A glass bottle from a second-hand store turned out to be the creation of a famous architect (3 photos)
A woman saw a cute painted bottle-shaped vase and bought it for just $3.99 at a thrift store. Knowledgeable people advised showing this thing to specialists. The cute bottle was eventually put up for auction and sold for more than $100,000. 
When Jessica Vincent bought a vase at a Goodwill store in Virginia, she had no idea that it was designed by Carlo Scarpa, the famous Italian architect.
In June, Jessica Vincent walked through a busy Goodwill store past VCRs, lamps and glass trinkets. But nothing caught her attention until she saw a bottle-shaped vase made of iridescent glass with reddish and green stripes. At the bottom, Jessica noticed a small letter "M", which, in her opinion, stood for Murano - an island near Venice and the historical homeland of the famous Murano glass.
She had a hunch that this thing might have some value.
“I had a feeling this could be a $1,000 or $2,000 piece,” she said. “But I had no idea about its true value until I did more research.”
There was no price tag on the vase. Jessica told herself she would pay $8.99 and no more. When the cashier gave her the bill, it was $3.99. A mere trifle!
When Jessica returned home, she searched online for glass identification information to learn more about her vase. She talked to knowledgeable people. She was told that the vase resembled the work of Carlo Scarpa, a famous Italian architect, and was directed to Wright's auction house. 
“As soon as I saw the photographs, I had a very good feeling,” said Richard Wright, president of the auction house. “What impressed me most was its perfect condition. If it had even a small chip on it, it wouldn't be worth more than $10,000. Otherwise it was nothing more than a winning lottery ticket.”
The vase was sold at auction for $107,100 to an unknown private collector in Europe. About $83,500 went to Jessica Vincent, and about $23,600 went to Wright's auction house.
Experts who assessed the piece determined that it belonged to the Pennelate series, which Carlo Scarpa developed in the 1940s. It is unknown how many vases of this kind were made. 
It's unclear how the vase ended up at Goodwill. “It would be nearly impossible to identify the exact donor of this item,” said Laura Faison, a spokeswoman for Goodwill of Central & Coastal Virginia, which she said processes more than two million donations a year.
Experts at Wright's auction house initially estimated that the vase could cost between $30,000 and $50,000. Jessica Vincent immediately decided that she would sell the valuable item instead of keeping it - who knows what might happen to it?
“When I found out how rare this thing was and how much it could cost, I felt somehow uneasy, because in my home anything could happen to it. When you have such an expensive thing, you start to worry about it - what if it is accidentally dropped, or someone breaks into the house, or there is a fire,” Jessica explained her decision. “So I decided that I wanted to bring this thing back to the art world and save it from obscurity. And in a sense, she will help save me too.”
And this is true: this year, Jessica, who trains polo horses, bought a farmhouse built in 1930. The house needs major renovation. With the money raised from selling the vase, the woman hopes to upgrade the heating system, install a dishwasher and add fencing. So they come in handy!
