Whitby man's painting bought for £89 causes shock as it sells for £23,000 at Scarborough auction
The picture was Don Quixote, painted in 1961 by the abstract expressionist Julio Pomar, one of the most renowned Portuguese artists of the 20th Century.
It was entered in the auction after being spotted by David Duggleby painting specialist Dominic Cox during his visit to a Whitby home to assess a collection of largely Victorian pictures.
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Hide AdMr Cox said: “The paintings I had been invited to look at were nice quality, although not particularly exceptional – but then I happened to catch sight of the Don Quixote on a wall at the top of the stairs. Wow!
“You may or may not like abstract art but surely almost anyone would concede that the picture is striking.
"It certainly got my attention.”
He said the vendor inherited the painting from his father, a Scottish art dealer, who bought it in Edinburgh in 1989 for £89.
"He and his wife had no strong feelings about the picture and they were unaware of Pomar’s importance – or the potential value.
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Hide Ad“Our initial assessment was that it could make £5,000 to £8,000 but when the auction catalogue was published things went absolutely crazy.”
Bidding opened at £7,600 and within seconds had sailed past £10,000 – and kept on going.
"At the death it came down to a straight battle between a Portuguese dealer bidding on the telephone and the eventually successful buyer, a private collector bidding on the DD Live Internet platform from London,” said Mr Cox.
“The result caused astonishment in the room.
"Actually it even surprised the vendor, who was present to watch the auction.”
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Hide AdThe result was a record UK price for the Pomar, rivalling values that the artist’s work is achieving in Portugal.
Another noteworthy result in the “spectacular” recent auction include £17,500 paid for Lionel Townsend Crawshaw’s painting Pulling Up The Cobbles
Runswick, sent for inclusion in the auction by an Australian vendor and achieving a new record price for the Staithes Group artist.