I told you so. There are treasures waiting for the trash on the streets of New York. Not two weeks after a trailer park resident sold the Charles Rolhfs chair he'd found in his neighbors trash for $189,000, another eagle-eyed picker has scored.
Elizabeth Gibson, "a self-professed Dumpster diver," found a painting on the corner of Broadway and 72nd Street four years ago. It wasn't really her thing, style-wise, and she debated whether there was really room in her apartment for the large canvas, but in the end, the painting exerted an irresistible influence over her and she dragged it home.
Elizabeth Gibson, triumphant. AP photo.
Through a few years of sleuthing, Gibson discovered that the painting was "Tres Personajes," by Rufino Tamayo, considered the father of modern art in Mexico. It was stolen from a Houston couple 20 years ago, has been the subject of an F.B.I. investigation, and a story about it had even aired on an "Antiques Roadshow" segment called "Missing Masterpieces."
And of course (drum roll) it is now valued at one million dollars.
Gibson collects a $15,000 reward and a finder's fee from Sotheby's, where the original owner has put the canvas up for auction on November 20. She remembers asking her doorman if he saw who put the painting out on the street, but he didn't see anything. “All they said was that 20 minutes after I took it, the garbage truck arrived. This was truly an appointment with destiny.”
Excuse me, gotta run. I haven't done my scouting yet, and I think I hear the "eeep-eeep-eeep" of the garbage truck.
One Person’s Trash Is Another Person’s Lost Masterpiece
[The New York Times]
Painting Found in Trash Could Fetch $1M
[The Washington Post]
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