Two more da Vincis could be hiding in plain sight

BEFORE Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sold at auction for a record-shattering US$450.3 million, it was marketed around the world as "the last Da Vinci" in private hands. It turns out there is another - even two - out there. And at least one dealer thinks they could be worth as much as US$200 million each.

Both are smaller-scale, devotional paintings depicting the same image: the Virgin Mary with the Christ child in her lap. The baby is holding a cross-shaped stick used to wind yarn, which has inspired the shared name, The Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

"They are both in private hands," said Martin Kemp, a da Vinci scholar and emeritus research professor of art history at Oxford University in the UK. "I know both owners." (Christie's says they do not comment on works that are not consigned and stand behind their presentation of Salvator Mundi.)