Found, Again: Discovering Hidden Gems in Obscure Places
I’ve always believed the world leaves us clues —
a breadcrumb trail scattered in dusty corners, old shelves, and the folds of forgotten things.
They wait, quietly. Patient and still.
There’s a certain kind of magic in secondhand things:
a painting someone no longer had space for,
a drawing once made for love, or grief, or solitude.
We live in a time where most things are made to be temporary.
But art — art has always been something else entirely.
A painting made decades ago still holds the memory of its artist’s hands,
the pulse of a moment too fragile to be kept in words.
And yet, like many things, artworks sometimes lose their place.
- Brenda Chak
Newell Convers Wyeth, Ramona, 1939, Oil on Panel
A piece purchased at $4, only to be found to have an estimated value between $150,000 to $250,000.
The Stories Art Carries — A Weight That's Been Held Before
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We’ve all heard about it happening. Someone wanders into a thrift store looking for a teacup, and walks out with a painting worth thousands. I remember reading about a man who bought a painting for $4 at a Pennsylvania flea market in 1989, with the intention of only keeping the worn-out frame, it had caught his eye, thinking he could salvage it. When he took the frame apart at home, he found something tucked behind the canvas, it was a folded, parchment-like document.
It turned out to be one of the original Dunlap broadsides, the first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence. Only about 200 of these broadsides were originally printed, and as of today, 26 known copies exist. He set it aside for a few years before he was urged by a friend to contact a professional, as he believed it was just an old copy. The document went up for auction at Sotheby’s and sold for $2.42 million.
In another instance, in 2007, a family bought a small Chinese bowl for $3 at a yard sale in New York. It sat on their mantelpiece, unrecognised, for years. Out of curiosity, they had it appraised. They found it was a rare 1000-year-old Northern Song Dynasty Ding bowl [1]. In 2013, it was auctioned at Sotheby’s for $2.2 million.
Signed 'Elimar' on the bottom right corner. Believed to have been painted by Henning Elimar.
It isn’t limited to old documents or ceramics. A painting titled Elimar [2], bought for $50 at a Minnesota garage sale in 2016, is at the center of a dispute over whether it's an authentic Van Gogh. LMI Group [3] claims that it is, and they released a 456-page report citing pigment tests, canvas dating, a protective glaze, and even DNA from a red-haired man to support their case. The pigments were found to be consistent with Van Gogh's palette from the late 1880s, the canvas type and weave match the right period, and the varnish shows signed of ageing similar to other authenticated works. The DNA link, while tenuous, was noted because Van Gogh was famously red-haired. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, however, has twice rejected the claim, pointing to inconsistencies in style and technique. They also argue that "Elimar" isn't the painting's title, but the signature of the actual artist, possibly Henning Elimar, a Danish artist who was active in the 20th century. LMI Group estimates that the painting will be worth $15 million, if it were to be a real Van Gogh.
A sketch portraying Henrietta Greville.
The piece faced a complicated authentication process, but it opened up important conversations about overlooked works hiding in plain sight, even in private homes and small collections. Case in point, a rare pen and ink sketch by 18th century British portrait artist George Romney, portraying Henrietta Greville, Countess of Warwick, was unexpectedly found in a wheelie bin in Hudson, New York, by an anonymous antiques enthusiast. The piece has been valued between £600 to £800.
Have you had a moment like that? Stumbled upon something so ordinary, something that seemed to hold no special promise, only to later realise it was far more valuable than you ever expected?
A Reality Check
Of course, stories like these are rare, and when they happen, the next steps are complex. Authenticating an artwork or an antique is not instant. Finding something valuable is only the start of a long, often difficult, process. It involves appraisals, expert opinions, provenance research, and sometimes even legal disputes. The Elimar painting is a perfect example. Years of pigment tests, glaze analysis, and DNA testing were challenged by experts, who still rejected its authenticity, twice, and remains unsold.
Even famous discoveries face obstacles. Owners must prove an item’s history, often invest in appraisals, deal with disputes, insurance, and complicated auction house negotiations. It isn’t as simple as finding a painting and selling it for millions the next day.
Hand-painted plate from Pablo Picasso's "Visage Noir" series of ceramics.
Another instance is the case of Picasso’s ceramic plates. In 2022, a woman named Nancy Cavaliere found four ceramic plates at a Salvation Army store in Clinton, New York, priced at $1.99 each. The plates had Pablo Picasso’s signature and the Madoura Pottery stamp, suggesting they might be part of Picasso’s ceramic works produced in collaboration with Madoura in the 1950s-70s. Suspecting their value, Cavaliere contacted Rago Arts and Auction Center, where experts began the authentication process. The difficulty lay in verifying the pieces against the official Alain Ramie Catalogue raisonne for Picasso ceramics, examining the glazes, forms, editions, and the authenticity of the stamps. Without these steps, even signed works can be easily misattributed, as forgeries and copies exist. After thorough examination, the plates were authenticated as genuine Picasso Madoura ceramics from his Visage Noir series. In December 2022, they were auctioned for over $40,000.
Though lengthy, it isn’t unusual. It can take years. Disagreements between authenticators can stall or devalue a find. This case, and Elimar is a testament to how difficult it can be to overturn institutional consensus. On the other hand, many discoveries, even valuable ones, sit in limbo because owners can’t afford to complete authentication processes. Insurance, restoration, storage, and legal issues make it harder than people imagine.
An Invitation to Notice
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| Peter Low, Untitled (Raw Elements), Undated |
On our own secondary art marketplace, we’ve seen this happen more than once. A simple still life of roses in a vase, unsigned, modest, was purchased the day after it was listed. It had no title, no known artist. Just quiet elegance. It wasn’t until later that we learned it was a work by U Lun Gywe, a pioneering Burmese impressionist known for his expressive brushwork and lyrical compositions–but more importantly, he was known for his watercolour pieces, and this is a rare oil work by the master. We don’t know if the buyer knew at the time what they were acquiring…
Another time, an unassuming ceramic piece went up for sale, again untitled and unattributed. A buyer was drawn to it regardless, something about the shape, the glaze, the way it caught their eye. Only later did they learn that it was the work of Peter Low, the renowned Malaysian-born master potter whose pieces now reside in museums and private collections.
In a third instance, a buyer picked up a framed scenery painting by Tan Choh Tee, an artist well-known for his impressionist portrayals of Singapore’s sights and scenes. Later, they discovered it had been published on the cover of a book after Choh Tee received the Cultural Medallion for Visual Arts in 2006 in Singapore. This is important because artists tend to feature their best pieces, and this is by far an impressive piece.
These stories are just a few among many, and they remind us how artworks of value and meaning can so easily be overlooked or forgotten. This is an invitation to notice. An invitation to browse with the heart of someone open to being surprised. Our online marketplace is a collection of secondhand artworks. Some signed, some anonymous. Some bold, some soft. All of them previously loved, abandoned, or waiting. To hang a piece on your wall that isn’t mass-produced, that wasn’t made just to match a couch. In a world so obsessed with the new, there’s something bewitching about embracing what already exists.
Written by Brenda Chak
[1] The Ding kilns of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) produced some of the finest white porcelain in China, typically featuring carved or incised designs beneath a translucent glaze. These bowls were often used in imperial courts and influenced later ceramic traditions.
[2] Elimar is an oil painting depicting a fisherman repairing a net, signed "ELIMAR" on the subject's sleeve.
[3] The LMI Group, a private investment firm with growing interests in the art market, has acquired several high-profile but contested works. Their strategy has sparked debate about the speculative value of uncertain attributions and the ethics of collection-driven authentication efforts.
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