Thaindian News

October 16, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The Kober Family of Buffalo, NY, has possibly been sitting on a gold mine for the last 27 years. It seems that a painting owned by the family, fondly referred to as “The Mike”, could be an authentic but unfinished Michaelangelo work.

Apparently, The Mike was tucked behind the Kobers’ couch for several years after it fell from the wall when it got hit by a ball once. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Martin Kober was just a boy when his parents had given him the task of finding out whether the legend of the family heirloom being an original Michaelangelo was actually true. However, Kober just recently got around to actually investigating the origins of the painting. According to Kober’s research, the painting had, at one point in time, belonged to a German baroness, who had bequeathed it to a certain Getrude Young, her lady-in-waiting. Young had sent it to America to her brother-in-law, who turns out to be Kober’s great grandfather.

Once news of the discovery spread, several art historians and connoisseurs started speculating about the authenticity and, of course, worth of the painting dubbed The Lost Pieta. Antonio Forcellino, a Michaelangelo biographer and art historian believes that it is indeed an original work, based on the X-Rays done and the unfinished patches in the painting.

If this discovery is actually the real deal, some speculate that it could be worth an awful lot of money, probably around $300 million.