Page 8 - IAV Digital Magazine #528

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
By Ben Hooper
Aug. 11 (UPI) -
- A man who bought a painting from a British Columbia, Canada, thrift store for $96 said he discovered the piece could be worth more than $20,000.
Stephen Burgess, of Courtenay, said he regularly pur- chases art and frames from thrift stores to deco- rate his home, and on his recent visit to Value Village in Courtenay, a painting in an ornate frame caught his eye.
"I thought I'd just get it for the
frame," he told the Comox Valley Record.
Burgess did
a Google search for the artist's signature, Wijmer, and determined it was likely a mass-pro- duced print of a piece by Dutch artist Gerritjen Wijmer, who was born in 1870.
He bought the painting for $96, intending to reuse the frame elsewhere, but during a closer examination he found a stamp from Munich, Germany, on the back of a canvas and oil brush strokes on the perimeter of the canvas under the
frame, indicating it could be an original.
One of the artist's most famous paintings, Mountain Mist, recently was auc- tioned for $200,000, indi- cating Burgess' find could be much more valu- able than the price he paid.
Burgess said his research indi- cates Wijmer paintings can sell for $20,000 to $350,000, depending on their condition. He said he is seeking a profes- sional appraiser to confirm the authenticity of the artwork.
115-yr-old Time Capsule Found During Church Demolition In Seattle
By Ben Hooper
Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A crew assisting with demolishing a 115-year-old Seattle church to make way for affordable housing discovered a previ- ously unknown time capsule hidden behind the corner- stone.
Earthwise Architectural Salvage, which was remov- ing the stained glass win- dows and other valuable items from the German Evangelical Church before it was brought down in the Queen Anne neighborhood, said workers were surprised to find the metal box behind the cornerstone.
The building was construct- ed in 1906 and served as a church until the 1960s. In the 1970s, the building was renovated and used as a counseling center.
Aaron Blanchard, the direc- tor of operations at Earthwise, said it is rare to be surprised by a time cap-
sule discovery, as such things are normally well- documented with instruc- tions to be opened in 100 years.
"This church situation is unique because, usually, time capsules are tracked and archived but this build- ing changed hands several times and it just wasn't on anyone's radar,"
Blanchard told KING-TV.
The metal box contained items including German-lan- guage literature, publica- tions like the Evangelical Messenger, newspapers from Ohio with articles about the Evangelical Association, a bishop's handwritten letter detailing the founding of the church and a booklet of the group's financial information.
"We reached out to several historical societies so that these items can be on dis- play for generations to come," Blanchard said.
Painting Bought at Thrift Store Could Be Worth More Than $20,000