The $5 Frame That Almost Funded My Early Retirement

A Lesson in Looking *Very, Very* Closely It was the ugliest picture frame I had ever seen. Bar none. Thick, garish gold plastic (painted to look like wood, poorly), with hideous floral motifs that looked like they were molded by someone who had only ever heard a description of a flower. It was holding a faded print of a sad-looking clown. I bought it for five dollars purely for the clown—my friend collects them as a joke. As I was prying the miserable clown out to gift it, my thumb slipped and tore the cheap cardboard backing. And that’s when I saw it. A sliver of a different, much older, and more elegant backing board behind it. My heart did a little flip. With the careful hands of a bomb disposal expert, I peeled away the layers. Behind the clown, hidden for who knows how long, was a stunning, pristine Art Nouveau poster by Alphonse Mucha. It wasn’t a original—turns out it was a rare 1920s print—but it was magnificent. The ugly frame was a perfect, protective prison. The clown now has a place of honor at my friend’s annual "Worst Art" party. The Mucha print? Let’s just say it paid for a vacation *and* a new display case for my actual collection. Moral of the story: never judge a frame by its… well, you know.