An old painting dropped off at a thrift store in Maryland, US, turned out to be the work of a famous French artist. And thanks to a quick thinking store employee, the charity is over US$40,000 (NT$1,216,200) richer.
The painting was left at the store along with regular donations like pots, pans, old clock radios and other items. It shows a scene from a Paris street, and was painted by Edouard-Leon Cortes around the early 20th century. Flower Market, as the painting is known, was sold at an auction in London for US$40,600 (NT$1,234,400).
“It could have very easily ended up put in a pile, and sold for $20,” says Ursula Villar, a director for the charity that discovered the painting.
Store manager Terri Tonelli said employees asked her to look at the painting because they thought it might be valuable. She found the artist’s name on Google and discovered he was a famous painter.
Charities aren’t required to return the donations they receive. So for the person who donated the painting, there’s little chance of getting his or her money back.
(STAFF WRITER, WITH AP)
一幅被送到美國馬里蘭州一間二手慈善商店的舊畫作，原來是法國某知名畫家的作品。幸虧有位反應敏銳的員工，這家慈善商店因此增加了四萬美元（新台幣一百二十一萬六千兩百元）以上的收入。
這幅畫作和壺、鍋、舊鬧鐘收音機等一般捐贈物品一起被送到店裡來。畫中描繪的是巴黎街景，作者是二十世紀初期左右的愛德華萊昂．科爾特斯。這幅被稱為「花市」的畫，之前在倫敦拍賣會上以四萬零六百美元（新台幣一百二十三萬四千四百元）賣出。
發現這幅畫的是這家慈善商店的主任烏蘇拉．維勒，她說：「它原先很可能會被堆到一大堆東西裡，然後以二十元出售。」
商店經理泰麗．托奈里說，員工覺得這幅畫可能很值錢，於是請她看看。她在Google上查到這個作者的名字，發現他是個名畫家。
慈善機構無須將他們收到的捐贈物品歸還。所以對這幅畫的捐贈者來說，拿回這筆錢的機會微乎其微。
（美聯社�翻譯：袁星塵）
1. charity n.
慈善機構 (ci2 shan4 ji1 gou4)
例: Neil gave half of his salary to his favorite charity.
(奈爾把一半的薪水都捐給他最愛的慈善機構。)
2. employee n.
雇員 (gu4 yuan2)
例: A good employee always arrives on time.
(一個好的員工總是準時上班。)
3. donate v.i./v.t.
捐獻 (juan1 xian4)
例: Harry is going to donate his books to charity.
(哈利要把他的書捐給慈善機構。)
4. auction n.
拍賣 (pai1 mai4)
例: Sandra sold her CD on an auction Web site.
(珊卓在一個拍賣網站賣掉她的雷射唱片。)
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