A painting worth $30, found at an estate sale in Michigan, has just been sold at auction for $1.35 million
An enigmatic oil painting purchased for just $30 at an estate sale has fetched more than $1.35 million at auction after it was confirmed to be the work of famed surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie.
The 8×11-inch still life was discovered in a “dark corner” of a Michigan home in July, according to Freeman’s, the auction house that put the painting on the market this month. An expert identified it as Abercrombie’s “Alderman Merriam shells,” which had not been seen in public in nearly 75 years.
Completed in 1951, the painting depicts a collection of ten seashells – a common motif used by Abercrombie, who is often described as the “bohemian queen” of American art. Over the next two years, it was exhibited in six of the painter’s solo exhibitions, priced then between $50 and $150.
But the artist never sold the work, instead offering it to a doctor in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in exchange for medical services. The mysterious painting was then passed to the doctor’s estate after his death, before finally appearing at the estate’s sale in July.
The lucky buyer, who remained anonymous, is described by the auctioneer as “a long-time hunter of record albums and mid-century furniture.” Detailing the find, Freeman’s said the painting was discovered “tucked in a dark corner of a hallway leading to the garage – overlooked by all the other shoppers that day”.
Seeing the signature (reading “Abercrombie, ’51”), barely visible against the dark background, the buyer took a $30 bet. According to Freeman’s, they then diverted their family vacation to visit the Milwaukee Art Museum, where an Abercrombie exhibit was on display. There, in an exhibition catalog, a newspaper clipping from 1952 showed a photo of the painting next to the actual seashells it depicts.
The bargain hunter then took the artwork to the Freeman auction house, which was one of the exhibit’s sponsors. Susan Weininger, an Abercrombie expert and professor of art history at Roosevelt University, later authenticated the work as authentic – and still in its original setting. The painting was then cleaned by art restorer Julian Baumgartner, who, in a video documenting his work, described it as being in “perfect condition,” aside from some dirt and hazy varnish on its surface.
“It was dull, it lacked life, but now cleaned, touched up and revarnished, it is alive and radiant,” he said.
The painting had been valued by Freeman’s at between $150,000 and $250,000, although bidding at last Thursday’s sale far exceeded estimates, setting a new auction record for Abercrombie’s work. In 2025, Sotheby’s sold another Abercrombie painting, “Message for Mercy,” for a then-record $1.02 million, more than triple its high estimate.
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CNN’s Rachel Tashjian looks at an upcoming auction of Diane Keaton’s wardrobe and artwork at Bonham’s in New York. The sale includes custom Ralph Lauren, Comme des Garçons and bowlers from Hollywood prop stores, revealing the mix that made his style so legendary.
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CNN’s Rachel Tashjian looks at an upcoming auction of Diane Keaton’s wardrobe and artwork at Bonham’s in New York. The sale includes custom Ralph Lauren, Comme des Garçons and bowlers from Hollywood prop stores, revealing the mix that made his style so legendary.
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In other recent auction news…
A largely self-taught artist, Abercrombie, who died in 1977, was renowned for her dreamlike and otherworldly compositions. She was also known for hosting legendary shows at her home in Chicago’s Hyde Park, where jazz stars like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker often performed.
Snail shells and seashells (as well as owls, cats, mysterious doors and, in his own words, “simple and slightly strange things”) were recurring themes in his work. They often appeared cracked or marked with holes and stood out against Abercrombie’s signature sparse backgrounds, whether arid moonlit landscapes or deep black voids. Some of his other strange compositions placed seashells next to enigmatic flags and dominoes or, in cases like 1967’s “Snail Woman,” giving rise to abstract female figures.
The objects in Abercrombie’s highly autobiographical works generally symbolized parts of his own experiences and identity, rather than abstract ideas. “I always paint myself,” she once said. Freeman’s auction listing suggests that the shells “served as a talisman of friendship, usually given to loved ones.”
In a press release ahead of Thursday’s sale, Zachary Wirsum, senior vice president of the auction house, called the rediscovery of the painting “magnificent.” He recalled telling visitors to the Milwaukee exhibit that Abercrombie’s paintings occasionally appeared at estate sales. “I didn’t know one of these ‘once in a while’ would happen less than a month later,” Wirsum said…
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