Not only was David Bowie an art enthusiast collector, he was also an artist in his own right. Among his works includes a collection of nearly four dozen portraits of fellow musicians, friends and Bowie himself which he painted in the mid-1990s and titled Dead heads (or DHeads). One of those Dead heads–XLVI head, to be exact, although Bowie didn’t number the paintings in sequence — was recently discovered at a donation center in South River, Ont., and purchased for C $ 5 (US $ 4.05).

As NPR reports, the anonymous buyer didn’t realize that the acrylic painting had Bowie’s signature on the back until after the sale. They then contacted the Toronto auction house Cowley Abbott, who work with Bowie’s autograph specialist Andy Peters to verify the painting’s authenticity. Incidentally, Peters had come across an online listing for the same piece of art in the early 2000s and immediately recognized it.

“I didn’t need to see the autograph on the back because I knew, but obviously the signature sealed the deal,” he said. Told CNN.

Anything touched by Ziggy Stardust is bound to cost over $ 5 at an auction, and this 9.75-inch by 8-inch canvas creation is no exception. The auction house estimated it to be worth between CA $ 9,000 and CA $ 12,000 ($ 7,282 – US $ 9,709), which bidders quickly exceeded. As of Monday, June 21, the highest bid was CAD $ 75,100 ($ 60,764 USD), already much higher than someone’s $ 27,500. spent on another Dead head in 2018.

We will know the final price of XLVI head when the auction closes at 2:15 p.m. EST on June 24. As to who represents the painting, that will likely remain a mystery.

[h/t NPR]