Vase purchased at Goodwill for $3.99 and sells for over $100,000

Jessica Vincent made her way through a busy Goodwill thrift store in Hanover County, Virginia, in June, passing VCRs, lamps and glassware usually sold at big-box retailers. Nothing caught her attention until she saw an iridescent glass vase.

After touring the store, she returned to the bottle-shaped vase with red and green curls. She noticed a small “M” on the bottom, which she thought stood for Murano, an island off the coast of Venice and the historic home of Italian glassware.

She felt like it might be worth something.

“I had a feeling it could be a $1,000 or $2,000 piece,” she said, adding, “but I had no idea how good it actually was until I did some more research.”

There was no price on the vase. Ms. Vincent, 43, told herself she would pay $8.99 and no more. When the cashier called her up, it was $3.99.

When she got home from the Goodwill thrift store in June, she joined glass identification Facebook groups to learn more about the vase. Some members told her it looked like it was designed by Carlo Scarpa, a famous Italian architect, and referred her to Wright Auction House.

She sent photos and almost immediately Richard Wright, the auction house’s president, asked if he could call. “From the moment I saw the pictures, I had a really good feeling,” he said.

On Wednesday, the vase was auctioned for $107,100 to an unknown private art collector in Europe. About $83,500 went to Mrs. Vincent and about $23,600 to Wright Auction House.

Specialists who assessed the piece determined that it was part of the “Pennellate” series that Mr. Scarpa designed in the 1940s. It is unclear how many of these types of vases were made, Mr. Wright said.

He said he was most impressed by the pristine condition of the glass.

“If it had had a chip – even a small chip – it probably would have sold for less than $10,000,” he said. “This was like a winning lottery ticket.”

It was unclear how the vase ended up in the Goodwill store. A representative for Goodwill Industries could not immediately be reached Sunday.

Specialists at Wright Auction House initially estimated that the vase could fetch between $30,000 and $50,000. Despite its monetary value, Ms. Vincent said she knew she didn’t want to keep it.

“When I found out how rare they are and what value it could have, I got a little nervous about having it because anything could happen to it,” she said. “When you have a piece that expensive, you think, ‘What if?'”

Her thoughts flashed of it being toppled, someone breaking in, or it being destroyed by fire or natural disaster.

“I knew I wanted to get back into the art world. They didn’t know it existed,” Ms Vincent said. “I feel like I saved it from oblivion.”

And in a way, it saved her too, she said.

In January, Ms. Vincent, who trains polo horses, bought a 1930s farmhouse that is in need of major renovations and is currently heated with two space heaters. With her new money she hopes to upgrade her heating system, install a dishwasher and install fencing.

Ms Vincent said she has been visiting thrift stores with her mother since childhood and has developed an eye for hidden treasures over the years. Ms. Vincent also said she is an avid “Antiques Roadshow” fan and enjoys researching her purchases.

In the past, she has bought items for a few dollars, such as a wood carving from Bali and lithographs by Burt Groedel, which she said were worth a few thousand dollars.

In all her years of thrift store shopping, she never expected a discovery to change her life, but that’s part of the fun, she said.

“You never know what you’re going to find,” Ms. Vincent said. “It’s the thrill of the hunt.”