Roy Lichtenstein Pin, ca. 1968
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GUEST:
It's a Roy Lichtenstein pin. It was given to me in the 1970s by a very dear aunt and uncle who were collectors of California contemporary art in Los Angeles. I wear it on occasion, but most of the time it's in a case on my nightstand, so I can see it every day.
APPRAISER:
So you enjoy it.
GUEST:
I love it.
APPRAISER:
Even when you're not wearing it, you enjoy it.
GUEST:
Absolutely.
APPRAISER:
I'm sure a lot of people out there know Roy Lichtenstein was a 20th century pop artist-- big prints with all great sayings in them. There was an outfit called Multiples, Inc, and they still exist today, and their mission is to bring to the masses works by great artists. Even... they're working on things today, like Banksy and whatnot. But at an affordable price. Now, do you know where this possibly might have been purchased by them back in the day?
GUEST:
It was in New York, on one of their buying trips, but I don't know where.
APPRAISER:
This pin usually was acquired back then when they went to a day at the museum.
GUEST:
(chuckling) Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
This was the kind of thing, you went to the museum shop, and you just saw an exhibit, and you said, "Hey, there's a Roy Lichtenstein pin." And the museum would gladly sell it to you for $25. We don't know how many are out there. What we call it is an abstract of a modern head, all right, in this polychrome enamel with benday dots.
GUEST:
Benday dots, yes.
APPRAISER:
Okay? Which was a process of printing developed by Benjamin Day. And he used it a lot, Lichtenstein, and it's still used by other people today. In the back, in what we call an incised manner, you have, "Roy Lichtenstein," in kind of a facsimile of his signature. And then beneath it, it's a copyright date, 1968. That's the year they produced them. So '68, '69, '70 fits with your story, at least.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And then below it it says, "Multiples, Inc." If you put it in an auction today, it would have an auction estimate of $4,000-$6,000.
GUEST:
Wow. That's pretty amazing.
APPRAISER:
He did make this in other versions, with different colors. Now, the black and white one, there were fewer of them produced. That one, when it comes up, which is rare, regularly brings around $10,000. This is just a great, great pin. I'm just so happy you brought it in.
GUEST:
Thank you. To me its priceless, but I'm thrilled to know that it is valuable.
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