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As a child growing up, Carl Sabatino spent a lot of time with his aunt and during then, he also noticed a painting in his aunt’s house which he called “the woman in the fuzzy hat.” However, he never thought much of it at the time because to him, it was a silly thing that hung in his aunt’s home. dailymail.co.uk Little did he know, years later when his aunt passed away, passing the painting onto him as a final gift, that it could be worth up to $30 million. When his aunt died, she told him to “look under the sewing machine.’ dailymail.co.uk Shortly before she died, Carl’s aunt, Jenny Verastro, had made subtle hints to him about the painting’s value. Carl recalled: “Three days before she passed on, she told me, ‘Don’t forget, Carl, to look under the sewing machine.’” thisisgoodgood.com And one day, Carl did eventually look at under his aunt’s sewing machine, only to find a newspaper which dated back to the 1950’s. At first, all Carl saw was this newspaper beneath the sewing machine. youtube.com Of course, Carl immediately wondered what was so special about this newspaper and why his aunt has chosen to keep it for so long. And better still, Carl was puzzled as to why his aunt would tell him to look here after she passed. However, when he opened it up, he found the painting that had been in her home his whole life. The woman with the fuzzy hat. Even so, Carl remained confused and he could not figure out why this painting had been so important to his aunt. Perhaps it had a special meaning and his aunt wanted him to have something very personal that had brought her joy during her life. pinterest.com So even at this time, Carl dismissed his aunt’s keenest for him to have the painting and continued to think nothing of it. Instead, Carl assured himself that this was a painting that had been present throughout his childhood and was simply a sentiment that his aunt wanted him to have. So with that in mind, Carl regarded the painting as a nice gesture. That was of course until he noticed something very special about it. Something which he had never taken the time to notice before. He noticed that in the upper left corner of the painting, there was a very special signature. fewunknownfacts.com It was a signature which bore an unmistakable resemblance to the famous artist, Picasso. You’re probably wondering why that is such a big deal. It’s because Picasso is a world famous artist, and much of his work was destroyed during the plunder of the Nazis in WWII, leading there to be very few pieces of his work around today. And that means Picasso’s work is of incredible value. biography.com During the second world war, Hitler was determined to get his hands on all works of art, with the hope to destroy the pieces or steal them given their value. timesofisrael.com That being said, finding any artwork that was created by Picasso at that time is extremely difficult and rare, and any art that is found to have survived the war is an important part of art history. That means, there is a whole host of historians and art dealers extremely keen to get their hands on Picasso’s work, and they are willing to pay a whole lot of money to ensure they do so. Apparently, Verrastro's husband purchased the painting for the equivalent of $10 from a street market in London during World War II. So that’s a pretty impressive profit that’s been made on that purchase. pinterest.com This particular painting is one that Carl believes was painted by the master, Pablo Picasso, himself as a recreation of his 1901 masterpiece, “Woman With A Cape”. pablopicasso.org There’s no disputing that the 1901 image which hangs in Cleveland’s museum of art bares a striking resemblance to the one owned by Carl’s aunt. clevescene.com The two paintings are so strikingly similar, it would be hard to dispute that they are not the work of the same man. youtube.com Of course, many people almost immediately dismissed the painting’s value and regarded it to be a fake. However, Carl has denied these claims and strongly argues the piece is legit. To prove it, Carl even has a mountain of paperwork that goes with this painting, so it would be easy enough to trace the painting back to its original source. So undeterred by the cynical reactions, Carl continued to investigate the painting's history on his own. He even tried to recruit an expert in the field of art with the hope that they could help verify that this was a Picasso painting. based on everything that he had to prove so. This painting also has a lot of paperwork to verify its origin. imdb.com In response to all of those who doubted Carl and claims that the painting was a fake, Carl has said, “Okay, but where did it come from, in your opinion? It’s in color,’ which was very rare at the time.” masterworksfineart.com And better still, in his quest to find the original source of the painting, Carl has gone on to discover something very important about Picasso and his work. Carl actually discovered that Picasso tinkered with a particular color printing technique in 1936. And now incredibly, Carl even believes his painting could have resulted from that experimental period. nydailynews.com It wasn’t long before Carl’s suspicions were later confirmed when a second expert extracted some pigment from the painting and said it matched materials that were used in Europe in the 1930s. And it doesn’t end there. What was even more telling was the discovery of a partial thumbprint embedded in the paint – a thumbprint which could only have been left by the painter himself. providr.com So, Carl went even further and decided to take the painting to another art appraiser. Not surprisingly, this art appraiser also agreed with him that this painting is the work of Picasso himself. topibuzz.com In fact, the appraiser is convinced that the painting is from the same time period and based on all of the paperwork, forensics, and signature, he proclaims that it is, in fact, a Picasso. The thumbprint embedded in the painting is also an amazing piece to this puzzle. esmitv.com To stop any debating, the fingerprint is being analyzed to discover if it really does belong to Picasso. Once the results are back, it’s estimated that the price tag for this masterpiece could be as high as $30 million dollars! I’m sure Carl is thankful to his aunt right about now for keeping this painting safe and for letting him know exactly where it was stored so that he could later gain from this. He could never thank her enough. ntd.tv So, while it still remains to be seen whether or not this is a true Picasso, the adventure alone has our minds reeling at the possibility! You can watch a video on this incredible find below! Credits: buzz.auntyacid.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends.