Lost 1951 Abercrombie Painting Fetches Record $1.35M After $30 Estate Sale Discovery
A 1951 painting by Chicago artist Gertrude Abercrombie, purchased for $30 at a Michigan estate sale, sold for $1.35 million at auction in New York. The work, titled 'Alderman Merriam's Shells,' had been missing from public view for roughly 75 years. The sale price shattered the previous world auction record for the artist, far exceeding the pre-sale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. The painting was authenticated by art historian Susan Weininger after a collector recognized the signature and cross-referenced it with archival photographs from a 2026 retrospective exhibition.