Ashish Patel, a London cab driver, slipped a modest £40 gouache miniature into his pocket at a bustling car boot sale in 1986, never imagining it would be a priceless relic.
The 59‑by‑85‑centimetre canvas captures the walled city of Amritsar, its bustling streets framed by the Golden Temple in the background. A tiny self‑portrait in the upper left shows the artist himself at work, a detail that has intrigued historians.
Experts tentatively attribute the piece to Baba Bishan Singh, a 19th‑century painter from Lahore and Amritsar known for his murals at the Golden Temple. Singh’s name surfaced after a review of the 1864 Lahore arts exhibition catalogues.
Rosebery’s specialist sale listed the painting with a modest £500‑to‑£1,000 estimate. The auction, held on 15 April 2016, saw fierce bidding that pushed the final hammer price to £75,000, excluding a 23 % buyer’s premium.
Peter Greenway, a Rosebery auction specialist, called Patel after the sale to explain the outcome. Patel, who had just dealt with a flat tyre that day, laughed and said he’d finally take the weekend off.
The story underscores how expert appraisal can turn a forgotten boot‑sale find into a cultural treasure, hinting at further undiscovered works from 19th‑century Amritsar.