Valuable Italian painting found in Goodwill donation bin

Goodwill might sound like an unlikely location for valuable-art sourcing, but in recent months, plenty of priceless paintings have been discovered at the second-hand shops across America.

One Goodwill painting sold for $190,000. Another was estimated to be worth $20,000. A Goodwill-purchased lithograph sold for $9,000, and a discovered Dali etching was worth more than $7,000.

Most recently, a rare Italian painting surfaced at a Virginia Goodwill. Appraisers estimated that it's worth about $12,000.

Goodwill employee Maria Rivera was sorting through donations at the Manassass, Virginia, store, when she spotted a painting she thought might be special. She was right.

The painting of an elderly woman drinking from a teacup was by 19th century painter Giovanni Battista Torriglia. It's likely that the donor was unaware of the art's value.

Goodwill is currently auctioning off the painting to raise money to support the charity's mission of providing job training and education to the underprivileged in the community.

As of Friday morning, bidding on the painting was up to $4,000 USD.