Instant heirlooms and Lucky Arty Finds
It’s dream of all charity shop divers that you find an object, a dress, a vase or the holy grail of the charity shop, the old master painting picked up for a song and then auctioned for a life changing amount. And recently it happened with a painting by noted Scottish Colourist FCB Cadell which was bought in White Plains New York then sold in the capital. The art piece was bought for $100 and it was recently sold for £190,000 in Edinburgh.
The painting was entitled “Interior: The Lady in Black” and gorgeous as it was the signature was either too difficult to read or smeared and without modern techniques it was too difficult to identify back in the day. It was only after the retirement of the original purchaser that her son researched the painting and he was able to identify the style and the smudged signature using Artificial Intelligence. It was a brilliant find for all and added to the Cadell known body of work.
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell was one of the four Scottish colourists painting in the early 20th century. The privately educated Scot was much influenced by the French artist Henri Matisse and he spent some time in Paris at the beginning of the last century. Like Michelangelo Cadell was famously left handed and this sinister bent gave a greater depth to his paintings of the glamorous women of his time. It’s an interesting sidebar to say that Cadell’s great nephew was the talented actor Simon Cadell best known for his role as the posh one in the BBC series Hi-de-Hi! about a much troubled holiday camp in the 1950s.
This bargain find turned into family heirloom and you too can in a small measure give someone in your life a bit of an instant heirloom just now and not just the run of the mill Father’s day gift . So why not take a gander at some of the joys to be found on the James Pirie website where you will find some lovely bargains.
Look at the half price Edinburgh Collection Crystal Whisky Set with its square Spirit Decanter Whisky and tumblers. It comes in a luxury presentation box from Royal Scot Crystal. It comes with free delivery and free gift wrapping when you tick the box at checkout.
This fine decanter is perfect for storing and serving the finest whiskies, helping to aerate the golden nectar and it mellows the flavours and releases the full, complex aromas. The tumblers are perfectly sized for enjoying either a neat whisky or one with an ice cube . Bliss!
