A painting initially estimated at just £80-100 has sold for £14,000 at John Nicholson’s Fine Painting auction after being identified as a work by New Zealand’s most important modern artist, Colin McCahon.

The 23cm x 33cm acrylic on canvas board, titled Truth from the King Country Load Bearing Structure, was catalogued as “20th Century School, possibly Australian”. But on the day of the sale, a buyer recognised the 1978 work and correctly attributed it to McCahon (1919–87), a pivotal figure in New Zealand Modernism.

Signed with initials and dated on the back, the work’s true authorship had been overlooked. McCahon famously began his career as a gallery cleaner before becoming deputy director of the Auckland City Art Gallery.