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A woman made an astounding find at a Goodwill in Virginia. Jessica Vincent was browsing the store one day in June when a bottle-shaped vase with green and purple ribbons of color spiraling around it caught her eye.
After doing a lap around the store, Vincent went back to get the vase. As she looked at it closer, she noticed the words "Murano" and "Italia" on the base of the vase. She had a feeling the vase was worth more than its $3.99 price tag and bought it.
"Thankfully, there was nobody in the aisle, and I picked it up, and I couldn't believe that it was glass-like solid glass, not painted. It was iridized. It was just really beautiful up close," Vincent told USA TODAY. "In my mind, I thought maybe it's like a $1,000 $2,000 piece. I knew it was good, but I didn't know it was like the masterwork that it is at the moment."
While she had no intention of selling the vase, she wanted to learn more about it and began doing some research online. Several people on Facebook told her the vase looked like it was made by the famous Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.
Vincent contacted Wright Auction House to see if they could authenticate the vase and tell her how much it was worth. The auction house recently sent an appraiser to her home to inspect the vase.
It turned out the vase was made by Scarpa and was worth over $100,000.
"It's also a testament to his idea that a vase can be elevated to become a work of art. So it really is referencing fine art as it's painted with these brush strokes while the glass is hot and being blown, so it's pretty special," Wright Auction House founder Richard Wright explained. "In the Italian glass world, Scarpa glass is sort of considered to be the very best. It's its own collecting field in and of itself."
After learning its true value, Vincent agreed to let the auction house sell the vase. An art collector in Europe recently purchased the vase for $107,000. Vincent received $83,500, while the auction house took a $23,600 cut.
"For me, it's like winning the lottery, really. It's just an incredible thing," Vincent said. "It's super, super surreal. Even now, I'm still pinching myself."