Woman scores Renoir painting at flea market

One antique dealer says it's like finding a needle in a haystack. The haystack is a West Virginia flea market. You won't believe what the needle was.

From trash to treasure, it's the dream of anyone who digs for finds at flea markets. That dream came true for one woman, who forked a tiny amount for something that turned out to be worth a fortune.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, found an 1879 Renoir painting two years ago.

"I noticed the frame on this picture and I liked the frame. I bid $7 and I won the box," she said in a phone interview with CNN.

A year after she purchased it, the woman was about to take the painting out of the frame when her mother spotted the name "Renoir" and suggested she have it appraised.

Experts at the Potomac Company Auction House authenticated the piece, after the woman brought it in in late August.

"The painting could fetch between $75,000-$100,000 at auction. But the notion of this kind of discovery, a Renoir masterpiece in a West Virginia flea market, has the art world talking," said auction house owner Elizabeth Wainstein.

The auction house has received calls from all over the world, because the painting was last heard about in 1926. The painting will be up for public auction on Sept. 29.

"I'm living proof you don't know what could be in a box. You know, one man's trash is another man's treasure," said the anonymous finder.