US woman’s $6 N C Wyeth painting found at op shop expected to sell at auction for $390k

The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, bought the striking painting from a second-hand Savers store in the US state of New Hampshire in 2017. She was simply looking for second-hand picture frames to repurpose when she stumbled across the beautiful piece.

The unassuming painting was dressed in a beat-up white frame and hidden among a stack of artworks leaning up against the wall. In its top left corner, the signature “N C Wyeth” was barely visible against the dark background of the piece.

The woman took the roughly 70cm by 50cm painting to the store’s checkout, where she paid just US$4 (A$6.25) for it.

“Not knowing what she had found, she joked about it being a real painting but after not finding anything in a quick internet search, didn’t give it another thought,” said Kathleen Leland, American and European works of art specialist at Bonhams Skinner, which is auctioning the painting.

“The painting hung in her bedroom for a few years and was then stored away again in a closet. In May of this year while cleaning, she came across the painting again and posted some images of it on a Facebook page called Things Found in Walls.”

Commenters in the group encouraged the woman to get in touch with Lauren Lewis, an art conservator who previously worked at the Wyeth Study Center at the Farnsworth Art Museum.

Ms Lewis drove three hours to meet with her, believing the piece was an authentic work by Newell Convers Wyeth, a prolific American illustrator who painted some 4000 illustrations for books and magazines in the first half of the 20th Century. His most famous works include stunning illustrations for the reprints of Robin Hood and Treasure Island.

“(Wyeth’s) work was renowned for its ability to increase the drama and character development of the accompanying text, something he achieved with vibrant, action-packed scenes, vivid colours, and a skilful use of light and shadow,” the auction listing for the painting says.

Ms Lewis told the Boston Globe she was “99 per cent certain it was authentic” and had spoken with a scholar on Wyeth’s work who agreed it was “likely the original”.

Along with the signature on the front of the painting, the back also had several labels pointing to it’s authenticity. One torn sticker read “Ramona” alongside the partial note: “Artist: N C W–”.

“My assessment of the condition was that, while it certainly had some small scratches and it could use a surface clean, it was in remarkable condition considering none of us had any idea of its journey over the last 80 years,” Ms Lewis said.

The name on the back of the image — “Ramona” — led Ms Lewis and other experts to conclude the painting was one of four created by Wyeth for a 1939 edition of Ramona, an iconic American novel by Helen Hunt Jackson.

The novel, which was originally published in 1884, follows the titular heroine Ramona, a Scottish-Native American orphan who falls into a star-crossed love affair with a Native American sheep sheerer while under the care of her strict foster mother, Señora Gonzaga Moreno.

“Wyeth deftly portrays the tension between Ramona and her rigid and overbearing foster mother,” the auction listing says. Only one other painting in the Ramona series has been located, it adds.

Bonhams Skinner lists the expected price of the painting as between US$150,000 and US$250,000 (A$234,000 – $390,000).

“Our specialists consider a number of factors including condition, what comparable works have achieved at auction by the artists and similar artists, the market, etc,” a spokesperson for the auction house said.

“They then give a high and low estimate of what they think it will sell for — this work is estimated at $150,000 to $250,000, but it could achieve more.”

Unfortunately, as Ms Leland told local outlet Delaware Online, finding a treasure like an original Wyeth at an op shop was extraordinarily uncommon.

“Discoveries such as this are certainly rare,” she said.

“Not only because of the limited supply of remarkable works that end up in thrift shops, but also because it is difficult for anyone other than an expert in antiques or fine art to be able to recognise the significance of what they have found.”

Get in touch — chloe.whelan@news.com.au