Helene Plotkin bought a painting of a seated woman at a thrift store in White Plains sixty years ago for under $100, simply because she liked its colors and brushwork. Decades later, her son Barry used Google's AI chatbot Gemini to identify the work, which suggested it might be by Scottish Colorist F.C.B. Cadell. Specialists at Lyon & Turnbull auction house confirmed the attribution, and the painting—originally titled "Portrait of Miss Don Wauchope" but later retitled after the model was identified as May Easter—sold at auction on June 4 for £189,200 (over $250,000) to a private buyer.
The story matters because it demonstrates how artificial intelligence tools like Gemini are increasingly being used to assist in art authentication and provenance research, potentially democratizing access to expert knowledge that was once limited to specialists. It also highlights the enduring value of a good eye and the serendipity of thrift-store finds, showing that significant artworks can still be discovered in unexpected places.