1907 E. William Gollings Oil Painting
GUEST: We have a very small family, and our family has collected Western art for a very long time. This was in the attic, and I hadn't even really seen it before. And, uh, my brother's fiancée went wandering around. She found it in the attic, brought it down, and said, "This should not be in the attic." And it's probably been in the attic of our farm home since 1970s, maybe?
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: There's quite a pile of art up there. I'm guessing that our great-grandparents purchased it on their travels.
APPRAISER: The artist is Elling William Gollings.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Also known as Bill Gollings. He was a Western artist. His signature here says "Gollings."
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And then "'07," when it was painted, in 1907. And then this little mark here is a, a, a pony hoof.
GUEST: Oh, I wondered what that was.
APPRAISER: This, this was his trademark. It's, uh, it shows a scene, uh, out west
of these fellas being chased by bad guys, whoever they might be out there, through the sagebrush. It's a very vibrant, active Western scene...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...re, recalling kind of some of that rough and tumble days of the West. This is oil on canvas, and it's really dirty, but it, it, it will clean up really well. It's, it's very original in its condition, and it's in a, a frame probably not of the period.
GUEST: No.
APPRAISER: Um, it's probably a little later than '07.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Probably in the '30s or so. He was an artist who, uh, was born out West.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Um, he was born in Idaho, and then moved back and forth between the West and the Midwest. He went to Michigan, took some classes in Chicago, went back out to South Dakota. Did a lot of wrangling with cows and horses and all that.
GUEST: Yeah, his...
APPRAISER: So he's, he became a real cowboy, then went back to Chicago.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And then settled in Sheridan, Wyoming, and became an, a, a, a painter of cowboys and... These guys have a certain set of bona fides.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The fact that they were out there, they were punching cattle.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: You know, they were riding horses. So when tourists came out, and they, who they were selling these to, they say, "Yeah, I did this. "I'm painting it now for you.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: This is the scenes I saw." It's part of the, um, the vanishing American West. Gollings is really sort of a third wave of artists.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Um, you had people like George Catlin who came out and really experienced the West and Native Americans, and saw it for real. Then you had people coming, another generation-- Remington, Russell...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And that was sort of the second wave. And Gollings is sort of the third wave. He was born in s, 1878 and lived to 1932. So, and this is '07. The West had pretty much been conquered. He's a, a good artist. He's maybe not the, the top tier, but a, a very well-collected artist. Great scene for him. I would say at auction, you'd probably put a conservative estimate of $50,000 to $70,000 on it.
GUEST: Oh, that's wonderful.
APPRAISER: Yeah...
GUEST: That's fantastic-- it's beautiful. And no, it doesn't belong in the attic.
(chuckles)
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Understanding Our Appraisals
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