Gold Coast mum unaware painting sold on Facebook Marketplace was rare piece of art worth thousands

A Gold Coast mother says she is feeling ripped-off after selling a rare art piece online to a dealer for $200 and only realising later it was worth 100 times that. See who bought it

Rare painting snapped up online for a few hundred dollars.

A Facebook Marketplace sale has hit a sour note for a Gold Coast mum claiming she sold a rare piece of art to a dealer for $200 - only later realising it was worth 100 times that.

Sarah Bonner says she bought it on the same social media platform two years prior and regrettably had to relist the item because she needed the cash.

She sold it for $200 before realising its origins. The piece is believed to be the work of French artist Pierre Soulages best known as “the master of black” - and one of 200 paintings from the 1957 collection titled ‘Lithographie No. 3’.

Some of Soulages’ work has fetched more than $35 million at auction. Similar pieces to the one sold by Ms Bonner are worth as much as $50,000, if authenticated. It’s unclear how much the mother paid to aquire the piece originally or exactly what is is worth but she has been told she could have got $20,000 for it.

“I feel sick to my stomach,” Ms Bonner told Nine News Gold Coast.

The picture was posted to Facebook Marketplace with a price tag of $100.

Ms Bonner posted her ad at the weekend, asking for $100 and had an interested buyer due to collect the item on Tuesday. However, she says she was messaged by a man offering to pay $200 if she’d hold it for him.

“He arrived late afternoon (Tuesday). He chatted away and was really nice.”

The single mum handed over the picture in exchange for the agreed $200 and he left. It wasn’t until she was contacted the following day by someone who saw the ad and knew the worth, that she realised she’d made an expensive mistake.

The piece by Pierre Soulages could be worth as much as $20,000 but a Gold Coast woman has sold it to a dealer for $200.

“If I knew someone in that situation I would like to see them actually offered a better deal and be honest with them about how much it’s worth”.

“It could have really brightened my year and really made a difference to my family.”

After realising the value, Ms Bonner says she tried unsuccessfully to contact the man who bought the piece. She began searching his name online and claims the buyer was Leigh Capel, a successful and respected art dealer from Sydney. There is no suggestion he has done anything wrong.

Mr Capel, who picked up the absolute bargain, runs an antiques business ‘Belle Epoque’ in Petersham, NSW. He didn’t return the Bulletin’s phone calls and request for comment. He told Nine News Gold Coast when it called “no comment on that”.

His mother Susan Capel who also runs the business declined to comment.

When the Bulletin spoke to her and said it was about the seller of the painting being upset, she said: “That’s my son. No comment.”