AI Reveals $1.3M Treasure in Thrift Store Painting

A painting bought for under $100 at a US charity shop in the 1960s has sold for nearly £190,000 ($1.3 million) at auction in Scotland. The owner, art teacher Helene Plotkin, purchased the unsigned canvas in White Plains, New York, in 1966. Titled Interior: The Lady in Black, it hung in her living room for 60 years with the artist's signature illegible. Her son Barry initiated an independent investigation and brought the work for formal appraisal last year. Using AI tools, specialists at Lyon & Turnbull auction house deciphered the faded marks and confirmed the painter was Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, a member of the Scottish Colourists group known for elegant Edinburgh interiors and vibrant still lifes. Now 88 and living in Florida, Plotkin recalled that her art history knowledge made her notice the painting's bold colors and mastery of light. The Edinburgh auction result surprised the family and validated her discerning eye.