14. Two Brothers Find $15m Painting in Wall
Location: Arlington, Vermont
Year Discovered: 2006
Est. Value: $15.4 million*
Two brothers were going through their father’s home in a postmortem excavation when they discovered something surprising hidden within the walls. It was an original Norman Rockwell painting. But, this Rockwell matched the one hanging on the wall just a few inches away.
As it turned out, the brothers’ father was hiding the pricey original from his ex-wife during a divorce. He hid the real Rockwell in the wall, putting up a convincing fake in its place. There it hung for years until the father passed away. Later at a Sotheby’s auction, this painting, titled “Breaking Home Ties,” sold for $15.4 million.
15. Missing Original Mark Twain Script Found in a Trunk
Location: Hollywood, California
Year Discovered: 1991
Est. Value: $1.5 million*
This priceless literary artifact was lost for over a century before it was discovered in a trunk in an attic in 1991. The 665-page document was written by hand by famous author Mark Twain. This copy of Huckleberry Finn deviated widely from its original source text, shaking up what we thought we knew about modern literature.
The Mark Twain Project at U.S.C. said that they “believed” the manuscript would never be found, as Twain himself had sent it to Buffalo, New York, where it vanished. The owner of the trunk was the granddaughter of one of Twain’s close friends, and she immediately turned it over to Sotheby’s for authentication.
