Some scholars of American art predict that the sale of these paintings on Dec. 4 could become — given their caliber, celebrity and condition — the auction of the year in an area of the art market that has not bounced back since the collapse of the world financial markets in 2008. Experts say that two have a chance of topping the record price for Rockwell at auction, $15.4 million, which was set in 2006 for “Breaking Home Ties,” an image of a fresh-faced boy leaving home for the first time.

“They are iconic images of 20th-century American culture, all three of them,” said Virginia M. Mecklenburg, chief curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, who organized a blockbuster Rockwell show there in 2010.

“Each one of these paintings is just as relevant now as when they were made,” she added.

For the sons of Kenneth J. Stuart, though, the story behind the sale is not so cozy.

Curtis Publishing, which owned The Saturday Evening Post, tried, unsuccessfully, to claim ownership of the paintings. (The company does have reproduction rights to the images on countless objects, including mugs and mouse pads, porcelains and playing cards.)