"How Man Learned to Fly" Illustrations, ca. 1915
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GUEST:
My father had collected these 35 years ago. And he was a college art professor, and he loved painting. And he bought these in Sarasota, and five years later, I inherited them. And they've been in my collection for 30 years.
APPRAISER:
And you know where they came from originally, where they were published?
GUEST:
These were from "The Boston Post." They were used for a magazine called "How Man Learned to Fly," by Theodore Hedlund. These are the illustrations that were used in the publication.
APPRAISER:
That's right, and how many are there altogether?
GUEST:
There are 24 illustrations, and it also came along with a bunch of photographs, as well.
APPRAISER:
These are great illustrations done in gouache.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
They're camera-ready, which means they were able to just shoot them right into the paper, as you can see with the flying man. Right there, here's the flying man matching up to the camera-ready gouache illustration that you have there on board. And that particular one was done in 1919. What's even more interesting to me is, it's not just aviation-related, which is fascinating in and of itself, because it's early aviation, but it has a science fiction, fantasy, kind of futuristic touch to it.
GUEST:
Yes, it does.
APPRAISER:
Pretty much like Frank R. Paul, who was a very famous illustrator in the '20s, who did the covers of "Amazing Story" magazine.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And when you look at the four that I kind of picked out, because I thought these were the coolest, the one on the end is an aerial bus that their concept, it says, "For 1900."
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
That they were going to fly people around in buses like this, with steam-driven engines.
GUEST:
Very interesting.
APPRAISER:
This one here is the flying man, it's man's first attempt to fly.
GUEST:
That's my favorite.
APPRAISER:
With an umbrella.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And, and parachute-like wings. You have this one, which depicts an 1896 tragedy of someone flying a glider, and he's hanging by fingertips from a building. And the last one here is the first parachute jump. The artwork is phenomenal.
GUEST:
Thank you, oh.
APPRAISER:
It really is great. These are almost 100 years old.
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
Some more, and it's amazing that they're preserved this length of time and in this kind of great condition. The one downside-- we don't know who the artist is at this point.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
I mean, possibly with further research, we could find out.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But to me that's not as important as the fact that this would appeal to so many different people.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It would appeal to aviation collectors, because in the group that's not shown, there's a lot of pictures of aerial balloons, dirigibles, regular airplanes, as well. This would definitely appeal to science fiction and fantasy collectors, for sure.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah. That's what I like, yes.
APPRAISER:
There's no doubt about it. And just general art appreciators, because this is just absolutely high-quality art.
GUEST:
I think that's what struck my dad when he saw them. He just had to have them.
APPRAISER:
Well, he's an art professor.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Well, the ones that are going to have the most value are the really... real futuristic ones. It's a little difficult when you have to put a value on something this, because you have to figure comparables.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And when you try to find a comparable on something like this...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
You're limited in who you're going to compare it to-- Frank R. Paul, or even a Chesley Bonestell, who did artwork going down into the '20s and '30s, who was very famous for this, as well. But I really have no doubt that some of the better pieces, like this, would sell anywhere from $800 to $1,500 apiece.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
Some of the lesser ones in the $200, $300, $400, $500 range.
GUEST:
Very nice.
APPRAISER:
But if you have 24 pieces, I wouldn't hesitate at auction to place an estimate, if you sold them as a, as a group...
GUEST:
Yes?
APPRAISER:
In the $8,000 to $12,000 range.
GUEST:
Wonderful-- oh, that's great.
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