An original, hand-signed etching by surrealist painter Salvador Dali reportedly showed up at a Goodwill in Washington state last week.
The etching, titled "Reflection" from Dali’s "Cycles of Life Suite," was discovered at the Federal Way Goodwill donation station in Tacoma and has been been put up for auction on the agency's online system -- with a starting bid at $999 -- according to The Tacoma News Tribune.
As of Monday morning, the figure had risen to $18,525.00 with 148 bids.
The print has a signature on the front and a certificate of authenticity attached to the back, the newspaper reported. The etching was left at the store by an anonymous person.
"Any time we get an art piece with a signature or a number, we set it aside," Dylan Lippert, e-sales manager at Tacoma Goodwill, told the newspaper.
Lippert said that Federal Way quality control officer Shea Munroe began checking the piece's authenticity.
"She looked online and said it was particularly a high-value item," Lippert said.
Munroe then notified store manager Ed Dopp, who called the Tacoma online operation, according to the newspaper.
“He said, ‘Hey, I think we have a Salvador Dali,’ and he brought it here,” Lippert told the paper. “It just showed up on our donation floor. It was kind of a surprise.”
"These items really boost our mission services," he said. "It funds our job-training services."
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