Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

I bought them in a gallery in Minneapolis in 1959. They were in the window, and as I walked by, I thought they were very pretty.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

And that they would look wonderful in a special place I had in my living room.

APPRAISER

So you bought them as a pair.

GUEST

I bought them as a pair on the spot. Hadn't gone in planning to buy paintings or anything.

APPRAISER

Okay, and you know who the artist is?

GUEST

Well, I read, or they told me it was Gisson? I'm not sure of how you pronounce it.

APPRAISER

Right, his name is Andr Gisson. Did they tell you anything about him?

GUEST

The only thing they told me that he was getting old, and he was starting to go blind.

APPRAISER

Really? Okay.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

Well, you do, in fact, have two views of Paris. And you can see down here it is signed, "A. Gisson," G-I-S-S-O-N.

GUEST

Oh, I didn't-- I didn't see the A.

APPRAISER

They're both signed. Now, nice Parisian views, but the artist wasn't French at all.

GUEST

Oh!

APPRAISER

It's one of the great stories. He was a struggling artist. He was born in Brooklyn.

GUEST

(laughs)

APPRAISER

His name was Anders Gittelson, of all things.

GUEST

Oh, for heaven's sakes.

APPRAISER

And he was born in 1921. And so what he did is, he backed up his dates. He said he was born in 1910 and was named Andr Gisson. And he lived in Westport, Connecticut, most of his life, and painted there.

GUEST

Uh-huh.

APPRAISER

So that's why they thought he was getting older. And his biography, one of his galleries wrote, the very first line, it says, "Born outside of Paris." I guess Brooklyn counts as outside of Paris.

GUEST

But they weren't lying.

APPRAISER

Yeah, they weren't lying, no.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

He died just recently, in 2003. Did you pay a lot of money for these?

GUEST

I paid $150 for each one.

APPRAISER

$150.

GUEST

For each one.

APPRAISER

Well, his paintings have come up a little bit more in the market recently.

GUEST

Good.

APPRAISER

So if I were to put these into an auction, I would probably expect to get $3,000 to $4,000 for them, for the pair.

GUEST

Mm-hmm, oh, good, good. My son will be glad to hear that. He's inheriting them.

APPRAISER

Oh, he will, good.

GUEST

(laughs)