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Painting bought for $4 from New Hampshire thrift store sells for $191,000

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Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A painting purchased from a New Hampshire thrift store for $4 was auctioned for $191,000 when it turned out to be a long-lost work by N.C. Wyeth.

The painting, titled Ramona, was one of four created by the Pennsylvania-based artist for a 1939 edition of Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 book Ramona. The work depicts an orphaned young woman in conflict with her foster mother.

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Auction house Bonhams Skinner said the painting was considered long-lost by Wyeth experts, but it turned up in the possession of a New Hampshire woman.

The woman said she bought the painting from her local Savers thrift store for $4 and it spent some time on her wall before going into a closet.

She discovered the painting's true identity after she posted a photo of it on Facebook and was urged to contact curators at the Brandywine Museum in Chadds Ford, Pa., and a former Wyeth curator in Maine named Lauren Lewis.

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The woman decided to have the painting auctioned after its identity was verified. It fetched a high bid of $150,000, making the final sale price $191,000 once premiums and fees were included.

The painting's whereabouts before turning up at the thrift store remain a mystery, but Bonhams Skinner theorized it may have been gifted to the book's publisher by Wyeth's estate.

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