(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Virginia woman spent about $4 for a glass vase at a Goodwill store. This week, a Chicago auction house sold the piece for more than $100,000.
Jessica Vincent knew the red and green striped vase was valuable, despite the low price at Goodwill. So, she posted photos of it to a group of glass art enthusiasts on Facebook.
One member of the group recognized it as a rare vase designed by Carlos Scarpa and made by the Italian glass company Venini in 1947.
Another member recommended Vincent contact Richard Wright, whose West Loop auction house specializes in Italian glass.
It was amazing for the vase “not to be chipped or scratched at all,” Wright tells WBBM Newsradio. Had it been damaged, the object would have been worth less than $10,000, he said.
This week, a European art collector bought the vase at an auction for $107,000 -- of which Vincent gets about $85,000.
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