He bought it for $30. A painting of the “Queen of Bohemians” is sold for $1.35 million.

- A mysterious oil painting that was purchased for just $30 at a house clearance sale has sold for more than $1.35 million at auction, after an expert determined that the painting, “Alderman Miriam’s Seashells,” belonged to the famous surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie. The painting, which had been hidden from sight for about 75 years, was discovered in a “dark corner” of a house in Michigan in July, according to Freemans Auction House, which put it up for sale this month.

Completed in 1951, the painting depicts a group of 10 seashells, a recurring motif in the work of Abercrombie, who is often described as the "Queen of Bohemians" in American art. Over the next two years, the painting was shown in six of the artist's solo exhibitions, and its price ranged between $50 and $150 at the time.

But the artist never sold the work, but rather gave it to a doctor in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in exchange for medical services. After the doctor's death, the painting moved among his possessions, before eventually appearing at a house liquidation auction in July.

The auctioneer described the lucky buyer, whose identity has not been revealed, as “a long-time aficionado of music records and mid-century furniture.” Freemans said the painting was “tucked away in a dark corner of a corridor leading to the garage, overlooked by all the other buyers that day.”

After the buyer noticed the signature "Abercrombie, 51", which was barely visible against the dark background, he decided to risk paying $30 for it. According to Freemans, the buyer rerouted a family vacation to visit the Milwaukee Art Museum, where an exhibition of Abercrombie's work was being held.

There, a newspaper clipping from 1952, included in the exhibition catalogue, showed a photo of the painting alongside the real shells it depicted. The buyer then took the painting to Freemans Auctions, which was one of the exhibition's sponsors.

Later, Susan Weininger, an Abercrombie expert and professor of art history at Roosevelt University, confirmed the authenticity of the painting, which was still in its original frame. The painting was then cleaned by art restorer Julian Baumgartner.

He described it in a video documenting the restoration process as being in “perfect condition,” except for some dirt and a dark layer of varnish covering its surface. He said: "It was faded and lost its vitality, but now, after cleaning it, restoring its parts, and reapplying a layer of varnish, it has become vibrant and bright."

Freemans estimated the value of the painting at between 150,000 and 250,000 dollars, but bids at the auction held last Thursday exceeded the estimate by a large margin, setting a new record for Abercrombie works at auctions. In 2025, Sotheby’s sold another Abercrombie painting, “A Letter to Mercy,” for $1.02 million, a record at the time, exceeding the highest estimate of its value by more than three times.

Abercrombie, who died in 1977, was a largely self-taught artist, known for her dreamy, otherworldly compositions. She was also known for hosting legendary art salons at her home in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, where jazz stars such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker often performed.

Snail shells and seashells, along with owls, cats and mysterious doorways, were recurring motifs in her works. She was also, in her own words, interested in “simple, slightly strange things.”

These elements often appeared cracked or bore holes, against Abercrombie's distinctively simple backgrounds, whether barren moonlit landscapes or pitch-black voids. In some of her other bizarre compositions, Abercrombie placed shells alongside mysterious flags and dominos, or, as in “Snail Woman” (1967), made them part of compositions depicting abstract female forms.

The elements appearing in Abercrombie's works, which were largely biographical, usually symbolized aspects of her personal experiences and identity, rather than abstract ideas. On the other hand, Freemans House indicates in its description of the painting that the shells “served as an amulet of friendship, and they were usually given to the people closest to them.”

In a press release issued by the auction house ahead of Thursday's auction, Zachary Wiersum, senior vice president at the auction house, described the rediscovery of the painting as "wonderful." He recalled telling visitors to the Milwaukee gallery that Abercrombie paintings sometimes showed up at home-contentions auctions.

The auction house quoted him as saying: “I did not know that one of those occasional times would happen less than a month later.”