An Emily Carr painting that sold for US$50 at an estate sale has fetched C$290,000 at a Toronto auction.
Heffel Fine Art Auction House says “Masset, Q.C.I.” sold for $290,000 at its fall sale Wednesday night, above a presale estimate of $100,000 to $200,000.
Including a commission paid by the buyer to the auction house, the total price came to $349,250.
The oil on canvas painting depicts a carved grizzly bear atop a memorial totem pole in the village of Masset, B.C., on Haida Gwaii.
Get breaking National news
It was discovered several months ago at a barn sale in the Hamptons, where a New York-based art dealer bought it for US$50.
“Masset, Q.C.I.” was painted in 1912 as part of Carr’s efforts to create an extensive record of the artistic heritage of First Nations communities in British Columbia.
It’s believed to have been a gift to Carr’s friend Nell Cozier and her husband in the 1930s and has been hanging in a barn in the Hamptons since. The couple had moved to the area to work as caretakers for a large estate after originally living in Victoria.
- Son arrested after father stabbed, killed at Toronto home: police
- ‘Choked and punched’: 4 teens charged in violent Ontario carjacking
- Infrastructure Ontario ‘worked with’ engineering firm ahead of science centre closure report
- NDP files complaint with integrity commissioner over Ford government ‘cash-for-access’ fundraiser
