Have I got my hands on a fortune ?

I collect stuff from charity shops,I find things at landfill or in skips, my aunt is the same,my gran who I never met used to own a second hand stall in the east end of London,I guess that’s where we both get our “magpie” personalities from.

Yesterday I was at my aunts and she asked if we could dispose of some rubbish for her, amongst it was a painting, I thought it was hideous and then noticed it looked like Paul McCartney, I am not a Beatles fan,neither is my aunt (I only like john Lennon) the painting has come away from the frame but its not actually damaged.I thought I could make use of the frame…

Then I noticed the signature

L S LOWRY

Its a good job I know my artists !

I do not like Lowry’s work, I never understood how he got so famous,he was most famous for his industrial scenes, I remember the song about him painting “matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs”

Now this painting I have is highly likely to be a fake ,someone was caught selling fake Lowry’s on eBay BUT they were the industrial scenes, in fact,no one knew about Lowry’s “marionette” heads until after his death

I found some online and they are very similar, especially the lips in this one

He painted them in oils on wood which is what the painting I have is.

He used only certain colours which seems to be the case with the painting I have

Then you could knock me down with a feather when I found this :

We are in Cambridgeshire ! So not too much of a stretch to somehow find a mislaid painting ?

I then realised that like most of my life there are lots of coincidences !

That morning I was showing hubby a new Stevie Rik’s (comedian) video,he was doing the Beatles and oasis 

Oasis which was my favourite band when I met hubby had an video using Lowry like images.

Terry Gilliam wrote labyrinth

My son worked with the singer of manic street preachers

Bowie turned down a knighthood as did Lowry

That morning we were watching a documentary about what happened to Marc Bolans millions

Marc Bolan was obsessed with a Magritte painting called September 16 ,Its of a sycamore tree at dawn with a crescent moon,he died on sept 16 when his car hit a sycamore tree at dawn during a crescent moon phase (I was talking to my aunt about that ,never spoken to her about Bolan before !)

Cilla black was a friend of the Beatles

I nearly died of pneumonia, I got to my aunts…she has pneumonia, I had to give her a lecture about going to the doctors

Also known as his “marionette” heads,could the painting I have be one of them ?

I didn’t know he had done this creepy painting, I have seen spirits like this

The marionette works were only found after his death which means they are probably more important than his other works

The signature is very close but of course it could be a fake

Lowry’s works have sold at Sotheby’s,I recently bought a Sotheby’s souvenir of Bowie’s art collection that was there,I am trying to find out if he owned any of Lowry’s work 

Friends

Lots of bowie tributes at “the Lowry” !!

A really bad fake Lowry.

So,my next step is to photograph it properly and get it looked at initially,probably by the Lowry musuem, if its a fake then unbelievably some people still knowingly buy fakes.if it is of Paul McCartney a fan still may want to buy it ,if its real,well my aunt is going to be rich ! I have not told her as I don’t want to get her hopes up.

You see things like this all the time on “antiques roadshow” someone has found something worth a lot of money in a skip or attic.

One More thing,Lowry did a painting called Piccadilly circus, we were there only a few weeks back on our Bowie/Bolan pilgrimage

I had not been to my aunt since about 14th Jan and actually was not going to go til next week but “something” made me go there, if I had not gone,that painting would of been smashed up and in landfill by now.

I have a few other things I have come across in charity shops that are probably worth money that I need to get appraised ,but I want to get a collection together and take them to london ,not just a local auction house