Mat Winter was 11 when spotted a black and white print that was about to be thrown away by a woman, but he thought “it looked interesting,” and asked if he could keep it. She agreed and he took it home. It was a drawing of a knight on a horse being spoken to by Satan. Mat kept it for years. Recently he decided to see if it was worth anything. The man he contacted about appraising it has done some appraisal's for him in the past. Jim Spencer from Rare Book Auctions said "I didn't have much hope for the piece when Mat explained he had seen a woman about to throw it away when he was a kid and asked if he could have it. But at the same time he has a pretty good eye now so when he said 'I think this might be actually an important piece' I said well let's take a look.
"When the package arrived I unwrapped the bubble wrap and my hands started shaking. I've seen countless prints of Albrecht Dürer but never held an original. I've only seen his originals in museums. His works are from the late 1400's and early 1500's. This is actually an engraving, not a drawing and it was completed in 1513. There are classes at university that teach on this piece". Durer is considered perhaps the most technically gifted artists of all time.
Mat says he was a little embarrassed to ask the lady if he could have her trash but says it's a great reminder that if something moves you it doesn't matter where it comes from. As for this piece he sold it at auction for around 40 grand last week.