‘Treasure hunter’ finds Dali print at Henderson garage sale

Dave Shaw held the thick white paper to his bedroom’s sliding-glass door. As the sunlight streamed through it, the word “ARCHES” lit up on the outside margin, like a hidden clue in a Dan Brown novel.

“Looks like that’s it,” the Henderson resident said.

The sign, called a watermark, confirmed what Shaw had expected for more than a week: The Salvador Dali print he purchased for $5 at a late May garage sale in his neighborhood, near the intersection of Sunset Road and Green Valley Parkway, was authentic.

A 49-year-old British expatriate who buys and sells antiques for a living, Shaw said he noticed the print immediately, sitting in the driveway in the sun.

“I knew but I wasn’t sure, you know what I mean?” he said. “You’re looking for treasure, you can be wrong 10 times, and on the 10th time …

“I called my friend, and he said, ‘Ah, don’t get excited. There’s so many fakes of Dali. No one will buy it.’ ”

But his friend also put him in touch with Emily Sharbani Hamilton, an art dealer in Olympia, Wash. When Hamilton looked up the piece, titled “Reflection,” in the official catalog of the Spanish surrealist, she found there were no known forgeries of it.

That was good news, although unlike an original painting, the market for prints is not as lucrative. Starting in the late 1800s, artists began using printing processes such as lithography to create an original work of art, then reproduce it by the hundreds or more, signing the copies in pencil. The practice allowed artists to bring in money and gain exposure.

Before Dali died, said Joan Kropf, director of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla., he often worked in prints.

“Dali didn’t want to be poor,” Kropf said. “Every print represents a piece of art. He would do a watercolor or something to represent that print, then there would be a lithographic method to print it. So it would be available for the average person to buy.”

Known for “The Persistence of Memory,” his most famous painting, featuring melting clocks, Dali was one of the most influential surrealists in history. Flamboyant and highly creative, the Spanish artist grew a wiry mustache that became his trademark. He also worked in sculpture, photography, literature and film. He died in 1989 at age 84.

“Reflection” is the third work in a three-piece set, called the “Cycles of Life” suite. It depicts that familiar Dali image — a melting clock — on a wrist whose hand points to a landscape in the top right corner. Two sketches of heads, one young, one old, occupy the top left and bottom right corners, respectively.

Frank Hunter, widely regarded as the foremost authenticator of Dali works, said that Dali probably painted the clock onto the arm, which was added by someone else, and that the sketches were what made the piece distinctive. He speculated in a telephone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that they could represent the passage of time.

He advised there are several clues that would confirm whether Shaw’s print was real. One was the “ARCHES” watermark, which stands for a type of rare paper manufactured in France for printers. Shaw’s print matched each of the tests.

In 2012, one copy of “Reflection” that appeared in a Goodwill store in Washington state eventually sold for more than $10,000 after a crush of publicity, though the print’s market value is estimated to be far less. Hamilton appraised the value of the print at $9,500, with its market price at under $1,000.

“To find it at a garage sale is pretty darn cool,” Hamilton said. “But like I said, it’s not that this is an unbelievably rare piece.”

For Shaw, who lives off of his earnings from the sale of antiques and, occasionally, used cars, the find is a thrill. The Henderson home he rents with his girlfriend and daughter is decorated with their finds. A $600 Pottery Barn table set purchased for $40 lines the kitchen wall, a 100-year-old teddy bear sits encased in glass in his bedroom. He owns a first edition hardcover book of “Willy Wonka,” with what appears to be author Roald Dahl’s autograph inside.

“One of his quotes is something like, ‘If you don’t believe in magic, you’ll never find it,’ ” Shaw mused, looking at the book. “That’s one of me prizes, right there.”

But the Dali print is for sale again. Shaw has put it up for auction on Ebay for $1,000 under his screen name, “octreasurehunters.”

The first thing that popped into his mind at the thought it will sell? The price could cover this month’s room and board.

Shaw described the experience of finding treasure out of perceived junk as “rewarding.”

“It’s not like I haven’t been praying for it,” he said. “I need a miracle every month just to pay the rent. If you don’t ask for it, it doesn’t come.

“I wish I could keep it as well. Part of me is sad. Money just goes, but this is a piece of history.”

Contact Knowles Adkisson at kadkisson@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5529. Find him on Twitter: @knowlesadkisson.