Colo. Goodwill auctions purported Dali print

[November 09, 2010]  GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) -- A Colorado Goodwill store is auctioning off a purported lithograph of a Salvador Dali work that it received from a mystery donor.

But the Grand Junction shop doesn't plan to verify the work's authenticity.

A customer at the store recently pointed out the signature on the print of "The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus," which was numbered 168 out of 300.

Manager Bill Atwell said he doesn't know who donated the piece.

Atwell said the store is "here just to raise money for our programs," and it isn't going to pay an expert to determine if the work is authentic. He said the store will instead let people bid for the piece and determine its value on their own.

As of Monday afternoon, bidding had climbed to $550.

Mark Winter of Art Experts Inc. in Daytona Beach, Fla., which appraises and authenticates artwork, said it's possible the piece in Grand Junction is real because it's numbered. If it is real, Winter said, it could be worth $2,000 to $3,000.

But he said there are also more than 200,000 fake Dali lithographs floating around -- and there's a market for them too.

"They all have their following," Winter said.

The original "Discovery of America" painting is in the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.