GUEST: This is an Oscar Berninghaus watercolor.

Oscar Berninghaus and my great-grandfather were friends.

My great-grandfather was Francis Healy.

He owned an art gallery here in St.

Louis, and he was president of the art commission.

And Oscar Berninghaus signed this over to my great-grandfather.

My great-grandfather gave it to my dad.

Signed it over to my dad.

So then my dad passed away in 2004.

It was specifically meant to go to me.

APPRAISER: So he knew that you liked it.

GUEST: Oh, yeah.

APPRAISER: Down at the lower left, it is inscribed.

Can you read it?

GUEST: Yes.

"To F.D.H," which is Francis Dennis Healy.

That was my great-grandfather.

APPRAISER: In addition to being the, uh, arts commissioner here, he had a very prominent gallery.

And he was the first gallery to give Berninghaus an exhibition... GUEST: Oh!

APPRAISER:...actually, when Berninghaus was 25 years old.

And this is right when Berninghaus went to Taos for the first time.

Now, when we talk about Berninghaus today, a lot of people know that he came from St.

Louis, but most people, when they think about him, they think of him as one of the founders and one of the most important artists of the Taos Society of Artists.

And he did go there, originally, around 1899.

GUEST: Oh... APPRAISER: He really instantly fell in love... GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...with that part of the world and with Taos itself and the Pueblo, which this is a depiction of.

And then he came back and he showed a lot of these watercolors and other paintings at your great-grandfather's, uh, gallery, yeah.

GUEST: Oh, at his gallery.

Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: So in a way, he was, uh, your great-grandfather was very, very important to the history of American art and history of American Western art.

GUEST: I didn't know that.

Neat.

APPRAISER: There's a sticker on the back that still has the label from Healy Galleries.

APPRAISER: Berninghaus started as a commercial illustrator.

One of the first art patrons... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:...of-of Berninghaus was the Busch family.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And they supported him throughout his artistic career.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Both as a commercial artist and as a fine artist.

Later in 1914, Berninghaus did a printed booklet of illustrations of scenes from the American West that was done and promoted for the Busch family.

APPRAISER: So he always considers himself a St.

Louis artist who would spend some time in Taos.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: What I think he was instrumental in doing was in, um, really bringing this love of the American West... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:...back to the... GUEST: back to here, APPRAISER: which is really the city of... that is the gateway to the West.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: The medium is watercolor and gouache on paper.

So, it's mostly watercolor... APPRAISER:...highlighted with, uh, some gouache painting, like in the white parts.

And it just depicts a scene from daily life.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: So it is signed and dated lower left.

It says 1900, and it even has a day and, and month.

A work like this is going to be conservatively estimated at auction at around $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Okay.

Sounds good.

APPRAISER: If you were to insure this... GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...I would insure it at around $8,000.

GUEST: Okay.