Jessica Vincent made her way through a busy Goodwill thrift store in Hanover County, Virginia, in June, past VCRs, lamps and glassware commonly sold at major retailers. Nothing really caught her eye until she saw an iridescent glass vase.
After taking a spin around the store, she returned to the bottle-shaped vase with swirls of red and green. She noticed a small “M” on the bottom, which she thought stood for Murano, an island off Venice and the historic home of Italian glassware.
She felt like it might be worth something.
“I had a feeling it might be a $1,000 or $2,000 piece,” she said, adding, “but I had no idea how good it actually was until I did a little more research.”
There was no price on the vase. Ms. Vincent, 43, told herself she would pay $8.99 and no more. When the cashier called her it was $3.99.
When she got home from the Goodwill thrift store in June, she joined glass identification Facebook groups to learn more about the vase. Some members told her it looked like it was designed by Carlo Scarpa, a renowned Italian architect, and referred her to Wright Auction House.
She sent photos and almost immediately Richard Wright, the auction house's president, asked if he could call. “When I saw the photos I had a really good feeling,” he said.
On Wednesday, the vase was auctioned off to an unknown private art collector in Europe for $107,100. About $83,500 went to Ms. Vincent and about $23,600 went to Wright Auction House.
Experts who examined the piece concluded that it was part of the “Pennellate” series designed by Mr. Scarpa in the 1940s. It is unclear how many vases of this type were made, Mr. Wright said.
He said he was most impressed by the pristine condition of the glass.
“If it had a chip – even a small one – it probably would have sold for less than $10,000,” he said. “It was like winning the lottery.”
It was unclear how the vase ended up at the Goodwill store. A representative for Goodwill Industries could not immediately be reached Sunday.
Specialists at Wright Auction House initially estimated that the vase could fetch $30,000 to $50,000. Despite its monetary value, Ms Vincent said she knew she didn't want to keep it.
“When I learned how rare they were and what value they could be, it kind of made me nervous to have them because anything could happen to them,” she said. “When you have a piece that expensive, you think, 'What if?'”
In her mind she thought about it being knocked over, someone breaking in, or being destroyed in a fire or natural disaster.
“I knew I wanted to bring it back to the art world. They didn’t know it existed,” Ms. Vincent said. “I feel like I saved it from the darkness.”
And in a way, it saved her, she said.
In January, Ms. Vincent, who trains polo horses, bought a 1930 farmhouse. It needs major renovations and is heated for now with two space heaters. She hopes to use the new money to modernize her heating system, install a dishwasher and put up a fence.
Ms Vincent said she had been visiting thrift stores with her mother since she was a child and had developed an eye for hidden treasures over the years. Ms Vincent also said she was an avid fan of Antiques Roadshow and enjoyed researching her purchases.
In the past, she has purchased items for a few dollars, such as a wood carving from Bali and lithographs by Burt Groedel, that she thought were worth a few thousand dollars.
In all her years of thrift store shopping, she never expected that a discovery would change her life, but that's part of the fun of it, she said.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” Ms. Vincent said. “It’s the thrill of the hunt.”