A Rare Painting Purchased for Just $4 at a Thrift Store May Actually Be Worth $250,000

Next time you take a trip to your local resale shop, be sure to look through the artwork—it could be worth a small fortune. At least that was the case for one New Hampshire resident who purchased a painting for $4 at a thrift store that is now expected to earn up to $250,000 at auction.

The buyer was searching for used frames at a Savers store in Manchester when she found the painting in 2017, Bonhams Skinner, the auction house responsible for the sale, told People. The painting turned out to be by Newell Convers Wyeth and is one of four illustrations for a 1939 edition of a novel called Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson.

At the time, the consignor was unaware of the painting's true value. After pulling it out of a stack of damaged posters and prints, she brought the item home and hung it up in her bedroom for a few years before stashing it away in a closet, People reports. When doing some cleaning earlier this year, she re-discovered the painting again and posted photos of it on Facebook.

Painting conservator Lauren Lewis stumbled across the photo and noticed the painting had a few labels on the back, which piqued her interest. She then drove three hours to see the painting first hand, the auction house told People, noting that the painting had been missing for 80 years.

The painting is currently listed on Bonhams Skinner's website and is expected to sell between $150,000 and $250,000. It will go up for sale on September 19.