A man who inherited his aunt’s sewing machine found a special surprise hiding underneath — a $25 million Picasso!
Before Jenny Verastro of Staten Island, New York, died in 2004, she left her sewing machine to her nephew Carl Sabatino, and told him there’s a treasure hidden beneath it.
Of course, he was curious and took a look only to discover an old painting wrapped in newspaper. Initially, he didn’t think much of it, but then he saw the signature in the corner: Pablo Picassso.
Suspecting it might be a replica of Picasso’s 1901 painting “Woman with a Cape,” he took it to Christie’s auction house in New York. “She examined it for about 30 seconds and literally flipped it back at me and said, ‘This is a $10 poster, don’t waste your time,'” he recalled.
Still, Sabatino had a feeling about the painting and took it to art analyst Dr. Kenneth Smith, president of the Center for Art Materials Analysis to see if he could find out more information.
Smith conducted a series of tests and concluded it was in fact painted in the 1930s. Over the next 15 years, they did further tests and research. And in 2019, it was finally verified as an original Picasso valued at $25 million.
“The owner went through the time and expense to have it chemically tested, dated and having the fingerprint analyzed to ensure the validity of the work,” Alexandra DeMasi, gallery director of Sheldon Fine Art told Lad Bible.
Incredible! Now the question begs to be asked: What’s hiding under your shop’s sewing machine?
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