[ bird caws ] im jamie colby, heading toward the garden state parkway. Im meeting a couple of jersey boys who had an old painting in the basement. Could it really be a rembrandt . Think youre heard a stranger inheritance story . Forget about it im ned landau. Neither i, nor my brothers, roger, and steven, had any idea that our mother had left us something so valuable. Neither did the auction guy up the highway. But people around the world were watching. Hi. How are you guys . Im jamie. Hi, jamie. E to new jersey. Thanks for coming out on such a rainy day. Ned, steven, and roger landau grew up here in north jersey, just outside of new york city. Two parents, three boys, on a street where theres lots of other kids. Our father had a small chemical company. They made coatings and industrial finishes. Three boys cant be easy for your mom. What was she like . She was an expert yoga professional, and this was well before yoga was a thing. My mother was almost like a flower child. Lyla landau was raised in paterson, new jersey, known in the earliest 20th century as silk city, due to its flourishing fabric industry. A lot of jewish textile workers who were escaping persecution in Eastern Europe all came to paterson. As the American Dream goes, many of them ended up owning silk companies, and our grandfather was one of them. Grandpa phil makes his fortune in the silk trade, but then loses it after the great depression. The last remnants of moms family wealth, a silver collection, some fine china, and halfadozen paintings hanging throughout the house. We had art on the walls of our house, and i cant say i particularly appreciated it. Theres a venetian cityscape hanging over the couch, and a large parisian street scene. The eldest brother ned always wondered about another one of the paintings. What was the painting of . Somebody in a chair, passed out, and there was two people trying to revive the passed out person. That could freak a kid out,r. I remember thanksgiving or family holidays, i would always look at that painting and think really . I never even noticed it. [ laughs ] yes, it was there. I always looked at it as a kid, because i thought, why did we have a painting like that in our dining room . That painting and the others remained on the walls of the family house for decades. Mom dies in 2010 at the age of 80. A year later, their dad walter passes away. When the landau brothers inherit their parents home in 2011, they follow the standard drill for liquidating a family estate. We had a garage sale. But there were a few things, like the china and some silver things that looked very nice, and we thought, well, we dont really want to just give em away like that. So moms good stuff goes into the save pile. Four years later, the landau brothers finally decide to have a long overdue estate sale, and what happens next is incredible, even for strange inheritance. I got a phone call from roger, and he said, are you sitting down . Heres a strange inheritance quiz question. Before it was silk city, paterson was called the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in america. Who put the city on the map . Is it. . The answer after the break. Do you recall, not long ago we would walk on the sidewalk all around the wind blows we would only hold on to let go blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun we needed somebody to lean on all we need is someone to lean on a former army medic, made of the we maflexibility to handle members like kate. Whatever monday has in store and tackle four things at once. So when her car got hit, she didnt worry. She simply filed a claim on her usaa app and said. I got this. Usaa insurance is made the way kate needs it easy. She can even pick her payment plan so its easy on her budget and her life. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. 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He wanted to harness the hydropower of the passaic rivers great falls to secure economic independence from british manufacturers. By 2015 in new jersey, the landau brothers have been storing stuff left from their parents estate in rogers basement for four years. It was in the way of the ping pong table, and he wanted to, apparently, clear out some space. Roger decides to take action before his table tennis game gets too rusty. I got around to calling an auctioneer, someone whose name i saw advertised on the side of the garden state parkway. John nye is the auction guy. So i said, listen, ill stop and see you on my way to work. Nye liquidates estates, some big fortunes like Luther Vandross and perry comos, and a lot of more modest ones like the landaus. You went to his house, whatd you see . He takes me down to the basement. My initial reaction was, i was loving the silver. The paintings were beautiful, but not remarkable. Nye schleps the stuff over to his auction house to examine each piece and price it for sale. He values some of those silver pieces, which roger was optimistic about, for a few hundred dollars each, and a sterling centerpiece bowl at about 2,000. You have a couple of interesting things. Its a nice group. Tchotchkes. Bingo. Nye estimates the signed painting of a parisian boulevard could fetch about 500 bucks. Not bad. He titles the unsigned smelling salts painting, triple portrait with lady fainting, and describes it as continental school, 19th century. Its got varnish that has crazed and crackled, and paint loss on the board. Its not a beautiful painting, and the people sitting in the picture are not beautiful people. It was remarkably unremarkable. Nye estimates the 9x7inch picture is worth, say, 500. The heirs arent even counting on that. We thought, if anything, the silver would have some value. When the auction day arrives in september 2015, a few bidders phone in. Thats when the folks at the new jersey auction house realize theres probably something up with that remarkably unremarkable painting. It was just solid bidding, back and forth, back and forth. Heres another quiz question for you. Was rembrandt, the 17th century dutch masters. . The answer when we return. It took over 100 years to perfect this masterpiece of italian design and performance. And about 15 minutes for us to paint one neon green and do this. Blends right into the italian architecture see everything you should never do with an alfa romeo. Then experience everything you should on the road now. Wellqualified lessees get a low mileage lease on the 2019 Alfa Romeo Stelvio for 379 a month. Step up, please. Empty your pockets. Looks like youre all set for that business trip. Youve got your smartphone, laptop, your other smartphone. Woman is this all the devices you have . Your tablet. Seriously . Smartwatch, your backup tablet, and. Woman anything else in your bag . Whatever that is. beeping this isnt working. Introducing Samsung Mobile workspace solutions. With the galaxy note10 with dex software, you can run your entire business on the one device that does it all. Samsung business solutions. May your holidays that dglow bright and all your dreams take flight. Lease the glc 300 suv for 439 a month with credit toward your first months payment at the mercedesbenz winter event. He was known simply as rembrandt. So where did that name come from . Its the first name of dutch master rembrandt van rijn. In september 2015, in northern new jersey, the three landau brothers are auctioning off some family valuables. I guess, to a certain extent, it was just taking care of our parents estate. If i get my, you know, few hundred dollars, ill be extremely happy. Their expectations are so modest, they dont even attend the sale. It happens that the auction falls right at the end of the jewish high holidays. It was yom kippur. And im not terribly observant, but i dont answer my phone. And i even forgot when the auction was happening. Expectations are also modest for auctioneer john nye, whos combined the brothers items with inventory from a few other estate sales. We do press releases, we do advertising. It goes online for a twoweek period, so people see whats being offered in the sale. Did anyone express an unusual amount of attention to any of the items . No. A few days before the auction, three International Bidders do express interest in lot 216, the triple portrait. One called from london, one called from paris, and one called from germany. Not particularly unusual. All they requested was the opportunity to be on the phone for that specific lot. Johns wife kathy speaks to the mystery bidder from france. Were never allowed to use the phone bidders name, because they dont want anyone else knowing who it is that were calling. Nye employee amy ludlow gets a curious inkling about her german bidder. He said, i just want you to know that its really important, and im going to win this. Auction day, september 22nd. John nye breezes through the first bunch of lots in about 45 minutes. The landau familys sterling silver centerpiece bowl sells for 2,100. That parisian street scene, 300. Okay, our next lot is lot 216. Then comes lot 216, triple portrait with lady fainting. Its the one that used to hang in the family dining room, that the young landau boys thought was rather unappetizing. How much was the reserve . The estimate was 500to 800, and so the opening bid was 250. 250, right here. 500 is. Ready to pounce, anys bidder from germany. My bidder definitely wanted to jump in right away. Us right here, 500. So do a halfdozen other bidders. 750. It reaches the high 800 estimate, and passes it. Then kathys french phone bidder enters the competition. He was a cool cucumber. He was so calm. Every time i presented a bid, he would say, yes. And all of a sudden, said, 5,000, and, man, that happened in no time. Everyone started creeping back into the sales room, and the bidding just kept going. The bidding rises to 80,000, then 100 grand. The guy from england gets blown out, and its going back and forth between kathy, my wife, and amy. Are you thinking that the people on the phone are making a mistake, or they know something that you dont . They know something that i dont. When it got up into the 100,000s, i just went, oh, my gosh , like this, and just kind of. 200,000. Then amys german bidder ups the ante. 300,000. Ill take you 300,000. Amys bidder from germany jumps it to 300,000, and now im really smiling. Kathys frenchman is unfazed. He jumps the bidding to 400 grand. Were at 450,000. Would you like to bid . Yes, bid. 500,000. I was in disbelief. [ laughs ] and the bids keep coming in steady increments to 600,000, then 700,000. 800,000 is the next bid. 800,000 right here. I was just writing down my bids. [ laughs ] 830,000. Trying to keep it together. And my fellow from france, all he said was, yes. I do have 860,000. Finally, at 860,000, germany surrenders. He bowed out. Sold the painting goes to kathys anonymous phone bidder in france, with commission, for 1,100,000. Vive la france best day in your auctioneer history . Personal best, absolutely. It was so fun. But hang on, how could this odd painting that spent decades in a new jersey dining room, unnoticed and unremarked upon, be worth a million bucks . Amy gets clued in by her losing german bidder. He said, amy, it was a rembrandt. He said, ive been looking for this painting my whole adult professional career. Rembrandt . The rembrandt . The 17th century dutch master who liked to paint himself . How could that be . Its not every day a real rembrandt just pops up out of nowhere in jersey. In jersey . In jersey. In bloomfield, new jersey. Where, this whole time, the landau brothers have been observing yom kippur, the jewish day of atonement, with their phones turned off. Maybe one, two days after yom kippur, i returned his call. And i said, oh, so howd the auction go . , he said, well, it actually went quite well. And your reaction is . I think i actually mightve used some profanity. When roger called me and told me the amount, and i was my jaw just dropped. Thats the one from the dining room, the one thatd you. That was it, yeah. Its now your favorite painting. Right, thats one of rembrandts best. Well, in retrospect, john, was it within your scope to know that its a rembrandt . Thats a good question. I dont think so. Because there was no indication that it was by a master. And at this point, no proof yet, either. Thats right, despite that million dollarplus bid, no one has actually verified whether the painting really is a rembrandt. So it is possible that the dealer may have gone all the way with this thing, and it turns out not to be . Totally. Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to tell it. Send me an email or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. vo the flock blindly falls into formation. Flying south for the winter. They never stray from their predetermined path. But this season, a more thrilling journey is calling. Defy the laws of human nature. At the season of audi sales event. Its finally time for. Geico sequels classic geico heroes, starring in six new commercials, with jawdropping savings. Vote for your favorites at geico. Com sequels ahhh, which way do i go . i dont know, im voting for our sequels. With geico, the savings keep on going to a screen near you. Not the leg you dang woodchucks geico sequels. Vote and enter to win today quitting smoking is freaking hard. St,s like quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So, try making it smaller. 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Comcast business securityedge automatically protects all the devices on your network. Call 18005016000 today. Now, back to, strange inheritance. In bloomfield, new jersey. Sold . The hammer has just fallen on this curious painting, described as triple portrait with lady fainting, for 1,100,000. Auctioneer john nye is still reeling from the news that the art world believes its a rembrandt. Congratulations. Thank you. Im still smiling. How remarkable does this unremarkable painting now become . Its remarkable in the sense that its not the type of dramatically lit individuals with the big hats and the ribbon collars that you see, and you just know, boom, thats a rembrandt. Its soon revealed that the winning phone bidder for the landau brothers strange inheritance is a french art dealer named bertrand gautier. But before the small painting can even be verified as a rembrandt, gautier resells it to a new york billionaire and rembrandt collector, named Thomas Kaplan for an undisclosed price rumored to be at least 3 million. Whats going on here . These probably were his earliestknown works. Art historian Dennis Heller explains that in the early 1600s, the young rembrandt van rijn, born in the dutch city of leiden, is studying art with some of the local masters. He will soon eclipse them all, but its during this time that the teenage sensation creates a set of littleknown paintings depicting the five senses touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. Rembrandts early works dont bring out this rembrandtesque quality that we equate with the artist. Early rembrandt has really only been rediscovered in the last 50to60 years. Rembrandts paintings of touch, hearing, and sight are accounted for. In fact, Thomas Kaplan owns touch, and hearing, but the remaining two, taste, and smell have been lost for hundreds of years. Were all looking for the five senses. [ laughs ] so, it seems those european phone bidders had sniffed around and concluded that the landau brothers strange inheritance must be the masters longlost painting of smell. The fact that its a triple portrait, it has people dressed in these outlandish clothes, and its an allegory for one of the human senses, is what told the people in europe to look more closely at this painting. Seems like someone might want to prove its a rembrandt about now. Curators working with billionaire Thomas Kaplan get down to work. Lo and behold. When they cleaned the painting, you could see that it was signed. Rembrandt had a way of signing things, just with an r, and when it was cleaned, there was an r there. Case closed. Whats so crazy about this story is that not one person in the United States recognized the significance of this remarkably unremarkable painting. An old master dealer came from the city, and sat in the front row. Old master specialist comes and walks right past the rembrandt. Yes. Even after the paintings authenticated, we can only guess how it ended up in the landaus new jersey home. Wouldve come from europe at some point. I think the size had a lot to do with it being able to cross the atlantic. The landau brothers figure its time to do a little sleuthing into the grandpa they barely knew. We learned that our grandfather phil liked on the weekends to drive from paterson into manhattan, and he would hang out at this auction house. Really . They sold estate sales from people who had apartments in manhattan. And so, i think that grandpa liked the idea of going and getting some real bargains on some artwork. None of them turned out to be valuable, except, says steven, for this one redeeming purchase. He was not known as an art collector, certainly, but he did choose that painting to buy. Grandpa, you think, is winking down at you like. I think so, yeah. Nice work boys . The landau brothers say theyre a little