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AN ART lover has made a profit on an oil painting sold at a Haverhill auctioneers for more than 150 times what was originally paid for it.
The vendor, who wishes to remain anonymous, paid just £735 for the painting at Christie's in London in 1974.
Now it has been sold for £112,000 by the Haverhill-based fine art auctioneers Boardmans.
The painting is of three fishermen in a focsle, entitled The Skipper's Yarn, by 19th century artist Stanhope Forbes of the Newlyn School.
Auctioneer Neil Lanham, of Boardmans, said work by Stanhope Forbes had become more sought-after in recent years and bidding was keen for the painting.
Buyers had come from Chile to the United States, as well as all over Europe for the sale, many of them especially for the Stanhope painting.
Boardmans have been auctioneers in the Haverhill area since 1823 and their fine art sales have achieved a number of world record prices, including £30,000 for a single piece of oak furniture.
Mr Lanham said the firm's success was largely down to knowing the most likely buyers.
The Forbes had been taken to London to be viewed by a potential buyer who could not get to Suffolk for the sale.
Interest in the artist's work has increased in recent years.
"The market is extraordinarily unpredictable and some things with a European market have gone down in value," said Mr Lanham
"Yet there seems such a shortage of the very best things that good period items are often tripling or quadrupling prices one would have expected a year or two ago."
Other items sold included a pair of regency satin wood tables which went to a telephone buyer for £47,000, bringing the total of the sale to just under £700,000 for 300 lots.