Im here to meet a family whos lived here for more than a 100 years. So when they unearthed their strange inheritance, they give it the code name the black swamp find. Im karl kissner. In 2011, my cousins and i inherited the family home from our aunt. She had left us a note we would find things in this home that we never knew existed. Karl, a 54yearold restaurant owner, has invited me to the family home in the small town of defiance, ohio. Karl . Hi. Im jamie. How are you . Very good. Pleasure to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Thanks for having me. Is this the family home . This is grandmas home. Come on in. Ill show you around. The house first came into karls family in 1909. Neat old place, but needs a little tlc. Are you saying be careful . Yes. Okay. In 2012, karl and his cousins start the daunting task of cleaning out a home thats been lived in for more than a century. After several weeks of sorting through the house, only the attic remains. Karl and his cousin, karla, decide to tackle the project. Ladies first. Oh, my look at this place. The attic is empty now, but not that day in 2012. Karl and karla walk in to find a centurys worth of dusty boxes and family heirlooms. And literally filled to the rafters. Filled to the rafters, all the way up to about here and just a path down through the middle. After several hours, they uncover a box hugging the back wall. It contains something the two cousins have never seen before. It was a dirty, dusty old box, and i opened it up. And then its like, wow. Theres i dont know what it is. The cousins see what appear to be small cardboard photos tightly wrapped in twine. They recognize some pretty familiar faces. Were both looking at it. Its Baseball Players cy young, ty cobb, wagner but theyre not Baseball Cards, not to us. We get one out and we look at the back, and they look like Baseball Cards, just miniaturized, no stats, no who made it, no nothing. How many are we talking about . Hundreds. [ laughs ] amazing. So, you see the box. You take them out. What do you and karla say . Actually, we set them on a dresser in the hallway and dove back into the attic but soon, karl starts to ponder where the strange cards may have come from. Were they something aunt jean collected off a cereal box . Or maybe they go all the way back to his grandfather, carl hench. Hes a german immigrant and he works his way down through chicago and towards the ohio valley. Hes chasing the American Dream to own a home and start a business. Carls a butcher by trade, and by 1905, hes scraped together enough to open his own shop here in defiance the carl hench meat market. Along with meats and sausages, he sells candies and other grocery items. Was he successful in his shop . Very successful as a butcher in town, very wellknown. In 1909, he marries his love, jennie. They start a family and buy that dream home. By now, baseball has long established itself as the national pastime, and for decades, various companies have used Baseball Cards to sell their products. The first nationally circulated cards came inside packages of tobacco in the late 1880s and was actually one of the first opportunities for the average citizen to own a real photo. Candy Companies Jump into the game, too. The socalled caramel cards help sell the sweets and the top players of the day. Youve got honus wagner ty cobb, cy young, christy mathewson. Children love the candy, but the cards even more. Kids did what kids do. They played with them. They traded them. Theres cardflipping games that they did with them. All karl and karla know at this point is that the cards may have come from their grandfathers store. Our guess is that he would have given them away as promotional items, and like any good businessman, when you got leftovers, you save them for the next promotion. Beyond that, karl isnt sure what they have in the box, but he tells his cousin hell find out. The box sits on that dresser for a few days and almost gets thrown out several times before karl brings it to his restaurant to research the cards online. After a few days, he has some leads. I was looking at a 1909 caramel card and im going, okay, its not identical, but this is too close, and theyve got an estimated value on this card of . Around 15,000. Karl discovers that a similar ty cobb card, identified as a 1910 caramel card, recently sold for 40,000. And i got a box full of them, and theyre pristine. Thats amazing. Youre sitting on a bundle of money. Yeah. At that point the, the heart is starting to race, and im thinking to myself, oh, my god. I have 1 million sitting in a chair. A lot more than that. If, that is, karl can confirm his cards are real. Youre a little skeptical, but youre always looking forward to that one phone call that turns out to be gold. Thats next. But first, our strange inheritance quiz question. The answer when we return. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Its c, the 1984 donruss don mattingly. He didnt have the hall of fame career some predicted, but mattinglys cards remain popular. While the grandchildren of carl and jennie hench are cleaning out the centuryold family home in northwest ohio, they find a dustcovered box containing what appear to be vintage Baseball Cards. I had went to some of the auction sites. Im seeing a ty cobb for 40,000. And im looking at the ty cobb that i have, going, ooh mines better. The box karl found in the attic not only contains cobb, known as the georgia peach, but all the greats of the era. And its not just one of each player its dozens. In all there, are 800 cards, most in pristine condition. It kind takes it out of a scope and a realm that you just youre not quite sure how to handle it. Step one find out if the cards are real. Karl reaches out to vintagesportscards expert Peter Calderon in dallas. I received a phone call, which was very cryptic. He didnt want to go into any details. On a daily basis, we receive phone calls from people who find cards. Its always reprints. Peter tells karl to text some photos of the cards, and hell take a look when he gets a chance. When i got that first picture, the first thing i thought of, this is gonna be filed in a toogoodtobetrue folder, but they looked amazing, and i saw nothing about them that suggested they werent real. So, i definitely the next plan was we talked about him sending me some sample of the cards. Karl overnights eight cards to peter, with a note attached, saying, call me before you open. When the box arrives at heritage auctions in dallas. I gave him a call, had him on the phone. And theres that moment of silence that feels like 10 minutes, but its actually a matter of seconds. I opened up the box and i pulled out a large plastic holder. And then theres the, oh [bleep] i was just floored, because i had no idea what a 100yearold Baseball Card looked like brandnew. Well, at that moment, i pretty much know that, yeah, these are real. Karl has one more bombshell. So, his next question is, do you have any more . Yes. Hundreds. I would have been happy if it was just the eight cards. There was when you realized, this is the find of a lifetime. Karl dubs the cards the black swamp find, after the nickname for this section of northwest ohio. Theyre quickly shipped to dallas on an armored truck and locked in the safety of a vault. The next step is to get each card officially graded on a scale of 1 to 10. Karl goes with professional sports authenticator. I meet up with joe orlando, president of psa, at the National SportsCollectors Convention for a crash course in grading Baseball Cards. Why is this one only a 1 . Babe ruth cannot be just a 1. So, if you look at the card, you can see all of the defects. Theres surface wear, multiple creases throughout the card. This is about as low as it can get. So, this one is higher. This is 8. Is that considered mint . This is considered almost mint. But when you look really, really close, you can see very little, tiny white pieces of wear on each corner. And thats the difference between an 8, a 9, or a 10. Those tiny imperfections can make a difference of thousands of dollars. If this is a psa 8, its worth roughly, you know, 100 or so. If it were a 9, its worth probably, you know, north of 1,000. And if its a 10, its worth north of 5,000. So, what about the black swamp find . Do karls cards make the grade . What was your reaction when you saw the first cards . It was just it was mindblowing. Before the black swamp find, the highest grade psa ever gave to a card in that series was a 7. Karls cards beat that in their first atbat. It was a ty cobb and it graded a psa mint 9. Little did we know that there were 15 more ty cobb 9s and, of course, hundreds of highgrade 8s, 9s, and even 10s in the set. Sounds pretty good, right . Not so fast. The collection doubles the known population of this type of card, and the unprecedented size and quality of the find could crash the baseballcardcollectors market. Will karls inheritance end up being too much of a good thing . If you were to flood the market with all of this at one time, it would certainly diminish the value of the entire find. Thats next. Heres another quiz question for you. The answer in a moment. Some people say dress your age. Thats ridiculous. Age is just an illusion. How you show up for the world, thats whats real. Whats your idea . I put it out there with a godaddy website. Its b, 517,000 for a 1914 baltimore news ruth rookie card, sold in 2008. In 2012, in defiance, ohio, karl kissner discovers 800 vintage Baseball Cards in the attic of his old family home. Most of the centuryold cards remain in nearmint condition, which is rare among cards even half their age. Before the collecting craze in the 1980s, cards were simply fun toys to be used in bikewheel spokes or flipping games, like this one. So, im gonna toss a card, and itll land either picture or stats. Youre gonna toss a card. If you match my card, you get to keep my card and your card. If you dont, i get to go home with your cards. Okay, lets do this. All right . Here it goes. Stats. Stats up. Picture. Im a winner. Youre a winner. Fortunately for karl, his grandfather wasnt interested in such games, and the collection should easily be worth millions. If they play their cards right. You see, selling the socalled black swamp find all at once could flood the market and severely drive prices down. Because of the size of the collection and the quantity involved, there was a lot of concern about the value. If there was one of each player, that would have been ideal. So heritage auctions proposes a series of separate sales to maximize the familys take. We decided the best way to do it is to take your time, sell them by the set over a number of years. Karl runs the estate on behalf of the 20 grandchildren and divides the cards up into equal sets. Each Family Member can either join a consortium to sell the cards or keep his share as a family heirloom. Did anyone keep the cards . Yes, yes. Really . Some of them did. But most Family Members agree to team up and sell the cards gradually. Peter calderon tallies the numbers and comes up with what karl might expect, if all goes right nearly 3 million. For karl, its a staggering sum. Were stunned. This is something we almost threw in a dumpster. In august 2012, in baltimores camden yards ballpark, they put the first 37 cards up for auction. They were the best of the best. They were the bestgraded cards out of all of them that we had graded. Ladies and gentlemen, lets do lot 001. Its the 1910 e98. In bidding thats fast and furious, the family sees one lot of nine cards go for 40,000, a second lot of 27 cards goes for 286,000, but the real cleanup hitter of the night, the only psa gemmint10graded card of hall of Famer Honus Wagner in existence. Auctioneer 240,000 solid. I have the cut bid. Anyone else . Done 240,000 were flabbergasted. This is a wonderful gift from our grandfather and from our aunt. What more can you ask for . The familys total for the night . Its a very promising start, but theyve also sold their best cards. Does the black swamp find still have enough gas in it to get the hench grandchildren to their 3 million goal . Thats next. Now back to strange inheritance. Karl kissner and his family are slowly selling off their strange inheritance 800 rare vintage Baseball Cards. The collection is valued at around 3 million. An initial auction of their best cards has already brought in 566,000, and the family still has plenty of highgrade hall of famers to sell. In october 2012 and may 2013, two online auctions with some help from legendary manager connie mack rack up 419,000. Then, in august 2013, in chicago, a psa 8 miner brown pitches in to help the team ring up another 228k. And in the big apple, in february 2014, a psa 8. 5 johnny evers and mint 9 frank chance assist in a 300,000 haul. Two more online auctions raise the total to 1. 7 million. On july 31, 2014, i join karl and his cousin karla at the 35th National SportsCollectors Convention in cleveland for their latest auction. Weve got a firedup crowd here tonight. What do you think, karl . Its exciting watching everybody and listening to the onfloor bids. You just you get into the feel of it, the mood of it. Bid what you want. The last person standing with their hand in the air gets the item. Apparently, people have money. Apparently. [ both laugh ] and at the end of tonight, you may, too. Up first for karl and karla tonight, the georgia peach. This is a 1910 e98 set of 30 ty cobb, black swamp find, psa mint 9. Are you serious . Yes, we are serious. 26,000. Whos bidding 28 grand . 27,000 heritage live. 28,300. Fair warning, anybody else. When the auctioneer kind of slows down like that, you know its getting good. Yeah. Sold at at 28,000. Congratulations, guys. Thats awesome give me five on that. Yeah now stepping up to the plate, a psa mint 9 honus wagner. Go, honus. Yay come on. Yeah, come on, honus, baby. 32 1 2 on heritage live. Another bidder just jumped on. Lets sell this thing. 33,000. The bidding ends at 33,750. Yeah very good all right their weekend earnings, including online sales, total 133,000, lifting the black swamp find total to 1. 85 million. [ cheers and applause ] are you satisfied tonight . Im ecstatic. And you know the person thats buying it wants it and appreciates it, and hes gonna add it to his collection. And maybe hell pass it on to his family. A box stored and forgotten in the attic for over a century eventually changes a collectibles industry forever, along with the lives of the 20 hench grandchildren. So far, the black swamp find is like a slugger with 40 home runs at the allstar break well on track to surpass the goal set by Peter Calderon. Theres still 10 more sets to sell, and were still averaging almost 200,000 a set. And in the cardcollecting market, the games never over till the last man is out. What would grandpa say . I think grandpa would be stunned, amazed, and pleased. Im sure that he is, cause im sure that the whole family is up there looking down with big smiles on their faces. Was the black swamp find nearly historys most epic case of some guys mom throwing out his baseballcard collection . Karl thinks so. When he made his big discovery in the attic, he spied several wrinkled and grimy cards strewn among the rafters and the floorboards. Karl believes that they went flying during one of his grandma jennies cleaning purges, when shed pitch boxes of junk right out the attic window into a big mound below. Thank goodness she never got hold of that one box in the corner. Im jamie colby for strange inheritance. Thank you so much for joining us. And remember, you cant take it with you. Do you have a strange inheritance story youd like to share with us . Wed love to hear it. Send me an email, or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. Beautys in the eye of the beholder. So meet the beholders. These paintings just did not appeal to me. And i dont think they appealed to my wife, either. I said, well, i guess the Salvation Army is as good as anyplace. We dont want them. But one mans trash. It just knocked my socks off. We have 50,000. Within a few weeks, everybody knew about it. Is anothers treasure. Did you ever consider stopping . There is a point we all have to stop. But no. Im jamie colby, and today, im in denver, colorado. Im meeting a retired couple who relocated here to be close to family. It was that move, or rather the downsizing that preceded it, that brought this inheritance surprise to light. My names don camp. I dont know a thing about art, and i doubt youll disagree when you hear about the two paintings that sat in my basement for years. Don, phyllis, im jamie. Jamie, glad to meet you. You have a beautiful home. Don and phylliss story starts a few years back in 2011, when don retires from his job as an electrical engineer in upstate new york. Oh, they have all sorts of plans. They want to downsize. They want to travel the world, see their daughter in taiwan and work with Christian Charities in africa. And they want to be closer to their grandchildren in denver. So don and phyllis sell their house. How long had you been in that house . About 20 years. We had accumulated a lot of stuff. With the move date looming, phyllis assigns don the unpleasant task of going through the basement. We had a path with boxes on both sides. It was a challenge. Its there that don rediscovers two paintings, draped under a bed sheet. Both of them were probably the same vintage, probably 1920s, in their original frames. I knew about the paintings down there, because id covered them up with a sheet. Did you know how you and your husband had obtained them . They came from dons parents, so thats all i knew. Don inherited the paintings from his mother, lillian camp, who had died 21 years earlier in 1990. We werent fond of them, and so they ended up in the basement. One of them is titled arizona desert. One was a landscape scene from the southwest. It was a nice mountain scene. Didnt have any particular meaning to us, though. Eh. The other is titled ruth. Its a woman standing by a doorway and a wall, and you cant make out her features very well. And in the foreground is a pillar with a vine running up the side of it. And thats about it. You wanted them out. I even mentioned throwing them in the dumpster. But phyllis figures a charity will take them. I said, well, i guess the Salvation Army is as good as anyplace. We dont want them. Dons about to give em away, but hesitates. Did you think they were valuable . Had no idea. So i wanted to contact our local auctioneer and get an opinion. That local auctioneer is david mapes, in vestal, new york, just west of binghamton. Don sticks the paintings in the back of his van and calls david on his cell. What were you thinking . Well, i see a lot of paintings come in on the back of cars, so i wasnt real excited. Dons not getting his hopes up, either. If this doesnt pan out, his next stop the Salvation Army, that is, if he doesnt pass a dumpster along the way. Then he opens the hatch to show the auctioneer. What happened . They were laid out in the back of my minivan. And his mouth kind of dropped open. I remember his words. He said, thats just a painting. This other one is art. But first, our strange inheritance quiz question. Grant woods American Gothic is one of the most recognized paintings in the world. Whom did wood use as his models . His plumber and the plumbers wife, his sister and his dentist, or his own parents . The answer after the break. So, whom did painter grant wood recruit as the models for his iconic painting, American Gothic . Its b. Wood chose his sister and his dentist to be the farmer and daughter depicted in the painting. Retirees don and phyllis camp are busy packing for their move from upstate new york to denver, colorado, when they decide to get rid of two paintings don inherited from his mother decades ago. They were not our favorite. [ chuckles ] if wed fallen in love with them, then i think it would have been a different story. On a lark, don takes them down the road to local estate appraiser david mapes. First, david eyeballs that southwestern landscape. It was a pleasant picture. Pleasant . Yeah. Then the appraiser takes a good, long look at the woman in the red shawl. While the appraiser is staring at that painting, don is staring at the appraiser. And his mouth kind of dropped open. It just knocked my socks off. Right in the parking lot . It just spoke to me. Its just one woman. You cant see her face. Its covered with a shawl. This simple, plain, exciting scene of this woman. They bring the paintings inside so david can look up the signatures on his computer database. First, he types in the signature on that pleasant western landscape. Karl hoerman, a german artist. Did he tell you what he thought that one was worth . Maybe 800. Nothing to sneeze at. Then david examines the picture of the woman in the red shawl. In the lower lefthand corner, a signature Victor Higgins. Victor higgins. How much did you know . I never heard of him before. Turns out, the guys work sells for big bucks. One of his paintings sold at sothebys for over 400,000. He appeals to the modern aesthetics, not only back then, but specifically today. Mark sublette, an authority on western painting, knows all about Victor Higgins. Born on a farm in indiana in 1884, the artist leaves home as a teenager and studies painting at the Art Institute of chicago. In 1913, hes one of Many American artists blown away by an International Exhibition of modern art called the armory show. You had all these cubist and impressionistic paintings coming from europe. And it really shook up the entire art world. The staggered american artists, including higgins, resolve to develop their own modern styles. So several artists from around the country converge in taos, new mexico at the time, a sleepy southwestern pueblo. We have crystalclear, blue skies with wonderful light penetration. Its a perfect setup for a colony, and that was exactly what happened. They establish the taos society of artists. Higgins travels to taos and becomes a member. His southwest paintings are a hit with his wealthy, bigcity patrons. Higgins makes most of his money sending paintings from taos to chicago and new york. His work becomes even more popular after his death in 1949. Back in upstate new york, appraiser david mapes shares the news with don camp. That painting he was ready to toss in a dumpster is a big deal. Its an unknown painting. It just popped up, and here it is. I said to him, this is a very valuable painting, and he said, how valuable . I said, well, its going to sell for over 100,000. I was amazed. Thats a good number. [ chuckles ] yes. What did you think would happen . I had no idea. I was just glad that they were out of the house. [ both laugh ] keep in mind, don and phyllis are busy clearing out their house for the move to denver. Don doesnt think twice about leaving both paintings with his eager new acquaintance. He wasnt counting on it being worth anything, so its gonna be christmas, whatever it brings. But before david can put a painting that he hopes is worth six figures on the market, discriminating buyers will need to know a lot more. They may be fakes or frauds. Thats the first thing as a dealer is it real . cause often, theyre not. Heres another quiz question for you. Whats the name of the desert in Southern New Mexico . Is it the chihuahuan, coyote, or Sonoran Desert . The answer when we return. Some people say dress your age. Thats ridiculous. I dress how i feel. Yesterday i felt bold with boundless energy. This morning i woke up calm and unbreakable. Tomorrow . Who knows. Age is just an illusion. How you show up for the world, thats whats real. Whats your idea . I put it out there with a godaddy website. Make the world you want. So, whats the name of the desert in Southern New Mexico . Its a, the chihuahuan desert, which extends into west texas. In upstate new york, don and phyllis camp learn from their local estate appraiser that one of two paintings inherited from dons mother might be worth 100,000 bucks or more. It was good news. Its this portrait of an elusive pueblo woman, signed by the prominent taos School ArtistVictor Higgins. Its a very good field to be selling into, because a lot of collectors love that type of painting. First, david mapes has to appraise and authenticate the painting for auction. There are three notations on the back, written in pencil the name ruth, Victor Higgins, and 600. And if you think about it, that was quite a bit of money back then. After decades in a dusty basement, mapes has a name and a purchase price. But he still needs to know how ruth got into the hands of dons family. David asked me, whats the story behind this painting . I talked to my brother. We agreed that it must have come from our great uncle, curtis. Why do you think he would have been interested in southwestern art . Well, uncle curtis was a corporate attorney, as i understand, and he was on the board of the chicago Art Institute. Where Victor Higgins studied. The appraiser concludes the painting is authentic and was likely painted in the 1920s. He knows hes about to stun the art world. Youre like in the outskirts of new york. Youre not in manhattan. Youre not in the southwest. This is not your expertise. For the most part, we do estates. Whenever somebody passes away, we go and take everything out that we can sell. We often find treasures in there, but not like this. It had everything going for it. And when he shares his findings with art experts, he learns theres even more reason to love this painting. It turns out that ruth is a rather special lady. Thats because after the 1920s, higgins switched his focus from painting human figures to landscapes. Higgins quit doing paintings with figures. Quite frankly, the pieces that are going to demand the most value in todays market are the ones with figures. For example, this higgins landscape sold for 130,000 in 2005. But a higgins similar to ruth, entitled four shawled women, sold at sothebys for more than three times that amount, over 400 grand. That would be quite a payday. But remember, don and phyllis stuck the painting in their dusty basement for years. The canvas was a bit saggy, a little bit loose. There was quite a bit of cracking in the paint. Im thinking, well, okay, maybe itll draw 100,000. Little does he know, mapes gets a far bigger offer for ruth even before he advertises the auction. Davids on the road when a top dealer reaches him on his cellphone. He said, i want to make you an offer before the auction. I pulled over. I said, whats your offer . He said, 300,000. Impressive. [ chuckles ] exactly what i said. Even a small auction house in the middle of new york countryside, within a few weeks, it was apparent that everybody knew about it. Mark sublette isnt surprised that bigcity dealers would circle around the smalltown auction house. Generally, a painting like thats gonna go to one of the major auction houses. And as dealers, we hope that we might be able to get a bargain, quite frankly. Did you call don . No, but things are going through my mind. If he wants to pay 300,000, then other people are going to pay more. I thought about it for a short period of time, and i said, no. Thats risky, isnt it . It could be, but i was so confident in this picture and the market for it. Next lot is the higgins. So, is the smalltown auctioneer in over his head . Okay. Will savvy dealers paint him into a corner . Or will ruth provide a windfall to a couple in their golden years . Okay, we have 50,000 to start. Wholl do 60,000 . Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to tell it. Send me an email or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. Now back to strange inheritance. A Victor Higgins painting entitled ruth is headed for auction. Art dealers are intrigued that a work by the famous Taos Society Artist has turned up out of the blue, or, in this case, out of the basement. As a dealer, we love to get pieces that are oneowner, family. It makes it more special. Its don and phyllis camps strange and rather ironic inheritance. In their own words, they never cared much for ruth. What is it you didnt like . The lady looked very sad, like she was floundering. It left me with an empty feeling. Listen, art is in the eye of the beholder. Thats right. Shes very lonely. Im not a lonely person. But the lonely figure of ruth is precisely why an arizona art collector named ray harvey is so excited about the painting. The thing about higgins the figures are very rare, very hard to come by, and very much in demand. You were committed from the minute you saw the image . Pretty much. You could say ray has a special interest in ruth. He purchased that similar higgins, entitled four shawled women, from a private seller in 2008 for more than half a million bucks. Was there extra intrigue because no one had seen ruth . Definitely. Its just so nice when a painting like that comes up undiscovered. Ray will be out of the country when ruth goes up on the block. He makes plans to watch the auction online from a hotel in positano, italy, and bid by phone. As it happens, don camp and his wife, phyllis, wont be there, either. Theyre visiting their daughter in taiwan. Did you tell your daughter, oh, by the way, while were here, were auctioning these two very ugly paintings we cant wait to unload . [ laughs ] yes. We had 10 people on the telephones, fielding bids, and then we had a number of people in the audience. Others are booting up their computers, like ray harvey in positano, where its 1 00 a. M. Youre always nervous about auctions, especially when youre buying something sight unseen. Are you already logged onto the internet . Well, tried to. Couldnt get on. The connection was bad, and im thinking, i sure hope they can get through to me. Then, just before the bidding gets under way, ray connects by phone with the auction house in upstate new york. What if the phone hadnt gone through . Its unfortunate. You would just miss out. Guys like myself, i guess the chase is a big part of it. The first one is the lot 97, the karl hoerman. First, a warmup the other painting that don inherited, entitled desert landscape. Margaret buys it at 1,100, 161. It sells for a morethanexpected 1,100. Is that an omen for ruth, who don and phyllis considered donating to the Salvation Army, if they didnt just throw her out . Everybody on the phones . I asked for an opening bid, and it opened at 50,000. Okay. We have 50,000 to start. Wholl do 60,000 . The dealer who offered david mapes 300k a month before the auction is there and still eager to bid. So is ray harvey. 70,000. We have 80,000 in the back. Now 90,000. 90,000. They had quite a bit of action on it. Do you remember your first bid . It was 300,000. I have 300,000. Okay, we have 300,000. That would have been a good price . That would have been a steal. Can i get 310,000 . No ones getting a steal today. 320,000. 330,000. It keeps on climbing, past 400k, 450,000. We get up to 500,000. Anyone drop out at that point . Oh, yeah, a lot of people did. It was down to ray harvey, plus the floor bidder. Did you ever consider stopping . You know, there is a point we all have to stop. But no. 640,000s bid. 650,000. We have 650,000 on the phone from italy. Going once, going twice. Is the camera ready for this . [ laughter ] [ crowd cheering ] sold to the arizona art lover ray harvey. You want the total number . Sure, why not . 650,000. Im gonna fall off my chair. Okay. [ both laugh ] thats about what i did. I had no concept, no concept, that it was worth that much. Holy smokes. As of now, thats the third highest price that his paintings have ever sold for. Victor higgins enigmatic painting of ruth darn near ended up in a dumpster. Well, i think the main thing i like about it is the color and the simplicity of the woman. Ray will soon loan ruth to various museums, but today, she lives in his entryway, looking every bit the masterpiece. And the condition to this day after so many years in a basement, under a bed sheet. Its an amazing story. And i refer a lot to paintings that are collectionmakers, you know . This would be considered a collectionmaker. Heres my wedding. As for don and phyllis, that unexpected windfall courtesy of ruth, gives them a onceinalifetime opportunity to make a charitable donation bigger than they ever imagined. They fund the completion of a well for a needy community in africa. We gave 1 4 of it to a Christian Mission in kenya so that that well could be completed. Thats spectacular. What did you buy for yourself . We bought a new car. That was all. A ferrari . No. A honda odyssey. Youre so sweet, phyllis. We were just grateful. Turns out, don isnt the only one in the camp family who inherited a painting that once belonged to old uncle curtis. His big brother also got one by another prominent taos artist named walter ufer. The difference is dons brother actually liked his, so much so its been hanging in his home for half a century. Im jamie colby. Thanks for watching strange inheritance. And remember you cant take it with you. An automotive classic. Oh, my. It really moves. Well, its pretty quick. What is it about the corvette that has captured america . You have lamborghinis, and you got ferraris, but the American Sports car has always been the corvette. Its the dream that keeps a soldier going. Do you think that helped him get through very difficult times at war . Absolutely. The decision that vexes his heir. It was the most difficult thing ive ever done in my life. The ultimate for vette collectors. It was an urban legend that there was this impeccably original, pristinely kept 1967 corvette. We got three, four. And a mystery on wheels. Something is fishy