Dad Buys Box of Junk at Garage Sale, Small Post Card Painting Inside Worth $390,000
We all dream of finding some hidden-away treasure, don’t we? I’m sure that the pressure of packed schedules and strained budgets has something to do with it.
Yet there’s more to the fantasy of discovering a hidden item of great value than the hope of a big payday. There’s a certain cachet in being part of a larger story, something bigger than your monthly budget.
Perhaps that’s why shows such as “Antiques Roadshow” or “Pawn Stars” have become so popular. And perhaps that’s why we love reading stories about people like Robin Darvell.
Like most of us, Darvell had a life consumed with day-to-day business tasks. According to CNN, he earned a paycheck running a film marketing company.
But sometime in the early 2000s, this busy London professional made a trip to somewhat sleepier Cornwall. And while he was there, he stopped by a rummage sale.
It’s a phenomenon familiar all over the industrialized world. Whenever we find ourselves with too much stuff, we empty our attics, garages, and closets and sell our unwanted stuff out by the curb.
While Darvell perused this particular sale, he found a box of junk that he thought might contain a gem or two. After a little haggling, he paid £30 ($46 USD) for it.
Then he took it home and promptly forgot about it. It wasn’t until 2012 that he pulled it out and started examining a small painting within.
About the size of a postcard, the painting showed a wooded British countryside with beautiful backlit clouds and a serenely blue sky. Darvell wondered if it might be valuable.
He gave the painting to Curtis Dowling, an expert on evaluating works of art, but Dowling isn’t any ordinary appraiser.
He works with “Treasure Detectives,” a U.K. show similar to “Antiques Roadshow.” Dowling spent a year puzzling over the tiny painting, chasing down leads and carefully analyzing its physical characteristics.
Finally, Dowling had news for Darvell: His picture wasn’t any ordinary garage sale find.
Amazingly, it was an original work of John Constable, a famous British painter who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries. According to the National Gallery, Constable produced numerous paintings of the Suffolk countryside.
Constable was a self-taught painter and his works were never particularly popular in England, at least during his lifetime. Afterward, though, was another matter entirely.
That little painting that Darvell purchased for mere pocket change was valued at £250,000 ($390,000) in 2013.
“It’s a bit of a dream come true,” he said. “I was over the moon but also shocked when I found out what the painting really is. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
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