RICK: Hey, how can help you?
SELLER: I have got a etching by James Whistler.
RICK: Whistler?
Whistler who had the famous mother?
SELLER: Whistler's Mother. Exactly.
The same guy.
[whistle sound]
I'm here at the pawn shop today to see
if they're interested in buying my Whistler etching.
I'm asking $8,000 for my etching.
And I just feel that it's worth it, from the research
that I've done.
RICK: This is really cool.
Whistler is a really interesting guy
and became a famous artist because he
was really bad in school.
[jeff laughs]
Um, no, he literally was expelled from West Point for--
JEFF: Really?
RICK: --really bad grades.
But with the recommendation from his drawing teacher Robert
Weir, Whistler was able to land a government
job doing topographical maps.
And then he started getting into art.
That's why he went to Paris to start art there.
And then he got a reputation in Paris, came back to the States,
and became one of the most famous
American artists there is.
You know, if the painting "Whistler's Mother" ever did
come up for sale, it would go for $100 million.
Sure. OK.
RICK: At least.
I mean, you can definitely tell by looking at it,
it's an etching. JEFF: Mm-hmm.
RICK: Whistler did tons of etchings.
Back then, that was the number one way artists got paid.
JEFF: Sure.
RICK: It can take months to do a painting,
but it actually can be done in just a few hours.
And since it is by the hand of the artist,
that's why people liked etchings.
JEFF: OK.
RICK: That's cool there's a date.
Wha-- 1859.
So how much are you looking to get out of this?
I'm looking to get $8,000.
RICK: And I have no idea if that's the right price.
- OK. - It's Whistler.
There's got to be some value there.
Exactly what I was thinking.
RICK: If you don't mind hanging out for a while,
I'll get my art guy down here and take a look at this thing.
He will know a lot more than I will.
OK. RICK: I'll be right back.
JEFF: OK.
RICK: So one of these, days there's going to be a painting
of me called "Corey's Father."
And it's going to be worth a fortune.
CHAD SAMPSON: This is an etching of Charles Drouet.
He's actually a famous sculptor and an artist himself.
And this piece came basically in three states.
The first state Whistler did originally in 1859.
He had 35 impressions.
RICK: That was the original?
That's the original, very valuable.
And then, Whistler sold it to the Fine Art Society.
And then they printed it with the cancellation lines.
That's the second state at play-- not as
valuable, obviously, as the 35.
This piece, just looking at it real quickly,
it appears to be a third state.
This is a corrected plate.
OK.
After Whistler's death, they reworked the plate
and they removed the cancellation lines.
This isn't something you're really supposed to do.
When we flip it over, we see it's from the Vincent
Price collection.
So a lot of people don't realize that Vincent Price-- everybody
knows him for horror, right. Everybody-- he's--
Cult horror.
Cult horror, the Michael Jackson song, "Thriller."
He did the voiceover.
But he also was a really great collector
and a connoisseur of art.
He had a fine arts degree from Yale.
He had a master's degree from the University of London.
He had over a dozen years of just studying fine art.
So Vincent Price and Sears, they have this egalitarian ideal.
They want to make fine art, truly fine art,
available to the masses.
So the Vincent Price collection is their attempt to do that.
RICK: All right.
So what do you think it's worth?
CHAD SAMPSON: This piece, as an original, is worth $40,000.
Second state's worth around $9,000, $10,000.
As a third state, this is worth right around $450.
Well, it's a lot different than $8,000
that I was hoping that it was going to be worth.
With that being said, it's still super cool, because it
is an etching by Whistler.
It is off from the original plate.
But it was done after his death.
And he never intended for it to be printed.
RICK: Told you he knows everything.
That's why he's my art dude.
JEFF: There you go.
CHAD SAMPSON: Take it easy.
Womp, womp.
[laughs]
RICK: Yeah, it doesn't make sense for me.
OK, I understand.
RICK: If I bought it off you, got it reframed and everything,
in the end, I'm not going to make any money.
Sure. I understand.
RICK: Because you're not going to sell it to me for $100.
Nope, I won't.
Put it all on the wall tell your friends about it.
Exactly. Thank you.
RICK: Have a good one.
Story to tell.
Thank you very much.
JEFF: Very disappointed.
I was hoping this was one of the originals,
but obviously, it's not.
I think I'll just hang on to it and let the grandkids
enjoy it at some point.