, and then there are pieces that are studio, circle of, attributed to, friends of... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Uh, acquaintances.

So, in that, in that analysis of who the painting is by, you very quickly go from the high, high price, complete attribution, to pieces that are valued less... GUEST: Right, right.

APPRAISER: ...uh, less than the original.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: Uh... My sense, in looking at the quality and style of the piece, uh, based on issues such as the painting of the hand, so, it's rather rough, you know?

It's not as detailed and as sensitively done.

In general, there are some inconsistencies with the piece throughout.

Uh, you know, the handling of the drapery, for example.

Here, again, uh, it's rather heavy-handed.

So I do think that we're looking at someone who was looking at the artist, at, at van Loo, but perhaps not by van Loo himself.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And given that, uh, the value that I would put on the piece is a portrait in the style of the artist... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...rather than by the hand of the artist, with an estimate under $10,000.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Perhaps $3,000 to $5,000, $4,000 to $6,000.