Woman buys necklace for Rs 1,400 at flea market; 70 years later, discovers it is an original silver-wire and cord piece worth Rs 2.5 crore

A $15 (Rs 1,400) flea-market purchase turned into a remarkable art discovery after a woman Norma Ifill learned that a necklace she had bought in Brooklyn was an original work by American artist Alexander Calder. The silver-wire and cord piece, made around 1940, was later authenticated and offered by Christie’s, where it sold in 2013 for $267,750 (over Rs 2.5 crore), including the buyer’s premium.

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The $15 necklace that nobody recognised

Ifill had bought the necklace at a flea-market stall on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue for just $15. At the time, there was nothing to suggest that the piece belonged to a celebrated artist. She simply liked its appearance. She wore it occasionally and kept it for years.


The turning point came when Ifill saw publicity for an exhibition of Calder’s jewellery at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The design reminded her of the necklace sitting among her belongings. She contacted the exhibition’s curator, Elisabeth Agro, and eventually took the piece to the Calder Foundation in New York.

The foundation registered the necklace in its archives, confirming its connection to Calder. Christie’s later described its provenance as beginning with the Atlantic Antic flea market in Brooklyn.

A necklace by the artist behind famous mobiles

Alexander Calder is best known for his mobiles and large-scale sculptures, but jewellery was also an important part of his artistic work.

Christie’s describes Calder’s jewellery as having bold, sculptural forms and notes his use of materials including brass, copper and silver. His pieces often relied on curves, spirals and open wire structures, bringing the same interest in movement and form seen in his better-known sculptures into objects that could be worn.

The flea-market necklace was catalogued as “Untitled (Necklace)”. It was made from silver wire and cord and was executed around 1940. Christie’s says the work is registered with the Calder Foundation under application number A25853.

It had an unexpected museum connection

The necklace had another remarkable detail in its history.

According to Christie’s, the piece had been exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in the 1943-44 exhibition “Alexander Calder: Sculptures and Constructions.” The necklace appeared in a group photograph associated with the exhibition. That meant the object discovered among flea-market bric-a-brac was not simply an old piece of jewellery. It had already been part of an important museum exhibition decades before Ifill bought it.

From $15 to $267,750

Christie’s eventually put the necklace into its First Open sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York in September 2013. The auction house estimated the piece at between $200,000 and $300,000. It ultimately sold for $267,750 including the buyer’s premium, comfortably within that range. The result was extraordinary when compared with the original purchase price. A necklace bought for $15 had become a six-figure work of art.

Why Calder's jewellery attracts collectors

Calder did not treat jewellery as merely decorative accessories. His approach was closely connected to his wider experiments with sculpture, line and movement. Many of his jewellery pieces were handmade, and some were created as gifts for friends and fellow artists. Christie’s notes that Calder’s jewellery was particularly personal because individual pieces were often made for specific people.

That history has helped give Calder jewellery a place in the art market alongside his better-known sculptures. The value of the Brooklyn necklace was therefore not simply about the silver wire or its age. Its attribution to Calder, documented history and connection to the Museum of Modern Art exhibition transformed how collectors viewed the object.

A flea-market find with a remarkable second life

The story of Ifill’s necklace is one of those rare cases in which the importance of an everyday object remained hidden for years. When she bought it, she saw an unusual necklace. Later, specialists saw something very different: an authenticated work connected to one of the most recognised American sculptors of the 20th century.

Christie’s eventually placed that discovery into the public art record. The necklace went from a Brooklyn flea-market table to a museum exhibition history, an auction catalogue and a $267,750 sale. For a $15 purchase, that is an extraordinary journey.