A Michelangelo found in Buffalo?

[Chris_]

This unfinished painting of Jesus and Mary could be a lost Michelangelo, potentially the art find of the century.

But to the upstate family on whose living-room wall it hung for years, it was just "The Mike."

When the kids knocked the painting off its perch with an errant tennis ball sometime in the mid-1970s, the Kober clan wrapped it up and tucked it away behind the sofa.

There it remained for 27 years, until Air Force Lt. Col. Martin Kober retired in 2003 and had some time on his hands. His father gave him a task -- research the family lore that the painting was really a Michelangelo.

One thing is certain, however -- the painting's potential worth. It is now in a bank vault.

The rare Michelangelo drawings that have come up for sale in recent years have sold for as much as $20 million. And a possible Michelangelo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art could be worth as much as $300 million.

NY Post

[soleil]

Jeez, that is pretty cool. I wish I had one just lying around the house. 300 mill? Wow!!!

[vesta111]

Jeez, that is pretty cool. I wish I had one just lying around the house. 300 mill? Wow!!!

Perhaps not one that valuable, BUT, I allways check the thrift stores and their picture frame section, half my home is decorated with pictures that were painted and or prints that may be more valuable then the frame.

My biggest find is a print of a bird that is a Lemeric that was part of a Museum collection many years ago.  I have had it over 30 years and found it behind an abstract painting I bought just because the colors matched my living room walls. Cost--$3.00

I went to an estate sale and bought a "Clark" that took my fancy, How I today wish I had bought more of his art work, one of his paintings I should have bought is now hanging in a museum in a New Orleans jazz club, some of the people in the painting were strangers to me, but, then there were a few I recognized. Along with the painting came a news paper clipping telling of a grand night in the 50's when the creme Dela cream of Jazz at that time gathered for a one night stand.
  I could have bought it for $20.00

One mans junk just may be another mans treasure.

What the hell, this is New England and Antiques over 150 years are common, tourists go to the shoppes looking for old stuff, but for us natives we head for thrift stores that sell stuff the new generation throw out or donate due to being a transplant or ignorant.

Cheer up soleil, what ever part of country you live in has discarded items that can bring in a big price.

 Even if they are difficult to sell sooner or later you will find valuable things to put on homeowners insurance or a gift to a new museum in your area that can be used as a tax deduction.

Who would have thought that costume jewelry from the 1920-1950ies would fetch such high prices today ????