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What started out as a thrift-shopping trip to kill some time before picking up her kids from school turned into a surprising — and valuable — discovery.
At the Goodwill located on 7th Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix, Grace Carpenter picked out an oil painting of a woman holding a cat that was priced at $39.49, according to ABC 15. It only caught her eye because the cat the painting looks like her own cat, Max. So she took it home with her for 20% less, thanks to a coupon.
When she got home, Carpenter realized the signature at the bottom of the painting looked familiar. After doing some research and posting her find on TikTok, she came to realize the signature belonged to Charles Craig, an artist who gained prominence in the late 1800s for his Native American and Western oil paintings.
Carpenter's TikTok went viral, receiving 1.5 million views. One of those viewers was a woman from Tennessee who wanted to give Carpenter a ticket to Antiques Roadshow. Carpenter went and showed the painting to an appraiser. The appraiser confirmed Carpenter's suspicions — the signature belonged to Charles Craig. Here's the catch, however. While the painting was an original painting, the cat was added on later.
"It can't be on the show because it's not 100% original but if it was in his gallery, he wouldn't let it out the door for less than $2,000," Carpenter said in a follow-up TikTok.
Where is the painting now? Carpenter told ABC 15 she's going to keep it because of the resemblance to her cat.