$ 4 thrift shop painting finally sells for big bucks

On Thursday, the rare N. C. Wyeth illustration that Tracy Donahue found years ago for

$ 4 at a Savers thrift shop was handed over to a representative of Heritage Auctions at a public library in Keene, N. H.

The representative, Aviva Lehmann, had read an article in The New York Times about how Donahue and her husband, Tom, had been disappointed to learn that the bidder who agreed to pay $ 191,000 at an auction in September then failed to cough up the cash.

“I had a visceral reaction,” Lehmann said.

She resolved to sell it, had a particular private collector in mind and closed the deal one recent morning at 3 a. m. when that same collector, without prompting, sent her a message out of the blue.

The collector also read about the painting and wanted it.

On Thursday, the Donahues drove from their New Hampshire home to the library and met Lehmann, who had driven up from New York. Painting went one way. Receipt for wire transfer of the money into the Donahues’ account went the other.

No one is saying who the buyer was or what exactly he paid. But Lehmann said, “It’s six figures.”

For months, after discovering that the hulking painting they had once stored in a closet was valuable, the Donahues had dreamed of using the funds from its sale to pay bills and visit their son in Germany. He was their first call Thursday. “Start planning,” Tracy Donahue said. “We’re coming!”

There is also possibly a new dishwasher in their future, along with something to “pass it forward” during the holiday season, she said.