Imagine stumbling upon a dusty, half-forgotten artwork in a garage sale, grabbing it for £150—and later finding out it’s an authentic Salvador Dalí, valued at up to £30,000. That’s the real-life plot twist: antiques dealer “John Russell” (not his real name) is living right now.

Two years ago, at a quiet house clearance auction in Cambridge, Russell took a chance on a strange painting titled Vecchio Sultano—a stylized portrait of a jeweled Middle Eastern ruler. The signature? Faint, but clearly "Dalí."

“I wasn’t even sure I’d hang it on my wall,” he admitted. “I just liked weird art—and I’ve watched Fake or Fortune religiously. So I figured, why not take a punt?”

That punt turned into one of the year’s most unexpected art stories.

A Piece of a Lost Project
What Russell didn’t realize at the time was that this “unusual” work was part of an abandoned illustration project Dalí started in 1966. Commissioned by his Italian patrons, Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto, the surrealist master had planned to create 500 illustrations for the folktales of The Arabian Nights.

Dalí only completed 100 before abandoning the project—most were never published, and many have since vanished. Half were lost or damaged, and the rest were passed to the Albarettos’ daughter, Christina (also Dalí’s goddaughter), who later published them in 2014.

Now, with the discovery of Vecchio Sultano, a new piece of that artistic puzzle has emerged—one that sat ignored in a garage for who-knows-how-long.

“Not Your Typical Dalí”
Certified by Nicolas Descharnes, one of the world’s leading Dalí experts, the 38x29cm artwork is now officially recognized as an original. Though it lacks Dalí’s signature melting clocks or surreal dreamscapes, Descharnes noted its color palette, paper, and style perfectly match the artist’s rare Arabian Nights series.

“This isn’t the kind of Dalí most people expect,” said Descharnes. “It’s not surrealist in the classic sense—but it’s unmistakably Dalí.”

From Garage Find to Gallery Wall
What makes this story even wilder? The painting had once appeared in a Sotheby’s auction in the 1990s, but somehow ended up in obscurity. After spotting old stickers on the back of the frame, Russell tracked down the original catalog on eBay and began piecing together its lost history.

Now, the artwork is set to go up for auction again—this time with a £20,000 to £30,000 price estimate—through Cheffins in Cambridge on October 23rd.

TL;DR?
A dusty painting, a lucky guess, and a surrealist twist. What was once a forgotten curiosity in a garage is now a rediscovered Salvador Dalí, reminding us that sometimes, treasure really is hiding in plain sight.

So next time you pass up a weird old painting at a flea market—maybe take a second look.