Over the years, we’ve trash-picked quite a few wonderful items on the streets of New York City, including a lamp, a fan, a painting and a sofa. But this tops them all.
It’s a limited edition, certified Collector’s Guild lithograph of an original Picasso etching entitled Femme Nu de Dos. We found it in a broken old frame lying atop a bunch of trash bags placed for pickup on the street one evening, just as it was starting to rain. I imagine someone was cleaning out a departed loved ones things, saw the broken frame and tossed it out without realizing what it was.
I’m so happy we got to it before the rain did. We reframed it in a new black frame and hung it in the hall, along with the certificate of authenticity we found on the back of the original picture.
Now, this print was not run off by Picasso himself. But it’s the next best thing, having been printed from an original Picasso etching, with Picasso’s signature on the plate. (It’s backwards in the print.) After the artist had used the plate to run off his own limited edition, the Collector’s Guild in America bought the plate and the rights to print from it.
So, while our Femme was not printed by Picasso, she certainly was drawn by him.
When another print from this same Collector’s Guild edition showed up on PBS Antiques Road Show in 2013, admittedly in a much nicer frame, they valued it at $1500.
To me, it’s priceless.
Very nice Margaret . 🙂