New coronavirus variants detected in Va., Northam supports faster timeline for marijuana legalization, rare Whistler found in Williamsburg thrift shop, and more headlines

Ned Oliver - March 26, 2021

A genuine Whistler was tossed into a donation box. A Yale student bought it for $4 in Williamsburg.

By JOANNE KIMBERLIN
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT | MAR 25, 2021 AT 8:36 AM

WILLIAMSBURG — There’s no gentle way to say this: One of you tossed out a Whistler. ... Maybe you were cleaning out your attic? Clearing out an estate? Redecorating, perhaps, and lugging cast-offs to the thrift store?

Whatever was happening, you didn’t recognize what you had in your hands. That black and white sketch of a dark-haired woman — 5-by-7 inches or so in a nothing-special frame — was a for-real piece of work by one of the great masters.

And in a classic kick-yourself tale, a college student paid four bucks for it at the ReStore on Jamestown Road. ... Her name is Molly Martien and art is her thing — probably the only reason she recognized the genuine article while rummaging through a dusty bin of frames and kitschy prints last year.

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So why share any of this with us now?

Maybe it’s the recent headlines about a $35 yard sale bowl selling at Sotheby’s for more than $700,000. That yard sale was near New Haven, Connecticut, where Martien is studying at Yale University for her second master of arts degree.

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Joanne Kimberlin, 757-446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com

Joanne Kimberlin
Staff Writer
https://twitter.com/jkimreporter
joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com

Joanne Kimberlin, a 2007 Pulitzer finalist, is an enterprise writer at The Virginian-Pilot. She writes about all kinds of subjects, from mercenaries to moon rocks to mental illness.