Fez — A painting bought for $30 (MAD 299) at an estate sale has sold for more than $1.35 million (MAD 13.4 million), turning a collector’s curiosity into an extraordinary discovery.
“No fairytale would be complete without a storybook ending,” auction specialist Zack Wirsum said in a statement after the sale.
Gertrude Abercrombie’s “Alderman Merriam’s Shells” sold for $1,352,600 (MAD 13,428,133), including buyer’s premium, at Freeman’s in New York on October 1. The auction house described the result as a world auction record for the American Surrealist.
A signature in a dark hallway
The story began in July, when a collector of records and mid-century furniture arrived late to an estate sale in Michigan.
Freeman’s recounted how the buyer noticed a strange seashell painting in a dark hallway leading towards a garage. Its signature, “Abercrombie,” prompted a closer look.
The collector paid $30, then altered a family holiday to visit “The Whole World Is a Mystery,” an Abercrombie retrospective at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Inside its catalogue was an archival photograph of the same painting, reproduced from a 1952 newspaper review. It showed the work in its original frame, with the actual shells arranged nearby.
Abercrombie scholar Susan Weininger subsequently authenticated the painting, and the owner entrusted it to Freeman’s.
A painting exchanged for medical care
Created in 1951, the work depicts shells belonging to Chicago alderman Robert Merriam. One hangs against a dark background, appearing to float.
Its history carried another unexpected turn. Abercrombie gave the painting to John Reynolds, a doctor in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in exchange for medical services. It remained with his family before resurfacing.
Smithsonian magazine explained that the work also helps illuminate Abercrombie’s recurring shell imagery. Imperfections previously thought to have been invented resembled those in Merriam’s real specimens.
Freeman’s estimated the painting at $150,000–$250,000 (MAD 1.49 million–MAD 2.48 million). Bidding opened at $80,000 (MAD 794,212) before telephone and online participants pushed the final price far beyond expectations.
A Moroccan presence in the sale
The auction also included an untitled work by Moroccan painter Hassan El Glaoui, which achieved $83,200.
The catalogue listed the signed gouache on prepared board as lot 76, from the collection of Patricia Y. Clark, with an estimate of $8,000–$12,000 (MAD 79,421–MAD 119,132).
Born in Marrakech, El Glaoui studied in Paris before returning to Morocco in 1965. His international exhibition history included London and New York, extending his artistic presence well beyond his home country.
His result provided a Moroccan dimension to an auction dominated by Abercrombie’s rediscovery. It also offered a separate point of interest for readers following Moroccan artists in international sales.
The headline price began with a modest purchase, but the painting’s journey depended on something more substantial than luck: a recognisable signature, surviving archives and expert authentication.
