In the 80's I was working part time for an Augusta, Georgia design gallery. Part of my job was fielding questions about paintings. I have a pretty good eye, but when I was stumped I had a friend who was a professional art restorer who could give me an assessment .
The actual irises by Van Gogh.. or rather a poster of the painting.
Some questions were easy. For instance, a lady brought in a beat up poster of Van Gogh irises. She thought she had hit the jackpot with an actual Van Gogh. I tactfully disabused her of that opinion.
The most memorable incident was when Billy Bob Buell called me up and asked me if I could come to his signage shop on Broad Street to identify an Eisenhower painting. I asked him where he got the painting and he said he had been working on the Eisenhower cabin at the Master's Golf Course and he was able to keep the painting after construction. I demurred and told Billy Bob that Eisenhower was a hobby painter, and I wasn't familiar with his work, but Billy insisted I come to see the painting anyhow.
The toilet seat in question.
So I walked down into Billy Bob's shop and walked through the door to a wall of toxic signage paint fumes.Then Billy came out of his office carrying an unusual object. It was a toilet seat decorated with crudely painted roses and vines all over the lid. Startled, I asked,"What makes you think Eisenhower painted it, Billy?"
And Billy slowly, slowly, opened the lid. The underside also had badly painted roses and vines. Billy said, "Look closer."
I did.
"See the bee," said Billy. There was an anthropomorphic bee buzzing through the rose vines. "Look at its hairdo! That bee has Mamie Eisenhower bangs!" Billy snapped the lid closed and glared at me in triumph.
I gaped at him. "Billy, I can't prove Eisenhower painted that toilet seat !"
"Well who can?", Billy demanded
"Try the Smithsonian," I suggested weakly.
I called Billy Bob a few weeks later. "Did you ever get an attribution for the toilet seat, Billy?".
"Yeah," he said. "I got the Smithsonian number from the library and called them." (remember this was the 80's and you could do that)
I asked him what happened. Billy scowled and snorted "They laughed so hard they dropped the goddamn phone."
