$7 thrift store chair auctioned for more than $21,000 in Britain

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A wood and wicker chair purchased from a thrift store in Britain was auctioned for more than $21,000 when it was identified as the work of an early 20th-century artist.

Auction house Sworders said a woman bought the chair for just under $7 at a thrift store in Brighton, England.

"When I got the chair home, I had a closer look and thought it looked really interesting. I emailed some pictures to the V&A museum but had no response," the seller, who wished to remain anonymous, told Sworders.

"My next stop was Sworders. I emailed design specialist John Black and he responded immediately."

Black recognized the chair as the 1902 work of Austrian artist Koloman Moser. Black consulted a specialist on the Vienna Secession, who confirmed his identification of the chair.

Moser, a teacher at the Vienna School of Applied Arts, designed the chair as a modern reinterpretation of a traditional 18th-century ladder-back chair, the auction house said.

The chair sold for $21,874.12 at Tuesday's auction, Sworders said.