Brass Corner

Do I have an original Bierstadt painting??

My dad has bought several paintings at cheap resell stores for extremely cheap. This painting that has been hanging in my parents other house for about a year now has caught my attention because of its large size and the brass frame around it. In red ink at the lower right corner it says A Bierstadt. Then at the bottom of the frame is engraved "Yosemite Valley".

I didn't even know bierstadt was a famous painter until I googled the name I found on the painting... This painting looks old, its big, and has worn brass frame around it.

Hi! I love Bierstadt. He did several pieces
by that title as well a number of others with
'Yosemite' as part of the title. Before you go
further, you should (roll up your sleeves..
and) first look through these:

Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, c. 1870
Oil on canvas - Amon Carter Museum
http://www.cartermuseum.org/works-of-art/1966-1
Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point Trail
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/popups/pc_amerps/enlarge05.html
Yosemite Valley, 1863
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma
http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collections/american/bierstadt-yosemite.html
Yosemite Valley, 1865, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY
http://www.hydecollection.org/collections/details-image.cfm?ID=9
Yosemite Valley, California, ca. 1863 oil on paper laid down on canvas
16 x 20" Lowe Art Museum - University of Miami
http://www6.miami.edu/lowe/art_19_amer.htm
1. Looking Up the Yosemite Valley (1-4 listed in link below)
Oil on canvas, 36 x 58 1/2, c. 1863-75
2. Sunset in the Yosemite Valley
36 1/4 x 52 1/4 1868
3. In the Yosemite Valley
24 x 32 undated
4. Yosemite Valley
36 1/8 x 52 1/4
c.1863-75
Haggin Museum, Stockton Ca.
http://www.hagginmuseum.org/bierstadt.htm
Valley of the Yosemite - 1864
Oil on paperboard
Museum of Fine Art, Boston MA
http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=33107&coll_keywords=&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=Bierstadt&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=Paintings&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=1&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=0&coll_sort_order=0&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=1
Yosemite Valley - Chromolithograph
After Bierstadt, Indiana Museum of Art
http://www.imamuseum.org/search/mercury/Bierstadt

And more paintings with "Yosemite" in the title:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/bierstadt_albert.html
http://arthistory.about.com/od/educator_parent_resources/ig/picturing_america/pa_neh_15.htm

I hope yours is real... good luck!