Printing services in Delta may want to observe the tale of a British man who picked up a watercolor painting, by a painter who worked in British Columbia, at a rummage sale only because he liked the painting’s oak frame and not the actual painting - he is now $78,000 richer. The unnamed British man located the $78,000-netting watercolor Print in the United Kingdom, but as he researched the artist’s name on the Internet, he suspected it would be worth a lot more than he initially thought. He has now been proven highly correct.
The watercolor painting at the heart of the British man’s lucky find—he only spent $50 at the rummage sale—was created by British-born Canadian artist Walter Phillips. He was a well-known watercolorist who built a body of work around capturing scenes of native Canadian culture; he was also regarded as a pioneer in Canada of Japanese-style woodcut printing. He was even the leading printmaker in Canada almost 100 years ago.
Early estimates thought the watercolor print would get the British man only $15,000 at the Toronto auction, yet many were shocked when the final bid came in at $78,000. On Monday, the auction of this Phillips piece entitled "The Hoh-Hok Houseposts at Karlukwees" was the highlight of auctioneer Bonham’s sale of Canadian art.
Printing services may regard this story as an interesting coincidence related to the print industry that just happened to relate to their backyard of British Columbia. Art collectors, however, are just happy that a long-lost Phillips piece has been found again, and many of us are happy to own Copies of Phillips' work reproduced by poster printing firms in Delta.
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