$200 Estate Sale Find Unveils Hidden Salvador Dalí Masterpiece Worth $40,000—How Did No One Notice?
Ever have one of those “Did I just find a treasure or am I hallucinating?” moments? Well, picture this: a Cambridge antiques dealer casually digging through a house clearance sale, spots a dusty watercolor, and—wait for it—guesses it’s a lost Salvador Dalí. And guess what? He’s right. This modest little piece, slapped with a £150 price tag two years ago, is now gearing up to fetch a staggering $40,000 at auction. The painting, named Vecchio Sultano, might not scream “Dalí” with wild surrealism, but it’s a rare glimpse into a forgotten project inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. It’s enough to make you wonder how many masterpieces are hiding in garages or attics, just waiting for a keen eye or pure dumb luck to bring them back to life. Ready for the full story? LEARN MORE
An antiques dealer stumbled upon the watercolor at a house clearance sale in Cambridge, England — and his hunch that it was a lost Salvador Dalí was just proven true.
CheffinsVecchio Sultano languished in obscurity for many years before it was sold in 2023.
A watercolor bought at a house clearance sale in England was recently identified as a lost work by Salvador Dalí.
The piece, titled Vecchio Sultano, sold for only £150 (roughly $190) at the clearance sale two years ago. Now, with plans to be auctioned off in October 2025, it’s estimated to sell for $40,000.
The watercolor depicts a scene from One Thousand and One Nights, the classic collection of Middle Eastern folktales, and is believed to be part of a series based on those tales that Dalí was working on. While Vecchio Sultano does not feature Dalí’s typical surrealist style, an eagle-eyed antiques dealer noticed his signature in the corner during the initial sale two years ago.
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