MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

This is cool news if I’ve ever seen any. And no, you won’t be able to get this as a gift for your friend — unless of course you are the owner of the Louvre. However, I’m willing to bet copies will start coming out soon in the form of fridge magnets and stuff. You can buy those instead.

A “German School, early 19th century” piece was sold for $19,000 in New York in 1998. It lastly ended up in the hands of Canadian-born Europe-based art aficionado, Mr. Peter Silverman, “…my heart started to beat a million times a minute,” he said. “I immediately thought this could be a Florentine artist. The idea of Leonardo came to me in a flash.”

Found on the painting was a fingerprint, which an analysis of carbon and infra-red dating, revealed that the portrait is by none other than Leonardo Da Vinci. Silverman was correct!

The Christie’s employee who was responsible for auctioning off the piece, in the first place, must be banging their head against their desk, as the piece sold second time around, for $160,000,000!