My Chair is Worth What?!

Mom called and said that the lady that's doing the upholstery to my wing back chair called her. She said that the chair is an antique worth ~$4K!Holy crap. Mom bought the chair from some place YEARS ago for $100 and gave it to me recently to upholster. Crazy huh?!?! Needless to say....mom doesn't want me to reupholster the chair now. She wants to find a buyer! We're being told that if you reupholster then it devalues the item to the value of the material. Booooo...I loved that big comfy chair. In the meantime, I've got 6 yards of fabulous brown and cream houndstooth fabric pending a replacement chair!