The New York man who stumbled upon a $200,000 drawing at a thrift store in Queens told The Post he almost hung the rare, century-old sketch in his bathroom — and paid less than $80 bucks for it.

The lucky collector said he spotted the artwork — a 1918 study by Austrian artist Egon Schiele — at the Habitat NYC ReStore in Woodside last year and was immediately “drawn to the way it looked.”

“It looked old and out of shape but I loved the drawing. I loved everything about it, even the smell of that old vintage paper,” the man, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote in an email sent through a Habitat for Humanity New York City spokesman.

“When I saw the drawing, it reminded me of the way I enjoyed sketching so it got my attention instantly,” he wrote.

When he brought it home, the man says his wife “loved it” and wanted to put the drawing up in their bathroom.

“I told her it wouldn’t be a good idea because moisture can damage the drawing (good call!) and stored it away with my other art pieces,” wrote the man, who says he works in the music industry. “Here we are now with what turned out to be something Egon Schiele himself put down on paper about 100 years ago.”

The man had a hunch the drawing could be by Schiele and sent a photo of the work to Jane Kallir, director of Galerie St. Etienne, who said the image was too blurry to tell if it was the real deal. Eventually, the man brought the artwork into Kallir’s Upper East Side gallery and she authenticated it.

“I was really amazed… it’s a one in 5,000 chance, it’s rare, very, very rare,” Kallir told The Post about the discovery. “He hit the jackpot on this.”

The gallery owner said the drawing is of a girl who modeled with Schiele, both alone and sometimes with her mother, in 1918. It’s most likely part of a series that became studies for Schiele’s final lithograph, “Girl.”

Kallir said she examines hundreds of wannabe Schiele drawings a year — most of which end up being fakes.

“This is not something that happens often,” Kallir said. “When I lecture about this kind of thing I say, ‘Antiques Road Show is not reality, you can’t find treasures, most people only have junk in their attics.’ And it’s true… most of the time.”

Previous owners cut off the artist’s signature in order to get the piece to fit a ratty frame, in the 1950s or 1960s when it would have been worth only a couple of hundred dollars, Kallir determined.

Employees at the thrift store priced it at even less than that — around $80.

Leslie Williams, the director of the thrift store, said she “doesn’t know where it came from or who donated it.”

The finder, who wouldn’t reveal his age, said he visits the store about twice a week because he enjoys “digging and looking around through items with so much history.”

His interest in art and collecting was sparked after a high school gig doing maintenance at a Soho gallery, he said. He now runs a music recording studio with a childhood friend.

The man said he was “grateful and humble” to have found the Schiele drawing, which is on display at the gallery until Oct 11.

If it is sold, part of the proceeds will go back to the thrift store.

“It’s just amazing and I’m so grateful I got it to the experts at Galerie St. Etienne to help,” he wrote. “The artwork can benefit a store I enjoy exploring so often and an organization that helps those in need.”