Bought from Brancusi for USD 5,000, sculpture could bring owners fabulous 1,400,000 pct return

A brass sculpture by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi bought by an American couple in 1955 for USD 5,000 could fetch more than USD 70 million, bringing the owners a fabulous 1,400,000 percent return.  

American couple Elizabeth and Frederik Stafford were living in Paris in 1955 when they met Constantin Brancusi and bought from the artist the statue for about USD 5,000. Scheduled to be sold by Christie’s on 15 May, the piece is expected to bring the owners a return of 1,400,000 percent over 63 years.

Cast in brass, the 1932 work is titled La Jeune fille sophistiquee (Portrait de Nancy Cunard). The work, inspired by Cunard, an English heiress and civil rights champion as well as a wartime journalist, former muse of Surrealist painter Andre Breton.

Frederick Staffords, a Jewish immigrant from Romania, married New Orleans-born American Elizabeth and moved to Paris. On a visit inspired by a Romanian friend of Frederick’s they met Brancusi in his studio and bought the sculpture for Elizabeth’s 28th birthday.

Cunard never posed for Brancusi, and was unaware until many years later that he had sculpted a figure that bore her name.

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The record for a Brancusi work is held by La muse endormie, sold last year by Christie’s for USD 57.3 million.