TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — A metro Detroit woman is asking for help recovering a piece of her family's history after two hand-drawn portraits of her great-great grandparents were accidentally sold at a garage sale.
Watch Jeffrey Lindblom's video report:
Jennifer Richeson says the portraits, which date back more than a century, were mistakenly sold at a northern Oakland County garage sale. After more than a week of searching and hundreds of social media shares, she is hoping someone in the northeastern Oakland County community may recognize them.
"I think it was a mistake and we'd love to have them back," Richeson said.
Despite an outpouring of community support online, Richeson has been unable to recover the portraits of her great-great grandparents.
"Pretty emotional. Obviously, upset. My mom did a great deal of work to preserve those," Richeson said.
Richeson says her family carefully restored the portraits and placed them into frames to preserve her family's roots. The great-great grandparents depicted in the portraits were married in 1894. Now, the only image Richeson has of the two lost portraits is a single photograph of them hanging side by side.
"It was uncommon. It was expensive to have someone sit and craft those photos by hand. So, they have a lot of sentimental value to my family," Richeson said.
Richeson says the portraits are irreplaceable pieces of her family's story.
"All you have left are pictures and stories," Richeson said. "The value of them to me is immeasurable. I don't think I could put a dollar amount on my family's history."
Anyone with information can email jeffrey.lindblom@wxyz.com.
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