A canvas by Chicago surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie, picked up by chance at a Michigan estate sale for just $30, has sold for $1.35 million at Freeman's auction house in New York, according to infohub.kz.
The 1951 work, titled "Alderman Merriam's Shells," set a new world auction record for Abercrombie. UPI.com reports on the lost painting, which was discovered by chance at a garage sale in Michigan.
The painting's history is notable: in 1952, Abercrombie gave the small 20-by-28-centimeter canvas to Dr. John Reynolds of Kalamazoo as payment for medical services. In the early 1950s, the work was exhibited in museums before vanishing from public view for nearly 75 years.
This summer, a buyer who spotted the artist's signature on the back of the canvas purchased the work at a sale of items from the deceased doctor's home. The lot had a presale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000, but the final price was nearly ten times that.
Art historians call the canvas a milestone in the surrealist's career: it was here that the cracked-shell motif, which later became her signature, first appeared. Before the sale, conservators cleaned the canvas, restoring it to its original appearance.