I bought $6 plates at a thrift store that ended up being PICASSOS worth $40,000

A woman has shared the incredible story of how she unknowingly bought a set of Picasso plates at a thrift store for $1.99 each and auctioned off three of the four collectibles for a total of $40,000.

Nancy Cavaliere, 36, is an Italian immigrant who moved to New York City with her family when she was seven years old. She is known as @casacavaliere on TikTok, where she shares videos of her incredible second-hand finds.

The thrift store star went viral after describing how she came across the Picasso signs in 2017 during a routine shopping trip.

“I’m about to tell you the wildest story of how I made Salvation Army Picasso plates sparingly and made a ton of money,” she said, setting the tone.

Cavaliere recalled what it was like on a sweltering New York summer day when she made her daily pit stop at the thrift store on her way home from work.

‘I follow the porcelain aisle, which is always my first thought… I don’t see anything. I’m about to leave. I go back when they release new stuff, and I see this one in the aisle,” she said of the plates.

She used the app’s greenscreen feature to share a photo of herself holding one of the plates in her hand.

“This is the real photo from the thrift store that day,” she explained. “As you can see, the plates say $1.99.”

Cavaliere, unaware of their value, initially intended to use them to create a tablescape until she saw Pablo Picasso’s last name engraved on the back.

“While I’m very well versed in art, furniture, historical styles…I didn’t know Picasso made ceramics,” she said.

According to Picasso, he designed 633 different ceramic editions between 1947 and 1971 Christies auction house, including plates, bowls and vases.

The Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramist was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and a pioneer of Cubism.

Picasso remains one of the highest grossing artists at auction to this day.

Cavaliere admitted that when she went home and googled the “visage noir” set to see how much they were worth, she almost “passed out.”

“I contacted all the auction houses in New York, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, and I started talking to them to see how much they would sell for and if they could authenticate. [the plates] for me,” she recalls.

The video included footage of her talking to someone at an auction house about the plates.

“They’re all handmade, as you can see, and they’re put out alphabetically,” she told the person. “I have two Ls, a G and an E.”

“They are truly exceptional,” she said, looking back at the moment.

Cavaliere eventually auctioned off three of the boards, keeping one for herself, which she kept in a safe deposit box at a bank.

She said News week the auctioneers estimated that the plates would sell individually for between $3,000 and $5,000 each, but she ended up making much more than that.

She shared that in her video one of the records sold for over $16,000, while the other two went for around $15,000 and $12,000 respectively.

“I was in my office on my lunch break watching this live auction, I cried my eyes out because I’m an immigrant,” she said. “I came here from Italy when I was seven, and this is huge. I’m sure everyone would have felt the same, immigrant or not, but this is a big deal.’

Cavaliere pulled out a photo of the Picasso plate she kept in the bank, pointing out that it was hand-signed by the artist.

‘[It’s] Crazy that I actually own something that Picasso signed himself,’ she marveled.

The mother plans to sell the board in 20 years and give the money to her daughter to fund a one-time trip through Europe, or whatever she wants to do.

“Go ahead, go thrift, go find some trash. May you find some crazy f*****g stuff,” she concluded.

The video has been viewed nearly 380,000 times and has received more than 1,200 comments since the video was posted on March 25.

“The person who donated the records came across this video,” one person joked.

“I wonder if the people who just donated it didn’t know or what???? So crazy,” commented another.

“I’d totally believe that if I think they’re cute little guys and never realize it,” someone else admitted.

Others were inspired to share their own thrift store hits and misses.

“I have Leonard Cohen[‘s] “Let’s Compare Mythologies” signed [for] $2. It’s worth $30,000. I sold it right after I found it for $100. I haven’t slept since,” one user complained.

However, the plates weren’t the only treasures Cavaliere has exploited over the years.

She told Newsweek that after she bought the records, she came across an Alexander McQueen jumpsuit from his second-ever collection.

Cavaliere bought it for $20 and sold it for a whopping $8.5000.