An experience that thoroughly illustrates the importance of advisory services in art investment as in alternative assets.
This mask sold at a flea market for eur 150 by an old couple was later offered for EUR4.2m by an auction house in Montpellier….
A precedent with an ill attributed Poussin painting filled the legal loophole allowing the sale cancellation when mis-estimated : the court might highly probably apply the same clause to this case returning the mask to its initial owners on October 31.
Extracted from Beaux arts magasine october 2023
Ses anciens propriétaires, un couple de retraités âgés de 88 et 81 ans, s’en mordent les doigts : le masque africain en bois sculpté, qu’ils pensaient sans grande valeur et avaient cédé à un brocanteur pour 150 euros en 2021, était en réalité un trésor qui, quelques mois plus tard, s’est arraché à 4,2 millions d’euros aux enchères.
