A guest was left astonished after finding out the value of an oil painting bought for £25 in a charity shop. BBC ‘s popularAntiques Roadshow returned to one of the grandest houses in Wales, Powis Castle, during the episode that aired on Sunday, July 2.
The show saw guests share their stories behind a whole range of items, including a gold brooch in the shape of a bird, a ventriloquist’s dummy, a 300-year-old love token and an oil painting detecting Scottish islands, reports WalesOnline.
During the show an oil painting was featured, that had a rather lovely and unassuming story behind it, leaving the guest that bought it at a charity shop for £25 shocked by its valuation. Introducing the piece of art, a thrilled Grant Ford explained: “This is such an immediate, fluid, colourful painting, I’d love to be able to paint just like this. It really is a confident, colourist painting, now, it’s an oil on canvas and it’s clearly signed lower right, Cunningham.”
Asking the guest how she came to own it, she replied: “So I bought this painting 10 years ago, it’s a Scottish scene, a peninsula on the west coast of Scotland and we’d all had a family holiday there.
“We were driving home, all the way back to Shropshire, and my children were only 10 and 12 and I realised the rain was coming down and I had no raincoat for the children, so I stopped at the nearest charity shop and went in to get a raincoat but I didn’t get a raincoat, I got a painting.”
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“What a lovely story, gosh I wish I got there before you,” Grant responded. He went on to explain that John Cunningham was born and bred in Lancashire but was centered in Glasgow where he was a senior lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art.
Upon retiring he became a professional artist in 1985, and the oil painting brought to the Roadshow was a desired piece. Grant then asked: “You go into the charity shop for a raincoat, and you find a picture by John Cunningham, one of his favourite subjects, what did you pay for it?”
The guest explained she paid £25 for the painting 10 years ago, to which Grant replied: “I just think that’s an amazing bit of luck because this is a very sought-after painting and actually holds quite a lot of value. I can confidently say it’s worth £4,000 to £6,000.”
“Oh wow, that’s quite astonishing for £25, I’m glad I bought it,” the delighted guest said, as Grant added: “You could have found a raincoat that day, luckily you found a brilliant painting.”
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