The dealer said he had a “close friendship” with Frink, whom he called “Lis”, having first met her when she visited his shop in Bath in 1986.
“‘At that time, I had just begun buying Swedish painted furniture which she absolutely adored,” he said.
“Over the next few months, after discovering my old brewery in Gillingham, she bought numerous painted items from me, and we developed a close friendship.”
After Frink died in 1993, Mr Bolan helped her son sell the furnishings from the estate. After that, he bought The Money and the Dolphin mosaic, which Frink had designed circa 1987.
Sworders estimated it would sell for between £300,000 and £500,000.