A painting by Gertrude Abercrombie that was bought for $30 at a Michigan estate sale has sold at Freeman's in New York for $1.35 million, setting a new auction record for the Chicago Surrealist. The sale took place on October 1, and the result was added to Artnet News's earlier reporting on the discovery the following morning. The work, a still life of shells titled Alderman Merriam's Shells, had been unrecorded and unseen for decades before it surfaced at the estate sale. Its buyers paid a nominal sum for a painting that turned out to be an authentic, previously unknown work by an artist whose market has been climbing steeply in recent years. Abercrombie, who died in 1977, painted dreamlike, symbol-laden scenes that have drawn growing attention from collectors and museums alike. The $1.35 million result extends a run of strong prices for the artist. Her painting Message for Mercy had already crossed the million-dollar threshold at auction last year, and the new record suggests demand is still accelerating rather than cooling. For a painter who never enjoyed major commercial success in her lifetime, the sums now changing hands represent a striking posthumous reassessment. The story also underscores how much material remains to be found. Because Abercrombie worked outside the main commercial gallery system and sold or gave away works directly, paintings continue to emerge from private homes and estate sales with little warning. Each rediscovery feeds a market that seems increasingly willing to pay top prices for fresh-to-market examples of her work.