Woman who bought a vase for $3.99 leaves everyone stunned with the amount she got after selling it

Sometimes, the universe plans unexpected things for us. At least that's what happened to Jessica Vincent the day she walked into the Goodwill store and came out with a rare and precious artifact, as reported by The Washington Post. She earned way more profit on the container she purchased from Goodwill. But, more than the profit, the woman is happy that such a rare piece of art did not fall into the wrong hands where it would have been damaged or underappreciated. This story of surprising fortune is at present making headturns all over the world.

Vincent was smitten when she laid her eyes on the green and burgundy striped vase. There was something special about it that she couldn't put her finger on. "It was so big and it stood out to me with its color, but I didn't know what it was," she said in her interview. "I liked it and it was different and I knew it would be part of my collection." Even though she tried to forego it as it was prized at $3.99, but eventually couldn't let go of it. The thing that fascinated Vincent the most about the artifact was the small "M" mark on the bottom.

Having some knowledge of art, she suspected that it might be from Murano, an Italian island near Venice. The doubts were strengthened by the glass quality as the town is known for producing some of the best glass figurines in history. She uploaded the photo of the container to a Facebook group on Murano Glass. The eagle-eyed fans quickly figured out that it might belong to the renowned Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa.

Scarpa is known in the world of architecture for the renovation of existing buildings like Museo Castelvecchio, as reported by ArchDaily. He is considered one of the most revered architects of his generation. Fate was definitely at play the day Vincent got her hands on such a precious artifact. "Knowing that Jessica went into this Goodwill in Virginia and saw this glass vase sitting in a thrift store undamaged is unbelievable," Richard Wright, president of Wright Auction House, told the outlet. "This was a gift from the thrifting gods."

Vincent wrote an email to Wright, whose organization is known for the sale of Italian glass, explaining everything with pictures. He immediately reverted and ensured that it was authentic. By this time Vincent was getting offers of $10,000 but held off. She got a stamp of authenticity when two experts sent by Wright confirmed everything about the piece.

After the reveal that the artifact was a part of the "Pennellate" series, she put the container out to auction, where it fetched a price of $107,100 from an unidentified private art collector in Europe. After taxes, Vincent got $82,875. It was huge for the polo horse trainer, who was looking forward to reinvesting the money in an old farmhouse she had recently purchased.

"It was pretty thrilling to think I sort of had a masterpiece on my hands. For me it felt like a disappointing day thrift shopping, so this turned that day around quickly," she said. "This is really going to help me so much. It just felt like the universe was conspiring to help me get down the road a little bit further." Moreover, Goodwill spokesperson Laura Faison has no idea who donated the artifact to the organization.