Transcript

Painting #1198 · From Chad

0:01
Rummaging for riches? There's a story behind that.
0:05
This is your daily message from Chadamore 1198 to upgrade your
0:09
mental game today by telling yourself a better story.
0:12
Because the most important story you hear is the story you tell
0:14
yourself. This message is dedicated to
0:16
Austin Anderson on his birthday. Here's the upgrade you may think
0:21
you're worth is whatever someone is willing to pay for you, but
0:24
upgraded thinking knows you get to decide the amount you put on
0:27
the price tag. Here's the story.
0:30
This July a self-described treasure hunter showed up late
0:34
to an estate sale in Michigan. Hanging in a dark hallway was a
0:38
small painting of shells on a slight Gray surface.
0:40
One of the shells is suspended against a black backdrop.
0:43
The price was $30. He didn't know who painted it,
0:47
but down in the lower left hand corner was a signature
0:49
Abercrombie 51. He bought it, took it home and
0:53
got curious. He walked into the Milwaukee Art
0:57
Museum, which was running an exhibition called Gertrude
1:00
Abercrombie. The whole World is a Mystery.
1:03
And there in the exhibition catalog was an old archival
1:06
photograph of his painting that he just bought for $30.00 at
1:09
that rummage sale. Gertrude Abercrombie was one of
1:12
the leading American surrealists of the last century.
1:15
A fixture in Chicago's art scene, her leading scholar,
1:19
Susan Weiniger, authenticated the work.
1:21
It's called Alderman Miriam's Shells, painted in 1951.
1:25
The shells came from the collection of a Chicago
1:27
Alderman. In early 1952, Abercrombie gave
1:32
the painting to a doctor in Kalamazoo, MI, in exchange for
1:36
medical services. And then it disappeared for
1:39
about 75 years. It just hung there until a few
1:41
months ago. On October 1st, though,
1:44
Freeman's auction house in New York will put it up for sale.
1:47
Bidding opens at $75,000. The estimate runs as high as 1/4
1:52
of a million. Back in message number 930, we
1:56
talked about treasure buried right under your nose.
1:59
This one's a little different. Nobody had to dig.
2:01
It was hanging on the wall the whole time and nobody knew what
2:04
it was worth. Nothing about the painting
2:06
changed. Not one brush stroke.
2:09
It was worth exactly the same thing in that hallway as it will
2:12
be on the oxen auction block. The only thing that changed was
2:16
the story someone told about it. Warren Buffett said price is
2:21
what you pay, value is what you get.
2:23
Some of you are hanging in a dark hallway right now.
2:27
A job that doesn't see you, A relationship that prices you at
2:30
30 bucks a season where nobody seems to notice the signature in
2:34
the corner. That's their pricing.
2:36
It's not your value though. That was kind of my story.
2:40
I worked for non profits for 25 years and then went into sales
2:44
in the next five years. In sales I made more money than
2:47
I had the previous 25. I didn't know my skills were so
2:51
valuable. The better story to tell
2:53
yourself is the hallway doesn't set my value.
2:56
I just haven't been discovered yet.
2:59
And here's the hard truth guys. Sometimes the person with a $30
3:03
price tag in hand is you. You haven't discovered your own
3:07
value. You're the one walking past your
3:10
own work. You're the one who stopped
3:13
looking at the signature. So stop it.
3:16
Look again. Get curious about what's
3:18
actually there. Tell me a story of something
3:21
overlooked that turned out to be valuable to from
3:24
chadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and tell
3:27
them I think you're under pricing yourself and I want you
3:30
to know what I see. You can get a free copy of my
3:33
book, The Most Powerful Story in the World by going to
3:35
fromchad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
3:39
and hundreds of others are always available at
3:41
www.fromchad.com.