Storyline
Kaja Veilleux has been hunting New England attic treasures for more than 50 years. He once found a copy of the Declaration of Independence sitting on a pile of trash, and he made headlines last year when he stumbled upon a million-dollar portrait gathering dust in an old farmhouse in Maine that may have been painted by the Dutch master Rembrandt.
Then there was the time, Veilleux said, he was shown a $50,000 gold coin kicking around in a tool drawer—only to have the well-meaning owner destroy much of its value before he could auction it by using a scouring pad to clean it—and scratch it.
“It’s like a treasure hunt every day,” Veilleux said with a chuckle.
Many people dream of cashing in on some dusty, old heirloom. In October, three sisters from Ohio sold a rare dime for more than half a million dollars. Two years ago, a case of old hockey cards found in a Canadian home sold for more than $3.7 million.
Veilleux, 73, helps people sort gems from junk when he appraises furniture, antiques, and art by using his knowledge of what similar items have sold for in the past.
Each Tuesday, people bring in their heirlooms and collector’s items to Veilleux’s office in Thomaston, Maine, to see what they might fetch at auction. The appraisal is free but Veilleux gets a commission if they end up selling the pieces at his Thomaston Place Auction Galleries.
Erika Taylor stopped by with two artworks her father had collected in China in the 1940s when he was living there after escaping from Nazi Germany. One depicted a blooming peony and the other a grasshopper.
She said Veilleux had given her an initial estimate of up to $30,000 for each of the artworks, based on the photographs she’d shown him. But when Veilleux inspected the artworks closely, he declared they were prints because paint would have permeated the paper.
“It’s disappointing,” Taylor said. “But he has a lot of experience.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.
Script
[Storage area at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries]
[Exterior of Kaja Veilleux’s office at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries]
Kaja Veilleux (interview): “We get a call, this family’s estate. The younger people in the family have inherited the estate. We go on the call, but we never know what we are going to see. And we go there, we go to this beautiful large old farmhouse, in Maine, and we start going through the house. And there were rare little things and big things everywhere. And finally we’re on the third floor near the attic, and we find a stack of paintings, and in it was this beautiful portrait of a young woman, by Rembrandt.”
[Undated handout photo of Kaja Veilleux next to the portrait]
Kaja Veilleux (interview): “It’s very hard to prove any of the old master’s works, and most of them aren’t signed. But it had all the right attributes. The look, the period, the cradling on the back. Just everything about it. And then it had the label, so it gave it some pretty good credence right there. Anyway, we put it in the sale, ‘After Rembrandt,’ and it sold for $1.4 million with the buyer’s premium.”
[Undated handout photo of the portrait]
Kaja Veilleux (interview): “It’s like a treasure hunt every day. So every day when I get out of bed – where do I go to the next treasure hunt? It’s great.”
[Bronze frog sculpture]
[Kaja Veilleux picking up bronze sculpture]
[Kaja Veilleux turning over a plate]
[Kaja Veilleux looking at doll furniture]
[Doll furniture]
Kaja Veilleux (interview): Kaja Veilleux “We decided to do a free appraisal day. Which means that people can bring anything of any type, from coins to cars, and they can come to my office, and for several hours that day, I would do appraisals.”
Erika Taylor (interview): “This is a peony, which is a very popular subject in Chinese art. And this also is a very standard grasshopper. And this is the artist’s signature. So my father was a refugee from Nazi Germany. He went to China ‘cause his mother and his stepfather were already living there, in Shanghai.”
[Kaja Veilleux inspecting artwork]
Erika Taylor (interview): “But while he was there, he collected a lot of artifacts and art. He was very interested in art. So, these are two paintings that he bought in the ‘40s.”
[Kaja Veilleux removing staples from artwork frame]
Erika Taylor (interview): “Kaja gave an initial estimate, without seeing them this morning, just from pictures, of twenty to thirty thousand dollars.”
Kaja Veilleux (to Erika Taylor): “Watercolor, on paper, always permeates the paper. What do you see? Nothing. It’s a print. There’s no way they could have painted this without it coming through.”
Erika Taylor (interview): “Yeah, sure, it’s disappointing. But he has a lot of experience. He knows what he’s talking, and as a painter myself, I understand what he’s saying about bleeding through and watercolor, and stuff like that.”
Kaja Veilleux (to Erika Taylor): “Anyway, thank you so much for coming in, and I wish I had better news. But do some more digging, and see what you can find that’s rare for you.”
Jean Koenig (interview): “I brought in a ring. It’s an aquamarine, big. My father found it in the Santa Ana mine in Brazil.”
[Kaja Veilleux inspecting the ring]
Jean Koenig (interview): “Well I’m one of eight. So, I’ll be dividing it with my siblings. And, yeah. But it’s just been sitting in a box for years, and we just decided it’s time.”
[Jean Koenig signing document]
Jean Koenig (interview): “So, we’re hoping between, what was it, ten and fifteen (thousand)? Between ten and fifteen.”
[Kaja Veilleux looking through paperwork]
[Kaja Veilleux walking through storage area at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.
