大象传媒

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to the beautiful Essex countryside on the trail of one of the 20th century鈥檚 greatest artists, Dame Elisabeth Frink. They are investigating an intriguing sculpture that owner Amanda Kirke discovered at her local car boot sale. Amanda鈥檚 initial search on the internet brought up a similar looking figure titled Small Warrior, produced by Elisabeth Frink in an edition of ten in 1956, one of which was once owned by David Bowie.

Amanda has already contacted a gallery that has long dealt in Frink鈥檚 work. She is told that without provenance, they cannot authenticate it as a work by Frink. It鈥檚 up to our team to come up with the proof. Philip and Fiona meet up with Amanda at her local scrapyard, where she also went looking for clues. Discovering what this sculpture is made of, and whether it鈥檚 a material that Elisabeth Frink used, will be a crucial part of the investigation.

While Fiona sets out to track down an authentic Frink Small Warrior in order to compare it with Amanda鈥檚 sculpture, Philip follows the trail back to the original London gallery where Frink鈥檚 Small Warrior made his art world debut in 1959. Will the gallery be able to shed any light on how many figures were produced and sold, and where they might be now?

Having tracked down an authenticated Small Warrior, the team spot worrying differences between it and Amanda鈥檚 figure, triggering the search for further authentic figures from the same original edition. Using scientific analysis and the latest laser-scanning technology, together with the expert opinion of a friend and fellow sculptor of Frink鈥檚, will Philip and Fiona鈥檚 evidence be enough to convince the authentication committee that Amanda鈥檚 figure is genuine?

This proves to be one of the team鈥檚 most difficult investigations. As well as the sculpture鈥檚 dubious emergence at a car boot sale, they face a provenance that is virtually non-existent. If this is a genuine Frink, it could be worth up to 拢60,000. But if it鈥檚 not, then its scrap metal value is a mere 拢10! The stakes have never been so high for the team.