London, UK – July 31, 2025
In a discovery that highlights the thrill of the art market, an anonymous art dealer has turned a mere £150 investment at a house clearance sale into a potential windfall of up to £30,000, after a painting they acquired was authenticated as an original work by the legendary surrealist Salvador Dalí.
The mixed media piece, titled “Vecchio Sultano” (Old Sultan), was purchased at a Cambridge-based house clearance sale in 2023 for a remarkably low sum. The eagle-eyed buyer later made a startling discovery: the artwork had previously been offered for sale at Sotheby’s in the 1990s, where it was fully attributed to Dalí, but had failed to find a buyer at the time.
The 38cm by 29cm work, created with watercolour paint and felt tip, depicts a scene from “The Arabian Nights.” It is part of a larger, ambitious series of 500 illustrations of Middle Eastern folktales that Dalí had intended to create, commissioned by the wealthy Italian couple Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto in the 1960s. However, the project was ultimately abandoned, with only around 100 pieces completed, and many of these later lost by the publishers.
The authentication process, described as “exciting” by Gabrielle Downie, an associate at Cambridgeshire auctioneers Cheffins, involved verification by Nicolas Descharnes, a renowned expert on Dalí. The re-discovery of a lost attribution in the modern art world is considered “quite rare” and “significant,” making “Vecchio Sultano” a notable addition to the Dalí canon.
“To handle a genuine rediscovery of a work by who is easily one of the most famous artists in the world, and the godfather of Surrealism, is a real honour,” Downie stated. She also noted that while Dalí’s work is often instantly recognizable for its melting clocks, bizarre landscapes, and dreamlike imagery, “Vecchio Sultano” shows “a different side to his practice when working in watercolour,” and is “not a painting that screams it is a masterpiece by Salvador Dalí to the untrained eye.”
The painting, which was reportedly found in the garage of a London house before ending up at the Cambridge sale, is now set to be offered for sale by Cheffins auctioneers on October 23rd, with a pre-sale estimate of £20,000 to £30,000. This remarkable turnaround from its £150 purchase price serves as a testament to the importance of expert knowledge and the potential for hidden treasures in unexpected places within the art world.
