Pulling a million dollar painting out of the trash

Posted Oct 23rd 2007 7:00PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Newspapers

Yesterday I wrote about the popularity of dumpster diving in Germany, and also told you alll a little about my less-than-glorious foray into the world of snagging other people's cast-offs.

Today's New York Times reports on one woman's extremely lucrative trash-picking adventure. Elizabeth Gibson was on her way to get coffee when she pulled a 38x51 inch painting out of someone else's trash. It turned out to be a piece by Rufino Tamayo that had been stolen 20 years ago, valued at about $1 million.

Amazingly, the widow of the man who purchased the painting has elected to put it up for sale and given Ms. Gibson a reward of just $15 thousand. Sotheby's, the auction house that will be selling the painting, is also paying her a small finder's fee.

While $15 thousand is hardly chump change, it looks like Gibson will mostly be gaining a great story to tell her grandchildren. You'd think the widow could have been more generous, given that the painting was 20 minutes away from landing at the dump.

Tags: art, dumpster diving, DumpsterDiving, painting, thrift