$30 estate-sale painting by Gertrude Abercrombie sells for record $1.3 million

A flea-market-style find turned into a record-breaking auction result on 1 October 2026 when 'Alderman Merriam's Shells' (1951), a tiny 8-by-11-inch oil painting by Chicago surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie, sold for $1.3 million at Freeman's in New York. The painting had been picked up over the summer at a Michigan estate sale for just $30. The hammer price represents a 33% jump on Abercrombie's previous auction high of $1 million, achieved at Sotheby's the previous November, and cements the artist's rapidly rising market. Dealers hailed the result as proof of ongoing re-evaluation of mid-century American women surrealists, following several high-profile museum shows. The story — complete with photos of the modest canvas — was widely syndicated by The Art Newspaper, CP24 and others, and became one of the most-shared culture-market items of the day because of its 'small painting, enormous payday' hook.