-What do we have?
-[man] A Picasso vase. [Rick] A Picasso vase. [man] Painted by himself. [Rick] This looks like
one of his owl vases. He was making them in the '40s
and '50s in France. Just the design of it is a hoot. [both laughing] [owl hoots] [man] I'm at the pawn shop today to try to sell
my Picasso wood owl vase. This Picasso piece
is very unique because there were
only 500 made. And I'm sure most of them
now are in museums or in private collections. I've enjoyed this vase
for over 35 years. My wife and I,
we're downsizing now, and this is part
of the downsizing. I'm hoping to get $35,000 for this Picasso owl piece. It's really cool.
Yeah, a Picasso. I mean, he's one of the most
famous artists in the world. Early 1900s, he's in Paris,
he's in Barcelona. He gets a reputation for himself
as a modern artist. He comes up with Cubism
and all these other things. After World War II, I mean, he was known
throughout the world. And I do know a little bit
of the story with this. In the 1940s, Picasso started
getting interested in ceramics. And him and some other people
came up with the idea, "Let's make Picassos
for the masses," so they started coming up
with ceramic ideas and this owl was one of them. It's sort of weird, 'cause they
are a limited edition of 500, but I know there's over
at least 100 different owls and each one of those is 500. They sold tons and tons of them and no one expected them
to be worth a lot of money. I know they're worth
a whole lot of money now. I know they're marked
on the bottom. But that's about
all I know, is that. I don't know what all this
means on the bottom. And I know these are faked. The big question,
how much you want for it? I'll take $35,000. Okay, um... I'm definitely not an expert -in Picasso ceramics.
-[chuckling] Okay. -If you hang out a little bit,
-Sure. let me go grab my art guy.
Um, I'll get him down here. He'll take a look,
We'll go from there. -[Joe] Great.
-I'll be right back. [Joe] Okay. I'm sure on some days, that owl is wiser
than some of my employees. -Hey, Chad.
-Hey, Rick. How are you today? I'm doing great.
Here's what I called you about. [Chad] That is a Pablo Picasso. I recognize that a mile away. [Rick] So like I told you on
the phone, what I do know is that they were never
supposed to be expensive. -[Chad] Mm-hmm.
-Now they're expensive, -and I know people fake them.
-Right. They're also incredibly hot
on the market right now. The reason auction houses
like them is there's a lot of them, and that particular one
I know for a fact he made 500 of, so it's not hard for them
to get the supply. So if I put this to auction,
my odds of selling it is about 90%. So they're very, very desirable. [Rick] So my big question is,
is it real? [Chad] Let me put my gloves on
and take a look at it. From here, it looks right. So if you don't mind,
I'm gonna reach into there and grab her from you. First thing we're gonna do
is flip it over we're gonna look at the stamps. So it's got the edition,
Picasso. Very importantly, the lettering
and everything is perfect on it. Another thing I look at
is it's semi-glazed. Here it's very shiny.
Here it's not very shiny. That's good.
All the stamps are there, the markings are right, but the thing that's most
surprising is the condition. -It's fantastic. It's pristine.
-[Joe] Yeah, mm-hmm. So I buy this off this guy,
what can I sell it for? Here's the weird thing
about the ceramics. This one sells for up to $61,000
on the retail market. That's not a realistic price. But the people list it, you know they negotiate down. I think you could safely figure you're gonna get
right around $25,000 for it. Okay, so I could retail this
for $20,000 to $25,000. That's my guess, yeah. All right, thanks, Chad. -Appreciate it.
-[Chad] Okay. You guys take it easy.
Bye-bye. Okay, um... Chad says it's real. What he said
about going online and looking at prices
is true with everything. -[Joe] Of course.
-People can ask all day long, it's what they get in the end
that's important. I can give you $15,000 for it. No, that's not gonna make it. [scoffs] I got salesmen
and commissions, and um... -[sighs] I mean--
-How about $19,000? I'll go $16,000. How about $19,000? [groans] I'll give you $17,000. -Okay, I'll take it.
-All right, great. I'll meet you around the corner,
do some paperwork, -I'll get you paid.
-Okay. That's a hoot. I own a Picasso. [chuckles] [Chum] Rick asked me
to swing by Brett's shop and have a picture framed
while I was out and about. I hate being away
from my stocks this long, but I gotta keep the boss happy so I can keep collecting
my paycheck. Look what the cat dragged in.
How are you doing, Chum? Good to see ya.
It's been a while. -How are ya?
-I'm pretty good. Uh, I came to get
this picture framed for Rick. Cat's the framing queen.
She'll take a look at that. Before you get started with Cat, I wanna show you this
new piece we're bringing in. Okay, what do you got? This is a Picasso. Miriam is representing
this piece. [Chum] Sweet. [Brett] It's called, uh, <i> Le Crâne de Chèvre
Sur la Table.</i> It means "Goat Skull on Table." [Chum]
It is a pretty nice piece. -It's for sale.
-[Brett chuckles] -Oh, is it?
-[Miriam] Yeah. [goat bleats] [Miriam] My friend, uh,
purchased this piece 35 years ago from a gallery It is the fourth print
out of 150. Then it was appraised
at $19,500, so I think $16,000
is a good price. [Chum] This is pretty cool. So what period
of Picasso is this from? [Miriam] Around, um, 1953, so he was 71 years old. It's about the right time
in his life to paint, uh, the<i> Goat Skull on the Table.</i> [Brett] Yeah, exactly. The printing technique,
correct me if I'm wrong, -this was aquatint, correct?
-Correct. Which is basically
an etching technique where it really
gives it the look of an original watercolor. You get a lot of the color,
you get a lot of the texture you wouldn't get otherwise
in a flat print. Picasso is probably the world's
most recognized fine artist. Certainly the most important
artist of the 20th century. Famous for pioneering Cubism and Abstract Expressionism. He was a genius. It's in great shape.
No tears, no blemishes. Cool. So you don't mind
if I try to buy this thing? Not at all. Okay, I'd have
to resell it if I bought it, but I'd be interested
in making an offer. All right.
What are we looking at? [Chum] I'm gonna
have to call the big boss. Okay, by all means. [Chum grunts] [phone ringing] -Yo, what's happening, dude?
-[Rick]<i> Hey, what's up?</i> I'm just fixing to buy
this Picasso right here. Hello? <i> -What?</i>
-I'm about to buy this Picasso. I just wanted to call you
and let you know. <i> What are you doing
buying a Picasso?</i> No, really, it's cool. Look. <i> No, it's not cool.</i> It's a Picasso. Look. [Rick]<i> You don't know
anything about Picasso.</i> <i> I thought you were just
supposed to go over to Brett's</i> <i> and get something framed.</i> Hold on. Talk to Rick for me. Rick, hey. It's Brett. This is a Picasso
we were gonna bring in to put in the new gallery. <i> Okay. Um, how much
you want for it?</i> Well, it appraised for $19,500. We're looking to get
about $16,000 out of it. -[Rick]<i> Really.</i>
-Yep. <i> Uh, let me talk
to Chum real quick.</i> -[Miriam] Okay.
-[Brett] Sure. Chum? [Rick]<i> Go somewhere where
I can talk to you privately.</i> Rick wouldn't
wanna talk in private if he wasn't gonna give me
a shot at buying this thing. Now I just hope
he doesn't want me to offer some crazy low price. <i> Don't pay more
than $11,000 for it, period.</i> -All right, I got--
-[Rick]<i> That's a good deal.</i> <i> Don't screw this up.</i> <i> $11,000 for it,
and bring it to the pawn shop.</i> <i> Not a penny more. All right?</i> All right, no problem. -I gotta go, bye.<i>
-Later, Chum.</i> Art tends to appraise
for way higher than the actual selling price, because other
than previous sales, it's all a bit subjective. Rick shouldn't worry though.
I've got this. How about $9,000? Sorry. It's a Picasso. How about... $14,500? That's still just
too high for me. I mean, I'd bump it up a little,
maybe $10,500? $10,500? Wow. What about $12,000? Mm, $10,500 is
what I'm gonna offer. I'm firm there. Okay, can you
come up to $11,000? [Chum] My boss might get mad. It is a Picasso. -I'll do $11,000.
-[Miriam] All right. You got a deal. You gotta
bring it to the pan shop though. Wonderful. We'll bring it down. Getting $11,000
doesn't look very good, having, you know,
appraised it for $19,500, but we sold it, and I think $11,000
will be fine with her. Adam, what's up? -How are you?
-I'm doing good. [Adam] So I brought
you today not one, but six original Picassos. Originals? Drawn by him,
painted by him-- Well, etchings in a book, but still original etchings. It was put out
by a company called the Limited Editions Club. I'm assuming since it's from the Limited Edition company, it's a limited edition? -[Adam] It is.
-[laughing] [Adam] I came
into the shop today to sell a book
illustrated by Picasso. There are a lot of people that would be interested
in buying this. Picasso is the greatest artist
of the 20th century. I'm asking $5,000 for the book. This is actually one of the most
famous illustrated books in America, of the 20th century. The Limited Editions Club tried to marry famous
works of literature with famous artists, and they had Picasso
illustrate in this book, the ancient Greek comedy
of<i> Lysistrata,</i> by Aristophanes, which is a fabulous play. <i> Lysistrata</i> was to do
with the ancient wars between Athens and Sparta, and they had
these interminable wars which were completely destroying
the ancient world, so Lysistrata decided
to get together with the ancient
women of Greece, and withhold sexual privileges
from the men as an attempt to get them
to end this awful war. Okay, um, different.
So where'd you get it? As usual, I'm running around estate to estate,
looking for treasure, so this was one of them. Um, pretty cool.
When was this published? In, uh, 1934. [Rick] Even up
until that time period, people always wanted etchings because technically they are
done in the artist's hand. Because it's a copper plate
that's covered in wax, and he draws everything
with a pen, and then they pour acid on it, and it etches it out, and that's what they use
for the printing plate. These are not the etchings.
These are printed in the book. Were these released
anywhere else? Uh, no. This was special just
for this book of<i> Lysistrata.</i> And his signature
is actually at the back. This is the limitation
for the book, they call it, showing
it's one of 1,500 copies. And then he signed,
powerfully in this case. Pablo Picasso
is widely known as being one of the greatest
painters of the 20th century. Everyone knows his name. Weird thing here
is we have a book and we have art.
What's worth more money? How much you want for it? Well, what does
a Picasso get today? $100 million a piece? -No.
-[both laughing] Not all Picassos
go for a lot of money. There's one that goes
for, like, $50. $50? Well, that was
the etching<i> Pour Roby.</i> He had a friend named Roby,
that was always poor, and he basically told him, "Here, just take
the copper plate, and whenever
you need some money, go down the street,
and print up a bunch of money." There's tens of thousands
of<i> Pour Roby's</i> out there. Well, I'm looking for something
like $5,000 for the book. Um, do you mind if I have
my art guy look at it? Yeah, no, of course. Um, give me a few minutes,
I will get him down here. Perfect, thanks so much. I'm excited about having
an expert come in, because I'm sure he's gonna
understand and explain how important this book is
in the history of art. Picasso. Picasso<i> Lysistrata.</i> Yeah, this is
an art dealer's special. This is considered one of his best illustrated
works in the classical style. There's six etchings. The etchings
are considered original. The other thing that's
exciting about this book is Picasso only did one American
printing of etchings ever. Other artists tended to depict
a lot of the war in it. Picasso, straight up to love. The interactions between
the men and the women were the basis
for all of the illustrations. The condition of the etchings
seem to be near pristine. If it was me, I'd cut the pages out.
I don't know. The book goes bye bye. -Okay.
-[all chuckle] In my business,
all of the value of this book is in these etchings. The drawing's
worth a little bit, Picasso's signature is
worth a little bit, but the actual etchings
is the part that-- [Rick] What are
the etchings worth? [Chad] Retail? $1,500, $2,000, depending on the gallery. -Each one of them?
-[Chad] Each one of them. The signature here, you know, $500. So anywhere
from $9,500 to 12,500. -I think that's about right.
-Okay. -Thanks, man.
-Appreciate you having me. Thanks for showing it to me.
It's nice. If Rick is able to get this book
at a great price, I think he should
keep it in book form. If he pays any amount
of money over $5,000 for it, he'll absolutely
have to cut it up in order to get
his money out of it. [Rick] Like always,
I'm gonna call Rebecca. Let me have her take a look
at this. I just wanna know if there's more money cutting it
up or keeping it as a book. [Adam] Okay, great. I'm excited Rick's
calling in Rebecca. She's gotta be familiar
with this book. It's such a famous work, and I know she's not gonna wanna
rip this book to shreds. I brought you a book
I'm sure you're gonna know. [Rebecca]
I know and love this book. I mean, this is part of a larger
20th century trend, which is really
important in books. It's the whole<i> livre d'artiste,</i> which is artists' books, right? The first was
Manet does<i> The Raven</i> in the late 19th century, and then you get
this entire trend where great artists
are turning to literature. And this, this confluence
is, is a beautiful thing. Um, so what do you think of it? [Rebecca]
Let me take a quick look at it. All right, limitation page... the glassine is intact. That's this here, very fragile. So chemise and slipcase
seem to be... relatively intact. As far as condition goes,
this is a beautiful copy. It's what I would
expect, actually, because this was
a deluxe production. The outside materials
have a little bit more wear, because the outside is the first
part to receive damage, and that's why
it's there in the first place. So you have an art guy. Um, well, he told me
how much it would be worth if I cut it into pieces. -[Rick laughing]
-[Adam] I had to cringe too. Sometimes the pieces are
worth more than the whole. [Rebecca] From the book
perspective, that's heresy. And you kind of fall in between. I fall where the money's at. I was just gonna say,
what do I have to do to convince you not to break it? [Rick] Well, what's it worth? [Rebecca]
Well, before I get into that, Rick, you love history, right? Yes. [Rebecca]
If you take these etchings out of this book, you're destroying
a historical artifact. This book by itself in this condition... I wouldn't hesitate
to put at $10,000. -Okay.
-[Adam] That's around the mark of, uh, what the art guy said. -Is it now?
-Yes. If there's no real
difference in price, why destroy history? Why? Um, I'll let you know
what happens. -Um...
-I will let you know. This will be, may be
the last handshake. -See you soon.
-Bye. This is a great buy for Rick.
He should do it. But if I come in and I see that
he has cut these up, I am coming for him. [sighs] So...
$5,000. We got a deal. [Adam] You heard Rebecca.
She said $10,000. What about bumping
it up a little bit? Bumping it up to what? [Adam] $6,000.
That's a fair number. It's a beautiful book.
It's Picasso, one of the great artists
of the 20th century. It's gonna be out of here in the blink of an eye
as a book. [sighs] You know what? That's a fair price.
It really is. -We got a deal.
-And I'll shake your hand. [laughing] You know the procedure.
We'll go do some paperwork. [Adam] I'm settling on $6,000. That's a grand more than I even thought
I could get out of the book, so I'm taking it and running. [man] How are you doing? Pretty good. What do we-- Um, obviously
this is a Picasso, huh? [man] It is, yes, it is. It's a Picasso.<i> La Celestine.</i> What? [laughing] Las la la la la? Uh,<i> La Celestine.</i> Um-- <i> -La Celestine?
-La Celestine.</i> You say things,
you gotta say 'em slow, -'cause I'm... I'm slow.
-Okay. [laughing] Everybody knows who Picasso is. <i> La Celestine</i> was in
a collection of works in 1968. I believe there were 66 pieces.
This is one of those pieces. The piece was purchased
on a cruise line in a Park West Gallery. Unfortunately, I do not have any paperwork
that comes along with it. Family seems
to have misplaced it. [Rick] Yeah, it's a Picasso. God, he did some creepy stuff. -[laughing]
-Well, I mean, the guy was just bizarro. He really, really was. Um, you know,
he actually tried starting off doing, like traditional art. -[Johnny] Yeah.
-And... everyone told him he sucked. Okay, and then he sort of
came up with his own style. No one had really
done that before. God, he made tons of money. But I know he blew
most of his money. He was a lush, and he lived into his 90s, he had, like,
a gazillion wives, um... So, um... he did have to make a lot
of art to pay for all that. Um, there's great
stories about him too. There's stories about him,
how he would go into a bar, drink all day long, and then say,
"You got a piece of paper?" He'd draw
a little something on it, sign his name at the bottom,
and said, "Here's my bar bill." [Johnny]
Oh, you're kidding me. Wow. [Rick] They didn't
have a problem doing it, because, um, it was still a hand
drawn original from Picasso. I mean, it wasn't a masterpiece
or anything, but they still could get
a few hundred bucks for it -back in the '50s.
-[Johnny] Right. [Rick] Picasso was one
of the most famous artists ever to live. He dabbled in
a lot of different styles and is responsible
for creating some of them. And because of that, some of his works
can be worth a literal fortune. So you wanna sell it. Yes, yes I do. How much you want for it? [Johnny sighs] Well... it was purchased for $9,000. So, I... Does $6,000? Um, his stuff is
so all over the place. I really don't get it, because you will take
one Picasso etching right here and one here, and one is worth
ten times as much as the other, and I have no idea why. [both laughing] And to me it looks legit, but there's, there's a chance
that it could be fake. And, um... Are you busy right now? Actually, no. Okay, do you mind
if we bring it up to my buddy's art gallery? He'll look at it, give a price, then I can figure out
what I can pay ya. Not at all. Give me a second
so I can grab my keys. You can follow me up
to the Forum Shops. [Johnny] Sounds good. All right. We're gonna head over
to the appraiser, and I'm really looking forward
to making some money today. [Rick] Moving up in the world.
This place is nice. -Hey, Brett.
-[phone ringing] [Brett] Sorry, guys.
Hold on a second. Art Encounter. Oh, hey, Jason. How are you? I'm President of Art Encounter. I appraise
all manner of fine art. We also have a retail gallery where we sell anything from contemporary artists
to Old Masters. Tell me a little bit about it.
This is your piece? -[Johnny] Yeah.
-Okay. [Johnny] It was purchased
from a cruise line. It's a Picasso,<i> La Celestine.</i> Yeah, all the prints
that were done for that book were part of
Picasso's 347 Series. A lot of times, what
he would do in these pieces is he would put
himself in a scene. He'd be, uh, you know,
this fancy dressed musketeer character
observing what was happening, and a lot of the historians
at the time were saying, "It was
him looking back on his career and his life." And it's a nice piece,
absolutely. Now Rick, I know
you wouldn't be down here if this was a slam dunk, so-- [Rick] Okay, first off,
is it real? -He's got no paperwork with him.
-No paperwork, okay. -If it's real, what's it worth?
-[Brett] Okay, gotcha. Let me take a closer look
at it here real quick. Now what I'm looking for
is the plate marks. You'd have the same
plate marks you'd see on an etching or an engraving. You can see the plate marks
right where the image is. So you can see
the indentations there that the copper plate would have
made into the paper as it drove into the supports. -so that's good.
-That's good. It's definitely an engraving. I've seen this
particular image before, and this looks spot on. So based on the particulars
of the piece, and from what I've read
on the history and how the cruise lines got
the particulars of this work, I think it's a legitimate piece. [chuckling] That's good. All right, now the big question. Is it worth five bucks?
Five thousand bucks? Because it's a Picasso... [Brett] One thing
that this doesn't have would be a signature. I know that Picasso did sign a lot of these etchings
from the 347 Series. Plus, it's
a late period etching, so from a value standpoint, in a gallery setting, for this piece, you're looking somewhere
in the $2,000 to $3,000 range. Oh, wow. [Brett] Yeah. I think his family paid $9,000. [Brett] Oh, $9,000.
When was this? 2006. Okay, yeah. Height of the boom. That's when art
was just selling like hotcakes. Um, I hate to break it to you, I mean, I'm a buyer at $1,500. That's like, max. Okay, would you
possibly do $3,000? No, because I would
lose money at that. Ah, man. If I can sell it for $2,000
to $3,000 at my store, all I'm gonna pay you is $1,500. [Johnny] Right, right. [groans] Okay, $1,500. -All right, cool, man.
-All right. Grab it, bring it by the shop,
we'll do a little paperwork, and, um, we'll pay you. -Okay, sounds good.
-All right. Thanks, Brett. Cool, man. Hey, good to see you.
It was a pleasure. -Nice to see you.
-[Johnny] Right on. I felt that it was
worth letting go for $1,500. Uh, I could have hung onto it
for a few more years, but quite honestly,
in my opinion, I don't think it's gonna get
any better, economy wise, within the next maybe five...
hopefully I'm wrong. -Hi.
-Hey. Hey, I wanted to see
if I can sell these Picassos. -Okay.
-I'm gonna go look around. [Rick] So where
did you get these? They belong to my mom.
I'm selling them for her. Looks like something
Chum could've drawn. Um, yeah, probably could have,
but he's not Picasso. Picasso drew it first,
and that's why it's worth money. Picasso's not the first guy
to draw a dove. [laughing] [woman] I've come into
the pawn shop today to try to sell
my two Picasso etches. I think they're in
pretty good condition, and my mother thinks
they're worth $1,000. I don't wanna disappoint her, so I'm hoping to get $1,000. So how did your mom get these? She was an interior designer, and in the early '70s, an art dealer came
to her design firm -and sold them to her.
-[Rick] Okay. I've had them in my house,
like, my whole life, and as a child, I always would
look at these two pictures and wonder who
the heck Picasso is, and I kind of liked doves
ever since I looked at that. This one right here
is called<i> Pour Roby.</i> There's a lot
of these out there, some are worth more than others. I don't know exactly
what the difference is, but they're pretty common. Even if you don't know
anything about art, you've probably heard
of Pablo Picasso. He's one of the most
famous artists of all time. One of his paintings recently
sold for over $100 million. Do you know anything
about the dove? [Mindi] I don't know
anything about these. I grew up kind of hoping that I'd be able to draw
better than that. -Not that hard.
-[all laughing] I don't got that much
love for Picasso, but he just... Yeah, but it was still Picasso. Picasso made
over 50,000 different pieces during his lifetime. Some of them
are incredibly valuable. So before I lay out any cash, I'm gonna get
these things checked out. I want someone to come
look at the<i> Pour Roby,</i> because I just don't know
how to tell the difference between the cheap ones
and the expensive ones. While he's here, he can tell us
about the picture of the dove. -Hang out, I'll get him.
-[Mindi] All right. I'm really excited about
an expert coming in. I'm excited to know
what these pieces are worth. [Brett] I'm a fine art appraiser with Art Encounter
here in Las Vegas, and I specialize
in the appraisal of fine art paintings, all manner of
two dimensional works, oils, acrylics, watercolors. [Rick] This is
what I called you about. I know the<i> Pour Roby,</i> some of them are worth $100, some of them are worth,
like, $800, $900. I can tell it's a real etching
and everything. I don't know the difference, why some are worth
more than others. -[Brett] Okay.
-[Rick] This one I'm not sure... Picasso was an expert
in all media. He did everything from linocuts,
to lithographs, to etchings, so it's really nice to see
one of his works up close. This piece looks like
just an open edition lithograph called<i> Blue Dove of Peace.</i> It's a mass produced piece, so maybe $100, $200 dollars. [Rick] Okay. [Brett] Now this one
was done circa 1950, and it was done in honor of a friend of his,
Robert Godet. As Rick said,
it's called<i> Pour Roby.</i> Picasso gave up
rights to the plate, so what Mr. Godet would do is if he got
in financial trouble, he would actually produce
a few prints, sell them. He got in more trouble, he'd produce a few more
and sell them. Of the 2,000 graphic works
Picasso has done, this may very well be
the most mass produced. The good news is though,
if it was one of the ones done during Picasso's lifetime, and on a particular
stock of paper, it'll have a lot more value. What I'd like to do is take
a closer look at it if I may. -Okay, sure.
-Okay, great. It's on a real heavy stock
paper, an Arches paper, which is indicative of one
of the early pressings. Later on, they did it
on a much cheaper paper, so the fact that this
is an early edition is a very good sign. I've seen comparables
of this etching out, anywhere between $200
all the way up to about $1,500, but in looking at this piece, I think this would be towards
the upper end of that spectrum. In a gallery setting,
you'd be looking, uh... -$800 to $1,500.
-Oh, good. -Thanks, Brett. Appreciate it.
-Always a pleasure. Thanks Corey, good to see you. After hearing all that,
what do you want for them? I'm looking to get $1,000. [Rick] $1,000 I couldn't do. This one I wouldn't want. It's just too common. And this one right here, I would give you $600 for it. What about $900? I don't give gallery prices. It's a Picasso,
so someone's gonna buy it. It's the most common one
on the planet though. What about, like, $750? I'd go $600. $650? -Yeah, I'll go $650. All right.
-Thank you. -Wanna write her up something?
-Yeah, let's do paperwork. [Mindi] I know that
it was worth more than what they offered me, but I settled on $650, and I think that my mom
will be happy with that price.
