Image: An exceptional and rare blue and white ‘floral’ bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period
Stories of great finds at flea markets and yard sales are the stuff of art market legend. But some finds come about by skill, quick instincts and a great eye. Others are a matter of blind chance.
Illustrating the latter, for example, a painting in a gilded frame was bought for $4 at a flea market in Pennsylvania in 1989. On the back of the frame was an envelope, and inside it was a folded-up copy of the Declaration of Independence. The buyer discarded both the painting and the frame as ugly and worthless. As for the folded-up document, he kept it as a curiosity. Surely it wasn’t an original, he thought.