Lost Abercrombie painting found at estate sale, valued at $250,000

A collector in Michigan purchased a painting for $30 at an estate sale, later discovering it was a lost work by Gertrude Abercrombie, a Surrealist painter from Chicago.

In July, the collector found the slate-gray painting of seashells while browsing after most items had been sold. The painting bore Abercrombie’s name and the date 1951, prompting the collector to buy it.

The owner then visited an Abercrombie retrospective at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where they found a photograph of the painting in an exhibition catalog. This confirmed their suspicion that the artwork was significant. Art historian Susan Weininger authenticated the painting, and it was entrusted to Freeman’s auction house. Abercrombie created the painting in 1951, inspired by seashells owned by Robert Merriam, a Chicago alderman.

She traded the artwork to a doctor named John Reynolds in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for medical services in 1952 or 1953. Reynolds’ family held the painting for 75 years before it appeared at the estate sale. Abercrombie, known as the “Queen of Chicago”, gained renewed attention in recent years for her unique and personal style.