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He found a 300-year-old Rembrandt on eBay - now it's set to sell in NYC auction house

York Daily Record

In October 2003, York resident Blair Bohr had a hunch the item he was looking at on eBay might be an authentic etching from Rembrandt van Rijn. A few clicks and $892 later, Bohr had won the item — a self-portrait of the Dutch master circa 1642.

Granted, at the time Bohr wasn't aware he had an authentic 17th-century art piece on his hands. He just had a hunch – one that was confirmed about six months ago when Bohr visited evaluators at the Swann Auction Gallery in New York City.

At the time, Bohr was scheduled to have an early 19th-century piece from French artist Louis-Léopold Boilly appraised.

“Since I was going up, I decided to take some other things up with me, and one of those things was the Rembrandt etching," Bohr said.

Blair Bohr looks over a collection of Rembrandts in a catalog in York. In October 2003, Bohr, of York, had a hunch the item he was looking at might be an authentic etching from Rembrandt van Rijn. It turned out to be a self portrait of Rembrandt circa 1642.

Bohr, who is a former graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, works in architecture restoration and has been interested in "actively pursuing works of art" for some time now.

After removing a page from the back portion of the etching, the appraisal team discovered the No. 972 on the bottom left corner of the portrait. That number determined the true value of the piece. It belonged to King Friedrich Augustus II of Saxony.

King Friedrich ruled over the province of Saxony (present-day eastern Germany) in the mid-1800s. He also happened to have an impressive collection of early Rembrandts, according to Todd Weyman, vice president of Swann Auction Galleries.

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While King Friedrich might seem like a trivial namedrop in Germanic history, the reality is it confirmed Bohr's eBay find to have an estimated worth between $8,000 and $12,000.

A fine price for a piece of artwork barely larger than a cellphone.

This is the etching, "Self Portrait in a Flat Cap and Embroidered Dress," by Rembrandt circa 1642.

The portrait is an etching that dates back sometime within the 1640s and 1660s, according to Weyman. While he wouldn't recommend searching for fine art via eBay, he acknowledged it does happen.

"Sure, you can find something," Weyman said. "[The] greater percentage is a lot like walking into a garage sale."

Rembrandt was a pioneer in terms of etching, a style that requires a copper plate to be used.

"[He] definitely was the one who took the medium to new heights that no one had reached [before]," Weyman said.

During the etching process, the plate would be dipped into beeswax, and then the artist would use hand tools to scratch through the wax. Then the copper would be put on an easel where acid would be poured over it. The chemical reaction would then "bite" the copper plate and help preserve the final etching, according to Bohr.

The copper plate could be used multiple times to create reprints, or what is commonly referred to as "states."

"Image quality would begin to deteriorate," Bohr said of the reprint process.

It was a skill that Rembrandt perfected, helping to preserve his work's legacy.

While Weyman believes the copper plate used in the portrait Bohr discovered was likely used well into the 1800s, the etching discovered is a first-run.

Weyman noted that Rembrandts usually sell between $1,500 to upwards of $80,000. The gallery's record sale for a Rembrandt was $87,000 in May 2017, he said.

“Rembrandt has been selling since the 1630s, so he has something good to his name," Weyman said.

The etching, "Self Portrait in a Flat Cap and Embroidered Dress," is set to sell in Lot 83 on Thursday, May 2. The piece is part of the Swann Galleries "Old Master Through Modern Prints Featuring Latin American Art" auction. The collection consists of 359 pieces of art, including works from Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Salvador Dali and Vincent Van Gogh.

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The auctioneers will run through 80 to 100 items within an hour. Usually, only 30 to 40 individuals are present on site, according to Weyman.

The auction begins at 10:30 a.m. and will run through until 1:30 p.m. Interested parties can bid online, via the Swann Galleries app, via phone or can place an advance bid prior to the auction.