GUEST: Well, my parents bought it.

I'm from Chicago, from the South Side of Chicago.

My parents purchased it at the Hyde Park Art Fair, 1963.

It could have been '64, but I do think it was '63.

And it was hanging on their walls for my entire childhood.

And then when they both passed away, it-it came down to us.

APPRAISER: Do you know if they purchased it directly from the artist?

GUEST: They did, he had a booth at the Hyde Park Art Fair, and he would come every year.

APPRAISER: How much did they pay for it?

GUEST: $75.

When my parents passed away, because I loved the picture so much, I found the artist's email address and I wrote to him and he was kind enough to write back.

I sent him a picture of-- an email of the, of the art and he wrote to me about it and-and told me a bit about it, which was wonderful.

APPRAISER: Well, that's very generous-- a lot of times...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: you don't get that kind of reaction.

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: You either get ignored or, or...

GUEST: Right.

Exactly.

APPRAISER: or something else, right?

GUEST: I expected to be ignored, I did.

(chuckling) APPRAISER: Exactly.

GUEST: But it meant a lot to me.

APPRAISER: So, as it turns out, you do have a-- part of that, uh, email.

GUEST: I do.

APPRAISER: Do you mind reading what he said?

GUEST: He wrote that he had returned to watercolor in 2003.

"I probably haven't used it since the '60s.

And I observed some delicate and sensitive use of watercolor in this painting that I still admire.

Frankly, I think it's a very fine painting."

GUEST: So he loves his work APPRAISER: (chuckling) That's excellent!

That's excellent.

He endorsed it.

GUEST: He did.

He did.

APPRAISER: And you know, I noticed the painting is not signed.

So having that information actually confirms the fact that GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: he did the painting.

GUEST: He did.

APPRAISER: This is a watercolor painting by Wadsworth Jarrell, probably done in the '60s, as you just indicated.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And the subject matter is Charlie Parker on the saxophone and Dizzy Gillespie on the trumpet.

Wadsworth Jarrell, he was born in 1929 in Georgia.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: He later moved to Chicago...

GUEST: Didn't know.

APPRAISER: ...and he actually had, uh, some instruction at the Art Institute of Chicago, as well.

Wadsworth Jarrell was a co-founder of AfriCOBRA, which was founded in Chicago in 1968.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: AfriCOBRA actually stands for African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists.

GUEST: (chuckles) APPRAISER: He's still alive, he was born in 1929.

GUEST: Yes!

APPRAISER: But he's still with us.

GUEST: Amazing, almost, okay.

90s.

APPRAISER: In his, in his 90s, yeah.

But a painting like this, I think I would put an insurance value of $75,000.

GUEST: Oh, my God.

(groans) $75,000?

APPRAISER: Yes.

GUEST: Okay, wonderful!

It is.

(chuckles) It's wonderful, it's worth it, it is worth it.

It's a wonderful painting and we're very grateful.