Couple buy picasso plates for €4 at brocante - and sell for big profit

THE TWO PLATES HAVE NOW BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION IN FRANCE DO YOU RECEIVE THE CONNEXION'S FREE WEEKDAY NEWSLETTER? Sign up here A couple who bought plates at a second-hand shop for €4 have

now sold them for a 1,700x markup, as the pieces were made by Pablo Picasso.  The plates were purchased at a second-hand brocante store in the Indre department (Centre-Val de Loire), however

the owners believed they were worth more and had them appraised. The verdict came back that the plates were authentic pieces by the celebrated Spanish artist, containing a stamp of

authenticity from him on the back. The tableware was made in 1956 at the Madoura workshop in Vallauris (Alpes-Maritimes), where Picasso often worked with owners Suzanne and Georges Ramié to

produce ceramics and sculptures. Read more: Where some of world’s best-known artists found inspiration in France Auctioneers predicted the plates would sell for between €1,800 and €2,000

each. Opting to sell the pieces, the couple placed them on auction at the Giraudeau auction house near Tours (Indre-et-Loire). They received €6,900 for the two plates, after one sold for

€3,500 and the other €3,400. The overall buy-price was more than €8,000 after the auction house fees were taken into account.  RARE PIECES CAN SELL FOR BIG MONEY  Picasso produced art at the

workshop in Vallauris for over 20 years, producing a number of ceramics and sculptures.  The ceramics and tableware were often made in limited runs, not exceeding 500 copies, making the

pieces valuable at auctions. Some however, are much rarer. Prices for Picasso’s pieces made at the atelier have been increasing in recent years, with some plates selling for more than

€10,000 each.  In 2018, a one-off ceramic called hibou gris, made in the workshop by Picasso, sold for nearly €2 million at a New York auction house. Read more: French couple sue dealer over

€150 tribal mask that he sold for €4m