Woman bought glass vase for $3.99 at Goodwill store—it turned out to be a rare Carlo Scarpa piece worth $107K
Many people find thrifting a thrilling thing to do because of the potential of finding new and unique pieces. However, a woman who thrifted regularly didn't know that she would be able to get her hands on a collector's item worth $107,000. It was a usual thrift store trip for the woman, Jessica Vincent, who often frequented secondhand stores, yard sales, and flea markets. She found a glass vase that looked like it was high-quality for $3.99. Nonetheless, she hadn't expected to have picked out something that unique, according to CNN.
Vincent revealed that she visited the Goodwill, where she found the vase, around two to three times a week with her partner. "Thrifting is just a funny thing to do, or a different thing to do on the way home to decompress." She purchased the vase in June 2023 during one such trip. "People tell me I have a good eye. You can put me in an aisle with a whole bunch of dollar store stuff, and I can pick out the one item with a little bit of value. I feel like I've trained myself — I've watched a lot of 'Antiques Roadshow.'" The bottle-shaped vase with green and red strokes looked like it was of good value. "As soon as I picked it up, I knew it was a nice piece. I had no idea it was so nice, but I just knew it was good quality. I couldn’t believe nobody had picked it up before me."
The woman from Richmond, Virginia, had realized that it was a piece made in Italy from high-end glass from the island of Murano through the markings on its base. She went home and took pictures of the vase, and posted it on a Facebook group dedicated to glassware. The people from the group and from another one dedicated to Murano glass identified that the glassware was from a popular Italian glass company called Venini. People in the group had agreed that the piece was indeed a very good one and were discussing details about it. But then one person pointed out that the glassware was from "Carlo Scarpa… very top shelf, every collector’s dream."
The vase was from the "Pennellate" series created by Scarpa, an architect who worked for the Italian glassware company back in 1942. He was popular for glassware and furnishings and named the series "Pennellate," which translates to "brushstrokes." It was a rare find, according to the listing from the art and design auction house, Wright, because it was so hard to create. "When I first heard Jessica’s story and saw the image of the vase, I knew this was the real deal. (Scarpa’s) work in glass was among the most innovative on the island of Murano. The 'Pennellate' series was not widely produced or purchased in its day, so it is quite rare to find a work such as this one," Richard Wright, the auction house's founder, told the outlet.
Experts were able to confirm the authenticity of the piece and the couple watched the auction with bated breath and lots of excitement as the piece, valued at $30,000 to $50,000, was sold at $107,000. "I love that I can say that I owned a 'Pennellate.' But I really felt like the right thing, for me, was to send it off into the art world, where it can be fully appreciated. I needed the money more than I needed the vase," Vincent explained. She planned to continue thrifting because she loved the thrill that came with it.