Over a million dollars of trash

We all dream about it and from time to time we hear about it happening.

Imagine finding something in a rubbish pile only to discover that it’s worth over a million dollars. It’s enough to have you rummaging through every bin in your neighbourhood.

Out of New York comes the story of Elizabeth Gibson who found a valuable painting while out for a walk. She decided to take the painting home and later found that it was a stolen artwork that had been missing for many years. She discovered the origins of the painting via some internet research.

Reuters is reporting that the oil painting is by by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo. It is titled Tres Personajes or Three Personages and yesterday it sold for over a million dollars at a Sotheby’s auction.

Elizabeth had returned the painting to its rightful owners but still received a $15 000 reward and an undisclosed percentage of the sale.

Gibson walked by the vibrant, 38-inch by 51-inch (97 by 130 cm) work, then “immediately knew I had to go back. I knew I had to take it,” she said weeks before the auction.“It was a huge, powerful and beautiful painting and I said to myself, ‘It is wrong to be in the garbage,'” Gibson added. She was told that shortly after her find, a trash collecting truck had come by and hauled away the refuse.

Have you ever discovered something valuable amongst some rubbish or going cheap at a garage sale? Have you ever given something away only to discover its true value later?

I guess you’re a bit like me in wondering why I never find such amazing items.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Tres Personajes – Rufino Tamayo – Sothebys

Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Over a million dollars of trash? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.