Bought a Painting for $3 and Sold It for Thousands

Marissa Alcorn had no idea that a spontaneous stop at a secondhand shop with her fiancé would change her life. After a shared dinner, the two dropped by a "Goodwill" store to browse for bargains—never imagining the discovery they would make.

"I saw an interesting frame on a cart one of the workers rolled out," Alcorn told WDTN-TV. "At first I thought it was a terrible painting, but it was only $2.99, so I decided to buy it."

While loading the painting into the car, something caught her eye. "There was a small plaque at the bottom of the frame," she recalled. "Out of curiosity, I Googled the name—and discovered it was Johan Berthelsen." Berthelsen, a famous American impressionist painter who passed away in 1972, is known for works that often sell for thousands of dollars.

Alcorn was still skeptical: "My first thought was it's not real, surely a fake." Members of an art appraisal group on Facebook encouraged her to authenticate the piece, and she took the painting to Caza Sikes auction house in Cincinnati.

To her great surprise, experts confirmed it was an authentic piece titled "Chapel, St. Patrick's Church." Ultimately, the painting sold for $2,875—quite the return on her original $2.99 investment.

And what will she do with the money? It will go straight to fund her upcoming wedding. "I think it's something that happens just once in a lifetime," she concluded. "I don't think I'll find such a deal again—but who knows?"