Today Mr. R. came into my office with a drawing he found in Singapore. Turns out this is a significant drawing by Ole Johnsen, born and active in Seboy, Denmark in the 18th century. Right then I emailed an auction house in Sweden, who responded back immediately. Brunn Rasmussen Auctions wanted to auction the drawing, and gave us an auction estimate of 3,000-5,000 Danish Krone. That means the top of the estimate range is $9,277. So hence this article about finding artwork in strange places, which does happen, but not always. This column, for the duration, is about happy findings.
Reality TV taught us that when we open an abandoned storage locker we find a huge treasure immediately. This isn’t usually the case. I put the odds like this – thousands of experiences will end in nothing, one may end in some treasure. You get better at sniffing out treasures the more you do it. I’ve seen again and again the existence of beginner’s LUCK.
Mr. R’s story illustrates beginner’s luck. I caution, it doesn’t always strike.
An example of beginner’s luck striking BIG
In Italy, an automobile factory worker looked at a Gauguin in his kitchen for 40 years. Italian Culture Minister Dario Francheshini said the Gauguin hung on the kitchen wall next to an oil by Pierre Bonnard. The Gauguin is titled “Fruit on a Table with a Small Dog,” 1889, and the Bonnard (1867-1947) is “Woman with Two Armchairs.” Italian authorities estimate both paintings together are worth between $14 and $40 million dollars.
As a parallel to Mr. R’s Santa Barbara story, how did this Italian story happen? The retired autoworker’s son hired an appraiser to evaluate the painting after his dad died. Appraisers often smell something valuable and our ethics clause instructs us to contact the London-based Art Loss Register when we smell shaky provenance. Check out this site if you’ve ever had art stolen or are on the verge of buying something of value. The photos of the world’s stolen or missing art will amaze you. The appraiser in Italy then contacted the Italian carabinieri Art Theft Squad. These guys are the bomb. They know their stuff and were trained by the best undercover Mafiosi in the world.
Their research discovered the paintings have been sold to the factory worker 40 years ago at an auction for abandoned things left on trains. He paid about $100 for both paintings, framed them, and hung them in a modest kitchen, never knowing the artists’ names. He also never knew that men posing as burglar alarm mechanics, accompanied by (costumed) policemen stole the paintings in 1970 from the home of a British collector. These guys distracted the cook on duty and cut the paintings from their frames.
The Gauguin and Bonnard traveled on a Paris to Turin train where the thieves supposedly abandoned them.
The confusing bit
The original owner in London since passed with no heirs. Italian authorities are figuring out who gets the Gauguin and the Bonnard.
Europe handles Art theft differently in regards to repatriation as handled with US laws/courts/heirship issues. But like Mr. R’s story, a drawing found in Singapore originally made in 18th century Denmark and brought to Santa Barbara – well, beginner’s luck has its place. And it happened here!