You know the saying about trash and treasure, but sometimes an actual piece of treasure does get thrown away by mistake and in this case it was fortunately rescued from total destruction.
Back when he was 11, Mat Winter was at his local tip looking for something valuable to add to his collection of antiques when a lady showed up with a whole load of things to chuck away, including an old artwork which he thought looked cool.
She was glad when Mat offered to take the art off her hands as now it would actually go to someone instead of being thrown away, but she likely had no idea just what she was handing over.
This is Knight, Death and the Devil, a 1513 print which was very nearly thrown away into a tip (Albrecht Dürer)
Writing in the Metro, he explained that he created his own ‘antiques shop’ in his aunt’s shed and would sometimes go with her to the tip to hunt for potential antiques that could be added to the collection.
His collection started with an old bike, but the artwork depicting a knight riding on horseback while a faithful hound walked alongside was the pièce de résistance.
Mat got the picture framed and kept it up for another dozen years, after which time it seemed as though the moment was ripe for a bit of a clear out.
He decided to get the picture valued, and took it to Rare Book Auctions in Lichfield where their director Jim Spencer was ‘astonished’ at the find and ‘practically shaking’ as he appraised the image.
It turns out this picture which was so close to being thrown into a tip was actually a piece of artwork from 1513, a Renaissance engraving from German artist Albrecht Dürer titled Knight, Death and the Devil.
“You know, about 500 years from now some guy is going to save us from being thrown away and we’ll be auctioned off for a lot of money.” (Albrecht Dürer)
Albrecht Dürer was a Renaissance painter and printmaker and his three most famous prints were known as the ‘Meisterstiche’, or ‘master prints’, of which Knight, Death and the Devil was one.
Explaining things on the Rare Book Auctions site, Spencer said that when he saw the image he ‘knew that only one person could’ve produced something like this’ and reckoned that it could be worth between £10,000 and £20,000.
After the image had been taken to the British Museum and authenticated, Mat put it up for auction and this artwork which he’d rescued from the tip ended up selling for £26,500.
The winning bid was a German collector, and Mat was very happy at the destination of his prize antique, writing that ‘in some ways, it’s going home’.
As for the money he made, he said it would be put towards a new car.
