GUEST: I brought a painting by Inez Walker.

I was at an estate sale.

She had a collection of art that was very eclectic.

And this is really what I went for.

But I bought about nine pieces.

The estate sale company, this particular one, you know, the more you buy, the better the deal is.

So.

I think I paid about $400 for all nine pieces.

APPRAISER: Well, you know it's by Inez Walker.

And it’s signed over on the left-hand column.

Did you see that?

GUEST: I didn’t.

APPRAISER: It looks like it’s part of the design.

She is considered an outsider artist.

She created her art outside the mainstream.

I like the term "self taught."

Inez Walker was born in 1911 in Sumpter, South Carolina.

Very tough life.

Very tough life.

She's an orphan at a very early age, and she was married by the age of 12 or 13.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And comes north, into Philadelphia, with the Great Migration.

And she eventually made her way up into Upstate New York, Port Byron, and worked in an apple processing plant.

Sadly, she kills a man who was abusing her.

Sent to prison.

In prison, she starts to draw.

She started out drawing the other inmates.

She called them "the bad girls."

She got out of prison in 1973.

Your piece was made in 1976.

It's a drawing, colored pencil and ink on a piece of paper.

From across the room, you can tell an Inez Walker.

The features of her pieces are very, very distinctive.

The faces are big, they're bold.

The eyes are typically exaggerated, and the clothing is typically clothing that she wore herself.

She has a fairly large body of work and she trades regularly.

She died in 1990.

Like so many of these self-taught artists, it really wasn't till after her death that the market started to take notice of her work.

Retail, I would put a value on this of $3,000... GUEST: Oh, my God.

APPRAISER: ...to $3,500.

GUEST: No kidding!

APPRAISER: No.

(whispers): GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Tough life.

Yeah.

Tough life.

GUEST: I, I appreciate it even more now.

APPRAISER: Yeah, no, it, it is.

(sighs): And these self-taught artists, you know, just... (clicks tongue) GUEST: (laughs, sniffles) You got me.

(laughing) It gets me, too, trust me.

Just tough.

APPRAISER: It's a heartbreaking story.

GUEST: It is.

It is heartbreaking.

APPRAISER: Yeah, I had no idea.