Don't let your dadi throw out anything: Landa bazaar find from 1966 turns out to be worth Rs7 crore

For nearly six decades, Helene Plotkin had no idea she was living with a small fortune hanging on her wall.

The 88-year-old retired art teacher from New York purchased a painting from a thrift store in 1966 for less than $100. She liked it, took it home, and displayed it for years — decades, in fact — without ever suspecting it was anything more than a pleasant piece of art.

It was her son Barry who finally decided to investigate. He uploaded a photo of the painting to Google Gemini, which analysed its style and suggested it could be the work of F.C.B. Cadell, a celebrated Scottish artist and prominent member of the Scottish Colourist movement. The AI also pointed him toward specialists who could verify the finding.

They did. The painting was genuine.

It subsequently went to auction and sold for $254,000 — approximately Rs7 crore — a return on investment that no thrift store run in history has ever come close to matching.

The story is extraordinary enough on its own. But what makes it genuinely lovely is what Helene said after the sale. She expressed just one wish: that the painting find a public home someday, so her grandchildren can go and see it.

An art teacher to the end.