I bought a sketch/watercolour from an antique shop for $5 the other day. When I got it home, I took a closer look and saw a signature done in pencil "Gautier", on the lower right hand of the piece, as well as intials "L.G ?" by the title " La Ste. Chapelle, La Rosace". There is a strong imprint around the actual drawing from what I guess to be some sort of frame work to hold the paper in place while drawing/painting. The paper is approx. 5x7 and the drawing is about 3x5 within the frame.I have tried to attach some pics but it keeps failing but I will continue to try).
I have looked online for information but I'm afraid that I just haven't been lucky with my finds. I hope to have some opinions/information about this piece.
Thanks in advance:)

If the art work is a watercolor or a sketch, it is by definition an original. You should be able to see clear indications of brush marks and pencil marks when you hold the work up to the light. If it's a watercolor, a tell-tale sign that it's original as well is in the warping of the paper from when it absorbed the water and ink.

I'm not sure if you mean to ask if it's worth more than its purchase price? If that's your question, the only way to find out for sure is to get the work evaluated at an auction house. Most places do an appraisal for a small fee, some do it for free, depending on the work. Another thing to do before spending money on an auction house is to get an art history book, like Marilyn Stokstad's "Art History", to see if you can place it roughly by genre. Once you can do that, you could do some searching of the artist's name by genre and do more research that way.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the advice genericreader:) ( I've been having trouble downloading a pic to see if anyone has any other input but I will keep trying) Maybe someone might recognize the artist, is my hopes.