well, erm I could be. Maybe, hopefully. Let's see what you think.......
Yesterday, I was in London seeing a client who was lucky enough to live right by Hampstead Heath. This was a serious case of house envy on my behalf, it was truly amazing and not much change out of £10m I imagine. It was one of those white stucco fronted houses, spread over six floors and with a reception hall that was bigger than my whole downstairs. It had a games room, cinema room and bar. It was truly lush.
Anyway, they were a wonderful family who loved their photographs and I left a happy bunny. The sun was shining, and as I was going back to the car, something caught my eye resting against a skip. I am a bit of a magpie and couldn't resist a look. This is what I found:
I saw straight away it was a woodblock on possibly silk (see I did listen in art class) and I also saw that is was an original. I looked around and saw that a massive mansion was being renovated, there was even a belfast sink in the skip, which sadly for me, I couldn't even lift. After bumbling around for a few minutes, I decided to take the painting. (Gosh, that makes me sounds as if I was stealing it, but someones trash was definitely my treasure!).
When I got home, I called my parents as my Dad knows a bit about "art" and my mum used to work in a gallery in St James. After a bit of pondering, they identified it as an original by the artist Alice Goodwin who studied at Camden Art School in the 60s (which probably explains why it ended up in a big old mansion in Hampstead).
So, what's it worth?? A bit of googling says anything from a couple of hundred, to a couple of thousand! Do I care? No, I just really like it or rather I like the idea that in 50 years time my grandchildren could be on the Antiques Road Show saying "My granny found it in a skip in Hampstead and it's been in the family ever since" only for them to be told it's worth millions!
I'm a daft old romantic at heart, but it's captivated my imagination!
