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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;MrNate, post: 291699, member: 5515&quot;]That was my thinking too regarding a mundane lion in a great frame, but here is something you might not be considering. At the time the frame was purchased, it probably wasn&#039;t that valuable. I mean sure, it was definitely expensive whenever someone bought it from W.K. O&#039;brien, but it wouldn&#039;t have had the duplicate/exponential collector value at that time. The value of the frame, as I understand it, has everything to do with the obscurity of American gilded frames, the time period of the frame, the level of craftsmanship needed to create one (not to mention it is 18-22K gold leaf that was used to make it) but most importantly, the fact that it has the name of manufacturer W.K. O&#039;brien (there are lots of gilded frames from the same period, very few have a manufacturer on them). All that combined makes this frame (supposedly) very collectable in the modern era, but at the time it was made that wasn&#039;t necessarily the case.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the painting, I have also found that it was quite common for artists in the 19th century to not sign their artwork. I&#039;ve looked at the painting under black light, we studied it outside of the frame, and I looked tirelessly for a period artist with a similar style, and unfortunately none of this amounted to finding the artist. So for all I know, it IS a known artist, however I think I&#039;ve poured as much energy into identifying the artist as I can (at least reasonably). I would also mention that while I find the painting personally nice, I trust the judgement of the appraiser that the artist was likely more amateur compared to the prominent animal portrait artists of the time. </p><p><br /></p><p>So to me, the painting is an afterthought, the real question revolves around what to do with the frame?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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