Historic painting at Bar U gift shop mistakenly sold for 'fraction' of its value

Edmonton Journal

15-07-2025

The volunteer group that runs a gift shop at the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site hope to retrieve a painting mistakenly sold last week.
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The Friends of the Bar U Historic Ranch Association says the painting, Bison on the Western Range by Corrie Buwalda, was purchased on July 8 at the Pekisko Creek General Store, a gift shop at the Bar U Ranch, about 70 kilometres southwest of Calgary.
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'It was the perfect storm,' Laurie Rowe, a director with the volunteer organization, said Tuesday. 'We had a sick call and we ended up having a brand-new staff member open up the gift shop.'
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About 15 minutes after opening the store, she was asked by a man if the painting was for sale. With no price on the painting, the staff member looked it up. The painting, purchased at cost a year ago, had never been changed from inventory to an asset, so it looked like it was available for sale.
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'Our staff member was so proud because she could look it up on our computer, and it was there,' said Rowe, adding that a sold sticker had fallen off the painting.
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The employee then gave the man a price, which was 'a fraction' of the painting's value.
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'I said to her, 'you did your job,' ' said Rowe.
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The Friends of the Bar U know little about the man who bought the painting, other than that he's in his mid-50s, also bought two souvenir pens for his kids and 'knows quality,' said Rowe.
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Bison on the Western Range, which imagines the land before it became a ranch in the foothills, gives people a sense of why you'd want to put a ranch there, said Rowe.
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And its frame, by artist Donna Murray, is a 'one-off,' she said.
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'Not only the teepee poles that are the frame of it but (also) the hand-pounded copper and the horsehair braiding,' Rowe said of the frame.
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If the painting is returned, the man will get his money refunded — and 'a big hug' from Rowe.
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As the sale was not a crime, the Friends of the Bar U is relying on media and social media to help bring the painting home to the Bar U, which had 17,000 visitors last year.
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The Friends of the Bar U, whose president is former Mantracker host Terry Grant, have at least found something in the situation to laugh about, said Rowe.
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'Even Mantracker needs help to bring this painting home and track it down.'