Althouse: "The painting was discovered in July when a man, nosing around at an estate sale in Kalamazoo, Mich., stumbled upon the enigmatic painting on the wall of a dimly lit corridor leading to the garage."

October 6, 2026

"The painting was discovered in July when a man, nosing around at an estate sale in Kalamazoo, Mich., stumbled upon the enigmatic painting on the wall of a dimly lit corridor leading to the garage."

"The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, was familiar with Abercrombie’s work and was stunned to see the still life bearing the painter’s distinct signature. Zachary Wirsum, a senior vice president at Freeman’s [auction house], said the man told him he 'was shaking as he walked out to his car,' with his discovery. 'I think, objectively, had he not purchased it, this would have just ended up in the dumpster,' Mr. Wirsum added. 'So I think that he saved it from forever being lost in time.'"

From "Bought Months Ago for $30, This Painting Set Off a $1.35 Million Bidding War/'He saved it from forever being lost,' the auction house said of the person who found a Gertrude Abercrombie painting at an estate sale in Kalamazoo, Mich." (NYT).

10 comments:

Lazarus said...: Pikers. No word yet on what this painting actually sold for --

https://news.artnet.com/market/four-years-ago-massachusetts-man-bought-drawing-30-estate-sale-may-authentic-durer-worth-eight-figures-2037727; 10/6/26, 7:46 PM
Michael said...: This has the stench of trying to Pump And Dump this painting. Yes, it's worth something substantial, but perhaps planting stories that there's a bidding war is a means to inflate the price.; 10/6/26, 8:01 PM
Just an old country lawyer said...: Thanks for giving us a Times article that doesn't try to work in anything about Trump.; 10/6/26, 8:34 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Here's my little "found" piece of not-really-art but historic in its own way. Going thru boxes and tubs and piles of all sorts of the things that the grandparents and parents (depression era) collected, I came across an oil painting (rather crude/no frame) with a vague palm tree beach scene. I collect these sorts of vintage beach paintings so kept it. Finally took a more than cursory look and found the notation on the back: "T.A. Wilson's cottage at XXX Florida. Painted by TA Wilson. 1932." I look up the name - my god, Thomas Augustus Wilson was Thomas Edison's assistant in the invention of the telephone. There's a whole Wiki page on the man. Anyway, I have contacted the local historical society and they said they would love to have it. I hope to get to Florida this year but if I don't, I will send it to them.

The End.; 10/6/26, 9:40 PM
Rockeye said...: Objectively, how good could the painting be if it was dumpster-quality?; 10/7/26, 12:34 AM
john mosby said...: Has anyone ever asked the NYT Ethicist if it is ethical to pay the seller the asked-for price when you know or suspect the item is worth much more?

This one is described as an 'estate sale,' which implies an at least somewhat sophisticated seller who made a time/money calculation, maybe thru a professional firm. But a lot of these stories involve flea markets and yard sales.

I like to think that if I were the buyer/ultimate seller, I would at least kick back a commission to the original seller. But who knows what I would really do. CC, JSM; 10/7/26, 2:41 AM
Saint Croix said...: When I was a kid, I begged my mom to buy Iron Man #1. It was in a plastic bag behind the counter. Selling for $100. "Please, mom, please please please."

"$100!" she said. "It's ridiculous."

Worth a million today.

Later, after I lost my job at a law firm, I took a year off to write a book. And I was selling my stocks, one by one. Amazon was the last to go. I really did not want to sell my Amazon. But I had to, you know, to pay my rent.

I had talked my Dad into buying Amazon, too. And when I sold my shares, he sold his, too. That was another million dollars out the window.

When I was in film school, a buddy of mine got me to try on a pair of Crocs. "Dude, they are so ugly. No way."

"Just try them on. They're amazing."

It took him like 10 minutes to convince me. But I tried them on. And I bought the shoes. A couple of days later, my family sold our Netflix shares, so we could buy shares in Crocs, the ugly shoe company.

That's another million dollars out the window.; 10/7/26, 3:51 AM
Saint Croix said...: My beautiful art, hanging on my walls, is priceless. Technically, I would let most of them go for $6,000. What a bargain!

The damn canvas costs $30. It's like he bought the canvas and got the art for free.; 10/7/26, 3:52 AM
PP said...: Cleaned & restored by Baumgartner. Video here: https://youtu.be/KsB2Yac1JZs?si=_MgsTLk9VFIZlY_P; 10/7/26, 7:46 AM
Hassayamper said...: *****
Worth a million today.
*****

I had 100 shares of Apple for a time in the 1990s when everyone thought that Windows was about to kill the company off. I bought at about $32 in 1993 or thereabouts, and sold them for nearly $90 right before the dotcom crash drove them down below $10, almost tripling my investment. I crowed about my investing skills for years afterwards.

Then a couple of gadgets called the iPod and iPhone were invented. Last I checked, my original investment would be worth over $3 million today.; 10/7/26, 11:20 AM