Yarmouth Windmill, Massachusetts. Watercolor on paper 12 3/4 x 9 1/4 in., 20 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (framed). The following, submitted October 2005, is from Kristine Cummins, who wrote the article for her local newspaper in Napa, California.Treasure Found At Napa Valley, California Salvation Army "Nope, Doesn't Happen to Me"Rummaging through stacks of tacky art and battered frames in a bin at the local Napa Salvation Army on December 29th, 2004, Karol and her daughter Kristine Cummins found a battered, framed picture of an old town. Looking closely, it appeared to be a watercolor, but they weren't sure if it was an original. Paintings of old towns wasn't quite what they were looking for - more like sailing art for a sneaky "While You Were Out" decorating session at brother John's house. John was happily driving down Baja with his son, while mom and daughter were being mischievous. They thought that the painting could possibly be a nice addition, so they brought it home. Heck, it's 1/2 off day sale - it's only $2.50 cents - may as well get it.As soon as they got home, curiosity got the best of them as they did a double-take. So, as if they were doing precision surgery, they carefully dismantled the paper and wood backing and pulled out the matted art preserved behind glass. At close inspection of the 5 3/4" x 8 3/4" painting, they confirmed that it was an original watercolor as some of the pigmentation shown signs of deterioration. Being art lovers and Kristine being a watercolorist, they knew enough to know that this was not an ordinary find. Their intuition was on the way to being confirmed.In faint cursive handwriting in graphite on the back of the painting read, "View of Barker's claim and town from the Canadian cabin. Drawn by P. Toft, Cariboo 1863" (See below). Written on the wood backing read, "Cariboo British Colombia, Barker Claim, Barkerville, Williams Creek #25."Carrying the belief that, "Nope, It doesn't happen to me," attitude, they just sat there staring at it in surprise and asked each other, "What do we do with it now?" Having found an original painting over one hundred and fifty years old, they knew it must have been worth something!

Good condition. Very light foxing