Painting from a dark corner turns out to be a treasure worth $1.35 million

A painting bought at a Michigan estate sale for $30 has been sold at auction for $1.35 million. The 1951 work "Alderman Merriam's Shells" by Gertrude Abercrombie was discovered in a dark corner of a hallway. The buyer spotted the signature and paid $30. Authenticity was confirmed by an expert. The work set a new auction record for the artist.

A painting by American surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie, "Alderman Merriam's Shells," bought at a Michigan estate sale for $30, has sold at auction for $1.35 million. The 20 by 28 cm canvas was found in July in a dark corner of a hallway leading to a garage. The buyer, described by the auction house as a "longtime hunter of records and mid-century furniture," spotted the signature "Abercrombie, '51" against the dark background. He went to the Milwaukee Art Museum, where an exhibition of the artist was on display, and saw in the catalog a 1952 newspaper clipping with a photograph of this painting. Authenticity was confirmed by art history professor Susan Weininger. The work was in its original frame. After cleaning, a restorer described its condition as "perfect." Freeman's auction house had estimated the painting at $150,000-$250,000, but bids exceeded the estimate. The result set a new auction record for Abercrombie, surpassing the previous record of $1.02 million set in 2025. The artist, who died in 1977, did not sell the work during her lifetime but gave it to a doctor in exchange for medical services.