Conrad Schwiering Oil, ca. 1966
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GUEST:
We used to vacation in the Tetons. That was our favorite place. Conrad Schwiering's studio was close to where we vacationed on this ranch. And we met him, we saw a lot of his paintings, and we were going to build a new house, so we had him do this painting for our living room. And I still keep it in that living room.
APPRAISER:
How much did it cost?
GUEST:
It was only $600, which, at that time, was a lot to us.
APPRAISER:
That is a lot of money. Now, when you acquired the painting, this letter came with it.
GUEST:
Yes, we had talked to him about it before when we were there. And I wrote and gave him some of the colors and things that we'd like in it. And that's the letter we got back from him.
APPRAISER:
And the letter is directed to you, and it's on his stationery, his letterhead, which I think is great. From Jackson, Wyoming, April 8, 1966. And what's great is at the end of the letter, where he's explaining what he's going to paint for you, sincerely yours, and he signed it. There's no question that the work is authentic. It's traceable directly from the artist, directly to you. The painting is clearly signed. It's copyrighted. On the back it's entitled, "Summer's Spell." He's an artist who grew up in Laramie, Wyoming. He went to the University of Wyoming. He died of a heart attack at age 69, not terribly old. He wasn't very old.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
In 1986. And here was an artist so committed to his craft, that when he died, he was in fact sketching. And when you consider that in his lifetime he sold 1,000 paintings, it's incredible. He was arguably the most famous painter of the Tetons, and he set up a studio overlooking the Tetons. Very well-known and very popular today with Western collectors. I would say that today, for insurance purposes, this is a painting that should be valued at $25,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. I didn't know it was that valuable at all.
APPRAISER:
Oh, yeah.
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