I READ with dismay the reports of the demise of Preston's of Bolton at the end 2016.

Fifty years ago my parents bought a sketch from Preston's by an art student. It depicts an unfinished stone statue, executed with confident strokes of a broad tipped graphite pencil. The signature reads "L S Lowry 1908".

I was hoping to contact Preston's to find out if they could provide any details of its origins. My mum swears blind that it was Preston's where the sketch was purchased. It just seems strange to me that the Diamond Centre of the North should have been selling work by an artist who, at that time, was unknown.

I would be hugely grateful for any information that might assist my search.

Andrew Thomason

Lincolnshire