RICK: Hey, what's up, man?
How you doing?
Pretty good.
What do we-- obviously, this is a Picasso, huh?
It is.
Yes, it is.
It's a Picasso "La Celestine."
What?
[laughter]
Les, la, la, la, la, la?
"La Celestine."
"La Celestine"?
"La Celestine."
When you say those things, you got
to say them slow because I'm-- - OK.
--I'm slow.
[laughs]
Yeah, it's a Picasso.
God, he did some creepy stuff.
Yeah.
RICK: [laughs] I mean, the guy was just bizarro.
He really, really was.
You know, he actually tried to start off doing, like,
traditional art.
Yeah.
And everyone told him he sucked, OK?
And then he sort of came up with his own style.
No one had really been doing that before.
God, he made tons of money, but I
know he blew most of his money.
He was a lush, and he lived into his 90s.
He had, like, a gazillion wives.
So he did have to make a lot of art to pay for all that.
There-- there's great stories about him too.
There's stories about him how he would go into a bar,
drink all day long, and then say, you got a piece of paper?
He'd draw a little something on it,
sign his name at the bottom, and said, here's my bar bill.
Oh, you're kidding me.
Wow.
No, but they didn't have a problem
doing it because it was still a hand-drawn
original from Picasso.
I mean, it wasn't a masterpiece or anything like that.
Right.
But they still could get a few hundred
bucks for it back in the '50s.
Right.
RICK: Picasso was one of the most famous artists
ever to live.
He dabbled in a lot of different styles
and is responsible for creating some of them.
And because of that, some of his works
could be worth a literal fortune.
So you want to sell it.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
How much you want for it?
[sighs] Well, it was purchased for 9, so I--
6,000?
His stuff is so all over the place.
I-- I really don't get it because you will take
one Picasso etching right here and one right here,
and one is worth 10 times as much as the other,
and I have no idea why.
[laughter]
And to me, it looks legit, but there is--
there's a chance that it could be fake.
Right.
And-- are you-- are you busy right now?
- Actually, no. - OK.
Do you mind if we bring it up to my buddy's art gallery?
He'll take a look at it. He'll give us a price.
Then I can figure out what I can pay you.
Yeah, not at all.
Give me a second so I can grab my keys.
You can follow me up to the form shop.
Sounds good.
All right.
JOHNNY: We're going to head over to the appraiser,
and I'm really looking forward to making some money today.
[cash register dings]
- Moving up in the world. - Moving up.
This place is nice.
BRETT MALY: I'm president of Art Encounter.
I appraise all manner of fine art.
We also have a retail gallery, where
we sell anything from contemporary artists
to old masters.
A lot of times what he would do in these pieces
is he would put himself in.
See, he'd be, you know, this fancy-dressed musketeer
character observing what was happening.
And a lot of the historians at the time were saying, well,
it was him kind of looking back on his career and his life.
Ah.
And it's a-- it's a nice piece, absolutely.
Now, Rick, I know you wouldn't be down here
if this was a slam dunk, so.
OK, first off, is it real?
He's got no paperwork with it.
No paperwork, OK.
OK.
And the other thing is, if it's real, what's it worth?
OK, gotcha.
Let me take a closer look at it here real quick.
Now, what I'm looking for is the plate marks.
You would have the same plate marks you'd see on, like,
an etching or an engraving.
JOHNNY: Right.
You can see the plate marks right where the image is,
so you can see the indentations there that the copper
plate would've made into the paper
as it drove into the support.
So-- - That's good.
So that's good.
So it's-- it's definitely an engraving.
I've seen this particular image before, and this looks spot on.
So based on the particulars of the piece
and from what I've read on the history
and how the cruise lines got the particulars of this work, I--
I think it's a legitimate piece.
Ah, that's good.
So, all right, now the big question.
Is it worth 5 bucks, 5,000 bucks because it's a Picasso?
I know one thing that-- that this doesn't have
would be a signature.
JOHNNY: Right.
I-- I know that Picasso did sign a lot of these
etchings from the 347 series.
Plus, it's a late period etching.
So from a value standpoint in a gallery setting for this piece,
you're looking somewhere in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Hmm.
I think his family paid 9?
Yeah.
9,000.
When was this?
2006.
OK, yeah, the height of the boom.
That's when-- that's when art was just selling like hotcakes.
I hate to break it to you.
I mean, I'm a--
I'm a buyer at 1,500, and that's, like, max.
OK, would-- would you possibly do 3?
No, because I would lose money at that.
Oh, man.
I mean, if I can sell it for 2 to 3 grand in my store--
Right.
--all I'm going to pay you is 1,500 bucks.
Right.
[sighs]
OK, 1,500.
OK, cool, man.
All right.
Grab it, bring it down to the shop.
We'll do a little paperwork, and I'll pay you.
OK, sounds good.
All right. Thanks, Brett.
Cool, Rick.
Hey, good to see you. Always a pleasure.
Hey, it was good seeing you.
All right, nice to see you.
JOHNNY: I felt that it was worth letting go for 1,500.
I could have hung onto it for a few more years, but quite
honestly, in my opinion, I don't really
think it's going to get any better economy-wise
within the next maybe five.
Hopefully, I'm wrong.