Jessica Vincent walked into a Goodwill in Virginia on a June afternoon and paid $3.99 for a glass vase stamped with ‘Murano’ and ‘Italia’. She never intended to resell it, saying, ‘I bought it thinking it would look beautiful in my house somewhere.’
Goodwill spokeswoman Laura Faison said the vase likely sat on the shelf for only a few days before Vincent’s visit. The charity receives roughly 2,000 new items each day, most dumped from car trunks, and Faison added, ‘We’ll probably never know who brought it in.’
After spotting the Murano label, Vincent posted photos in online glass‑art groups and was told the piece was a rare creation of Venini and designed by Carlo Scarpa in 1942. A Facebook user replied, ‘Those are very rare. Every collector would love to have that.’
The email Vincent sent caught the eye of Richard Wright, president of the Wright Auction House in Chicago. Wright wrote, ‘The minute I saw her email, I knew what it was and how rare it was.’ He auctioned the vase on December 13, 2023, fetching $107,100 from a private European collector.
Now a 43‑year‑old horse trainer, Vincent hopes the vase will eventually be displayed in a museum. She told reporters, ‘My little 1930s farmhouse is not the right showcase for something so spectacular. It would also make me super nervous to have it in my house.’ Her partner Naza Acosta shares her thrifting passion, and together they dream of seeing the vase in a public collection rather than a private home.