WASHINGTON (AP) -- A woman who paid $7 for a box of trinkets at a West Virginia flea market apparently acquired an original painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the purchase.
Anne Norton Craner, fine arts director for the Potomack Co. auction house in Alexandria, Va., says the woman made an appointment in July to see if it might be real. She says the woman is from Virginia but stopped at the flea market two years ago in the neighboring state.
Craner says the painting was verified through a close look at the colors and brushwork along with the help of the French publisher of a catalog of Renoir's work. Craner said the painting is "Paysage Bords de Seine."
It's set for auction Sept. 29. Craner says it's worth at least $75,000.
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