Rare Giacometti chandelier bought for £250 in London set to sell for £7m

Piece acquired by English painter in antiques shop in 1960s has been confirmed as lost work by Italian sculptor

Sometimes a hunch pays off, and when the English painter John Craxton recognised a work of genius for sale in a London antiques shop, he made very much the right call.

Craxton parted with 250 for an unusual chandelier he suspected was by the great sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Now that chandelier, made in the late 1940s, may sell at Christie's in a few weeks' time for as much as 7m. Pieces by the revered Swiss artist are the most expensive sculptures to buy at auction, and his work regularly breaks saleroom records.