I bought it for $12 at auction… now it’s set to make me rich beyond my wildest dreams

A Pennsylvania antique shop owner bought a $12 drawing that she has now discovered could potentially be a lost masterpiece.

Heidi Markow, a certified appraiser and co-owner of Salvage Goods in Easton, stumbled upon the piece at a Montgomery County auction in January 2025, amidst high-priced paintings.

‘There were paintings that were going for $1,000, $2,000, $3,000,’ Markow told NBC10, ‘and this was just sitting there’.

The unassuming drawing, purchased for a mere $12, revealed a faint signature upon closer inspection: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the renowned Impressionist painter.

The potential value is staggering, as Markow speculated that the painting can go for six or even seven figures.

‘His works at auction are golden,’ Markow told The Morning Call.

Another nude art piece by Renoir, the oil painting ‘The Bather’, sold for $20.9million at a New York auction in 1997.

While an official appraisal is pending, Markow believes the drawing may date back to the 1920s.

Heidi Markow, a certified appraiser and co-owner of Salvage Goods in Easton, stumbled upon the piece at a Montgomery County auction in January 2025

Inscriptions on the back suggest it once belonged to a Philadelphia art collector who contributed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Adding to the mystery, inscriptions on the back suggest it once belonged to a Philadelphia art collector who contributed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The painting portrays a nude woman that Markow believes to be Renoir’s wife Aline Charigot.

‘He had a fascination with the female body,’ Markow said. ‘One of his quotes that I read that really stuck to me and really made me look at this Renoir in a different light was he said that his work wasn’t done until he could pinch it.

‘And when you look at this, it makes sense because it’s so real and so beautiful to detail that you could definitely pinch it.

‘To me, it’s a masterpiece,’ Markow told The Morning Call.

Markow acquired the art in an auction in January in Montgomery County alongside her business partner Richard Higgins and her son Carl Paolina.

‘I did not touch it, I didn’t look at it, I didn’t know anything about it – I just said, ‘I want this,’ she recalled, having found the art next to a box of liquor. ‘I want this, I want this, I want this.’

It wasn’t until she returned home later that she spotted Renoir’s supposed signature and realized the art could be his.

‘There were paintings that were going for $1,000, $2,000, $3,000,’ Markow told NBC10

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a pivotal figure in the Impressionist movement, mastered a technique of fragmented brushstrokes and vibrant complementary colors to depict light and motion in his landscapes and figures

‘It’s just definitely an exciting find for us,’ she said.

The mystery surrounding the $12 drawing deepens with its reported provenance. Stickers on the artwork suggest it was imported into the United States by European art importer Samuel Fields and Co. in the 1920s or 1930s.

Now, the crucial question of authenticity looms.

Markow will find out next month when she takes the drawing to the Wildenstein Plattner Institute in New York to be examined in April 10.

‘I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet,’ Markow told NBC10. ‘These are the kind of things you read about it. It’s happening here.’

The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, a non-profit, creates digital ‘catalogue raisonné’ projects – comprehensive records of an artist’s body of work.

These catalogues are compiled by art scholars through extensive, multi-year research.

While inclusion in the catalogue is a significant endorsement, the institute emphasizes it doesn’t guarantee absolute authenticity.

Heidi Markow is the co-owner of Salvage Goods in Easton (pictured above)

Antiques are seen inside Markow’s emporium in Pennsylvania

The unassuming drawing, purchased for a mere $12, revealed a faint signature upon closer inspection: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the renowned Impressionist painter.

Markow will find out next month when she takes the drawing to the Wildenstein Plattner Institute in New York to be examined in April 10

Markow believes catalogue inclusion would be a stronger validation than a typical authentication.

She estimates the drawing’s potential value, contingent on its authenticity and whether it has been previously exhibited, could range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

‘I spent hundreds of hours… I mean, every single which way you can turn it, and I’m pretty confident that what I have is an authentic, in-his-hand drawing,’ Markow told the Morning Call.

‘It’s a very beautiful, dark, well-kept, framed… in amazing condition. The framing and the paper are period-correct. The style of his drawing is spot on. His signature – I verified each letter – is spot on.’

Though she is excited, Markow said she remains ‘cautiously optimistic’.

‘Because … if they don’t give it the nod, it doesn’t mean that it’s not. It just means that probably more research would need to be done.’