Luise Ludwig and Marian Niedermeier brought the picture of a funny dwarf to “Bares für Rares”. The couple from Saalfeld in Thuringia once bought the painting at a flea market – for a paltry 23 euros. “That wasn’t stupid at all,” says Horst Lichter, anticipating the expertise.
Friederike Werner takes over, she confirms the moderator’s verdict: “Very good choice made,” says the expert. It is a watercolor by Oskar Herrfurth from 1922. The painter is known for his “delicious depictions of dwarves, fairy tales and all sorts of funny characters.” In the picture you can actually see a dwarf with a red hat, pipe and feather who discovers porcini mushrooms in the forest.
Herrfurth was born in 1862 and lived in Weimar for many years and in Hamburg from 1910. He not only worked as a painter, he also illustrated fairy tale books by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. The picture brought is an original signed by the artist.
The sellers would like 500 euros for their picture. The expert sees it similarly: She estimates the value at 400 to 500 euros. In the dealer room, Fabian Kahl starts with 100 – and with his first bid exceeds the purchase price by more than four times. Wolfgang Pauritsch is also interested – he is particularly fascinated by one thing in the painting: “I love collecting mushrooms.” Then Walter “Waldi” Lehnertz intervenes: “Then come to the Eifel, they grow like dirt there.”
He himself doesn’t have it that way with the plants: “The only fungus I know is athlete’s foot.” He got it in the swimming pool when he was 8 years old. Elke Velten-Tönnies, on the other hand, prefers the liquid version – Pilsner.
In the end, the picture stays in Thuringia: Fabian Kahl buys the painting for 350 euros. The sellers are satisfied: they have increased the purchase price more than tenfold.
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