An artist who claimed he’d found a £100million Picasso in his attic, which was exposed as a fake, has been accused of attempting to sell more dodgy artworks.
Dominic Currie hit the headlines in 2015 when he claimed to have found the masterpiece in a suitcase with other valuables – gifted to his mother by a Russian soldier.
His story fell apart when art experts insisted it was a fake and he later admitted the whole story was made up as an “experiment”.
Now a Scots auction house has raised concerns after Currie attempted to sell paintings by American portrait artist John Singer Sargent and Fife painter Jack Vettriano, which, if real, could be worth more than £100,000.
Myra Philp, who own Parkers Auction House in Methil, Fife, has told how Currie approached her with a view to selling the paintings – which he claimed had belonged to his dead mother-in-law and had been found in a shed.
She says she attempted to verify the artworks and established that they were fakes after consulting with experts.
Currie presented the works to Myra on February 23 along with some examples of his own pop art, including one cartoon of a woman’s head with a speech bubble saying: “No again.”
Myra said: “He might think this was worth a go, and even that there was no harm in it, but if we’d agreed to put this on our brochure for our next sale, as he wanted, it could have finished us. Like lots of other businesses, we were hit hard by Covid and only just stayed in business.
“We’ve been here 10 years now and are trusted by the people who buy from us.”
She added: “Making a mistake with a fake artwork would kill our credibility and our business. Fortunately, we have a good relationship with local fine art experts and were able to be certain fairly quickly that these were not real.”
She added: “He absolutely presented these items to us for sale, not just for a valuation. If he’d wanted a valuation, he’d have had to pay for that.”
The painting supposed to be by Vettriano, one of Methil’s greatest successes, is similar to some he painted of a little girl on a beach early in his career when he was still Jack Hoggan and is signed “Hoggan”.
Myra estimates that, if real, it could have fetched up to £11,000.
But experts looked at details of the girl’s clothing, she said, and concluded it was by another artist.
The other picture is a fairly close copy of Sargent’s charcoal drawing of Lady Cynthia Asquith, daughter of the Earl of Wemyss and daughter-in-law of Herbert Asquith, the statesman and prime minister.
The drawing was presented by Currie on the back of a London theatre programme from around 1920.
The famous American painter died in London in 1925 but the drawing had been exhibited in 1916, four years before the programme is dated.
It has the signature “John S Sargent” but without the dot the artist put after his middle initial. A genuine work by the painter might fetch £80,000.
Myra says she has reported the matter to the financial unit of Police Scotland, saying she wants to make sure Currie doesn’t simply try selling the works, and any others he might have, through another auctioneer.
She said: “It’s important that people can attend auctions with confidence and know that auctioneers will take all the extra steps required to validate anything of value before they put it on sale.”
The Daily Record visited Currie at his home in Methil to ask him about the paintings offered to Parkers.
Speaking on his doorstep, Currie stuck by the story he’d told Myra .when he handed the works over to her, that he’d found the items in his shed among some things that had been owned by his mother-in-law.
He said: “I found the works among my mother-in-law’s things. I took them to the auction house to get them valued. I’m waiting to hear back from Myra.”
Asked what the story was behind his mother-in-law obtaining the works, he said: “I don’t know and I can’t ask her as she’s dead.”
In 2015, Currie claimed the Picasso, which could have been worth £100million if real, was among some items in a bag in his attic that had belonged to his late mum.
He claimed she had been given it and other items of memorabilia by a Russian soldier but it soon emerged that he’d bought the other items, of Russian origin, on eBay to give his story more credibility.
Research undertaken by art expert Bendor Grosvenor quickly concluded that the painting was a hoax made by Currie himself, and the Russian memorabilia was purchased off eBay six months ago.
He was believed to have faked the painting himself, which bore a resemblance to one of Picasso’s cubist masterpieces.
Former classmates who had been to art college with him said he was a good artist and very capable of making copies.
Currie was not charged with any offence in 2015.
He claimed he had not set out to sell the painting or to defraud anyone and that it had been a social experiment rather than a hoax.
He said at the time: “I don’t do hoaxes but it was an experiment.
“It was a piece of performance art to raise awareness of the struggling artists in Scotland.”
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