A shopper paid C$5 for a Bowie painting at an Ontario donation centre; it later sold for C$108,120

Sometimes a bargain buy can turn out to be something far more valuable than it first appears. That happened when a shopper picked up a small painting for just C$5 at a donation centre near a landfill in South River, Ontario.

The surprise came after the buyer noticed the name David Bowie on the back. According to Cowley Abbott, the auction house that later handled the work, the painting was identified as DHead XLVI, a 1997 acrylic and computer collage on canvas. After its authenticity was confirmed, the painting went to auction in June 2021 and sold for C$108,120, including the buyer’s premium.

From a donation centre to an auction room

The painting had been sitting among unwanted household goods at a donation centre associated with the Machar Township landfill near South River.

The shopper spotted the small canvas among the discarded goods and bought it for C$5. The painting measured only 9.75 by 8 inches, making its eventual price even more striking. On the back was a label identifying the artist as David Bowie, along with his signature and the date 1997.At first, however, there was no reason to assume the label was genuine. The circumstances of the discovery were unusual enough to make the buyer question whether the painting could really be Bowie's work.

That is where the auction house's research began.

Experts traced the painting to Bowie

Cowley Abbott investigated the artwork before putting it up for sale. The auction house contacted David Bowie specialist Andy Peters, who helped confirm that the work was authentic. Cowley Abbott's own listing credits Peters with assisting in the authentication. The research also connected the painting to Bowie's work from the 1990s. Titled DHead XLVI, the piece is an acrylic and computer collage on canvas, signed and dated 1997 on the reverse.

It belongs to Bowie's Dead Heads, also known as D Head, series.Bowie produced the series between 1995 and 1997. The works featured portraits of people from his circle, including friends, acquaintances and band members, along with some self-portraits. The individual paintings were identified using Roman numerals rather than conventional names. The sitter in DHead XLVI was not identified, adding another small mystery to the unusual artwork.

Bowie was also a visual artist

David Bowie is best remembered as a musician and performer, but his interest in art began long before the painting ended up at the Ontario donation centre. He studied art and design as a young man and remained interested in visual art throughout his life. He collected artwork and also produced paintings of his own.His work was influenced by modernist and expressionist artists, including Francis Bacon and painters associated with the London School.

The Dead Heads paintings reflect that interest, using loose, energetic portraits rather than the polished appearance one might expect from conventional celebrity artwork. That background also helped explain why the small canvas could command serious interest once its connection to Bowie was established.

The auction estimate was far lower

Even after authentication, Cowley Abbott did not initially put an enormous estimate on the painting. The auction house valued DHead XLVI at C$9,000 to C$12,000 before the sale.

The online auction ran from June 15 to June 24, 2021. Interest quickly went beyond those expectations.Collectors from Canada and other parts of the world competed for the work, and the final price climbed to C$108,120, including the buyer's premium. That was nearly 10 times the high end of the original estimate. The sale also established a new auction record for an artwork by Bowie at the time.

Why the story attracted so much attention

The painting itself was rare, but its journey added another layer to the sale.

There was the famous name, the limited number of works in the Dead Heads series and the fact that Bowie artwork rarely appeared at auction. Then there was the extraordinary story of how this particular piece had been found. It had gone from a landfill donation centre, where someone paid only C$5 for it, to an international art auction where collectors were prepared to spend more than C$100,000.The painting's path also shows how easily valuable objects can be overlooked when their history is unknown. Had the buyer not noticed Bowie's name on the back, DHead XLVI might have remained an ordinary-looking second-hand painting. Instead, the small canvas became one of the more memorable art discoveries of 2021, turning a C$5 purchase into a C$108,120 auction sale.