Posted on 12/20/2023 11:02:06 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Jessica Vincent had just started surveying the shelves of a Virginia thrift store when a vase caught her eye. It was shaped like a bottle and had ribbons of color, aqua green and amethyst purple, that spiraled up its glass surface like stripes of paint.
The piece looked old amongst the clutter of measuring cups, candles and other tchotchkes. After adjusting her eyes, Vincent made out the words “Murano” and “Italia" on its base.
“I bought it thinking it would look beautiful in my house somewhere,” said Vincent, 43, a horse trainer who paid $3.99 at a Goodwill outside of Richmond. “I definitely didn’t buy it thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to sell this.’ ”
Her thinking changed after some research. And on Dec. 13, the vase sold through the Wright Auction House for $107,100. The buyer, a top collector from Europe, wished to remain private.
Vincent's purchase came after years of perusing yard sales and thrift stores with her mother. She loves PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” and has daydreamed many times of this kind of lottery ticket-level transaction.
“I always felt like I had a good eye," said Vincent, who visits thrift stores a few times a week. “But I’m really surprised that nobody picked it up before I did.”
The vase was likely on the shelf for only a couple days given its quality and the quick rate at which products are sold, said Laura Faison, a spokeswoman for Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia. Each store averages about 2,000 new pieces a day, and they often come in from a car's trunk.
“It could have been someone cleaning out grandma’s basement,” Faison said of the vase's backstory. “We'll probably never know.”
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
Would have been my loss ...
De gustibus non disputandem ...
About your vase...I learned...If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.
I thrift shop all the time. I used to sell books on Amazon dot com as a sideline. I’ve found quite a number of valuable books through the years that I later sold.
Once I found a book with a $100 bill in it. That was a nice surprise.
At a Garage Sale I found some First Edition novels from the 1930’s. Those each brought $50 and up.
And that is why I keep looking! :)
The only thing with ‘faces’ in my house are deer and bear head mounts...and those ALWAYS end up costing more than they’re eventually worth! ;)
That’s the way I feel about most art that sells for a lot. Ugly. I love paintings by the Dutch masters, etc., but most modern art is pointless and ugly.
It’s so bad I often wonder if the whole thing is a practical joke, and that the art experts are conducting a social experiment to see how many people they can fool.
Ping.
Have several pieces. It’s a real craft.
They were shutting a lot of these factories after Russia invaded Ukraine, and the price of natural gas went way up. They have to keep the furnaces burning 24/7.
At worst, you will have found something charming that will give you joy all your life.
Yep. Mostly money laundering.
What the hell is that, a Drunken Guy Fawkes?
One of the line items in the plans for communist takeover was for art, especially public art, to be ugly and meaningless. Like most of the othe line items on that list, that one can safely be checked off as successfully implemented.
I keep getting offers re Murano, and I keep thinking, zero resale value. Am I wrong?
LOL!
I have a vase and a bowl and platter that are Murano. They are gorgeous. :)
I’ll sell them all to ya for $107,000.00. ;)
The pieces that are Mid-Century Modern (1960’s & 1970’s) are hot sellers, now. And if you can find any of their jewelry, that’s a great re-sale item.
Unless you’re going to keep it for the next 50+ years, buying current items isn’t as profitable. ;)
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