Heidi Markow, the owner of Salvage Goods in Easton, Pa., believes she bought a drawing from legendary artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir for only $12. She spoke with NBC10’s Aaron Baskerville about the possibly valuable find.
Imagine finding a priceless work of art for under $20. That’s the hope for a Pennsylvania antique shop owner who said a drawing she bought for $12 at an auction could possibly be the work of a legendary artist.
Heidi Markow, the owner of Salvage Goods in Easton told NBC10 she made a routine trip to an auction in Montgomery County back in January 2025 to look for items for her business.
“There were paintings that were going for $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 as they moved down the line,” she told NBC10. “And this was just sitting there.”
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WATCH HEREMarkow bought a drawing for only $12. It wasn’t until she took a closer look however that she noticed a faint signature: Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Renoir was a French artist and painter born in 1841 who was known for his Impressionist artwork.
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SIGN UP “It can go for six figures, seven figures, I don’t know,” Markow told NBC10.
Although the drawing hasn’t been appraised, Markow believes it could be a Renoir work from the 1920s. The writing on the back of the drawing suggests a Philadelphia art collector who donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art once owned it.
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So is it the real deal? Markow will find out next month when she takes the drawing to the Wildenstein Plattner Institute.
“I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet,” Markow said. “Today, I just said, ‘Wow. These are the kind of things you read about it. It’s happening here.’”
