AN estate sale hunter has shared his success in snagging a $3,500 painting for just $30.
Although it initially looked like nothing, the work of art was much more valuable than the seller realized.
Estate sales can be great places to find bargains, as one Redditor recently discovered.
In the community r/AskRedditthey responded to a thread that asked, “What ‘piece of trash’ did you think was valuable?”
“I was at an estate sale and bought some paintings,” said the Reddit user started.
“[A] Sweet lady told me to get the last one I liked as a package since I ran out of money.”
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Fortunately for the buyer, this last painting would be very valuable.
“It turns out one of them is a pretty rare original print that’s worth about $3,500.”
However, they paid 100 times less for the four paintings.
“I paid maybe $30 for all four prints and paintings I wanted,” they said.
Although the Redditor didn’t reveal what made his painting so valuable, several factors influence the price of the art.
- Artist
- Age
- Illness
- Recognition
A WOMAN’S TRASH
It can be easy for the untrained eye to overlook a valuable painting.
In 2019, a woman in her nineties almost threw away a $25 million piece that was in her kitchen without being noticed.
Although the painting was clearly old, she believed it to be a useless Russian icon and placed it in the trash.
It turns out that she was actually the owner of Christ Mocked, a 13th-century masterpiece created by Florentine artist Cimabue.
The painting was later purchased by the Louvre for an undisclosed sum, estimated at around $25 million.
Also in France, a family was shocked to discover that a painting in their attic was worth 135 million dollars.
Homeowners in Toulouse accidentally discovered the original painting of Judith Beheading Holofernes by Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio.
The 400-year-old masterpiece went completely unnoticed until the owners went to the attic to investigate a leak in the roof.
In another case, a woman bought a $10 painting at a thrift store in North Carolina that was by Salvador Dali.
And two students saved $1.20 NASA suits that were worn by real astronauts in space.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story