Woman Buys Renoir for $7:
The name Renoir on the frame should have been a clue, but a painting by Pierre-August Renoir that had been missing since 1926, turned up in a Virginia flea market last year in a box of toys and then nearly went into the trash. The "Renoir girl," as she has identified herself to the media, spent $7 on the box of toys because it had a Paul Bunyan doll she had never seen before and she thought she could also reuse the ornate 1920s frame that surrounded the small landscape painting. She stored the painting in a white trash bag for a year, before pulling it out to tackle what she thought would be a crafts project. When she went to rip out the 19th century landscape, she had gotten as far as taking the backing paper off the frame when her mother caught her in the act and suggested she get the painting appraised.
The Potomack Company is auctioning the painting on Sept. 29, and estimates it is worth between $75,000 and $100,000.
via Huffington Post (Photo credit: Potomack Company)
