A rare necklace designed by 20th century American sculptor Alexander Calder, purchased for $15 at the Brooklyn Flea Market in 2005, will be sold at Christie’s September 26th. To be offered in the auction house’s First Open Sale of Post War and Contemporary Art, the piece is expected to go for $200,000 to $300,000.
According to Bloomberg, Philadelphia resident Norma Ifill was perusing a flea market eight years ago when she stumbled upon the unique silver necklace, which 60 years before was hanging in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “I thought it looked so tribal,” Ifill told Bloomberg. “I wore it about four-five times max and every time I wore it, people always admired it. I can’t believe I had a Calder necklace all this time and had no idea.”
It was not until three years later, when Ifill visited an Alexander Calder jewelry exhibition at the Philadelphia Art Museum, that she realized the necklace could be a bona fide piece of art. After speaking with the exhibition’s curator, Ifill took the necklace to the Calder Foundation in New York, where its status as a genuine Calder was confirmed.