RICK HARRISON: A guy came in with a couple
lithographs that could have been made by the Vincent van Gogh.
There are not a lot of original van Gogh lithographs out there.
So we're headed down to Art Encounter
to get Brett's opinion.
This is what I called you about.
Ooh, van Gogh, huh?
Maybe van Gogh.
All right, well let's see what we've got here.
Vincent van Gogh is arguably the most collectible
and desired artist of all time.
And I think what makes him so popular is he really bridged
the gap from impressionism to all the major art innovations
of the 20th century.
These scenes, they're definitely identifiable as van Gogh
images.
This one, he did it multiple times.
He was just captivated by it because it actually
reminded him of his homeland.
It's got kind of a Dutch feel.
This one, probably would have been done circa 1888.
And this one, obviously more of a Parisian street scene,
it looks like a lot of the same techniques and things.
So I would say very close in proximity.
This one probably would have been circa 1887.
Now, obviously with a name like van Gogh,
I'm sure you've got some concerns.
RICK HARRISON: Yeah.
What intrigued me was, is they are old.
BRETT MALY: Mm-hmm.
They are lithography.
BRETT MALY: Mm-hmm.
And there's an embossing from what appears
to be a French lithographer.
So I'm throwing the dice.
BRETT MALY: Sure.
You know, prints that he was directly involved
in the pulling of, those can be in the hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
But there are only about 10 or 11 prints that he ever did.
So I want to take a closer look at these with your permission.
Absolutely, please.
OK.
You can tell that they're old.
The paper looks good.
But the emblem scares me.
It's almost certainly a lithographer's stamp.
Or another possibility is it could be from a museum.
I think I know what these are.
But when we are talking about art work that potentially could
be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,
it always is good to do a little research.
So that's what I'd like to do.
If you guys can hang out a little bit,
I'd like to do a little legwork on them and then come back,
and I'll tell you exactly what they are.
- OK, perfect. - OK, yeah, we'll hang out.
BRETT MALY: All right, thanks, guys.
See you in a bit.
Posthumous lithographs from Vincent van Gogh
are very prevalent.
He's one of the most collected and revered
artists of all time.
So I'm just going to take a little time
and just make sure that what I think
is actually what they are.
All right, I did a little legwork.
And they are definitely stone lithographs.
They're well done, obviously.
The lithographer that did them did them with care.
But these were done posthumously.
And there's a number of things that were telltale signs.
I immediately got nervous by the subject matter
because I know that these were originally done in watercolor.
And nowadays, you get artists that do recreations
of their works all the time.
It's very common.
Back in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century,
lithography, and etchings, and things were media on which
to create a new original.
And then secondly, the emblem that you
see here in the lower right-hand corners,
I could not identify that symbol.
And I'm not 100% sure if it's a lithographer
or if it references a museum.
Because a lot of times, what museums would do,
since they couldn't sell the artwork that they exhibited
on their walls, they would hire an esteemed photographer
to do prints or recreations of the works that
were on the wall, and then sell them
through their museum gallery.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
Are they worth anything?
BRETT MALY: They are.
But I think you'll probably be disappointed.
There's been a lot of recreations of Van Gogh's work.
But I will say this.
These are some of the better ones that I've seen.
I put a value of around $500 for this one and maybe $200, $300
on this one.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
Thanks, man.
So are you interested in any kind of deal on these at all?
Not really.
I don't think they're going to sell well.
I'm just-- I'm just being honest with you.
SELLER: No, I understand.
I understand.
RICK HARRISON: You know, I thought
there was an inkling of a chance we'd have something there.
But there's nothing there.
Oh. RICK HARRISON: OK.
SELLER: Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
RICK HARRISON: I'm getting back to work, man.
All right, we'll see you.
I don't think I've ever quite been
that close to that much money and then had it all fall apart.