returned to screens with host and art dealer Phillip Mould investigating the stories behind remarkable paintings.
During a recent episode of the series, buyer David Taylor revealed he’d purchased a mystery painting from a regional auction house.
After discovering Canadian painter Helen McNicoll’s signature, he brought the painting to the show to learn more about the artwork and it real valuation.
The guest shared: “I bought it at auction. I didn’t actually have a catalogue on the day, and I was just viewing, wandering around… (It) was in a corner in a plastic 1960s frame.
“As a painter, I looked at it, and I was just bowled over by it. (It was) painted by someone who really knows what they’re doing.”
Read more:
Fake or Fortune guest purchased the painting for £2000 (Image: BBC)
With the help of the Fake or Fortune team, David learned that the painting he bought for £2,000 was in fact a long-lost work by Helen McNicoll known as The Bean Harvest.
It dates back to the early 20th century and is worth an estimated £300,000.
During the episode, Canadian billionaire Pierre Lassonde, a major collector of Helen McNicoll’s work flew to London to see the painting in person and was visibly impressed.
He remarked: “It’s beautiful, it really is magnificent… For a painting that has been missing for 110 years I think it’s fantastic… I wouldn’t mind adding one more piece to my collection.”
The Helen McNicoll painting was valued at £300,000 (Image: BBC)
Don’t miss… [REACTION]
Fiona admitted: “I’d not heard of Helen McNicoll before we started investigating this painting, but what a pioneer she was – a woman at that time, the early 20th century travelling abroad with her easel while profoundly deaf.
“I’m so glad we’ve been able to bring her name to wider attention. I loved the painting the moment I saw it. But was it hers?”
Fake or Fortune’s Philip Mould added: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery – the type many art buyers dream of – and a reflection of both David’s shrewd eye and the massive increase and desire for the work of high-quality women artists that is motivating collectors and museums on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Reflecting on the discovery, the painting’s owner, David said: “It’s been an absolute adventure.
“The Fake or Fortune team and the have made the journey memorable and exciting. I believed in the painting from day one, and I’m hopeful that it could achieve a record price.”
The painting is currently being stored in a gallery and David is planning to sell it at auction in the near future.