Back in November, I posted about some recently rediscovered Renaissance altarpiece panels. Here’s the followup:
Word was, a modest Oxford librarian named Miss Jean Preston had hung the tiny gold-leaf panels on the back of her guest room door. She thought them “quite nice.”
Last Thursday, having been discovered to be lost masterpieces by Renaissance master […]

Everyone dreams of it: Sneaking away from a tag sale with an undiscovered Rembrandt. Digging something out of your attic that is valuable enough to pay off your mortgage.
Well folks, keep on dreaming because it does happen.
Jean Preston, an elderly librarian of modest means living in Oxford, U.K., had found […]

We all dream of it: finding a sweet little treasure at a flea market or tag sale, only to discover that its monetary value is far beyond what we paid.
Lightning struck two days in a row last week, at Bonhams in London. First, a pair of collectors scored a coup with a diminutive piece […]

Shannon’s
William Trost Richards, Mountain Lake, 1861
estimate: $60,000–$80,000
realized: $215,000
“You can have anything you find in there, dear,” said the woman’s mother as the younger woman sifted through her closet. The daughter pulled out a picture, mounted in a crappy frame, and brought it to Shannon’s in Greenwich, Conn. Although it appeared to be unsigned, auctioneer Gene […]