A rare Italian vase bought at Goodwill for $3.99 was just sold for over $100,000

A Virginia shopper might have found the best deal of her life after thrifting a rare Italian glass vase for $3.99.

While shopping at a local Goodwill store with her partner, Jessica Vincent noticed something caught her eye: a stunning glass vase with a swirling translucent red and seafoam green pattern in perfect condition. While she knew she had to have it she didn't know it would be worth over a $100,000.

"Thankfully, there was nobody in the aisle and I picked it up and I couldn't believe that it was glass like solid glass not painted. It was iridized it was just really beautiful up close," Vincent told USA TODAY. "In my mind, I thought maybe it's like a $1000 $2,000 piece. I knew it was good but I didn't know it was like the master work that it is at the moment."

Vincent, a Richmond, Virginia native who raises polo ponies, found a collectors Facebook group that directed her to several auctioneers including the Wright auction house.

Some of Wright auction house's specialists visited Vincent to see the piece in-person and make an offer. After careful consideration Vincent sold the vase to Wright for $107,000.

"For me, it's like winning the lottery really. It's just an incredible thing," she said. "It's super, super surreal. Even now, I'm still pinching myself."

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'A life changing amount of money'

Vincent said she felt blessed that years of frequent thrifting experienced paid off huge. She said she recently bought an old farmhouse that needs a complete renovation and is excited she can now afford a heating system.

While the vase's beauty was undeniable, she needed the income more than an ornament and described the sale as a "life changing amount of money."

She said keeping the vase inside her home would be way too nerve wrecking.

"You think about everything like an earthquake, a fire, whatever. Just all of the scenarios go through your head and it's a lot of responsibility to have such an important and expensive object in your home when you're not independently wealthy," she said. "I'm so happy that the piece is also back where it belongs really. It's in a safe collection where it's known now."

Vase designed by renowned Italian artist

Wright auction house founder Richard Wright said many factors earned the vase its value starting with the fact that it was designed by renowned Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. While the glass itself is relatively simple it follows a technique Scarpa invented of apply brush strokes of color to create this painted like surface during the billowing process.

"It's also a testament to his idea that a vase can be elevated to become a work of art. So it really is referencing fine art as it's painted with these brush strokes while the glass is hot and being blown so it's pretty special," Wright said. "In the Italian glass world, Scarpa glass is sort of considered to be the very best. It's its own collecting field in and of itself."

From Virginia Goodwill to European museum

Wright said even a small chip on the vase would make it worth less than $10,000. He said the vase had to have been purchased by a wealthy "sophisticated person" in the 40's and somehow end up in a Virginia Goodwill store.

"And somehow it does not get chipped or damaged or scratched," he said. "The odds of something this rare ending up at the thrift store, but then not getting bumped, bruised, damaged. It's unbelievable."

The vase had since been sold to an advanced collector of Italian glass in Europe. Wright said he likes to think it will eventually be donated to a museum where its value will never be underestimated.