New London was the summer home of Louis Comfort Tiffany, and so enjoys one of the largest collections anywhere of his distinctive stained-glass windows.
But the city never expected the Victorian-era artist to provide the $400,000 windfall he did this week.
A Tiffany window recovered in a 1990s investigation of a stained-glass trafficking ring raised that amount when Christie's auctioned it off yesterday in New York.
The money will pay for six new police cars. City council's finance committee will decide Monday what to do with the rest of it.