TREASURE ISLAND ll: X does not atways mark the spotJames Trotlope presents a cautionary tale for those seeking quick riches

{ A RoueN BRoocH rs REscuED from arubbish tip in London, aPre-Raphaelite painting is found ina Somerset attic and an Anglo-Saxon ring is scooped up in abundle of hedge clippings inNorfolk. It's not difficult to findnewspaper examples of peoplestumbling across lost treasure. Itseems to happen all the time.

The Pre-Raphaelite picture byMillais, a small portrait of Effie Graybefore she became the artist's wife,was valued at 950,000 when it cameto light just over a year ago. The ringpocketed by the delighted hedgetrimmer was valued at 910,000 onlhe A n tiq u es Roa cls lt o u in 200L.

But that's nothing compared to aChinese vase inWiltshire that wassharing a room with its owner's dog- a tail's swish from oblivion.

During a contents valuation it wassuggested that it might be safer outof reach of the pet. Wise move. Itfetched 12.6 million at auction in2005 after being identified as theonly suwiving undamaged vase ofits type from theYuan dynasty(1271-1368). There seems to be noend to this supply of treasure which,

Portrait of a young woman wearinga red dress and jewelled hat: is this

a Renaissance masterpiece by Raphaet?

straight away and set about tryingto date her clothing, which seemedto me earlier than lTth century.

A trawl through the internetrevealed not just the date of thedress but the identity of the womanherself: Isabel de Requesens, wife oftheViceroy of Naples. A muchgrander portrait ofher by Raphael,painted around 1518, hangs inthe Louwe.

My first thought was that theLewes portrait was a copy of the onein Paris. But then I read somethingthat set my pulse racing. Raphaelhad done a preliminary study of theLouwe painting which had sincebeen lost. After decades of treasurehunting, at last I had struck gold.There was no doubt in my mindthat the Lewes painting was theRaphael study.

I tried to look casual as theauctioneer introduced the lot.'Agood deal of interest in this," hesaid, "and much speculation."Instead of starting the bidding ataround the lower estimate of 1800,as is customary, he began at t3,600.Someone had left a commission bid.

Telephone bidders took thebidding up to 95,000. At t6,000there was a pause. "Yesl" Headsturned towards my startled cry.

Then, an agonising wait before thegavel came down.

Isabel was mine for !6,500. AsI popped her into the boot of mycar, I remember thinking I wouldnever have to work again.

Staring at us across the centuries,the Renaissance beauty hung in ourbedroom for a week before I alertedthe National Gallery the Louwe andChristie's. If authenticated, thepainting would have been worthupwards of 910 million. Sadly, allthree reckoned the work was a copy,with Christie's valuing the paintingat e1,000.

Onthe Antiques Roadslzow, it'swhat they call "a let-down moment".The programme editor, SimonShaw says: "Viewers enjoy the factthat not everybodywins the lotteryon the show. It's instructive as well.In the antiques world there aremany clever copies and fakes whichit's our job to point out."

Roadshow statistics suggest thatthe odds of finding treasure €uestacked against us amateurs.

About 2,000 people turn up toeach event, most clutching aboutflve "treasures". Although expertswill try to cast an eye over the10,000 or so objects, only about 50will be selected for filming, and ofthose 50 only a few will provide "bigvalue surprises".

Simon Shaw says: "Working onthe show, you do get a sanity checkbecause vou realise there are many,many objects being scanned by theexperts which are of no greatfinancial value."

And to prove that even the expertscan get it wrong, the programme isnow starting to feature some of theirown unwise buys.

And yet, at the same time as my"Raphael" was pronounced a copy,reports of a genuine Leonardo daVinci discovery in NewYorkweremade public. Forensic examinationrevealed the artist's fingerprint on asmall portrait bought for less than120,000, which is now thought to beworth 9100 million.

So, tantalisingly, the treasure isstill out there. I

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I tried to [ook casualas the auctioneerintroduced the [ot.'A good deal of interestin this,' he said

mysteriously, has eluded me despitea 4O-year addiction to junk shopsand provincial auctions. But, a fewmonths ago, myluck seemed tohave changed when I convincedmyself Id found a painting byRaphael at an auction in Lewes.

My only fear was that someoneelse might have spotted theRenaissance masterpiece, whichwas simply catalogued: "Portrait of ayoung womim wearing red dressand jewelled hat: 17th CenturyContinental School. Estimate: 9800to 91,200."

Despite the canvas's cracked andgrimy surface, I liked the look of her

58 SAGA FEBRUARY 2010 www.saga.co.uk