It was incredible to have experts excited for my thrift-store vase.
In the quiet aisles of a Virginia thrift store, a horse trainer paid $3.99 for a glass vase and unknowingly held a 1942 masterwork by Italian architect Carlo Scarpa — one of only two known in existence. The piece, part of Scarpa's Pennellate series and made by the legendary Venini glassmakers of Murano, sold at auction in December 2023 for $107,100. It is a reminder that beauty and history do not always announce themselves, and that value, long separated from its origins, sometimes waits patiently on an ordinary shelf.
- A $3.99 Goodwill purchase turned urgent the moment Facebook commenters told Jessica Vincent that serious collectors worldwide would covet what she had found.
- The vase's survival in perfect condition was itself precarious — a single small chip would have collapsed its value from six figures to less than ten thousand dollars.
- Wright Auction House dispatched two Italian glass specialists to a Virginia farmhouse, where they opened a cardboard box wrapped in bubble wrap and a tablecloth to find a museum-quality artifact.
- On December 13, the vase sold for $107,100 to an anonymous European collector, delivering Vincent roughly $83,500 after auction fees.
- The windfall lands practically: a farmhouse currently warmed only by space heaters will finally get an HVAC system, giving a working horse trainer what she called 'a little breathing room.'
- Vincent hopes the vase will eventually enter a museum, leaving its thrift-store chapter as a footnote in a longer story of artistic legacy.
Jessica Vincent was browsing a Goodwill outside Richmond one June afternoon when a bottle-shaped vase caught her eye — its surface alive with spiraling ribbons of aqua green and amethyst purple. She paid $3.99, thinking it would look nice at home. She had no plans to sell it.
When she posted photos in Facebook groups dedicated to glass art, the responses were swift and startling. Someone told her the piece was extraordinarily rare. On the base, she noticed two words: Murano and Italia. The vase had been made by Venini, one of Murano's most celebrated glassmakers, and designed by Carlo Scarpa, the preeminent Italian glass designer of the mid-20th century. It belonged to his 1942 Pennellate — or brushstroke — series, in which colored glass was applied to a vase mid-blow, a process so technically demanding that very few pieces were ever completed. Only one other vase in this exact form and color combination is known to exist.
Richard Wright, president of Wright Auction House in Chicago, recognized it the moment Vincent's email arrived. He sent two Italian glass specialists to Virginia to authenticate it. Vincent pulled the vase from a cardboard box wrapped in bubble wrap and a tablecloth. The look on the specialists' faces told her everything. The piece was in perfect condition — a small chip would have reduced its value to under ten thousand dollars. On December 13, it sold at auction for $107,100 to an anonymous European collector.
Vincent will take home approximately $83,500. She and her partner train polo, sport, and trail horses, and recently bought an old farmhouse heated only by space heaters. Much of the money will go toward installing an HVAC system. She hopes the vase will one day find its place in a museum, among the other masterworks of Scarpa's brief and brilliant career.
Jessica Vincent was browsing the shelves of a Goodwill outside Richmond on a June afternoon when a vase stopped her. It was bottle-shaped, its glass surface alive with ribbons of aqua green and amethyst purple spiraling upward like brushstrokes. She paid $3.99 for it, thinking only that it would look nice in her house. She had no intention of selling it.
Back home, Vincent—a 43-year-old horse trainer who visits thrift stores several times a week with her partner, Naza Acosta—posted photos of the piece in Facebook groups dedicated to glass art. The responses came quickly, and they changed everything. Someone wrote that the vase was very rare, that every serious collector would want one, but that most could never afford it. On the base, she had noticed two words: Murano and Italia.
Murano is an island in the Venetian lagoon, home to master glassmakers since the 13th century. Their work—ornate chandeliers, mirror frames, vessels of extraordinary delicacy—adorns the palaces of European aristocracy. The vase Vincent held in her hands was made by Venini, one of the island's most renowned companies, and designed by Carlo Scarpa, an Italian architect who was the preeminent glass designer of the mid-20th century. It was part of a series called Pennellate, meaning brushstroke, created in 1942. The colored glass had been applied to the vase as it was being blown, a process so difficult and so demanding that few pieces were ever made. Richard Wright, president of the Wright Auction House in Chicago, knew immediately what it was when Vincent contacted him. "The minute I saw her email," he said, "I knew what it was and how rare it was."
The creation of a Pennellate vase required a collaboration between Scarpa's vision and a master blower's hands. The glassmaker had to rotate the vase constantly while it was still on the pipe, preventing it from sagging, while simultaneously applying delicate brushstrokes of colored glass with absolute precision. Only one other vase in this exact form and color combination is known to exist, and it sits in a private collection somewhere in the world.
Wright sent two Italian glass specialists to Virginia to authenticate the piece. Vincent pulled it from a cardboard box wrapped in bubble wrap and a tablecloth. "Just the look on their faces," she recalled. "It was incredible to have experts who handle very important pieces of glass who were very excited for my little thrift-store vase." The vase was in perfect condition—a small chip would have reduced its value to less than ten thousand dollars. On December 13, it sold at auction for $107,100. A European collector, who requested anonymity, purchased it.
Vincent will receive approximately $83,500 from the sale. The auction house takes about $23,600. She plans to use much of the money to install an HVAC system in an old farmhouse she recently bought, currently heated only by space heaters. "I'm not independently wealthy," she said, "so it's going to be really good to have a little breathing room." She and Acosta train polo horses, sport horses, and trail horses. As for the vase itself, Vincent hopes it will someday find its way into a museum, where it belongs alongside the other masterworks of Carlo Scarpa's brief, brilliant career. For now, it belongs to someone in Europe who understands what it is.
Citações Notáveis
I bought it thinking it would look beautiful in my house somewhere. I definitely didn't buy it thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to sell this.'— Jessica Vincent
The minute I saw her email, I knew what it was and how rare it was.— Richard Wright, Wright Auction House president
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
How did you know to look it up? Most people would have just put it on a shelf.
I've spent years going to yard sales and thrift stores with my mother. I watch Antiques Roadshow. I think I've always had a decent eye for things, but honestly, I was just curious about those words on the bottom.
And then what—you just posted it online?
I posted photos in some Facebook groups for glass art, and people started responding immediately. That's when I realized this wasn't just a pretty vase.
Were you scared to sell it?
Not scared, exactly. But it was surreal having experts fly in from Italy to look at it. When they saw it, their faces just lit up. That moment made it real.
What does $83,000 mean to someone like you?
It means I can finally heat my house properly. It means breathing room. I'm not wealthy—I train horses for a living. This changes things, but it doesn't change who I am.
Do you ever think about what would have happened if someone else had found it first?
Every day. It was probably only on that shelf for a couple of days. I was just lucky.