You are reading

Lucky Shopper Finds Rare Art Piece at Woodside Thrift Shop, Now Valued at $200K

The Egon Schiele sketch discovered at a Woodside thrift store (Photo: Galerie St Etienne)

July 26, 2019 By Christian Murray

A savvy art enthusiast discovered an original drawing by a famed Austrian artist at a Woodside thrift store that has been priced at nearly $200,000.

The buyer, who has remained anonymous, found a sketch by Egon Schiele while browsing at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore thrift shop at 62-01 Northern Blvd., reported The Art Newspaper last week.

The buyer bought the piece on a hunch and reached out to Jane Kallir, director of Galerie St. Etienne and an expert on Schiele’s work, via e-mail in June to confirm his find.

Kallir, in an interview with The Art Newspaper, said that most of the time when she is reached about a supposed Schiele find—it pans out to be bogus. She noted that the e-mail was accompanied by attachments that contained blurry photographs.

“Ninety percent of the time they’re wrong,” Kallir said, who has been authenticating Schiele drawings for decades. “Most of them are fakes—egregious copies,” she told the outlet.

The man brought the artwork to the gallery and Kallir was reportedly floored when she discovered it was a 1918 Schiele sketch.

“It was a girl who modelled for Schiele frequently, both alone and sometimes with her mother, in 1918,” Kallir told The Art Newspaper.

Other drawings of the girl are currently in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

The drawing is on display at Galerie St. Etienne, located at 24 W 57th St., through Oct. 11. It is also for sale through the gallery.

The Woodside thrift store at 62-01 Northern Blvd. where the Egon Schiele sketch was discovered (GMaps)

email the author: news@queenspost.com

One Comment

Click for Comments 
JHeights my whole life

I walked past that sketch so many times. Congrats to the buyer I hope you get all your money.

4
1
Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Hate crimes task force probes antisemitic assault on F train in Jamaica Hills: NYPD

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating an antisemitic assault on a subway train in Jamaica Hills during the morning rush on Monday, Jan. 13.

The 27-year-old victim in the attack was onboard a northbound F train that was approaching the Parsons Boulevard subway station at 7 a.m. when a stranger began shouting antisemitic rhetoric at him before he slapped him and then punched him in the face.

Gunman wanted for firing at livery cab in Flushing over fare dispute: NYPD

Police from the 109th Precinct in Flushing are looking for a gunman who opened fire at a livery cab near the Shops at Skyview on Saturday morning.

The suspect was getting dropped off in front of 40-28 College Point Blvd. in Flushing when he got into a dispute with the 63-year-old driver. The two argued about the fare, and the suspect exited the vehicle and started to run away. He was seen on video surveillance pulling out a firearm and firing a shot while on the run that missed the cab and struck the pavement. The driver was not injured, and there was no property damage, an NYPD spokeswoman said Thursday.