Thrift store find could fetch $30K at auction
‘Outstanding’ Sybil Andrews oil was purchased for $69.95 — less the seniors discount
Included among the Group of Sevens, the Riopelle, the Emily Carr and the other works by Canadian masters at Heffel’s fall auction is a painting that was picked up in a British Columbia thrift shop for $69.95 — less a 30 per cent seniors discount.
Boats at Dockby British-Canadian artist Sybil Andrews (oil on canvas, circa 1942-1945) is expected to fetch its unnamed owner $20,000 to $30,000 at Wednesday’s sales.
It’s among 135 works being auctioned as part of Heffel’s Post-War & Contemporary Art and Canadian, Impressionist and Modern Art auctions.
Besides the Andrews, called “outstanding” by the auction house, the works highlighted by Heffel include:
Jouet by Jean Paul Riopelle, a 1953 drip canvas expected to fetch $1.2 million to $1.6 million. Riopelle’s Vent du
nord sold for more than $7.4 million at Heffel in 2017, becoming the secondmost expensive Canadian artwork sold at auction.
Spring Wave by Emily Carr. Heffel notes that Carr paintings rarely come to market; this 1935 landscape was once owned by her publisher. The presale estimate is $300,000 to $500,000
Mountain Sketch XC by Lawren Harris (1926-1929), $700,000 to $900,000. It’s one of six paintings by the Group of Seven member in the auction. A Harris painting became the most expensive Canadian artwork sold at auction in 2016.
Tugs and Troop Carrier, Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia by Harris’s fellow Group of Seven member, Arthur Lismer (1921), $700,000 to $900,000.
Two Boys Playing by Alex Colville (1952), $600,000 to $800,000. This painting, being auctioned along with Colville’s Chaplain, depicts the artist’s two sons.
The Lab by Sir Frederick Banting (1925), $20,000 to $30,000. It depicts the actual laboratory where Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin.
The sales, at Toronto’s Design Exchange at 4 and 7 tonight, also include works by Tom Thomson, Jack Bush, Jean Paul Lemieux, and international artists Fernando Botero, Karel Appel and Andy Warhol. Heffel expects to make between $15 million and $20 million altogether.