Everyone peeks at an estate sale.
asserted
Everyone → peek → sale
He did too.
asserted
He → do → ?
He thought he would get his hands on some records or perhaps some mid-century furniture.
asserted
he → think → records
That’s when he saw a painting hanging in the dark corner of a hallway.
asserted
he → ’ → hallway
All there was on the 8-by-11-inch canvas were some seashells.
asserted
All → be → canvas
Most buyers’ eyes would slide past such works, but this man’s didn’t.
asserted
man → slide → works
He spotted a signature on it that read: Abercrombie.
asserted
that → spot → Abercrombie
He knew it was valuable.
asserted
it → know → ?
He didn’t think twice.
asserted
He → think → ?
He bought it.
asserted
He → buy → it
A few months later, five phone bidders and several online bidders competed for the painting at Freeman’s in New York.
asserted
bidders → compete → York
The auction house had estimated it would sell for $150,000 to $250,000.
asserted
it → estimate → 250,000
And on October 1, the hammer fell at $1,060,000!
asserted
hammer → fall → 1,060,000
Along with the buyer’s premium, it came to $1,352,600.
asserted
it → come → 1,352,600
Well, this work was especially prized.
asserted
work → prize → ?
No work by Gertrude Abercrombie had ever gone above $1 million.
asserted
work → go → million
And only the right person saw its value.
asserted
person → see → value
The Milwaukee exhibition that changed everything
The buyer, who chose to stay anonymous, saw the signature on the painting while purchasing it at the estate sale in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
asserted
who → change → Kalamazoo
But, as a longtime collector, he already knew it was not proof.
asserted
it → know → collector
He changed his family holiday plans to visit the Gertrude Abercrombie exhibition
The Whole World Is a Mystery at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
asserted
World → change → Museum
In the exhibition catalogue, he found a 1952
Chicago Tribune photograph of the painting in its original frame, displayed alongside the actual shells Abercrombie had painted.
asserted
Abercrombie → find → shells
The photograph gave him an idea of what he had.
asserted
he → give → what
Dr Susan Weininger, the leading Abercrombie scholar and a professor emerita of art history at Roosevelt University, also looked at it.
asserted
Weininger → lead → it
She authenticated it.
asserted
She → authenticate → it
Things progressed soon.
asserted
Things → progress → ?
The buyer gave it to Freeman’s to sell, knowing the auction house had sponsored the Milwaukee exhibition.
asserted
house → give → exhibition
A rare painting from 1951
Alderman Merriam's Shells, 1951
Painted by Gertrude Abercrombie, a Chicago Surrealist artist, the painting
Alderman Merriam’s Shells had been missing from public view for 75 years.
asserted
Shells → paint → years
The work depicts nine finely rendered seashells on a slate-grey surface, with a single conical shell suspended by a thread against a black wall, appearing to levitate above the rest.
asserted
work → depict → rest
Robert Merriam was alderman of Hyde Park, the Chicago neighbourhood where Abercrombie lived and worked.
asserted
Abercrombie → live → Park
“A rare instance of the artist painting directly from life, it confirms that the shell motif in her later solitary shell paintings, long presumed invented, was drawn from observation and memory,” the auction house said in a release.
asserted
house → paint → release
The painting was exhibited in six solo shows in 1952 and 1953.
asserted
painting → exhibit → 1952
Abercrombie gave it to Dr John Reynolds of Kalamazoo, Michigan, in exchange for medical services.
asserted
Abercrombie → give → services
The photograph stayed with his family until its rediscovery this year.
asserted
photograph → stay → rediscovery
“No fairytale would be complete without a storybook ending, and Gertrude Abercrombie’s
Alderman Merriam’s Shells selling for a new auction record is as happily ever after as it gets.
asserted
it → sell → record
As happy as we are to have recaptured the record sale price for an artist we have long championed, we are even happier for our eagle-eyed consignor who saved this masterpiece from staying forever lost to time.
asserted
who → recapture → time
I love it when good things happen to good people and when the story unfolds in reality just as we wrote it.
asserted
we → love → it
The Abercrombie shooting the moon was obviously the high point of the day, but the rest of the sale shone bright, with great results across the board to add to the magic of the day
asserted
rest → shoot → day
,” said Zack Wirsum, Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Post War & Contemporary Art, speaking about the sale.
asserted
Wirsum → say → sale
And just like that, a painting found at an estate sale for $30 made over a million dollars.
asserted
painting → find → dollars
The Aporia
