
28. Brothers Find a $15 Million Norman Rockwell Painting Hidden Behind The Wall
A man named Donald Trachte was a professional cartoonist who was able to purchase an original Norman Rockwell painting “Breaking Home Ties” for $900. After going through a bad divorce with his wife, he hid the painting behind a false wall in his home in Vermont. Donald gave “Breaking Home Ties” to the Norman Rockwell museum during the divorce. Years after his death, Donald’s two sons were exploring the family home. They discovered that there was a false wall in the living room. When they pulled away the paneling, they found the real “Breaking Home Ties” painting in a secret room behind the wall.

Since Donald Trachte was an artist himself, he was able to paint a nearly exact replica of the Norman Rockwell painting before he gave it to the museum. Behind the wall, there were also 8 other duplicates, which revealed that all of the paintings in the house were actually fakes. By doing this, he left behind a massive inheritance to his sons. The brothers decided to sell the painting at Sotheby’s Auction. Because of the fantastic story, the painting was originally estimated to be worth $5 million, but it ended up selling for $15.4 million at auction. Now, his father’s fake sits side-by-side on tour in museums around the world.