Turning $100 Into $48,000

November 5, 2021 5:10 am Published by

Michigan couple Maurice and Nancy Allen know how to spot a bargain. 

A cabinet the couple bought as newlyweds in 1950 for $100 fetched $48,000 at auction and was purchased by a national museum.

 

The piece turned out to be a rare storage unit designed by midcentury modern masters 

Charles and Ray Eames. Nancy Allen, now 98 and widowed, and her family hired a consignment shop to assess her possessions before her move to Pennsylvania to be with her children.

 

The cabinet was ultimately auctioned off and bought by a curator for the Eames House, a museum and National Historic Landmark in Los Angeles. This sale is the most money ever paid for an original Eames storage unit, according to Terri Stearn, founder and president of Detroit Fine Art Appraisals.

 

The auction house estimated a selling price of $20,000, which is already high for a storage unit. When it sold at $48,000, everyone involved was shocked.

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This post was written by Dave Palmer