a piece by the famous Matisse's grand daughter (a copy of a famous Picasso at that) and a print of a Picasso. Valuable, but probably not something you could put the kids through college on.
I've heard that normal finders fee from insurance companies for professional investigators is between 5% and 10% of the assessed value of the returned property. It's likely that the $1,000 is low, but not that low. Particularly since it's apparently being put up by the framer and not by the insurance company. I hope this one has gone through.
Of course, with all of this publicity, how much you wanna bet there's a hundred thugs hanging out at the subway station waiting to grab the paintings to hold for ransom, while another hundred is looking to hit up either party for the $1,000.