Woman buys an art work valued at $9,000 for $12.34 at a Milwaukee Goodwill

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A woman spent 12-dollars and 34-cents at a Goodwill store in Milwaukee, for an art work that was found to be worth nine-thousand dollars. Karen Mallet got her amazing bargain for a lithograph called “Red Nose,” by American artist Alexander Calder. It was a black-and-white picture of an ape with a black eye – and the red nose was the only color on the drawing. The price was 12.99, but Mallet used her Goodwill loyalty card to save 65-cents. Then she saw Calder’s signature and went online to see what kind of a deal she got. The piece was among 75 that were signed, and a Chicago fine art business recently valued it at nine-thousand-dollars. The Associated Press said it was the fourth time in six months that a Goodwill store drastically undervalued an art work at its stores throughout the country. One woman got 27-thousand dollars for a painting she bought for 9.99 at Goodwill. And an ancient Indian artifact was returned to its tribe instead of being sold. Cheryl Lightholder of Goodwill said her charitable group tries to spot valuables and auction them off – but some items fall through the cracks, and their employees are not experts at fine art.

Tags: offbeat