A middle class family, from Buffalo New York, has recently decided to see if their original Michelangelo painting was worth any money.  ARE YOU SERIOUS?  The family knew of how the paining came into their possession from “Mike” himself, it goes a little something like this:

1) Painting by Michelangelo circa 1545 for a friend Vittoria Colonna

2) Colonna passed the painting to two Catholic Cardinals

3) The cardinals gave it to a German baroness named Villani

4) Villani then willed it to her lady in waiting

5) The lady in waiting gave it to her brother in law

6) The brother in law was the family’s great-grandfather!

Basically the painting was hanging in the Buffalo house till 1970, when an errant tennis ball knocked it off the ledge.  The family then kept it wrapped up behind the couch till this year when they decided to see if it was worth anything.  These are some recent prices

The rare Michelangelo drawings that have come up for sale in recent years have sold for as much as $20 million. And a possible Michelangelo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art could be worth as much as $300 million.

Better call Rick from the silver and gold pawn stars, or maybe the antiques roadshow.  Because we got a winner on our hands, and somebody who decides to just hide a painting like this behind a couch does not deserve to have such a thing.  $300 Million dollars they kept hidden behind a couch!

Via > NYPOST.com.