A Salvador Dali etching recently discovered at a Tacoma Goodwill last week sold for $21,005 on the organization's online auction site Monday night. The rare thrift store find, which kicked off the auction at a bargain price of $999, attracted 154 bidders over its two-week long sale.
Original hand signed and numbered colored etching by Salvador Dali, titled "Reflection" or "Reflections," from "The Cycles Of Life Suite." Item is listed as an original colored etching, 10.5 inches x 8.25 inches.
The signed artwork, titled "Reflections," was left at the Tacoma site by an anonymous donor and later discovered by a Federal Way quality control officer named Shea Munroe, reported The Seattle Times. After noticing Dali's signature on the etching, Munroe notified her manager Ed Dopp who then contacted the online arm of Goodwill to report the rare find.
Dylan Lippert, an e-sales manager for Goodwill, explained in an e-mail to The Huffington Post that donation attendants are trained to look for higher value items, such as paintings and pieces of artwork. "Anything with a signature or paperwork attached to the back gets a second look," he stated. A Dali expert from the Doubletake Gallery in Minnesota named Robert Varner told the The Seattle Times that the etching, part of a 150-piece series titled "Cycles of Life Suite," had a book value of $10,000. The result of the Goodwill sale doubled that figure.
Following the auction's impressive closing bid, Lippert stated to The News Tribune:
“There’s just obviously a lot of excitement around this. It’s surprising to me... Every once in a while something like this reminds us of how important what we do is. This is funding 10 scholarships for people with disabilities and barriers to employment. It’s amazing.”
To read more about this surprising thrift store find, check out the original article here. For more on the world of unexpected art discoveries, scroll through the slideshow below.
