ART
Henry Moore ‘print’ in charity shop is original worth £30,000
The piece that was found in a charity shop and, right, a close-up
FORUM AUCTIONS
A framed picture bought in a charity shop 20 years ago has been confirmed as a Henry Moore drawing worth tens of thousands pounds.
The owner, a book dealer, had always assumed it was just a print, according to Alexander Hayter, a modern art specialist at Forum Auctions, near Battersea, south London.
When it was brought into the auction house along with “some books and a few framed prints”, Hayter asked if he could open the frame.
He found the signature of Moore, one of the greatest British artists of the 20th century, and another drawing on the reverse in his trademark mix of watercolour, ink and wax crayon. “I believed it to be an original and indeed that is what it is,” Hayter said.
