Life
Woman picks up 4 ceramic plates for a few bucks at thrift store then learns their real value
This might be the best $8 anyone's ever spent. 👀🤯
Sheehan Diapues
05.24.23

Not too shabby for a measly $8.

Luck was on Nancy Cavaliere’s side when she bought a few plates she didn’t know the actual value of.

The New Yorker discovered the plates while browsing a thrift store on her way home from work.

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

It was hot on a typical summer day. Cavaliere recalled stopping by a local Salvation Army while leaving work.

The first few glances did not yield anything that caught her attention.

“I see nothing. I almost leave,” she said.

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

Then something caught her eye. It was a small set of plates.

They were only $1.99 each.

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

After a while in the chinaware section, she glimpsed the four black ceramic plates.

Her plans for the dinnerware she was scoping out that day?

“I was going to buy them to make a tablescape,” Cavaliere explained in her now-viral video.

What an exceptional tablescape it would be.

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

She made the purchase and went home. The events that took place after were incredibly exciting, to say the least, for Nancy.

After a few searches online, she realized that what she bought turned out to be Picasso’s “Visage Noir” series of ceramics.

You read that right. Nancy scored genuine Picasso plates for under $2 apiece.

It was a historical find.

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

Each one is hand-painted.

They were produced in a pottery studio located in Madoura, a southern French town, in the 1940s.

Cavaliere said, “When I tell you I googled this set, and saw how much they were worth and almost cried, passed out…”

In all honesty, she said that’s what really happened while trying to convey her thoughts to everyone through the video.

Soon after, Cavaliere contacted auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Christies, and Bonhams, to properly authenticate and appraise the 4 pieces of treasure she found.

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

Then they told her their value.

Cavaliere was told that each was about $3,000 to $5,000, but she sold them for far more.

The following year, she sold three of the four ceramics at Sotheby’s and received over $40,000 for the exchange.

“I was in my office at my lunch break watching this live auction go down, crying my eyes out,” she said.

TikTok - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
TikTok - Nancy Cavaliere

Cavaliere stored the 4th piece, which has Picasso’s signature, in a safety deposit box.

She plans to have it sold 20 years after so the money can be used by her daughter when the time comes.

A trip to Europe, perhaps?

“It’s crazy,” Cavaliere exclaimed. “That I actually own something that Picasso signed for himself,” she added.

Due to her eagle-eye skills in finding deals and discounts, many have followed Cavaliere on both Instagram and TikTok. She dubbed it her “craziest thrift find ever.”

Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere
Source:
Instagram - Nancy Cavaliere

Now that’s a return on investment. And it’s not just the Picasso pieces.

She’s also found other items at the flea market for only a few dollars and eventually sold them for thousands.

The TikTok video has been viewed more than 300,000 times and some shared their own finds through the comments.

One user mentioned “The best thing I ever found was an America’s Civil War dress coat in a random bag of clothes. It was in perfect condition. Sold it for a few thousand.”

Hear Nancy explain the entire ordeal herself in the video below!

**Strong language used in video.**

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.




Advertisement