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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;smallaxe, post: 1970233, member: 13430&quot;]In going through family heirlooms and collected junk from my wife&#039;s aunt, there was a lithograph in the bottom of the box. It appears to have never been framed, nor well cared for. There is a pressure tear near the center although it is hard to see, and there is a pressure mark from some object probably packed above it at some time. Although someone in the family may have been acquainted with the artist, I don&#039;t know of any connection, and the artist is not a member of the family. My first thought was that I should chuck it, since there&#039;s no known family history attached to give it family value, and the foxing and tear surely destroy any value a print might have. </p><p><br /></p><p>However, I looked up the artist, Fred Freeman (Frederick William Freeman 1906-1988), and he had some notice as an illustrator, particularly of military and space themes after the 1940&#039;s. In trying to find examples of his work, I didn&#039;t find any as early as the print we have. It is signed and dated in pencil 1935, fairly early in his career. From a <a href="https://americansocietyofmarineartists.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/ASMA-Summer09-N_J.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://americansocietyofmarineartists.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/ASMA-Summer09-N_J.pdf" rel="nofollow">biography in the American Society of Marine Artists</a>:</p><blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Freeman took advantage of these slow years to advance his technical skills as a lithographer. In 1933 he studied with the master of lithograph printers George C. Miller (1894 – 1965), who did work for many well-known artists such as Bellows and Benton.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>From this it seems it is an early lithograph of his. Now I&#039;m less inclined to chuck it, at least without doing some checking first. There is a 1977 &quot;artist proof&quot; lithograph of his on ebay for $145. Original paintings/drawings of his fetch $800-900. Despite being early work, does the damage render it worthless? I&#039;m in a quandary what to do with it.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s too big for my scanner, but this gives a idea of what it is (the white square in the rightmost sail is not damage, it&#039;s original to the print). Paper size is 10.75&quot; x 15.25&quot;. Other than the artist name and date, there is nothing else written on it.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]246984[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]246985[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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