There are a number of things that are preserved from generation to generation, sometimes because they have sentimental value and other times because their material value increases over time.
Most things, which become more valuable over time, include: vintage objects, antique furniture, or jewelry.
A man from New Jersey inherited from his aunt something considered valuable not only because of his age but also because of the one who created it. No one in the family knew that the aunt hid something worth millions of dollars today under an old sewing machine.
While on her deathbed, the woman told her nephew, Carl Sabatino, to check the place under an old sewing machine. The American memorized these words of the old woman and, after the funeral, searched in the place indicated by the woman. He found a painting wrapped in newspapers, a work of art that belonged to Pablo Picasso, called “The Woman with the Cape.”
The painting was bought by the man’s uncle, Nick Verrastro, from a street vendor in London in 1944, while he was a soldier in World War II. Verrastro bought the painting for only $ 10 but intuited that the work belonged to a nearby art gallery, which was bombed or robbed.
When Sabatino took the artwork to a New York expert, he was viewed with skepticism and told that the painting was a fake.
“He examined the painting for 30 seconds and said, ‘It’s just a $ 10 poster, don’t waste your time with it,'” the man said.
But Sabatino did not want to give up because the painting was in color, something quite exotic for Europe at the time. The expert was pondered by Sabatino’s opinion and decided to deepen the research on the veracity of that picture.
Carl Sabatino learned that Picasso used the color printing technique in 1936, so he sought the advice of another expert to make sure the painting was original. Kenneth Smith, president of the Westmont Center for the Analysis of Art, Illions, extracted the pigment from the painting and found that it corresponded to the period in which the painting was made.
Thus, the man’s theory was confirmed. The painting is the work of Picasso and is worth $ 13 million.
“It was like a treasure hunt for me, for the love of my family. They protected this and left it as a legacy to find out the truth “, concludes Carl Sabatino.