UPI – A wood and wicker chair purchased from a thrift store in Britain was auctioned for more than USD21,000 when it was identified as the work of an early 20th-Century artist.
Auction house Sworders said a woman bought the chair for just under USD7 at a thrift store in Brighton, England.
“When I got the chair home, I had a closer look and thought it looked really interesting. I emailed some pictures to the V&A museum but had no response,” the seller, who wished to remain anonymous, told Sworders.
“My next stop was Sworders. I e-mailed design specialist John Black and he responded immediately.”
Black recognised the chair as the 1902 work of Austrian artist Koloman Moser. Black consulted a specialist on the Vienna Secession, who confirmed his identification of the chair.
Moser, a teacher at the Vienna School of Applied Arts, designed the chair as a modern reinterpretation of a traditional 18th-Century ladder-back chair, the auction house said.
The chair sold for USD21,874.12 at Tuesday’s auction, Sworders said.
