Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: So today I brought in what I believe is a 16th-century etching out of Europe, maybe Italy-- I'm not familiar with the artist.

I had a client bring it to me one day, uh, out of the blue.

She came into my shop and said, "Hey, I heard you, uh, like interesting things and strange things."

I said, "Yes, what do you have?"

And she showed me this, and I, I, I had an idea of what it was.

But I was just, like, "You don't want this?"

And she was, like, "No, I feel like you, you, you would take good care of this."

And so she just gave it to me.

It was out in the open.

Uh, and I eventually framed it just to protect it.

The client of mine that ga, brought it to me, she had found it several years prior to moving to where I live.

And when she was doing a home remodel, it was in the wall.

And that was about 25 years ago, when she found it in the wall.

APPRAISER: The stuff of legend.

GUEST: (chuckles): Yeah.

APPRAISER: Well, in fact, it is a 16th-century etching.

And it's by Agostino de' Musi.

He's also known under his alias Agostino Venezia because he was from Venice.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: He was a Renaissance artist.

Not much is known about him.

We believe he trained with Albrecht rer, but we have no proof.

(whispering): Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: And he's very much in the Mannerist style.

Each figure is exaggerated.

That's why we call it Mannerist.

And it's unusually large for the 16th century.

There's a date on the print.

It says 1518.

And I believe it is an early edition.

But it's very hard to tell without examining it out of the frame.

It is in, um, pretty poor condition.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: The framer over-matted the print on the edges to hold it down.

And I believe it's been trimmed.

We know this is image loss here.

But what we don't know is what's under the matting that the framer did.

How much loss is by his face, for example.

These are things that could affect the value.

So, yeah, you've got tears, abrasions, surface wear, toning, fading.

Nevertheless, he's a great artist, and it's very hard to get anything done by him.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: If you look at the skeletons and the wings and the faces, it's still quite a deep, sharp impression, which is good, because, as you know, it was printed on a copper plate.

And the plate wears out...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...the more the prints that were made.

So it's a multiple.

We don't know how many were printed, but we do know that it's very scarce on the market today.

The estimated value for a print in this condition by de' Musi would be anywhere from $800 to $1,200...

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: ...in a retail setting.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: We may be able to get more if we can see the full print...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and see what's going on under there.

GUEST: It's been exciting owning this for the past 12-plus years.

I, it's one of my favorite pieces that I own.

APPRAISER: It's a masterpiece.

GUEST: Oh, thank you.

APPRAISER: Everyone loves "Skeletons."

(chuckles) So it, it's a fabulous print, and you're very lucky to have it gifted to you.

GUEST: Yeah, thank you.