Everybody loves a good bargain. At least that is what reality TV has shown me time and again. Hunting through other people’s donated items to find the one unique piece makes for good viewing. But for one Virginia woman when a pretty vase for $3.99 at her local Goodwill caught her eye, she knew it was special, a highly-expensive sort of special..

On that day, though, Jessica Vincent said she walked the store some, debating if she should even buy it. If the vase wasn’t expensive, she said she told herself, then she would buy it. And when she saw the price tag, she did just that. 

She said partner, Naza Acosta, asked her “why are you buying that bottle?” Vincent told him that the small ‘M’ mark on the bottom intrigued her and she wanted to learn more about it. And how right she was to be curious.

Once back home, Vincent searched online for the marking. The green and burgundy striped vase, Vincent found out at home, was likely made in Murano, which is an island in Italy near Venice. It’s known for its costly high-end glass. “It was so big and it stood out to me with its color, but I didn’t know what it was,” Vincent said.

I liked it and it was different, and I knew it would be part of my collection.”

But as Vincent, a lifelong thrift-store shopper kept researching, soon realized what she had really purchased: an ultra rare piece from famous Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa.

Jessica Vincent discovered a rare Carlo Scarpa “Pennellate” vase at a Goodwill. Photo courtesy of Rago/Wright

After posting her find on a local Facebook group page, Vincent said one Facebook member told her, “Those are very rare. Every collector would love to have that. But most people cannot afford them.” She emailed Richard Wright, president of Wright Auction House in Chicago, after someone referred her to him.

Wright immediately asked her if he could call her.

“I figured when the CEO of the auction house wants to have a phone call with you it’s probably pretty special,” Vincent said. “And he was just telling me how incredibly rare these are and the color that this was in and the form that it was in. I think they only know of one other one in these colors.”

Just months after Vincent had bought the vase, it was officially confirmed to be part of Scarpa’s 1940s “Pennellate” series. It just sold for $107,000 to an unidentified private art collector in Europe. 

Vincent’s original $3.99 purchase had just netted her a life-changing sum of $82,875, Wright said. “Knowing that Jessica went into this Goodwill in Virginia and saw this glass vase sitting in a thrift store undamaged is unbelievable,” he said.

This was a gift from the thrifting gods.”

Vincent knows how lucky she was to find the vase. The money she earned from the sale will go towards work on an old farmhouse she recently bought, Vincent said. “It was pretty thrilling to think I sort of had a masterpiece on my hands.

For me, it felt like a disappointing day thrift shopping, so this turned that day around quickly,” she said. “This is really going to help me so much. It just felt like the universe was conspiring to help me get down the road a little bit further.” Watch below for a look at this incredible find!

Sources: Washington Post | People