Colorful $3.99 Goodwill Vase is Actually Rare Murano

Pennellate Vase by Carlo Scarpa
Photo Courtesy of Wright Auction House

Experience, instinct, and a little luck: Avid thrift shopper Jessica Vincent of Brookneal, Va., had all three. On a visit to a local Goodwill last June, she noticed an unusual glass vase, 13 1/2 inches tall with green and burgundy swirls. It was heavy when she picked it up and had the word “Murano” etched faintly on the base. The store was crowded that day, but Vincent was apparently the only one interested in the vase. For $3.99, it was hers.

Knowing she had something special, she posted a photo on a Facebook forum for Murano Glass. It wasn’t until she received a message with an offer to buy the vase for $10,000 that she realized just how valuable it might be. Vincent contacted Richard Wright of the Wright auction house, who had glass experts Sara Blumberg and Jim Oliveira investigate. They determined that the vase was part of the rare Pennellate (“Brushstrokes” in Italian) series created by midcentury architect Carlo Scarpa when he was the design director for the Venini glass workshop in Murano in the 1940s. Pennellate glass features swirls of colored glass resembling paintbrush strokes embedded in clear glass. Like most Murano glass, its technique is as impressive as its beauty. The vase sold at Wright’s “Important Italian Glass” auction in New York City on Dec.13. The auction house estimated it would sell between $30,000 and $50,000 but expected it to exceed the high estimate. And it did: The vase’s hammer price was $85,000, making it $107,100 with the buyer’s premium.

Pennellate Vase by Carlo Scarpa
Photo Courtesy of Wright Auction House

Was Vincent lucky? Certainly. But as the old saying goes: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”