A $3 purchase at a South Carolina Goodwill store turned into one of the most remarkable thrift-store art discoveries in recent memory.
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purchase → turn → memory
The buyer, a former antiques dealer identified only by his middle name, Leroy, spotted an oil painting in an antique frame and assumed it might be worth a few hundred dollars.
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it → identify → frame
His daughter-in-law later took it to Antiques Roadshow, where appraisers revealed it was a 17th-century Flemish work from around 1650.
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it → take → 1650
In March 2012, the painting sold at auction in Massachusetts for $190,000, according to reporting by Mental Floss and Ksl.com.
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painting → sell → Floss
A frame that caught a trained eye
Leroy, then 81, was browsing his local Goodwill when he came across a framed still life of a dinner table.
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he → catch → table
His background as a former antiques dealer gave him a practical eye for age and quality.
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background → give → age
He noticed the ornate frame and judged it to be from the 1800s, which led him to wonder whether the painting inside might also be old.
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painting → notice → him
He told reporters that he figured the oil painting was out of the 1800s because of the frame it was in.
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it → tell → frame
Based on that assessment, he estimated the frame alone might be worth about $50 and the painting perhaps another $150.
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painting → base → assessment
That put his total expectation at a couple of hundred dollars, which was enough to justify the $3 price tag, as per the reports.
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which → put → reports
The purchase was driven by instinct rather than certainty.
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purchase → drive → instinct
Leroy did not know the artist, the school, or the exact date of the work.
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Leroy → know → work
He simply recognised that the frame had value and that the painting might be worth investigating further.
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painting → recognise → value
That curiosity set in motion a chain of events that would far exceed his original expectations.
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that → set → expectations
Antiques Roadshow reveals the truth
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Roadshow → reveal → truth
About a year after the purchase, Leroy's daughter-in-law brought the painting to Antiques Roadshow for appraisal.
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daughter → bring → appraisal
The show's experts examined the work closely and offered an initial estimate of $20,000 to $30,000, a figure that already dwarfed what Leroy had paid.
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Leroy → examine → what
But the real surprise was when they dated the painting to a Flemish artist from about 1650, putting it in a far older and more important category than anyone had expected.
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anyone → date → category
The valuation showed the painting was from a Flemish school in Amsterdam and dated back to the 17th century.
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painting → show → century
Leroy's instinct about the frame had been correct, as Flemish artwork was popular in the 1800s and the painting had been framed during that period.
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painting → frame → period
What he had not anticipated was that the canvas itself was more than 300 years old.
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canvas → anticipate → What
The Roadshow appearance gave the painting a public platform and helped establish its provenance.
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appearance → give → provenance
Appraisers could point to stylistic features and historical context that placed the work firmly in the Flemish tradition.
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that → point → tradition
That credibility was essential when it came time to bring the painting to auction.
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it → come → auction
From appraisal to a $190,000 hammer
After the Roadshow appraisal, the painting was consigned to an auction house in Massachusetts for sale in March 2012.
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painting → consign → March
The initial estimate of $20,000 to $30,000 set a baseline for expectations, but the actual bidding far exceeded that range.
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bidding → set → range
When the hammer came down, the work had sold for $190,000, a figure that stunned both the consignor and observers of the sale, reported Mental Floss.
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Floss → come → sale
The buyer was a man from Worcester, Massachusetts, according to auction records cited in coverage of the event.
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buyer → accord → event
The sale price represented a return of more than 63,000 times the original $3 purchase price, making it one of the most dramatic thrift-store windfalls on record.
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it → represent → record
Leroy described it as the biggest find he had ever had.
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he → describe → find
He told reporters that he planned to split the money with his son and daughter-in-law, who had been the ones to bring the painting to Antiques Roadshow in the first place.
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who → tell → place
That decision reflected the collaborative nature of the discovery, where a family member's curiosity turned a casual purchase into a life-changing event.
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curiosity → reflect → event
Why Flemish still-life paintings still command high prices
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paintings → command → prices
The 17th-century Flemish painting tradition is celebrated for its meticulous craftsmanship and rich symbolism.
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tradition → celebrate → craftsmanship
Still lifes from the era teem with food, flowers, and household objects, all rendered with extraordinary illumination and texture.
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all → teem → illumination
Once highly prized during the Dutch Golden Age, these works continue to be much sought-after by leading museums and private collectors.
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works → prize → museums
This particular canvas, dating from 1650, is from the height of Flemish art, and has survived over 360 years in a condition that has allowed it to be sold at auction, helping its value as provenance and condition are key for historic works.
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provenance → date → works
The painting’s journey from a Goodwill store shelf to a Massachusetts auction house is proof of how easily masterworks can get lost in the annals of history.
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masterworks → lose → history
Documentation can become lost through generations, allowing high-value art to hide in plain sight until a keen eye, a curious relative and a professional appraiser team up to uncover the truth.
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eye → become → truth
A story that keeps thrift shoppers looking
Leroy's find is often cited alongside other famous thrift-store discoveries, including a $9.99 painting by abstract artist Ilya Bolotowsky that sold for more than $27,000 at Sotheby's in 2012.
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that → keep → 2012
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
