Following the popularity of television shows like “American Pickers” and “Storage Wars” many people have found a new interest in the habit of 'picking'. While there are thousands who only try to find good items at thrift shops and garage sales, some people find their treasures in places you would never ever expect. You can even say that some people are just born lucky. This is a list of the most valuable items ever to be discovered in thrift stores and garage sales. With the simple step of buying an unusual item, these people have managed to rake up loads of money for themselves. This list includes everything from $200 million photographers to a surprising discovery of the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. When you go thrift shopping, there is no telling what you might find, for there i always something special hidden somewhere or the other wherever we go.
When one New York family bought this white bowl, they did not expect it to be worth all that much at all. They bought it for $3 at a garage sale back in 2007. They kept custody of the bowl for the next six years after eventually deciding to appraise it. This bowl was later found out to be a truly significant piece of history. The bowl was one of the possessions of China’s Northern Song Dynasty, that went up to be worth $200,000 to $300,000. In March of 2013, the family decided to auction the bowl at Sotheby’s and was bought for an unbelievable price of $2.2 million. Imagine selling a single bowl which would mount to this life-changing amount. We are so sure the family did not complain. It is not easy for people to have an eye on this type of antiques so we can all keep hoping we find one valuable item one day.
This next find involves an Englishman who was just making rounds at a flea market and happened to pick up this watch for just a meager $38. He would soon realize an amazing discovery about the watch he had just bought. the very watch that he had bought from the flea market was indeed a watch worn by James Bond in one of his most iconic films “Thunderball.” To say he was pleasantly surprised would definitely be an understatement. Then the owner decided to bring his watch to Christie’s auction. There he was able to sell off the watch for a staggering $160,175. Although movie memorabilia do not actually sell too high, this was was the first “Q Branch” to include a Geiger counter that enabled James Bond to detect nuclear radiation. It is indeed a watch worth fawning over.
Zachary Bodish was busy looking through the stuff that was sold at a local thrift store. He was rummaging through the store to hopefully find some kitschy art to resell. Then he came upon a poster that took the attention of his eyes. This poster that he found was one which was an advertisement for an art show by Pablo Picasso. Since he loved it so much, he decided to get the poster which was sold to him for just $14.14. As he was inspecting his newfound poster, he noticed that there were some red spots at the bottom of the frame that looked pretty suspicious. He thought it might be Pablo Picasso’s signature, so when he showed it to an art expert, he found that it was, in fact, a linocut. He then managed to sell of the poster for an amount that was way more than he originally spent, $7,000.
This story is about a worn out sweater that was found at a Goodwill by two guys. Sean and Rikki McEvoy were extremely happy to have purchased this sweater as it was cheap and affordable. They reside in Asheville, N.C and this happened back in the year 2014. But then, they had a realization that made them take a closer look at the sweater that they had bought together. Something on the television made the boys very excited and it was because the sweater once belonged to none other than the famed coach Vince Lombardi. The boys were watching a special about Vince Lombardi on their television and soon found out that it really was the celebrated coach’s personal belonging. They went to auction it off where it sold for about $43,020. They bought it just for $0.58 so this is one heck off a deal.
Randy Guijarro made his way into a thrift store where he came upon a few “junk” boxes. Inside the boxes, he found that there were three tintypes kept safely. If anyone does not know, a tintype is described as, "an old picture printed on thin metal sheets". With just $3 he bought all three of these photos. When he took a closer look at the photos he discovered that one of them had Billy the Kid, the famous outlaw in the frame. Collectors were not very convinced when Guijarro informed them about what he had found. The artwork had to be carefully inspected by experts for one year before making a conclusion. In the end, the people in the frame were found to be Billy, his gang, and their friends and family. After verifying this, the photo was appraised to an impressive $5 million.
When this art collector name Andy Fields looked all over the place while in Las Vegas for something valuable, he did not expect o find this incredible piece of artwork. Andy went to a garage sale where he decided on purchasing five paintings that amounted to just $5. After taking them home, he did some digging and found out about the paintings he had just purchased. He soon realized that it was a drawing of the 1930s singer Rudy Valle. And who was the one who did the sketch? It was none other than the pop art icon Andy Warhol. Since this sketch was one of the most sought-after pieces, it was later found to be worthy of $2 million. This should be a lesson to all of us, who have the habit of collecting useless artworks or paintings. They could turn out to be very valuable!
This next incident is one that happened back in the year 2013. This anonymous person from Australia had gone to a thrift shop in the city of Sydney. There, a very weird looking cup took his attention so he contemplated on buying the cup. Since he found out that the cup was just for $4 to buy, he decided to take it home that very day. He went on the internet to learn more and do research on the cup he had just purchased. He soon found out that it was a libation cup that dated back to the 17th century China. It has also been carved with the use of rhinoceros horn. Because of its history and how it was made, the value of the cup was indeed hefty. He went to auction off the cup and sold it for an incredible price of $75,640 Australian dollars. The previous owner would have definitely regretted ever selling this 'peculiar' cup.
This next case is an example of the old saying ' One man's trash is another man's treasure'. When a Tudor Bed was left abandoned at a parking lot of the old Redland House Hotel in Hough Green, Chester, England, no one thought to take the bed. Ian Coulson saw the bed and immediately wanted it for himself. He then purchased the beautiful bed for £2,200. So then by 2010., Coulson, who is a four-post bed specialist, saw that the bed had been enlisted on the internet. After purchasing the bed, he asked the TV historian, Jonathan Foyle to give his expert advice. Then after a DNA testing was done, they found out that the bed’s wood confirmed that it indeed belonged to King Henry VII, back in 1486. So then the value of the bed went up to mind-boggling £20 Million becoming the only remaining Tudor Bed in the world.
In the year 2006, a man by the name of Leroy spent $3 as he purchased a painting at their local Goodwill store. Since he liked the painting so much, he felt that just $3 did not hurt at all. When he took the painting home, Leroy's daughter felt like the painting was quite unique and had a feeling it might be special. Her guts proved to be right when she took the painting to the Antiques Roadshow event. At the event, the appraiser did not spend any time to rethink and wanted to offer them $20,000 to $30,000 for the price. So then ultimately the family decided to sell off the painting in the year 2012. They were over the moon to hear that the painting sold for $190,000. This painting tuned out to be a Flemish original that had been painted around 1650. It does not have too much of an interesting edge, but a Flemish is a Flemish.
This woman from Philadelphia was shopping for herself at a flea market. She then came across a piece of jewelry that really reflected her taste. It was a bold jewelry that she felt would make a nice addition to her collection. Three years following the time she bought the necklace, she made an eye-opening discovery. She found out that the jewelry she had bought bore a very close resemblance to the jewelry displayed by the Philadelphia Art Museum. In fact, the jewelry she bought was the work of Alexander Calder. She made it a point to inform the Calder Foundation in New York and was informed that the necklace was indeed an authentic Calder jewelry. The woman went to Christie’s, First Open Sale of Post-War & Contemporary Art to see the jewelry and did so selling it for $267,750.
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most expensive items to be sold in the 21st century. In 1991, an anonymous man decided to buy a very old photograph that had a wooden frame. It was for just $4 so he immediately took it. He bought the picture while he was on a trip to a flea market in Adamstown, PA. When he took it home, he noticed that there was something weird about the frame. He found out that there was something that was there behind the frame. When he opened the frame, he made a very surprising discovery. There was indeed another document that had been nicely kept at the back of the frame. To add to his surprise he found out that the document was actually the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. He would then sell the copy for a massive $2.4 million.
There was a scrap metal dealer who decided to pay a huge sum of money for a Faberge Egg at a flea market. He was set on buying the Faberge Egg so much that he spent $14000 for the egg. But since he knew that the value of the egg was no joke, he did not feel bad at all. He actually weighed the egg to see how much it would cost if it were to melt. After finding out that it was worth the same amount when melted, he was very pleased with his purchase. We can all agree that he did not melt the egg with a scrap metal. Then there was an amazing revelation about the egg being one of the only 50 Fabergé Imperial Eggs known to exist. The egg's true value was found to be about $30 million. 43 of all the 50 Faberge eggs have been reported to be found so far in history.
John Richard was a man who loved to hunt for cool stuff at thrift stores and garage sales. He loved to find good stuff in the most unimaginable place. So at Oxfam, which is a British thrift store, he stumbled upon a very interesting item. There was a high-quality purse that had remained hidden in an old dusty box at the store. He decided to take the bag as it fit his personality so much. He then bought the purse for just £20 ($32) which he haggled the price. When the cashier would not reduce the price of the bag, he decided to take it anyway and so he bought it. Richard then brought the bag to a Philip Treacy store where he could confirm the origin of his newly bought bag. Indeed it was an authentic piece of the world-renowned milliner, Philip Treacy. It was handstitched and created by none other than Andy Warhol and was valued at £200,000 ($317,000).
Karen Mallet was just going about her errands at her local Goodwill when she saw one picture that took her attention. It was a painting that was quite an abstract face painting, with black and white stripes with a red nose. Then she found that there was a signature in the corner of the painting by the name of Alexander Calder. Since she was not really aware of the painter, she bought the painting for about $12.34 and did not think much of it at all. But when Mallet went home, she started to research the name Calder. She soon discovered that he had created lithographs—authorized copies— which bore close resemblance to the one she just bought. She then wanted to clarify if the signature was indeed Calder's. After verifying that it was indeed a lithograph of Calder’s Red Nose, she sold the painting for $9,000.
The painting we are looking at now was actually found inside a house. There was a student from Germany that had purchased the pullout for just $215 while visiting a Berlin thrift store. Just by looking at this painting you can tell that it has a very controversial element to it. The student went home and as soon as he got the chance, did some research on the painting. His curiosity paid off as he found that the painting was worth something, something much more than he had ever imagined. The oil painting was soon realized to be the work of a famous painter. This painting was titled Preparation to Escape to Egypt and had been painted somewhere during 1605 and 1620. The student further realized that the painting was worth a whopping $27,630 that he got after selling it.
This next incident happened at Indiana. A man was looking for a painting to help cover a hole that had been made on his wall at home. He found a painting that he thought would be the perfect cover up for his damaged wall. After finding this painting that he bought for just $30, he was super excited to take it home. He made a shocking discovery while he was playing a card game that consisted of famous painters and their work. He realized that the painting he had recently got was actually a work of art done by Martin Johnson Heade who is a renowned American still-life painter. He could sell the painting for over $1.2 million. That is not so bad for a painting worth $30 right? Sometimes we often find that the most valuable things in life are actually hiding in plain sight and we just need to be a little more curious.
Laura Stouffer loved to go through thrift stores where she often finds the most interesting items. One day, she was doing her usual rounds ar a thrift shop when the painting called “Shepherd’s Call” caught her eye. This painting is thought of to have been finished during 1850 and late 1870s. But at first, Laura had no idea what the painting was about. She revealed that she thought the painting was aesthetically pleasing so she wanted to get it. There was no such extra fuss made about it. But then, when she went home, she soon realized that there was a lithograph of the movie All Quiet On The Western Front. It was an original copy as well. So then she decided to quickly raise the lithograph appraised. Later, after finding out the authenticity of the painting, the original piece of work lead to be a staggering $18,000.
They say every dog has its day so this truck driver was no exception to this notion. Teri Horton was not much of a person who would go to lengths to prove the authenticity of things. However, this nature was bent a little when she had to prove the authenticity of one particular painting. She had fallen in love with a painting which she found at a California thrift shop. It cost her just $5 to buy this piece of art when she first got hands on it. She was contemplating on whether she should make this painting a base for throwing darts. But soon she discovered that they were original pieces of artwork done by Jackson Pollock. She even said,”who the [expletive] is Jackson Pollock?” She was so oblivious to the whole art world so of course, she did not know who Pollock was. Her story was even made into a documentary and this painting is now worth $50 million.
Back in 2000, Rick Norsigian had bought a picture frame that had the Yosemite National Park in it. Since Norsigian was left so captivated by the photo, he did not feel bad that he had to buy the frame for $45. He was more than happy that he got to take home the works of art. After doing some background checking on these photos he was surprised to find out that they were indeed the works of celebrated photographer, Ansel Adams. Norsigian soon listed these photographs at the price of $7,500. But soon he was left all the more shocked to realize that these photo were worth so much more. How much you ask? The photographs were estimated to be around an unimaginable $200 million. The family of Ansel Adams tried to deny the fact that these were original pieces but then the artists’ hand-writing and dates written on the pictures gave everything away.
There was once an incident where the famous French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's painting was found at a flea market. It had been sold to an anonymous person for a fair of $50. This painting had been bought at the Shenandoah Valley flea market. Then, an anonymous man took it to the Virginia auction house where the experts had to approve that it was indeed Renoir’s Paysage Bords de Seine from the year 1879. This fame had previously been sold to a Paris gallery way back in 1926 to an international lawyer Herbert L. May. This is a unique painting that has a very small dimension of just 5.5-by-9-inches. So it would definitely be easy for someone to ridicule this painting just because of its small size. However, its size does not take away from its beauty and is truly a masterpiece one needs to see up close and personal to value.
This artifact was found in Cornwall, southern England. It is actually a 2,500 years old Egyptian item. The yard sale wrapped up and this cat was thrown out in the garbage. But then luckily, someone took custody of it and now this piece that dates back to at least 500 B.C was verified by an Egyptian expert at The British Museum. It was auctioned off for $20,000 then again for $80,000 in London.
An anonymous person bought this rare 1905 Tiffany Mirror Peacock Mirror in Hurley, Arizona. It was just bought off for $2 but then reached the Antiques Roadshow to be appraised by 2010. It even has the iconic “Tiffany Studios New York” logo. The Antiques Roadshow appraiser, Arlie Sulka had it appraised to around $25,000, which is clearly a big steal if you ask anyone.
Warren Hill, from Montreal, bought this classic vinyl record for just 75 cents from the sidewalks of New York back in 2002. He felt like it was a cheap price to pay for such an amazing artist. But then he soon discovered about how rare this EP demo was, he freaked out. It was recorded by Colombia Records back in 1966. This was allegedly the only copy of the recording and so it went up to be worth $25,000!
Jennifer Thompson from North Carolina was just DVD shopping at Goodwill when she suddenly saw a video game that caught her eye from afar. She bought the game for just $7.99 and it was actually the NES cartridge for “Stadium Events”. After finding out that it was one of the rarest video games ever, she decided to auction if off to an orthodontist for $25,000.
Jo Heaven was shopping at a local charity store in Swindon, England when her attention was caught by this painting of livestock. She immediately bought the painting for a dollar and then soon discovered something about the painting. There was a name, Ben Nicholson, at the back. This man was an influential British modernist. “My mum was an art teacher, so I’d vaguely heard of Ben Nicholson,” Heaven explained. She soon sold the painting for $55,000.
Liz Lockyer went to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity held in Teignmouth back in 2013. She fancied one particular painting that had flowers in it. Since she was also an artist, she felt that the artwork would be of help to her. She bought it for just $6 but realized it was a Mary Moser original. She is one of the two female members have co-founded the Royal Academy of Arts.
This particular pot had become all worn out and the base was held together with the help of glue. But then someone working at the St. Peter’s Hospice charity shop in England could see its value. It turned out to be calligraphy brushes that had been made using bamboo. The origin of this item dates back to 1662 and 1722 by Chinese artist Gu Jue. Some experts claim it explains the poem “The Agreeable Life in a Land of Transcendents” and somebody from Hong Kong bought it for $470,000.
At one thrift store in Toronto, a man bought this coat with the Augusta National Golf Club logo patch on the pocket. The only people who get to wear these jackets are the Master’s champions. But soon a British golf journalist named Dominic Pedler bought off the jacked with “an offer he couldn’t refuse.” In April 2017, this jacket was auctioned off at an incredible amount of $139,349.
Maria Rivera who works at the Goodwill in Manassas, Virginia found some paintings in the donation box. Since the painting had a decorated gold frame, she wanted a closer look so she took it with her. “I didn’t know at the time, but I said, ‘we have some money here’,” she had revealed in an interview. money. At an auction, she found that it was actually Italian artist Giovanni Battista Torriglia's famous work.
This woman from Surrey, England was thrifting in Somerset. She found this gold-rimmed bowl which was actually an 18th-century Chinese censer created during the Qianlong Emperor's rule. Even though the bowl is very small with the dimensions of only 4.4-inches wide, the censer still sold for £21,000. Some people are just so lucky to find such treasure in all the strangest places.
Maureen Flaherty went to the opening of a Goodwill store in Florida back in 2015. There she came across a lithograph print of a canine on the wall. She paid $44 for the painting and was told by an antique expert that, “you just walked out with the most valuable thing in there.” She went home to realize that it was the painting named “The Brook Hill Dog" by Alexander Pope. She sold it for $5,150 on eBay.
The people that worked at an Easton, Maryland Goodwill found something worthwhile in 2008 as they checked the donation bin. The employees found an Impressionist style painting that did not look like a print. Their manager Terri Tonelli was informed of this potentially valuable piece of work. “It could have very easily ended up put in a pile, marked for $20,” said Goodwill manager. In reality, it went up to be worth $40,600.
This young boy bought a Polaroid camera containing some pictures in it. These pictures were actually images of Uncle Scott who had died over 10 years ago! “The photo showed Scott sitting on a sofa with a high school girlfriend, Susan,” The Wichita Eagle wrote. “Lois guessed it was taken in 1978 or 1979, about 10 years before his death. She didn’t remember the photo, but thought it must be one of her old ones.”
At a yard sale in California, there was a denim jacket that was bought for just $20. The woman who donated the jacket had forgotten her diamond earrings in the pockets. These precious jewels were estimated to be worth $18,000. “Not only are the earrings accompanied by a steep price tag, they also hold sentimental value,” the woman revealed. “One of the diamonds was a gift from her father to her mother, who later gave the diamond to Rhoades.” Do you think she deserves to get them back?
The movie Frankenstein premiered back in 1931 with an impressive poster. It soon became a collector's item. “It was estimated that this original poster would sell for $100,000-$200,000,” it had been reported. “But the Heritage Auction House in Dallas, TX sold the poster for $358,500. The online auction, held in March of 2015, had 12 active bidders and over 8,900 page views.”
This Californian man had bought a stock certificate for one company named Palmer Oil Co. at just $5. They were actually a company that came before Coca-Cola. “In 2008, the now-deceased Tony Marohn bought a number of documents at a garage sale for around $5, one of which was a stock certificate for an oil company called Palmer Union Oil Co.," reports have said. “Marohn then discovered the company’s successor is Coca-Cola and claimed that the certificate represented 1.8 million shares of the company or a $130 million stake.”
At a Goodwill in Portland Oregon, there was a watercolor painting that was donated in 2003. It seemed like any other painting and Goodwill did not think much of it when they auctioned it off. But turns out, it was an original Frank Weston Benson. “Frank Benson is a top-tier impressionist,” Mattew W. Gerber a local gallery owner explains, “When they put this up, they didn’t have a clue what it was.”
Zach Norris found this at a Goodwill in Phoenix that he bought for $5.99. After he found that it was a 1959 Jaeger-Lecoultre original, he sold the watch for a whopping $35,000. He sure must have been happy as the buyer even gifted him with a$4,000 watches to show gratitude. So then, what are you waiting for? Go and find yourself a watch that is worth all these goodies.
Beth Feedback wanted to find some good stuff at Goodwill in 2012. Luck was on her side as she bought an oil painting for just $9.99. With her friends help, she soon found out that it was Ilya Bolotowsky's painting. After confirming that it was indeed the work of the famous painter, the price rose to about $15,000 to $20,000 range which was then sold for a hefty $34,375. She was truly lucky to find such a valuable painting at such an unsuspecting place.
An original U.S. Declaration of Independence copy was unearthed by Michael Sparks in the year 2006. He found it at a thrift store in Nashville, TN. He bought it for just $2.48, plus tax. After doing some background checking, he realized that it was indeed an 1823 copy of the Declaration of Independence. An unknown buyer purchased the document for $477,650 in 2007 at Raynors’ Historical Collectible Auctions in Burlington, North Carolina.