An unassuming vase purchased at a Virginia Goodwill store for $3.99 turned out to be an ultra-rare piece of Murano glass that sold at auction for $107,100, nearly $50,000 more than the auction house anticipated.
The lucky one was Jessica Vincent, who spotted the 13-inch green and burgundy striped vase during a random stop at Richmond Goodwill in June.
“I saw that it was a solid piece of glass and that it was heavy, not junk,” the eagle-eyed thrifter told Elle Decor of her epic find.
His next clue that the vase might be more than just your typical thrift store find came when he turned it over and noticed the word “Murano” engraved on the bottom, indicating that it originated on the famous island. glass blowing facility off the coast of Venice, Italy. .
“I’m not a glass expert, but once I saw the Murano brand, I knew I wanted to buy it,” Vincent told Southern Living.
He took his prize to the register and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was only $3.99, and said he expected to pay $8 or $9. But that bit of good luck was just a hint of what was to come.
Upon returning home, Vincent, who breeds polo horses, immediately began doing online research to find out more about it, including posting a photo on a Murano glass Facebook group.
Jessica Vincent turned a $3.99 thrift store find into a six-figure payday. JESSICA VICENTE
“Everyone was excited about it,” he said.
Members of the group helped her identify the vase as part of a collection produced in the 1940s by the famous Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, part of his “Pennellate” series (meaning “brushstrokes” in Italian), which he designed for the Venini glass workshop. on the island of Murano.
Upon his discovery, someone in the group offered Vincent $10,000 on the spot, and that’s when he knew he could really get his hands on something special.
Instead of accepting the tempting offer, he sought the expertise of New York’s Wright Auction House. The next thing she knew, she was on the phone with the auction house’s founder, Richard Wright.
“We had a great phone call where he explained how rare this piece was,” Vincent recalled to the magazine.
The vase Vincent found at the Goodwill in Richmond, Virginia, which turned out to be a rare piece of Murano glass from the 1940s. WRIGHT AUCTION HOUSE
After speaking, Wright’s resident glass experts headed to Richmond to confirm their find, a moment Vincent said gave him chills.
“I can count on one hand the number of times this has happened over the years,” Wright Auction House glass expert Sara Blumberg told Elle Decor.
“This is actually a very, very rare occurrence, especially at Goodwill.”
This week, Vincent’s rough diamond find fetched an unthinkable $107,100 at a Wright auction involving 33 lots of Italian glass, more than $50,000 more than even the auction house expected.
When the hammer fell, Vincent and his partner were overwhelmed with joy at the sum of money it sold for.
“Money means a lot to us and will do a lot for our lives and our future together,” he said. “This has been a true blessing and I am so happy that the vase is going somewhere where it can be safe and fully appreciated (and out of the darkness of goodwill!).”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn