Man Took An Old Drawing To Be Appraised, Then Learns His Whole Life Is About To Change

As he drove to a retirement party in New Haven, Connecticut, thoughts of priceless artworks were probably far from Schorer’s mind. Then, a detour to a rare book dealership launched him on an unexpected adventure into the world of the Old Masters — and a piece so rare that it could make him very rich. 

At first, Schorer dismissed the rumors of a lost masterpiece, picked up for pittance at a local yard sale. But as he delved deeper into the mystery, he realized that all was not as it seemed. In an unassuming neighborhood, a clueless buyer might just have stumbled upon a discovery of epic proportions.

For three years, this drawing had sat gathering dust, its true potential overlooked by everyone who encountered it. And it would take the intervention of an expert to find out what it was truly worth. So what was it that Schorer found hidden in a sleepy corner of Massachusetts? And how exactly had it ended up there?

Schorer, as it turns out, has the art trade in his blood. According to an oral history interview with the Smithsonian, the New England native began attending auctions from a young age. In fact, his grandparents were both avid collectors, with a particular passion for philately, or studying postage stamps.

After teaching himself computer programming, Schorer set himself up as an entrepreneur, eventually developing his interest in antiques into a burgeoning career. Again, he took responsibility for his own education, becoming an expert in Chinese ceramics. And after traveling to Europe and gaining a love of world history, he began studying the old masters as well.

Over the years, Schorer has worked with several institutions, including Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, England, and Agnew’s Gallery in London. In other words, he is more educated than most when it comes to identifying fine art. But when he first caught wind of the potentially earth-shattering discovery, even he suspected that it was probably too good to be true.

As reported by newspaper the New York Post, the day that changed Schorer’s life began innocently enough. It was 2019 and he had left his home in Boston, MA, to head out along Interstate 495 towards New Haven, where he was due to attend a party. His friend Amy Meyers, head of the Yale Center for British Art, was retiring, and the shindig was being thrown in her honor.

Not long into his journey, though, Schorer realized that he had committed something of a social faux pas. Speaking to the New York Post in December 2021, he explained, “I forgot my gift. It was 5:05 p.m. and I didn’t think I would find anything open.” Luckily, he turned to Google and discovered a rare book dealer living nearby.

Quickly adjusting his route, Schorer headed to Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books in Holliston, MA. There, he picked up a volume of William Blake poems as a last-minute gift and returned to his car, ready to continue his journey to New Haven. But before he could leave, fate dealt him an astonishing hand.

According to the New York Post, Phillipson struck up a conversation with his customer about the art world. Schorer said, “[He] told me that his friend has an Albrecht Dürer drawing.” Knowing the significance of such a claim, the collector was more than a little suspicious at first.

Dürer, you see, is regarded as one of the most important figures in the European Renaissance, on a par with old masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. And as such, his work has been studied in great detail over the years. For someone to stumble upon an undiscovered piece, then, was unlikely in the extreme.

Born in Nuremberg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1471 Dürer initially trained to follow in his father’s footsteps as a goldsmith. But soon, it became clear that art was his true calling. And at the age of 15, he became an apprentice to the German painter Michael Wolgemut, one of the city’s most popular artists.

Later, Dürer embarked on an adventure across Europe, honing his talent and picking up new skills such as engraving. And by the time that he returned to the city of his birth in 1495 he had acquired enough knowledge to establish his own workshop in the city. There, he began creating works which continue to draw crowds more than 500 years down the line.

It was in the early 16th century, though, that Dürer painted some of his most iconic works, including Adam and Eve, Adoration of the Trinity, and Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand. In addition, he also completed a number of woodcuts and engravings that remain famous today, including the influential Melencolia I.

As he grew older, Dürer began to struggle with his health, but that didn’t prevent him from traveling across the empire to destinations such as Cologne, Antwerp, and Ghent. And wherever he went, he sold and exchanged prints of his work, leaving them widely distributed throughout Europe. Today, these often change hands for five-figure sums. 

By the time of his death in 1528 Dürer had amassed a large estate — and a vast body of work that has influenced generations of artists across the centuries. And today, his paintings hang in prestigious institutions from Munich to New York. But despite his prolific nature, his pieces rarely appear on the open market.

In fact, the last time that a Dürer came up for auction was back in 1978, more than 40 years before Schorer’s chance discovery. At Sotheby’s in London, a watercolor by the German artist fetched a staggering $1.3 million. If Phillipson was right, then, his friend was sitting on a veritable goldmine. 

Understandably, Schorer was dismissive of Phillipson’s claims at first. He recalled, “I said, ‘No, he doesn’t have a drawing. He has an engraving. There are zero drawings by Dürer that are both unknown and privately owned.” Still, he agreed that the book dealer could pass on his telephone number to the friend in question.

For 11 days, Schorer no doubt thought little of his conversation with Phillipson. But then, he received a message from the friend, a man who has not been named. He said, “I got a text with an image that looked like a typical print of Madonna and child, but it was so pixelated that I couldn’t see much.”

Trying again, the unidentified buyer sent another, higher resolution, photograph — and this time it got Schorer’s attention. Dumbfounded, the collector knew that he had to see the piece for himself. And when he found out that it was located just a mile away, he headed straight to the man’s home.

Pulling up outside a modest property, Schorer was invited inside to examine the piece, which was being stored casually without its frame. He recalled, “I sat down at his dinner table, looked at the drawing and went silent. He asked me if I was alright and then walked into the next room to watch ‘American Pickers.’”

When the buyer returned, Schorer told him that the drawing was “either a masterpiece or the greatest fraud in the world.” But if the piece was a genuine Dürer, how had it found its way into the hands of a man who seemed to know little about its true worth?

According to reports, the buyer had purchased the drawing in Concord, MA, back in 2016. Some years previously, architect Jean-Paul Carlhian had passed away, leaving behind a collection of artworks and books — including the alleged Dürer. But even though his ancestors had been linked to a prestigious Paris gallery, he believed that the print was merely a reproduction. 

After Carlhian’s death and that of his widow three years later, some of his many possessions were sold off in a yard sale. And it was there that the unnamed buyer had stumbled across the drawing, where it was priced at just just $30. According to the New York Post, Schorer believes that the allegorical subject-matter may well have appealed to the man’s religious nature.

Whatever the reason behind his purchase, though, it’s unlikely that the buyer believed he was looking at a genuine Dürer. But as Schorer inspected the drawing, his own doubts faded away. Speaking to CNN in February 2022, he recalled, “It was like [experiencing] a kind of electricity. When you’re in my world you spend your life looking for unknown things… and I could see I was at the beginning of something extremely exciting.”

For Schorer, it was the beginning of a journey that would consume the next three years of his life. After handing over a staggering $100,000 advance for the drawing, he took it to London where he sought the opinion of art conservator Jane McAusland. Yet on studying the alleged Dürer, she determined that it was likely a fake.

“Initially, I thought it was right,” McAusland explained in an interview with the New York Post. “Then I noticed false fox marks [signs of aging] that were painted on. They were made in the 19th century because somebody had no faith in the drawing’s [supposed] age. That made me think it was a fake. Plus there was a modern adhesive behind the paper. That did not help either. I reversed my original belief.” 

Unsurprisingly, Schorer was distraught — but he didn’t give up. Instead, he asked McAusland to take another look, this time with a specific goal in mind. Back in the 16th century, you see, Dürer had been court artist to the wealthy German merchant Jakob Fugger. And as part of the deal, he would have been supplied with specially made paper for his creations.

Any genuine Dürer from this period, then, would bear Fugger’s famous watermark: a trident and ring found on more than 200 of the artist’s other works. At Schorer’s insistence, McAusland returned to the drawing, peeling back the layers of adhesive and shining a beam of light through the thin paper.

As soon as she did so, McAusland spotted the distinctive trident mark. She recalled, “I called Cliff immediately and told him the news. He almost dropped his phone.” For the first time, Schorer had evidence that he was dealing with a genuine Dürer. And when tests revealed that the ink used in the drawing and the artist’s monogram were the same, his argument grew even stronger. 

Over the years, Schorer has had the drawing examined by a number of experts, including curator Christof Metzger of the Albertina Museum in Vienna and the British Museum’s Giulia Bartrum. Both specialists in Dürer’s works, they have declared the piece genuine, likely completed in around 1503 as a study for the later piece The Virgin with a Multitude of Animals.

But if the piece was genuine, how had it attended up in a Massachusetts yard sale? According to reports, the drawing may have been passed down through the generations, ending up in a private collection in 20th-century France. After all, we know that Carlhian’s ancestors purchased four different Dürers from Count Hubert de de Pourtalès in 1919 — so perhaps this one simply slipped through the net?

With the piece now authenticated, Schorer arranged a world tour, exhibiting the Dürer in places such as the Albertina Museum before bringing it to Agnews in London. Eventually, though, he intends to sell the drawing — for what he hopes could be a record-breaking price. Speaking to the New York Post, he said, “The speculation is that this will be at least $50 million.”

Today, the record for a comparable work by an old master is $48 million, set by Raphael’s Head of a Muse in 2009. But some of the experts who have valued Schorer’s Dürer have been slightly more restrained. A few months after the discovery first hit the headlines, for example, CNN claimed that the drawing had been valued at about $10 million.

Either way, Schorer looks set to become a rich man. But what of the original buyer whose blind luck brought a masterpiece back into the light after 500 years of obscurity? According to reports, he wishes to remain anonymous, although he will receive an undisclosed sum once the drawing is sold. 

At the moment, Schorer and Agnews are exploring different options to secure the future of the remarkable piece. He explained, “The art world is slow-moving. If you hope to sell it in a certain year, you will be out of luck.” But with such a hefty price tag attached, who might be in a position to splash out on a multi-million-dollar Dürer?

According to industry journal The Art Newspaper, the high estimate attached to the drawing puts it out of the reach of many institutions, including most European museums. In fact, even the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City might struggle to raise such an astronomical amount. But there are some with pockets deep enough to foot the bill.

For example, the drawing could end up in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles — one of the few institutions with sufficient funds. Or, it might be purchased by an independent collector and stored inside a private home. For Schorer at least, this outcome would be the most disappointing.

“This is the find of my life,” Schorer continued. “Wherever it ends up, I would want to visit it.” But while he waits for the perfect time to sell, the drawing has been attracting interest across the globe. And after its exhibition at Agnews, it traveled across the Atlantic to New York, where it was put on display at Colnaghi art gallery. Will it be snapped up by an ambitious buyer — or will the collector get to hang on to his treasure for a while yet?