Sotheby's just sold my painting at auction this morning.

[bif]

Unbelievable! You can't imagine how much it sold for. I'm in shock.

[SheltieLover]

1. Congrats!

[FalloutShelter]

2. OMG MARK!

So happy for you! It's a BFD.

[ramblin_dave]

3. Details please - what painting?

Something you painted or found in an attic? Sold for how much?

[bif]

5. Here's the original post

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10287784

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

4. Wonderful outcome!

Congrats!

[LoisB]

6. Congratulations!

[babylonsister]

7. How does your wife like it now?!

That's amazing!! Congrats!!

[Phoenix61]

8. Awesome!!! nt

[drray23]

10. if it is this one

https://www.sothebys.com/buy/20ff0a52-6b86-4fdf-97ee-cf5111594f73/lots/52caf1b5-8416-4420-99e4-31ad94c1b9d2


I am happy for you guys. I think you can retire if you are not already..

[PatSeg]

25. Or possibly this one of Amsterdam

It looks like it sold recently.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/francis-newton

[highplainsdem]

38. Definitely is that one, judging by the details. I'm thrilled that it sold for so much.

Congratulations, blf!

[RobertDevereaux]

40. I love this paragragh, given what you've said about its life in your home.

“In the early 1980s, Landscape (Red Building) came to be offered at a charity auction in Detroit, the home city of Schuster. The auction was organised to benefit the St John’s Fontbonne Auxiliary, the sponsoring congregation of Detroit’s St John’s hospital, which remains an active charity to this day. Souza’s 1955 cityscape went unsold but was spotted and bought by a discerning local collector and aesthete and has remained in the same family collection ever since.” !!!!

[bucolic_frolic]

11. OMG Congratulations!

Inflation is not just in oil and the stock market.

And no wonder people are now advertising and buying art from the 70s-90s, hoping for a payday tomorrow.

[CaptainTruth]

12. Congratulations!!!

Enjoy your windfall!

[Lisa0825]

13. OMG!!! Congratulations!!!

[lillypaddle]

14. Fantastic!

Are we having a party???

[irisblue]

15. Congrats!

[panader0]

16. Hey old pal, I need a brake job on my truck.

Kidding of course. Congratulations on your sale. How cool is that!

[Cracklin Charlie]

19. Your brakes can wait.

My oven tried to burn my house down…twice!

It takes two months to get a new one. Hot dogs for thanksgiving.

[sinkingfeeling]

17. Wow! Sold for over 2 to 3 times the estimate! How does it feel to be in the upper class? Congrats.

[Javaman]

18. Hot damn! that's great! :) nt

[Cracklin Charlie]

20. Congratulations!

I love a happy turnout!

[RestoreAmerica2020]

21. Wow, you owned the Picasso that sold for 110M..damn you're rich! Just kidding

..[unless you were the owner of the Picasso piece, then ay caramba !] read DU post on your art purchase some 30yrs ago; nice to see that your investment paid off ..great story, great find--congratulations!

Paz.

[robbob]

27. Boy with a pipe?

I might…I might

[brer cat]

22. What a wonderful surprise!

Enjoy your unexpected turn of fortune.

[PatSeg]

23. What an extraordinary story!

Congratulations.

[hibbing]

24. That's awesome, hope the buyer enjoys it or loans to museum n/t

[fierywoman]

26. I'm so-o-o-o-o happy for you !!!

[MLAA]

28. Yeah!!!!!!! Hurray!!!!! How exciting

[cate94]

29. That's incredible!

Congrats!

[edhopper]

30. Almost a million British Pounds!

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/modern-and-contemporary-south-asian-art/landscape-red-building?locale=en

That's around $1,260,000

[Auggie]

31. It's a great painting. I'd love to have it. Congrats.

[blm]

32. 🥂

🍾

[bif]

33. I'm just shaking my head in disbelief!

I paid $100 for it in 1980.

[yonder]

37. You've got a great eye. Congratulations!

Now, about that 20 bucks I loaned you last week......

[UpInArms]

43. Well done!

[OneCrazyDiamond]

60. Are you looking at a hefty tax bill?

That's a hell of a capital gain.

[gademocrat7]

34. Congratulations!

What a wonderful windfall!

[barbtries]

35. that's great!

want to share your artist name, so I can check you out?

I hope it was so much you're set for life!

[wryter2000]

36. So happy for you

Plan a cruise and tell us where all you're going to go!

[MomInTheCrowd]

39. "... was spotted and bought by a discerning local collector and aesthete" Congrats!

From the article "In the early 1980s, Landscape (Red Building) came to be offered at a charity auction in Detroit, the home city of Schuster. The auction was organised to benefit the St John’s Fontbonne Auxiliary, the sponsoring congregation of Detroit’s St John’s hospital, which remains an active charity to this day. Souza’s 1955 cityscape went unsold but was spotted and bought by a discerning local collector and aesthete and has remained in the same family collection ever since."

[LiberalLoner]

41. Oh that's wonderful! Congratulations! Money is always nice, especially an unexpected bonus!

[Beastly Boy]

42. Did anyone ever tell you that you have a long lost brother who loves you very much?

Just drop me a line, and I will tell you all about myself.

I also happen to be a Nigerian prince who urgently needs to transfer a million dollars out of the country, but we can talk about it later.

[DFW]

44. You had an easier time than I did Well done!

My dad’s mom collected modern art in the 1940s and 1950s. Living artists with names like Alberto Giacometti.

When she passed away in 1966, all the grandkids could pick one painting or sculpture. My cousin wanted a Giacometti bronze, but it was assessed at $16000. My aunt and uncle couldn’t afford the (then-) applicable 50% inheritance tax of $8000. The sculpture came up for sale some 40 years later, and brought $4 million.

I was always fond of an abstract blue painting by an artist who died AFTER my grandmother did, and so my parents only had to pay $300, i.e. half of the assessed $600.

Well, fast forward, and the artist who did my painting now has his own room at the MoMa. BUT—since my grandmother bought her painting directly from the artist, the NY art snobs said my painting had to be a fake. They kept that up for years until I finally found a photo of the artist sitting in a Paris gallery (the one that issued my grandmother the bill of sale), with him and the gallery owner sitting under MY PAINTING!

Long story short, I decided I had had enough of the painting, and sold it. As an inheritance kept for more than one year after acquisition, I owed the Germans nothing (THERE was a first!). But the IRS came and said I owed 31.8% on the gain—be prepared, by the way, you might be in a similar position. Consult a tax attorney! You might not like the news, but it’s better than being called in for tax evasion down the road. Besides, what’s left over will be one hell of a sum, too.

So, I paid the IRS their 31.8%, and then gave my brother and sister and each of their spouses $50,000 each, spreading it out to be under the yearly limit for gift tax. Nothing they inherited was worth six figures, and the last thing I was gonna do was flash my good fortune in their faces.

Ergo, I ended up with a sum that was less than half what the painting sold for, but I got something even more valuable: a great relationship with my siblings for life, plus some insurance that I could pay all my daughters’ education bills in the States.

[bif]

45. Great story!

Thanks for sharing!

[Skittles]

46. you are worth it!

yes INDEED

[electric_blue68]

47. Wow, what a fantastic ending to a great story! Enjoy! 🎉🎉🎉

[lunatica]

48. Wow! That's great!!

What painting? And how much? Are you getting too good for us?

[bif]

50. Ha! I wish! Here's the original posting about the painting...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10287784

[lunatica]

66. Thanks for the link - I remember it now.

I wish you the best of luck on selling it!

[Yorkie Mom]

49. This is awesome!

Congrats!

[malaise]

51. How wonderful

Congrats

[tavernier]

52. Hey artist, you got a dollar?

Congratulations!!

[femmedem]

53. Congratulations!

I'm so happy for you and your wife!

[Midnight Writer]

54. I hope you're not so rich that you become a Republican and leave us.

[SergeStorms]

55. Who knew DU has.....

"a discerning local collector and aesthete" in our midst! You have a good eye for art, bif. Some people just recognize genius when they see it. Congratulations.

Sotheby's will take a generous portion of the sale price for their troubles, but they have a very long reach to connect buyers with sellers. They're the absolute best at what they do.

Don't go turning republican on us now that you're in a different tax bracket. We know you won't. Do good things with your new found wealth.

[bif]

56. Well, I pitted Christie's against Sotheby's and got an amazing deal

I not only get 100% of the selling price, but 1% of the buyers fee! Plus it didn't cost me a dime for shipping and framing. And my rep travelled to India with the painting and showed it to some of her wealthy clients.

Don't worry about me turning Republican. My wife and I are going to designate several charities to donate to.

[SergeStorms]

57. What was Sotheby's buyer's fee....

If I may ask? Usually in the 23-25% range, aren't they?

[bif]

64. I honestly don't know

I thought it was around 6%. But I have no idea.

[Historic NY]

58. Congratulations..

stuff just hidden away doing nothing. Our historical people turned some unwanted, unloved furniture into cash for a surprising amount at one of the tony connected galleries upstate NY. We have lots of painting that have been stashed away for decades.

[ancianita]

59. Amazing experience, I bet. Congratulations!

[lark]

61. WOW! How freaking awesome is that?

You hit the jackpot! Congratulations!!

[MontanaMama]

62. Wow! Congratulations to you on the sale!

I love when good things happen to good people.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

63. Congrats!

I have dealt in rare books and other ephemera and love to see things like this.

[3catwoman3]

65. What an astonishing and delightful story.

You must still be pinching yourself.