[ train whistle blows ] >> a texas-sized model railway... >> do you have any idea what steve spent to put this together? >> i've always heard $1 million. >> ...built by a man on a mission. >> he's telling his life story in trains. >> he is. he is. yes. >> whenever he would add something to it, he said, "you want to see your inheritance again?" >> an inheritance freighted with memories. >> so tell me the truth. did y'all make out at that movie theater? >> no, not that one. [ both laugh ] >> will their plan fall apart? >> your first cut could be the end of this railroad. >> well... [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby driving through dallas, texas. what do you get when you couple a one-track mind to a boxcar full of bucks? a strange inheritance that i'm told is just the ticket. >> my name is jane sanders. my husband, steve, was always into his model trains. but when he got sick, they became much more than a hobby. they took him on the trip of a lifetime. >> i meet jane at her home here in dallas. she leads me upstairs, and i am transported to a railroad wonderland. [ train whistle blows ] oh, my goodness. unbelievable. it's massive, 2,000 square feet, taking up an entire wing of jane's house. oh, my gosh. that's so fantastic! the locomotives drive past hundreds of hand-crafted

figurines and intricate details. there's two men sharing lunch on the stairs, a blonde bombshell hitchhiker, a 1950's gas station. they're cleaning the windshield like the good, old days. >> yes. >> and a scene from main street, usa. >> there's the diner with people actually sitting in there eating. >> absolutely spectacular, to every detail, jane. what's more, there's a tale behind each detail joined together like verses of a poem written by jane's late husband, steve. >> it's all his story. >> a story that begins in 1944, when steve sanders is born right here in the heart of texas. >> his mother would take him to union station in downtown dallas, then put him on a train to go to camp in colorado. he just always loved it, so ever since then, his love of trains built up. >> a love that continues to build even through steve's college years at the kemper military school

in missouri. steve goes on to become a green beret who sees action in vietnam, is wounded, and awarded a purple heart. >> he loved his military service. that was the best thing he ever did in his life. >> back in dallas, he's set up with jane on a blind date. had you ever met someone like steve before? >> no, and i never have since. he was a very, very loving person, generous, and enjoyed life. >> steve and jane are soon married, and he opens his first business, a hobby shop. >> that's when he started collecting the trains. i didn't think about it. he would just buy the trains and set them back, and set them back. >> steve goes after the largest-size models he can find, the g-scale trains made in germany. "g" stands for "gross," german for big. >> he wanted the biggest and the best. >> in 1981, another of steve's dreams comes true when he and jane adopt twin girls, christina and stephanie.

did it change him to be a father? >> yeah. in a lot of ways, it did. he was so protective of those girls. oh, my gosh. he just was so scared about anything happening to them. >> how would you describe him and his love of trains? >> he would find ways for us to go on train trips. he made us ride the train all the way from dallas to minnesota once. it was horrible, but he had a great time. >> steve wants to give a better life to his young daughters, so he looks to make more money by going to work in the family oil-drilling business and becoming a precious-metals dealer. >> he used to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and everybody would say, "well, why are you working so hard?" he goes, "well, i have to take care of my girls." >> and steve keeps buying up model trains. his lucrative business ventures allow him to add hundreds of engines, cars and pieces of track to his stockpile. probably some you didn't know about. >> yeah. well, i never really paid a whole lot of attention to them. i would just keep seeing

these red boxes building up. >> steve does have a plan. one day, he's going to build the model railway of his dreams. >> he had a train room, and he had started a small train set. it was never finished. >> we weren't allowed to touch it, not allowed to play on it, and we'd be climbing on it, and he'd, "get off that! that's where my trains are going to go!" >> maybe he'll finish it when he retires, when he'll have all the time in the world. but steve learns the 60s can be a cruel decade. he suffers a string of health setbacks -- triple-bypass surgery, prostate cancer, and multiple back operations. so much for a life of leisure. he really suffered. >> he was so tired, in pain, everything. >> steve knows the proverbial train is leaving the station. it's time, once and for all, to finish that railroad display. he'd always had a big vision for it, but knew he needed help

bringing it to life, first-class help. so he tracked down an artist who designs museum exhibits and film sets. >> steve approached me and wanted someone to design the ultimate train layout. >> robert reid is dazzled by steve's ambitious plan. he's on board. but did they start too late to fulfill steve's dream? >> that was the tragedy. >> here's a "strange inheritance" quiz question... they're all model-railroad enthusiasts, but which music legend was a spokesman for lionel trains? the answer after the break.

♪ >> so, which music legend was a spokesman for lionel trains in the '70s? neil young was a part owner of lionel, but it's johnny cash, the man in black, who served as its spokesman in the 1970s. >> for decades, these model trains are stockpiled in steve sanders' texas home to be used one day in the mother of all model railroads. in his 60s, with his health in decline, steve works with a movie-set and museum-display designer to finally bring his lifelong dream to fruition. >> he wanted it to be a tour of the southwest from colorado through new mexico to arizona

to west texas and on through dallas. >> he's telling his life story in trains. >> he is. it is. he was definitely involved. each little vignette had to tell an important story. >> but putting together a display for steve's g-scale trains is a huge challenge. >> it's much larger than most train layouts. figures in this scale are very difficult to come by. >> hundreds of figures like these, many personally handcrafted and all custom painted. >> these weren't things that you just buy off the shelf. we had people making trees, all the rock work, the scenic work. we actually created the buildings, most of them from scratch. steve, running out of time but not money, spares no expense. forty-two thousand dollars to create a pint-sized drive-in theater, complete with a feature film playing on the screen. >> it's a miniature projector. it's not a tv screen. and then the sound comes from original

drive-in movie speakers. >> steve pays a sculptor $80,000 more to create a rocky mountain scene that includes 32-inch trees and a working tram. and another $40,000 for murals to give it the feel of big sky country. >> there's shooting stars that go across the sky. there's thunder and lightning effects. we were able to develop something that was museum worthy. >> dad always did everything all the way, especially this. >> do you have any idea what steve spent to put this together? >> i've always heard the figure of $1 million. >> does it matter? >> not to me. i thought he works hard, he's a good husband, if he wants it, let him have it. before i knew it, this is what we end up with. >> what were your thoughts about it? >> whenever he would add something to it or finish it, even though i'd seen it a hundred times,

he goes, "you want to see your inheritance again?" >> in december 2012, after four years of construction, the 2,000-square-foot display is finally completed. it seems that it's not just a train set. >> it's pretty much the story of his life. >> the journey starts here, 1950's dallas union station, where steve's love affair with trains first blossomed. from there, the layout heads to steve's boyhood summer camp in colorado. then continues past his hobby shop and through the oil fields of west texas, which helped make him rich. then there's the ranch where jane and steve raised their girls. is it an exact replica? >> pretty close. it has the blue roof, which is one of favorite things that we had about it. >> and that drive-in? playing an army movie. tell me the truth. did y'all make out

at that movie theater? >> no, not that one. [ both laugh ] >> and, of course, he creates a tribute to his wife, the mary jane train station. and it's more than just a massive piece of art. steve designed seven track loops that can handle up to 12 engines running simultaneously. >> he had ideas in his head and he'd be sure whatever he wanted done, got done and done the right way. >> with his vision realized, steve began sharing his magnificent train display with anyone who will come see it. and he loved that? >> oh, heavens yes. he stood up there and ran those trains all night long. >> but steve's joy is short-lived. in february 2013, just months after the display is finished, steve is diagnosed with his most dire ailment, stage-four lung cancer. >> he'd walk me in here and show me how to work everything. >> because he knew he wouldn't be able to be the conductor here forever.

>> yeah. he wanted to make sure we knew how to take care of everything, including his trains. >> his illness spreads quickly. >> he was diagnosed february the 12th and died may the 28th. that was all the time we had left. >> that was the tragedy. we finished this masterpiece and he had such little time to enjoy it. >> steve sanders is just 68 years old. what do you miss the most? >> [ voice breaking ] i miss the most sitting at the dinner table with him and us exchanging stories. that's my hardest time every day. >> he leaves his enormous model train display, along with hundreds of trains in storage, in the care of his daughters and widow. did steve tell you what to do? >> no. he got sick and died so quickly that we didn't have time to discuss it. >> so, for the time being, jane just keeps the display in her home, acting as it's loyal custodian. >> it's a full-time job to take care of them,

to keep them clean and running in good shape. >> then in 2017, jane decides to downsize her life, putting her 10,000-square-foot house on the market. >> i knew i'd have to do something at some point. i felt like i didn't want to leave it to my daughters to have to deal with it. >> it's time to tear up the tracks. but then what? >> here's another quiz question for you... the answer when we return.

♪imagine no possessions ♪i wonder if you can ♪no need for greed or hunger ♪a brotherhood of man ♪imagine all the people ♪sharing all the world...you, ♪you may say i'm a dreamer ♪but i'm not the only one ♪i hope some day you'll join us♪

♪and the world will live as one♪

♪ >> the term described the constant dancing motion of track workers as they lunged against their tools in unison to nudge the rails. >> his 2,000-square-foot model-train display tells steve sanders' life story. he built it in his house in dallas and, before he died, he taught his daughters, christina and stephanie, how to operate it. and now they're going to teach me. >> i happen to love trains.

are you going to let me try something? >> of course. >> show me how it works. >> okay. pull this lever slowly and we're going to go one after the other. >> all systems go. seems easy, until steve's daughters warn me that his complicated layout demands that the trains run at precise speeds. get it wrong, and i'll crash a couple of very expensive locomotives into each other. yikes! so i'm driving three trains at once. fortunately today, nothing goes off the rails. i love it. i could be here all day. what steve didn't do was instruct his widow, jane, what he wanted her to do with the trains after he died. do you wish he had made these kind of arrangements before? >> well, i wish had, but there just really wasn't the time to even get into it. >> jane estimates steve spent about $1 million on the trains and layout.

so perhaps selling off the cars and display, piece by piece, could be just the ticket. enter appraiser laurence martin to provide his expert financial analysis. >> i went through every train, every locomotive, every car. it was over 126 man hours. i mean, shock and awe would be a good way to phrase that. >> and you'd be shocked how much some of steve's model trains are worth. >> he has one locomotive, was by row and company, that is one of only 30 in the world. >> its value -- $5,300. this pennsylvania railroad model is one of only 250 and worth nearly $4,000. while this limited-edition steam engine comes in at $1,900. the train total -- $137,000. steve's custom display itself is a different story. with no real secondary market,

those pieces won't fetch anything near what he paid for them. >> i don't know too many people that spend that kind of money to have a model train set running around in their house. >> laurence estimates the layout and all its components are worth about $200,000, so it doesn't make much sense to sell off the inheritance piecemeal. and that's actually a relief for stephanie and christina. >> his only dream was to make sure that everyone that wanted to could enjoy them. >> but then, what to do? how many options did you have? >> not very many. it's so big that not just anybody could take it. >> the family begins seeking out someone who could take the entire display. >> originally, i'd love to have given then to the children's hospital, but they didn't have the room. it just wasn't feasible. >> so they reach out to a bigger facility. >> we checked with at&t stadium, too, but it was a little large for the stadium so... >> even for a stadium? >> even for the stadium. >> but the family doesn't give up yet.

they leave their info at a museum in nearby frisco, texas. >> i got a message on my desk that someone had an interest in donating a train layout to us. >> bob laprelle is the ceo of the museum of the american railroad, which has honored railroad history since 1962. you must get calls all the time of people who think their train sets are good enough for a museum. >> yes, we do. in fact, we've turned down quite a few over the years. >> did you come immediately out to see it? >> we came out within a week or so. it just blew us away. the creativity that went into this layout far exceeds just about anything else we've ever seen. >> the family offers to donate the display, plus steve's vast collection of model trains, to the museum. but there's still one, giant bridge to cross. what if you start taking it apart, and it's destroyed? what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go

to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> jane sanders and her daughters want to donate the gigantic model train display their husband and father left behind to the museum of the american railroad in frisco, texas. it's got to be a little bittersweet. >> it is. it's almost like it's the end of an era. >> and how do you feel about that? >> happy that everyone is going

to enjoy his dream but sad that it's not ours to keep to ourselves anymore. >> was it a piece of your husband leaving? >> it is, but at the same time i know so many more people are going to get to see it, and that's what he wanted. >> now train museum ceo bob laprelle needs to clear the biggest hurdle -- moving the layout without destroying it. this can't be very easy. >> well, it's a massive project, and it's a specialized job. >> your first cut could be the end of this railroad. it could fall apart. >> well... >> in june 2017, the breakdown begins. step one -- label every single one of the thousands of individual pieces. >> we'll try to document as much as we can of the existing configuration of the layout before we attempt to dismantle it. >> with the inventory complete, each piece is delicately removed. >> then you've got to consider everything that you don't see -- the wiring, the hidden loop tracks, the

behind-the-scenes parts of it. >> finally, the various sections of the layout, called decks, are ever so carefully split apart. >> you've got to make strategic cuts and be very careful with it. >> the last step -- forklift the decks out of their second-story home. one wrong move and the display will come crashing down. >> we just don't want to drop anything. that would be a tragedy. ♪ >> but there will be no tragedies today. the sections are safely loaded onto a truck and the entire lot gets shipped to nearby frisco, texas, for reassembly. and the museum will not only reinstall the display, but add to it, so they can show off even more of steve's trains. >> we can share it with, you know, literally tens of thousands of people a year. and even though he's no longer with us, he really lives on.

>> do you think he would approve of what you're doing? >> oh, i think he would be so excited. he always had this way of giggling when he was very, very happy and i think that he would just be walking around giggling right now. >> that legacy is still going and will continue for, hopefully, very, very many years, that my children can take their children to go see it and say this was pop's place. >> when it comes to model-train enthusiasts, steve's in very good company. take frank sinatra. old "blue eyes" dedicated an entire wing of his california ranch to model trains. then there's buster keaton. he was so enamored with the hobby that he had trains running through his backyard carrying cocktails to pool-side quests. and when rod stewart's train display was featured on the cover of model railroader, he said it meant more to him than being on the cover of rolling stone.

i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ train whistle blows ] >> three brothers, one strange picture. >> i always thought, why did we have a painting like that in our dining room? >> it stirs up the sale of the century. >> $750. do have $750 right her. >> oh, my god. i'm thinking, what is this? >> are you thinking that thele g a mistake, or they know something that you don't? >> they know something that i don't.'ll take you $300,000. >> it was a complete shock. >> $830,000. >> he said, "amy, it was a rembrandt." >> not so fast. >> so, it is possible that this thing turns out not to be? >> totally. [ applause ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ]

[ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, heading toward the garden state parkway. i'm meeting a couple of jersey boys who had an old painting in the basement. could it really be a rembrandt? think you're heard a stranger "inheritance" story? forget about it! >> i'm ned landau. neither i, nor my brothers, roger, and steven, had any idea that our mother had left us something so valuable. >> neither did the auction guy up the highway. >> but people around the world were watching. >> hi. how are you guys? i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie.e to new jersey. >> thanks for coming out on such a rainy day. ned, steven, and roger landau grew up here in north jersey, just outside of new york city. >> two parents, three boys, on a street where there's lots of other kids. >> our father had a small

chemical company. they made coatings and industrial finishes. >> three boys can't be easy for your mom. what was she like? >> she was an expert yoga professional, and this was well before yoga was a thing. my mother was almost like a flower child. >> lyla landau was raised in paterson, new jersey, known in the earliest 20th century as silk city, due to its flourishing fabric industry. >> a lot of jewish textile workers who were escaping persecution in eastern europe all came to paterson. as the american dream goes, many of them ended up owning silk companies, and our grandfather was one of them. >> grandpa phil makes his fortune in the silk trade, but then loses it after the great depression. the last remnants of mom's family wealth, a silver collection, some fine china,

and half-a-dozen paintings hanging throughout the house. >> we had art on the walls of our house, and i can't say i particularly appreciated it. >> there's a venetian cityscape hanging over the couch, and a large parisian street scene. the eldest brother ned always wondered about another one of the paintings. >> what was the painting of? >> somebody in a chair, passed out, and there was two people trying to revive the passed out person. >> that could freak a kid out,r. >> i remember thanksgiving or family holidays, i would always look at that painting and think -- >> really? i never even noticed it. [ laughs ] >> yes, it was there. i always looked at it as a kid, because i thought, why did we have a painting like that in our dining room? >> that painting and the others remained on the walls of the family house for decades.

mom dies in 2010 at the age of 80. a year later, their dad walter passes away. when the landau brothers inherit their parents' home in 2011, they follow the standard drill for liquidating a family estate. >> we had a garage sale. but there were a few things, like the china and some silver things that looked very nice, and we thought, well, we don't really want to just give 'em away like that. >> so mom's good stuff goes into the "save" pile. four years later, the landau brothers finally decide to have a long overdue estate sale, and what happens next is incredible, even for "strange inheritance." >> i got a phone call from roger, and he said, "are you sitting down?" >> here's a "strange inheritance" quiz question. before it was silk city, paterson was called "the cradle of the industrial revolution in america.

who put the city on the map? is it...? the answer after the break. building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral... ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy.

>> so, who made paterson, new jersey, the cradle of the industrial revolution in america? it's alexander hamilton, who helped found the city in 1791. he wanted to harness the

hydropower of the passaic river's great falls to secure economic independence from british manufacturers. >> by 2015 in new jersey, the landau brothers have been storing stuff left from their parents' estate in roger's basement for four years. >> it was in the way of the ping pong table, and he wanted to, apparently, clear out some space. >> roger decides to take action before his table tennis game gets too rusty. >> i got around to calling an auctioneer, someone whose name i saw advertised on the side of the garden state parkway. >> john nye is the auction guy. >> so i said, listen, i'll stop and see you on my way to work. >> nye liquidates estates, some big fortunes like luther vandross and perry como's, and a lot of more modest ones like the landaus. you went to his house, what'd you see? >> he takes me down to the

basement. my initial reaction was, i was loving the silver. the paintings were beautiful, but not remarkable. >> nye schleps the stuff over to his auction house to examine each piece and price it for sale. he values some of those silver pieces, which roger was optimistic about, for a few hundred dollars each, and a sterling centerpiece bowl at about $2,000. >> you have a couple of interesting things. >> it's a nice group. >> tchotchkes. >> bingo. >> nye estimates the signed painting of a parisian boulevard could fetch about 500 bucks. not bad. he titles the unsigned smelling salts painting, "triple portrait with lady fainting," and describes it as "continental school, 19th century." >> it's got varnish that has crazed and crackled, and paint

loss on the board. it's not a beautiful painting, and the people sitting in the picture are not beautiful people. it was remarkably unremarkable. >> nye estimates the 9x7-inch picture is worth, say, $500. the heirs aren't even counting on that. >> we thought, if anything, the silver would have some value. >> when the auction day arrives in september 2015, a few bidders phone in. that's when the folks at the new jersey auction house realize there's probably something up with that remarkably unremarkable painting. >> it was just solid bidding, back and forth, back and forth. >> here's another quiz question for you. was rembrandt, the 17th century dutch master's...? the answer when we return. so, from the two trucks over here... i want you to pick a new truck for your mom or dad,

knowing that they could possibly pass it down to you one day. cool. but before you decide, you should know that chevy silverado's are the most dependable, longest lasting full-size pickups on the road. which means that ford f-150s are not. (laughs) which truck would you pick? the chevy. the chevy. the chevy. there you go. boom. that was obvious. plus it looks cooler. no doubt about it. now they know what to get me. (laughs)

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>> he was known simply as "rembrandt." so where did that name come from? it's the first name of dutch master rembrandt van rijn. >> in september 2015, in northern new jersey, the three landau brothers are auctioning off some family

valuables. >> i guess, to a certain extent, it was just taking care of our parents' estate. >> if i get my, you know, few hundred dollars, i'll be extremely happy. >> their expectations are so modest, they don't even attend the sale. it happens that the auction falls right at the end of the jewish high holidays. >> it was yom kippur. and i'm not terribly observant, but i don't answer my phone. and i even forgot when the auction was happening. >> expectations are also modest for auctioneer john nye, who's combined the brothers' items with inventory from a few other estate sales. >> we do press releases, we do advertising. it goes online for a two-week period, so people see what's being offered in the sale. >> did anyone express an unusual amount of attention to any of the items? >> no. >> a few days before the auction, three international

bidders do express interest in lot 216, the "triple portrait." >> one called from london, one called from paris, and one called from germany. not particularly unusual. all they requested was the opportunity to be on the phone for that specific lot. >> john's wife kathy speaks to the mystery bidder from france. >> we're never allowed to use the phone bidder's name, because they don't want anyone else knowing who it is that we're calling. >> nye employee amy ludlow gets a curious inkling about her german bidder. >> he said, "i just want you to know that it's really important, and i'm going to win this." >> auction day, september 22nd. john nye breezes through the first bunch of lots in about 45 minutes. the landau family's sterling silver centerpiece bowl sells for $2,100. that parisian street scene, $300. >> okay, our next lot is lot 216.

>> then comes lot 216, "triple portrait with lady fainting." it's the one that used to hang in the family dining room, that the young landau boys thought was rather unappetizing. how much was the reserve? >> the estimate was $500-to-$800, and so the opening bid was $250. >> $250, right here. $500 is... >> ready to pounce, any's bidder from germany. >> my bidder definitely wanted to jump in right away. >> us right here, $500. >> so do a half-dozen other bidders. >> $750. >> it reaches the high $800 estimate, and passes it. then kathy's french phone bidder enters the competition. >> he was a cool cucumber. he was so calm. every time i presented a bid, he would say, "yes." >> and all of a sudden, said, "$5,000," and, man, that happened in no time. >> everyone started creeping back into the sales room, and the bidding just kept going.

>> the bidding rises to $80,000, then 100 grand. >> the guy from england gets blown out, and it's going back and forth between kathy, my wife, and amy. >> are you thinking that the people on the phone are making a mistake, or they know something that you don't? >> they know something that i don't. >> when it got up into the $100,000s, i just went, "oh, my gosh!", like this, and just kind of... >> $200,000. then amy's german bidder ups the ante. >> $300,000. >> i'll take you $300,000. >> amy's bidder from germany jumps it to $300,000, and now i'm really smiling. >> kathy's frenchman is unfazed. he jumps the bidding to 400 grand. >> "we're at $450,000. would you like to bid?" "yes, bid." >> $500,000. >> i was in disbelief. [ laughs ] >> and the bids keep coming in steady increments to $600,000, then $700,000. >> $800,000 is the next bid.

$800,000 right here. >> i was just writing down my bids. [ laughs ] >> $830,000. >> trying to keep it together. and my fellow from france, all he said was, "yes." >> i do have $860,000. >> finally, at $860,000, germany surrenders. >> he bowed out. >> sold! >> the painting goes to kathy's anonymous phone bidder in france, with commission, for $1,100,000. vive la france! ♪ best day in your auctioneer history? >> personal best, absolutely. it was so fun. >> but hang on, how could this odd painting that spent decades in a new jersey dining room, unnoticed and unremarked upon, be worth a million bucks? amy gets clued in by her losing german bidder. >> he said, "amy, it was a rembrandt." he said, "i've been looking for this painting my whole adult

professional career." >> rembrandt? the rembrandt? the 17th century dutch master who liked to paint himself? how could that be? it's not every day a real rembrandt just pops up out of nowhere in jersey. >> in jersey? >> in jersey. in bloomfield, new jersey. >> where, this whole time, the landau brothers have been observing yom kippur, the jewish "day of atonement," with their phones turned off. >> maybe one, two days after yom kippur, i returned his call. and i said, "oh, so how'd the auction go?", he said, "well, it actually went quite well." >> and your reaction is? >> i think i actually might've used some profanity. >> when roger called me and told me the amount, and i was -- my jaw just dropped. >> that's the one from the dining room, the one thatd you . >> that was it, yeah. >> it's now your favorite painting. >> right, that's one of rembrandt's best. >> well, in retrospect, john, was it within your scope to know

that it's a rembrandt? >> that's a good question. i don't think so. because there was no indication that it was by a master. >> and at this point, no proof yet, either. that's right, despite that million dollar-plus bid, no one has actually verified whether the painting really is a rembrandt. so it is possible that the dealer may have gone all the way with this thing, and it turns out not to be? >> totally. >> what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. hi, i'm the internet! you know what's difficult?

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>> now, back to, "strange inheritance." >> in bloomfield, new jersey... >> sold! >> ...the hammer has just fallen on this curious painting, described as "triple portrait with lady fainting," for $1,100,000. auctioneer john nye is still reeling from the news that the art world believes it's a rembrandt. congratulations. >> thank you. i'm still smiling. >> how remarkable does this unremarkable painting now become? >> it's remarkable in the sense that it's not the type of dramatically lit individuals with the big hats and the ribbon collars that you see, and you just know, boom, that's a rembrandt. >> it's soon revealed that the winning phone bidder for the landau brothers' strange

inheritance is a french art dealer named bertrand gautier. but before the small painting can even be verified as a rembrandt, gautier resells it to a new york billionaire and rembrandt collector, named thomas kaplan for an undisclosed price rumored to be at least $3 million. what's going on here? >> these probably were his earliest-known works. >> art historian dennis heller explains that in the early 1600s, the young rembrandt van rijn, born in the dutch city of leiden, is studying art with some of the local masters. he will soon eclipse them all, but it's during this time that the teenage sensation creates a set of little-known paintings depicting the five senses -- touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. >> rembrandt's early works don't bring out this rembrandt-esque quality that we equate with the

artist. early rembrandt has really only been rediscovered in the last 50-to-60 years. >> rembrandt's paintings of touch, hearing, and sight are accounted for. in fact, thomas kaplan owns touch, and hearing, but the remaining two, taste, and smell have been lost for hundreds of years. >> we're all looking for the five senses. [ laughs ] >> so, it seems those european phone bidders had sniffed around and concluded that the landau brothers' strange inheritance must be the master's long-lost painting of smell. >> the fact that it's a triple portrait, it has people dressed in these outlandish clothes, and it's an allegory for one of the human senses, is what told the people in europe to look more closely at this painting. >> seems like someone might want to prove it's a rembrandt about now. curators working with billionaire thomas kaplan get down to work. lo and behold...

>> when they cleaned the painting, you could see that it was signed. rembrandt had a way of signing things, just with an "r," and when it was cleaned, there was an "r" there. >> case closed. >> what's so crazy about this story is that not one person in the united states recognized the significance of this remarkably unremarkable painting. an old master dealer came from the city, and sat in the front row.old master specialist comes and walks right past the rembrandt. >> yes. >> even after the painting's authenticated, we can only guess how it ended up in the landaus' new jersey home. >> would've come from europe at some point. i think the size had a lot to do with it being able to cross the atlantic. >> the landau brothers figure it's time to do a little sleuthing into the grandpa they barely knew. >> we learned that our grandfather phil liked on the weekends to drive from paterson into manhattan, and he would

hang out at this auction house. >> really? >> they sold estate sales from people who had apartments in manhattan. and so, i think that grandpa liked the idea of going and getting some real bargains on some artwork. >> none of them turned out to be valuable, except, says steven, for this one redeeming purchase. >> he was not known as an art collector, certainly, but he did choose that painting to buy. >> grandpa, you think, is winking down at you like... >> i think so, yeah. >> "nice work boys"? the landau brothers say they're a little sad that they're parents couldn't share in the excitement. >> if they had known about that painting, it would've meant so much to them. >> in march 2016, the restored painting, now officially titled, the, "unconscious patient: an allegory of smell," is unveiled to great fanfare in the

netherlands. today, it travels to museums all over the world as part of thomas kaplan's leiden collection, which now includes three-of-the-five senses. a dutch museum owns sight. what happened to taste is a mystery. >> it is an amazing story. and, you know, the money is great.not complaining about that at all. but the story's even better. >> your family in jersey. >> yeah. [ laughs ] in jersey, that's right. ♪ >> another mystery remains with the landau family. did grandpa phil know he had picked up a painting of such value? if he did, he sure kept it tight-lipped, says roger. but grandpa may have left a hint behind for his grandsons. when roger was cleaning out some of grandpa's old boxes, he found a big, dusty, old book -- the title, "the art of rembrandt." hmm. i'm jamie colby.

thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance," and remember, you can't take it with you. ♪ >> how could this ever happened in this country? how could it never happened in this state? that's absolutely pure evil. cheryl: a valentine's day massacre in as a gunman kills at least 17. learning more about his passion for guns in a shocking social media post. my report straight ahead. lauren: keeping a keen eye on futures this morning. two african three-point gain up for days in a row. take a look at potentially five straight days of gains. dow futures