A Wisconsin bargain hunter paid just $29 for a flower painting at a rummage sale, with no idea that the artwork would eventually be worth a fortune. About a decade later, the painting was identified as a work by American artist Martin Johnson Heade and went on to Christie’s in New York. According to Christie’s auction record, Two Magnolias on Blue Plush sold for $882,500 on May 26, 1999, after carrying an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. The sale turned an inexpensive rummage-sale purchase into one of the more remarkable art discoveries of its time.
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