A painting bought with 173 pounds came to cost thousands of pounds. Found it in a garage
When an unusual painting was auctioned in a stock liquidation 2 years ago, it attracted only two offers and was sold at the price of £ 150, the equivalent of € 173. But the new owner was surprised to find out that he bought a work of art: it turned out that this is a work of the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí, with an estimated value of £ 20,000- £ 30,000, wrote
When an antiques dealer in Cambridge, the United Kingdom, bought an unusual illustration, he had no idea that he became the owner of the “Vecchio Sultano” work. Initially, I was told that the painting was found in the garage of a London home. The man, who had experience in identifying valuable objects first observed the stickers on the back of the work, indicating that the work was also listed in a Sotheby’s auction in the 1990s, The Guardian wrote.
Even though the work was signed by the artist, it was not mentioned that this was the work of the Spanish painter. The man told how he bid for the work “at the moment”, trusting his abilities to identify a fake after watching the show “Fake of Fortune” for years.
“I did some research and I couldn’t believe what I was looking for.” Said the man, who preferred to stay anonymous.
A few months after he bought the illustration, the man also found the Sotheby’s sales catalog in which he was listed, who demonstrated that this is an original work. The antiques dealer asked the Cheffins auction house to authenticate the illustration. After being examined by an expert in Salvador Dalí’s work, it turned out that the man chose with an original work, worth £ 20,000.
The painting, which at first glance does not resemble Dalí’s work, is part of a collection of illustrations called Arabian Nights (Arabic nights). It was confirmed that it illustrates a “old sultan” and that it was painted by Dalí in 1966. It is part of a collection of over 500 illustrations based on the Middle East folklore.
The artist’s financial supporters, Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto ordered the illustrations, and the Italian Publishing House Rizzoli planned to publish them. But the artist abandoned the project after completing only 100 of the 500 promised illustrations, none of them being published in the end.
