Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: My father was stationed in Okinawa at the end of World War II, and he was a gunner on a B-24.

After the war, he worked in the kitchen on the base.

GUEST: He would trade things for art and-and collectibles.

He brought it home and he kept it in a folder... for probably about 40 years.

APPRAISER: All right, yes.

GUEST: And then I discovered it, and asked him one year to give it to me for my birthday.

APPRAISER: Oh, great.

GUEST: And he did that.

APPRAISER: He did, yeah, you like it, right?

GUEST: I love it.

APPRAISER: It's a Japanese printmaker called Hasui.

H-A-S-U-I.

He signed "Hasui" here.

"Hasui" here.

GUEST: Okay.

Oh, uh-huh.

APPRAISER: The signature.

And then the seal.

But his, uh, full name was Kawase Hasui.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Kawase was the last name, was born in 1883.

Kawase Hasui was very influential...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...in making this traditional print into, like, new type.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And this-this color, use of color is wonderful.

GUEST: Wow, yes.

APPRAISER: And it ver-- became very popular among American people.

GUEST Okay.

Okay.

APPRAISER: Uh, popular in Japan, too.

Mr. Steve Jobs...

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: ...loved this artist.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And he had about maybe dozen or 20 in his collection.

GUEST: My goodness.

APPRAISER: In America, this-- his price is going up now.

GUEST: Oh, boy.

APPRAISER: You were lucky!

(chuckles) GUEST: Okay!

APPRAISER: It's in Hiroshima prefecture, east of Hiroshima, an hour away.

APPRAISER: And it's a seaside.

He carved this in 1940, but he kept printing.

There's a publisher name.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: Publisher is very famous too, called Watanabe.

From this publisher's mark, you can say it's in the mid-1940s.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Conservatively, in auction, you say $2,500 to $3,500.

GUEST: Oh my, wow.

APPRAISER: If the color was a little bit better, it could maybe go for over $5,000 too.

GUEST: Wow.