Discount warehouse sold Picasso work

Sold for $39'999.99.

Only in America you can buy a Picasso work in a discount warehouse. But still - I love this story:

The wholesaler giant Costco – based in Issaquah, Wash., with 400 locations worldwide – sold a hastily drawn crayon-on-paper work by the famed Spanish cubist Pablo Picasso on its website last Wednesday. The purchaser of a $39,999 drawing identified himself as Louis Knickerbocker, a 38-year-old environmental contractor from Newport Beach, CA. Since last March, the site has been offering fine art on consignment from dealers, and this is the most expensive piece sold to date. Knickerbocker says he bought the Picasso sight unseen.
"I was running late, driving the kids to school, and I heard about it on KABC radio, and I called my wife on my cellphone and told her to get online and go to costco.com and buy that thing," Knickerbocker says. "It's an investment for the future. I'm not getting much return on the money market, or Oppenheimer funds; I figured I'd get more return on a piece of art." While Knickerbocker owns a few works by lesser-known and local artists, he says: "This is my first real expensive piece." Knickerbocker, who says he charged the Picasso on his American Express card, has never been a serious art collector but says, "Now I've got the bug." He adds that in the past he made two other important purchases at Costco: his hearing aids, and a diamond engagement ring for his wife.

O, and by the way: If Knickerbocker doesn't like the Picasso drawing for any reason, he can return it and gets the full refund! Even if he has lost the receipt (like with any other product bought from Costco). No questions asked. Again: only in America.