“Nearly 30 years ago, an electrician called Mac Robertson working at Francis Bacon’s studio in west London noticed the artist dumping rubbish in a skip. Something of a squirrel, and clearly no fool, he persuaded Bacon to let him keep these few discarded paintings, diaries, photos and bits and bobs. He hung on to the stuff, storing it in a friend’s attic in Surrey. Last night, this collection of Bacon’s trash, now accorded the grandiose title of the Robertson collection, was definitively transformed, from its owner’s perspective, into treasure. Conservatively expected to make 500,000 British Pounds, the 45 lots in fact fetched a total of 965,490 British Pounds, not including 17.5% buyers’ premium.” - story