what can i help you with i got this picture here uh it's from like says 1500's as far
as i'm concerned it's like a scary picture i mean i wouldn't want to hang this on my wall
i really like it you're a weird individual for liking this stuff i don't like it
i came to the pawn shop because i have an old print that i have to sell if it's any value i'm
retired so i could use the money if i got a couple of grand i'd be happy if i got more be even nicer
where in the world did you get this well i got it from my mother i was in the family a
lot of years so i sort of date on it just thought maybe it might be worth something
yeah believe it or not you got something really cool here oh really
this is an engraving by albrecht dewer actually he's a pretty famous artist as a matter of fact
he's really famous i mean he was probably the greatest engraver of the renaissance albert door
was obsessed with the idea that the world would end in some kind of apocalypse like in the bible
so most of his work included demons and satanic creatures 500 years later he is still
influencing gothic artists and even horror movie directors do you think that this is an original
that is his autograph i mean that's why he did it in every one of his prints
it appears to be an original pressing from that engraving
but i don't know the exact year it was done you have to understand what an engraving is
they actually engrave into a copper plate they ink the plate and press it into paper it's like
a giant stamp almost it's made out of copper it's a really soft metal and slowly but surely
it gets distorted so they keep on having to fix it so the first state will look one way
the second state will have subtle little changes in it where they fix the damage third state more
changes if you can get one from the 1500s in its original state it's worth 300 thousand dollars
but this is not 1500 the paper is not right the paper would be hand laid paper much differently
than this uh-huh this is 1700s or 1800s paper this thing is definitely worth some money but
i'm not really sure about the value normally i'd call my buddy brett but he's busy with a
new gallery opening so i'm gonna have to take a gamble on the price how much do you want for it
a couple thousand dollars is it worth that maybe it's worth more i don't know i'll give you my one
price and that will be it i'll give you five grand for it how about six thousand you did think it was
worth two right yeah you know but he's saying five but maybe he can get six for it you kind of
screwed yourself there right you should have gave him two i'm just trying to be honest with them um
i'll tell you what i'll give you 5 500 bucks i believe it's worth
right around seven if it's worth seven how about 6 500. i won't make no money i got rent i got
employees i got overhead i got power bills oh i got the same thing i take all the risk
and you walk out with cash how about 6 000. you get 5 500 i won't go up anymore
all right okay tough negotiators i feel really good about this buy but i won't know for sure if
the gamble is worth it till i have it appraised wow albrecht der i don't get many of those
now do you mind if i take it out of the frame to take a closer look go right ahead i get a manner
of fine art coming in here but when you're talking about an albrecht durer etching that's potentially
hundreds of years old that doesn't come down the pike too often you have any idea what it means
yeah a little bit this piece is called the night death and the devil most historians agree is a
visual image of psalm 23 though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil
like pulp fiction right exactly okay exactly and you've got death behind him holding an hourglass
you've got the devil in the form of this goat-like creature and he's heading up towards the castle
which a lot of historians and a lot of theologists agree represents heaven it's actually one of his
most famous masterworks see that right there makes me think it's fake we don't get masterworks inside
the pawn shop it just doesn't happen an albrecht durer etching that was a first impression done
right after the hand carving of the plate that piece is sold at auction for an excess of 350
000 what year was it pressed i don't know but i paid a lot of money for it i hope i did all right
well we'll take a look it's dark the lines are crisp there's obviously some conditional flaws
in the border but the composition itself is very strong however i don't think that this
is a real early impression the paper is too thin i don't think it's indicative of the laid paper
that they were using in the 16th century i also don't notice in the image much in the way of burr
basically when mr durer was doing the etching he left little grooves of metal and it would make for
almost an impressionistic look in certain areas and over time once you get further and further
removed from the first few impressions you lose the burr so i don't see much in the way of burr
however it's almost certainly from the original plate you can see the plate marks the dimensions
match up i think it's a very nice impression circa 17th century and even though it's not an
early impression it's a valuable one i mean i've seen pieces like this sell at auction
anywhere from 20 grand to 50 grand
yeah so i imagine you did pretty well i don't know what you paid for it but i paid 5500 for it
okay i said it was a gamble when i bought it um but uh thanks man you did great um you want to
put that in like a nice frame or something i think we can do something for you yeah
something chum can't break anytime you pay 5 500 for something that's a sizable investment but rick
knows what he's doing a little too much so i'm afraid he might not need an art expert anymore
you