Kjøpte maleri for 290 kroner – solgt for 12,9 millioner

During a funeral in Michigan, a collector of mid-20th-century furniture and paneling made a surprising discovery. For $30 (290 kroner), the buyer secured a small oil painting that hung in a dark corner leading to the garage. Recently, the image was sold at auction for $1.35 million (12.9 million kroner), according to auction house Freeman’s.

The painting, "Alderman Merriam’s Shells," was painted by American surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie. History suggests the artwork had been out of public sight for nearly 75 years. Abercrombie never sold the painting but gave it away to a doctor in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as payment for medical services. The painting became part of the estate after the doctor's death before ending up at the funeral auction in July, according to CNN.

The anonymous furniture collector who purchased the painting viewed it as a $30 gamble after seeing the signature on the artwork. Family vacation plans were then significantly altered by an Abercrombie exhibit in Milwaukee, where a newspaper clipping from the Chicago Tribune in 1952 featuring the current image was reportedly found in a catalog, according to Freeman’s.

The painting was later declared genuine and in its original condition by an American art historian with Abercrombie as an expert consultant, before being restored ahead of the auction. Freeman’s initially valued the painting at $150,000-$250,000, but during the auction, the price skyrocketed to $1.35 million. This is a record high for an Abercrombie painting, often referred to as the "bohemian queen" of American art. Abercrombie passed away in 1977.