http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=403x2261Oh my.
Vinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Sep-22-08 06:05 PM
Original message
My best yard sale find ever.
This is a Roadshow-worthy story. I stopped at a yard sale kind of late in the morning the Saturday before last and spotted a large abstract painting for $10 and decided to buy it. The guy tells me he bought it directly from the artist in 1985 and that the artist, who is Moroccan, is very well known. Yeah, sure, I thought. As if someone would sell a well known artist's painting for $10.
But I bought it anyway, because for some weird reason I liked it. So I got home, put "Mohamed Drissi" into "the Google" and to my astonishment, it turns out he is well known. In fact, there's an entire museum with his name on it. I found one sale for $18,000 so I sent a picture to a gallery in Morocco and they said it's one of Drissi's best works. They quoted $8,000 to $12,000, but I think they were setting me up for a sale and I'm hanging onto it for awhile. I'm still stunned that someone would sell a painting like that for $10. It actually looked as if it had been in storage in a barn or something, too. I had to vacuum sawdust and mouse droppings off it. Honest!
after which image of the painting
Edited to add another little tidbit I picked up from another dealer last weekend. Apparently someone in my area made a million dollar find of a Russian painting over the summer! It's so exciting to know this kind of thing is still out there.
Now that the primitive found this valuable painting, one assumes he will immediately donate it to an art museum, rather than selfishly keeping it for himself. After all, art belongs to the people.
Longhorn DU Moderator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Sep-22-08 06:21 PM
Response to Original message
1. Oh, my!
What an amazing story! I hope all works out with securing your windfall! That's not just luck but skill on your part. I wonder how many people had passed up on that painting by the time you saw it! Way to go!
yy4me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Sep-22-08 07:05 PM
Response to Original message
2. And that my dear is why we all still get in the car and hit every yard sale, junk shop, thrift shop we can find. Personally, I'm looking for a Faberge egg but I will take an original of the Declaration of Independence--maybe an original printed Gutenberg Bible, a signed Paul Revere silver tankard. No point in thinking small, one the bug is in your system, no turning back.
I did find a cute old brass frame the other day.
Congrats, perseverance pays off.
Vinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-23-08 07:15 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. LOL - I've been looking for a Faberge egg, too. Seriously.
Did you know Faberge made tiny eggs that are worn as pendants? I figure that would be the easiest to find. They also made Santa figures that are unidentified except for some Russian writing on the bottom. I look for those, too. You never know.
mopinko Donating Member (1000+ posts) Wed Sep-24-08 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
6. take good care of it.
buy it a good cleaning if you can afford it. if is was covered with dust and mouse droppings, it is in need.
great job, tho. i love thrift shop art, and am always looking for that big thing. i always buy paintings that talk to me.
What the fudge?
I dunno. The artist is no Holbein, Brueghal, or Durer. I'd give it to an art museum myself, just to not have to look at it.
