Durer Drawing Bought For $30 At Yard Sale Worth More Than $10M

A 16th-century drawing by one of the key figures of the German Renaissance has been valued in excess of $10 million after it was initially purchased at a yard sale for just $30 in 2017, Sara Spart and Hannah Ryan reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: "The Virgin and Child"

According to Agnews Gallery -- the London auction house in possession of the artwork -- Albrecht Dürer, who died in 1528, is regarded as both the greatest German artist of his time and as one of the most important artists and intellectuals of the European Renaissance.

The drawing that has been rediscovered is titled "The Virgin and Child."

As Dürer's career and legacy has been studied in depth since his death, it is extremely rare to find unknown works of his and Agnews said that this drawing has been "the subject of significant interest since its rediscovery."

Boston-based art collector Clifford Schorer, who is a consultant to the gallery, told CNN Thursday, Feb. 4, that he came across the rare artwork, thought to have been completed in 1503, by chance on the way to a party in Massachusetts in 2019. He had forgotten to bring a gift to the party and so took a detour to a bookstore, which sold collectible volumes, en route.

The bookseller told him his friend had a Dürer drawing and asked if he would take a look at it. Schorer agreed, but held out little hope, given that the last time an unknown drawing of "caliber" by the artist was discovered was more than 100 years ago, he said.

The artwork had been purchased at a yard sale at the home of an architect who had been gifted the piece from his art dealer father, Schorer said. But when he arrived to examine the artwork weeks later, he was taken aback by its quality.

Schorer said he told the owner, who wishes to remain anonymous: "I think it's either the greatest forgery I've ever seen or a masterpiece." He described how he then began a three-year journey to verify the artwork, which involved taking 17 international flights around the world to consult experts.

This included a roundtable at the British Museum in London in December last year, where the drawing was examined by scholars in the field alongside other works on paper by Dürer, according to Schorer and Agnews.

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