Jessica Vincent had just started surveying the shelves of a Virginia thrift store when a vase caught her eye. It was shaped like a bottle and had ribbons of color, aqua green and amethyst purple, that spiraled up its glass surface like stripes of paint.
The piece looked old amongst the clutter of measuring cups, candles and other tchotchkes. After adjusting her eyes, Vincent made out the words “Murano” and “Italia” on its base.
“I bought it thinking it would look beautiful in my house somewhere,” said Vincent, 43, a horse trainer who paid $3.99 at a Goodwill outside of Richmond. “I definitely didn’t buy it thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to sell this.’ ”
Her thinking changed after some research. And on Dec. 13, the vase sold through the Wright Auction House for $107,100. The buyer, a top collector from Europe, wished to remain private.
Vincent’s purchase came after years of perusing yard sales and thrift stores with her mother. She loves PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” and has daydreamed many times of this kind of lottery ticket-level transaction.
“I always felt like I had a good eye,” said Vincent, who visits thrift stores a few times a week with her partner. “But I’m really surprised that nobody picked it up before I did.”
Back home, Vincent posted photos in Facebook groups for glass art and soon joined a private one for Murano glass.
The “Murano” on the vase’s bottom referred to the island in Venice that has been famous for its glasswork since the 13th century.
Its highly prized creations have included ornate crystal chandeliers and mirror frames, many of which adorn the palaces of Europe’s aristocracy.
The vase was produced by the renowned glass company Venini and designed by Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, who died in 1978. One response on Facebook gave her chills: “Those are very rare. Every collector would love to have that. But most people cannot afford them.”
Vincent was referred to Richard Wright, president of the Wright Auction House in Chicago.
“The minute I saw her email,” Wright said, “I knew what it was and how rare it was.”
Scarpa was the top Italian glass designer in the mid-20th century, while the vase was part of a series he created in 1942. The collection was called Pennellate, which means brushstroke, and was made by adding colored opaque glass to the vase as it was blown.
“It was basically a duet between Carlo Scarpa and a master blower who had to physically translate (Scarpa’s) drawings,” Wright said. “You have to keep rotating this vase the entire time or it’ll slump off the pipe. While at the same time you’re applying these delicate brushes of color that have this absolute lightness to them.”
Few were made because they were so difficult to create. The auction house knows of only one other in this form and color combination. It is in a private collection.
Wright dispatched two Italian glass specialists to Virginia to confirm the vase’s authenticity. Vincent pulled it from a cardboard box encased in bubble wrap and swaddled in a tablecloth.
“Just the look on their faces,” Vincent recalled. “It was incredible to have experts who handle very important pieces of glass who were very excited for my little thrift-store vase.”
