- Hey, how's is going?
Hey.
How you doing?
RICK HARRISON: I'm just assuming it's a Peter Max.
[laughs]
That it is.
Pretty interesting.
Peter Max has got a really weird storied life,
you know what I mean?
This guy was born in like Nazi Germany,
but his family doesn't go to the states or England.
They go to China.
[laughs]
WILLIE: The painting is a Peter Max
painting, originally painted in 2010, the "Statue of Liberty"
series.
I got the painting from a family friend
who actually got it from Peter Max himself
at an auction in New York.
I'm looking to sell the Peter Max painting to invest
money into my new company.
RICK HARRISON: Yeah, I mean Peter Max,
I mean, really interesting guy.
You know, he started paintings sort of like this in the '60s.
He loved comic books when he was a kid.
So that's why he sort of liked this art.
And in the '70s, he started doing the Statue of Liberty.
He worked with Lee Iacocca to restore the Statue of Liberty,
because literally in the early '80s,
there was big gaping holes in the Statue of Liberty.
Because all things made out of copper,
and it really not sealed or anything,
and it just sort of slowly falling apart.
Peter Max has a very distinctive style,
and he's still popular today.
He's done posters for the Olympics, the Grammys,
and a host of other things.
His work has been known to sell for over $100,000.
If this thing is real, it will be a great item in my shop.
So you want to sell this?
WILLIE: Yeah, I'm interested in selling it, yeah.
RICK HARRISON: How much were you looking to get out of it?
Based on what the market is, I'm trying to get out $35,000.
Whoa.
I mean, it's interesting.
[sighs] This looks like it's an original and all that.
You got paperwork for this?
WILLIE: Yeah, I do have paperwork.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
Let me have someone look at.
I mean, the problem with Peter Max
is he has so much stuff out there, OK?
I'm not taking away--
I mean he's real--
I mean, mega iconic.
People absolutely love him.
But I don't know exactly what the market
is like at the moment.
So can you hang out for a little bit?
Sure, absolutely. RICK HARRISON: All right.
I'm gonna go give someone a call.
OK.
I think an expert coming is great,
and I'm looking forward to what he thinks of the piece.
RICK HARRISON: This is it, the Peter Max.
BRETT MALY: Peter Max.
He's one of those few artists that when you see him,
you know it's a Peter Max.
This is a nice work.
He was also very much into American jazz.
And he was one of the very first artists
that would paint to music.
He would actually play the music,
and you can see his work even to this day
has a real lyrical quality.
You can almost imagine the jazz music playing in the background
as he applies the colors.
Peter Max is a very interesting artist.
He's probably the most omnipresent artist you'll find.
His work can be found on the side of cruise ships,
on album covers, you name it.
Ever since the '60s, he's been identifiable
for his semi-psychedelic and just very fluid
abstract compositions.
What I'd like to do is just take a closer look.
I just want to see maybe if it's a printed
base that he embellished or if it's completely
one-of-a-kind work.
A lot of times the image of the Statue of Liberty
would be a lithograph, and then he would add dollops of acrylic
on top of it.
I don't think that's the case with this one.
I think the visage was applied with a stencil,
but I don't think it's a print.
OK.
BRETT MALY: And then, he added the acrylic,
all the different colors and the embellishments around the side.
So it's definitely an original, and it's certainly
a one-of-a-kind.
OK.
So I mean, what's the market on this thing?
I just-- because I know there's a lot of them out there.
BRETT MALY: Right. Right.
Yeah.
The good news is this is a fairly iconic image.
You know, the Statue of Liberty, he's identified for that.
So that's a good thing.
The bad thing is, you know, he's done a lot of them.
He's probably done over 1,000 of these type of images
over the course of his career.
The other thing is he's still a living,
working artist, so he's producing more of these
as time goes on.
In a gallery situation, you might see this same work
for $50,000, but they're so prevalent you
might find the same work selling for $10,000 on the internet.
So that's the conundrum.
So I think an appropriate value for a work
like this would probably be in the $25,000 range.
RICK HARRISON: All right, well, thanks man, Rick.
Hey, it's a pleasure. RICK HARRISON: Appreciate it.
- Willie, that's a nice work. - Thank you Nice to meet you.
All right, thank you. Nice meeting you.
If the shop is able to negotiate Peter Max, he's a living icon,
so I think they're going to have an audience for it
here at the shop.
RICK HARRISON: I mean, what would
be the best price you'd take?
WILLIE: I'm pretty on my $35,000 on price.
I mean, I--
it's tough. - Mhm.
RICK HARRISON: [sighs] I mean, I'll give you $10,000.
[sighs] I mean, he said it's worth $25,000.
Can you do $15,000?
I'll go $12,000.
WILLIE: [sighs]
RICK HARRISON: That's cash money.
You can walk out of here.
I'm stuck with it.
I hang it on my wall.
And if it doesn't sell, it's my problem,
and you walk away with cash.
All right.
You got a deal.
RICK HARRISON: Sweet, man.
Follow me, and we'll do some paperwork.
Sounds good. RICK HARRISON: This way.
WILLIE: I'm taking this $12,000 offer because I think
with those funds, I could do some real things for
my business that I want to do.