A Nantwich man is to sell a rare Victorian marble sculpture which he found buried under a farmhouse nearly 50 years ago.
Graeme Kerr, 72, wants to sell the sculpture of a cherub-like boy with his dog as he is down-sizing.
The piece, by Italian artist Achille Simonetti in the 1890s, is expected to fetch up to £4,500 in a sale next month at Nantwich fine art auctioneers Peter Wilson.
Computer software developer Mr Kerr founded and owns a company with offices in the UK and South Africa.
But back in 1965, he was raising sheep in New South Wales, Australia.
And when he bought a 4,600-acre cattle station on the north coast, he never expected to stumble across this marble delight under the house.
“The farmhouse was built on capped wooden piles to keep out the white ants and one day shortly after buying it, I was checking the condition of the pilings and saw this white object half buried in the sand.
“I scrabbled underneath and eventually uncovered five pieces of what was obviously a carved marble statue: the little boy’s leg section, the top of his head and body, the dog’s leg section, a paw and the base.
“I spoke to the previous owner of the property and he wished me well with it.
“He was a bit of a collector of antiques and works of art and I imagine the statue had had some kind of mishap and been discarded under the house.
“Over time and with the rains, it had obviously sunk into the sand and become almost completely buried.”
Mr Kerr used super glued and a single steel pin to rescue the pieces.
“We had the statue cleaned professionally after that, but you can still see some stains from where it lay in the ground,” he added.
The sculpture was shipped by sea to South Africa and then by sea to the UK, when Mr Kerr and his wife settled in Nantwich in 2001.
“I’ll be sad to see it go but having rescued it and treasured it for 48 years, it’s time to give someone else the pleasure of owning it,” Mr Kerr added.
It will be sold by Peter Wilson in a two-day auction on November 27-28.
For details contact the auctioneers on 01270 623878 or [email protected]
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