David Bowie painting found at Ontario thrift store sold for record $100K
Posted June 24, 2021 5:48 pm.
Last Updated June 24, 2021 6:29 pm.
A painting by glam rock icon Davie Bowie has gone from thrift-store oddity to six-figure fame.
A Toronto auction house says a Bowie painting that was discovered at a donation centre in northern Ontario fetched $108,120 in an online sale that closed Thursday.
Cowley Abbott says “D Head XLVI” drew interest from collectors across the globe, driving up bids well past the pre-sale estimate of between $9,000 and $12,000, and setting a new auction record for the musician-cum-artist.
“Our gallery was inundated with calls and interest for the Bowie painting throughout the duration of our Online Auction of International Art,” said Rob Cowley, President of Cowley Abbott. “It’s a phenomenon we call the Hollywood Effect, when there is a famous name attached, or when there is an extraordinary set of circumstances such as rarity or human-interest story behind the artwork.”
The 1997 acrylic and computer collage is one of 45 works on canvas in Bowie’s “Dead Heads” series depicting band members, friends and the rocker himself.
Cowley Abbott says the consignor purchased the portrait for $5 after finding it in a pile of second-hand goods in South River near North Bay, Ont.
The auction house says the winning bid was placed by a private U.S. collector. The price includes auction house fees.
