When a thrift store enthusiast found these strange-looking plates that vaguely resembled human faces, she felt they would make a great table set. The price was listed on a sticker at $1.99 per plate—right next to the name “Picasso.”
Nancy Cavaliere loves to fill up her apartment with storied pieces, but checked her enthusiasm which right there in the china aisle was threatening to boil over; she didn’t know Picasso made ceramics at the time.
“I stumbled on the plates during my daily trip to the store. On my way out I noticed some new china had been added to the shelves. My first reaction was that they would make a great tablescape, but then I turned them over and saw the Picasso tag,” Cavaliere told Newsweek.
In either case, she checked out for a grand total of $6.00 and ran back to her office to do some research.
Pablo Picasso is one of the highest-selling artists of all time, and he did in fact make all manner of ceramics, including pitchers, plates, bowls, and vases; over 600 pieces in all. These plates were part of a larger set, and when Cavaliere managed to turn up an internet page with them, she freaked out, and started crying.
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Calling all the major auction houses of New York City, it became clear that they could fetch around $4,000 each—less than half of what they actually did sell for when a bidding war over her Picasso plates sent all of them over $10,000
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“It was absolutely bananas,” Cavaliere said. “I was watching the auction from the office ‘screaming crying throwing up.'”
Thrifty by nature, if not in name, Cavaliere took her five-figure windfall and invested it, before getting back to thrift-drifting which she says is harder now than before the pandemic, as the demand for second-hand merchandise has increased.
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