GUEST: I have had this hanging in the closet for a couple of years.

I recognized the name when I picked it up in the flea market.

It said Max Ernst-- that's somebody, I know that's somebody.

APPRAISER: You bought it in a flea market?

GUEST: I did, yes.

APPRAISER: For how much?

GUEST: Actually, a thrift store.

Uh, ten dollars for this, and one other etching that accompanied it.

After I got it, I did a little bit of research on him.

Apparently, he was one of the founders of the surrealism movement?

Is that correct?

APPRAISER: Yes.

Max Ernst is probably one of the best known surrealists, and this print really epitomizes his approach to surrealism in printmaking.

But he was also a painter, a sculptor, made collages.

This is a really great example of surrealism and etching.

It's a print made as part of a portfolio.

The title of this portfolio was Brunidor No.

1.

And it was printed and published in 1947.

In New York, there was a press called Atelier 17, and it was famous for printing surrealist artworks.

And it was run by an English printmaker...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...called Stanley William Hayter.

So Stanley William Hayter printed this for this portfolio.

In one portfolio, you had seven of the leading surrealists.

Max Ernst was the leading light of surrealism.

And this is a scarce print, it's an edition of 70, but very few impressions have been recorded in collections.

But it is in some very famous collections.

This print is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern in London.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

I believe it's titled Dangerous Liaisons.

APPRAISER: That's right.

GUEST: And after looking at it a while, I could kind of see that in it.

APPRAISER: Yes, so it's an abstracted couple.

You can see it's, it's sort of two lovers kind of in this throes of an embrace, and it's dangerous.

There's almost like a devil-like creature...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER:...lurking in the background on the left.

And it's very typical of Max Ernst.

He did these etchings and engravings with these silhouetted figures.

They're open to interpretation.

Do you have any idea of the value?

GUEST: I thought maybe $2,000, $2,500, somewhere in there.

APPRAISER: I have some good news-- I would say at auction, in this condition, I would estimate it at $6,000 to $9,000.

GUEST: Very nice.