[ad_1]
An Aussie mum has been left devastated after discovering the painting she sold for $200 on Facebook Marketplace was actually a rare piece of art worth 100 times that.
Sarah Bonner, from the Gold Coast, says she bought the abstract black-and-white piece on the same platform two years earlier but had to re-list it because she needed the cash.
She listed the item for $100 last weekend and found an interested buyer, but was pleasantly surprised when another man offered double her price if she agreed to hold it for him.
“He arrived late afternoon [on Tuesday]. He chatted away and was really nice,” Ms Bonner told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
She sold him the work for $200.
But the next day, Ms Bonner was contacted by someone who had seen her ad and understood the true value of what she had sold.
The piece is believed to be the work of celebrated French artist Pierre Soulages, also known as the “master of black”, who died last year.
It has been identified as one of 200 works from Soulages’ 1957 collection, “Lithographie No. 3”.
Lithography is a form of printmaking that produces an authorised copy of an artist’s work that closely resembles the original. Just 200 versions of “Lithographie No. 3” were created, all of which can fetch a pretty penny.
One copy is currently listed on a collectors’ website for $46,000. Another is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
It’s unclear how much Ms Bonner paid to acquire the piece originally or exactly what it is worth. It would first need to be authenticated, but she has been told she could have got $20,000 for it.
“If I knew someone in that situation I would like to see them actually offered a better deal and be honest with them about how much it’s worth,” she said.
“It could have really brightened my year and really made a difference to my family.”
Ms Bonner said, after realising the piece’s value, she tried unsuccessfully to contact the man who bought it. She began searching his name online and claims the buyer was Leigh Capel, a respected art dealer from Sydney.
There is no suggestion that Mr Capel has done anything wrong.
Mr Capel runs an antiques business called Belle Epoque in Petersham, NSW. When contacted by Nine News Gold Coast, he said: “No comment on that”.
When the Gold Coast Bulletin spoke to his mother Susan Capel, who also runs the business, she said: “That’s my son. No comment.”
[ad_2]
Source link
