Auctioneer Grant Gardner was rummaging through a nice, middle-class home in London in May when he stumbled upon a book.

“It was in a second-floor clothes closet, up on a shelf behind clothes in a pile of books,” he recalled. “None of the other ones were tremendously exciting. This one caught my eye as being different.”

The album of 12 engravings and historical accounts of life in New South Wales, Australia, published in 1821, was interesting enough, and probably worth, Gardner figured, a few thousand dollars.

Then Gardner took a closer look and discovered 10 original oil paintings pasted on the back pages and several oil illustrations on the front pages. The president of Gardner galleries spent several weeks doing more research.

It’s a good thing he did. Turns out the rare paintings are a historical treasure for Australia, settle a 200-year-old debate and flesh out a murder story.

Gardner Galleries sold the book and the paintings pasted inside to the New South Wales State Library of Sydney, Australia, for almost $2 million Sunday.

“This remarkable album is a prime document about the settlement of Australia and is without a doubt the most significant pictorial artifact to have been made in colonial New South Wales during the 1810s,” Richard Neville of the state library says in a written statement.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be bringing it home to Australia where it belongs.”

Read the rest at the source.