Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash

Everything has value. That is a life mantra that can turn out quite lucrative. We may make fun of and cast judgement on the hoarders we see on tv, but some of them have hidden treasures that have a higher value than a lottery ticket all because they held on and believed everything is worth something. Of course it's sad they never knew it, hence hoarding not being healthy, but I digress. This is why 'Antiques Roadshow' has become such a phenomenon, we all have things that seem ordinary but could be worth a fortune.... or that's the dream. Let's find out....

Redditor u/onemangang15 was wondering who has discovered that the thing they believed was trash was a surprise pearl by asking.... What 'piece of junk' did you find that turned out to be valuable?

600?! Dollars?!

Goosebumps Wow GIF by ANTIQUES ROADSHOW | PBS Giphy

I found a small envelope with a few inches of wire in a junk shop. Bought it (US$2) because it had some faded penciling about troy oz. Turned out to about 1.5 troy ounces of platinum wire. Sold it for US $600!



Years ago I bought a condo in foreclosure. We couldn't go inside, just look from outside and put in a bid. My bid won. When I went inside the place it was pretty trashed. I checked all the rooms, calculating the costs of getting it back into shape. At the end of my walk thru I went into the garage and saw there was a car under a tarp. Hmmm... I pulled the tarp back and saw a 1972 Barracuda in nearly mint condition.


Oregon Trails....

A first or second edition of the Oregon Trail book. It's a bit damaged, so not that valuable, but still a few hundred more than the $15 I paid for it.


The Wrist Buy

relapse records watch GIF by Red Fang Giphy

Found a "fake" Cartier watch in Goodwill for $10. Bought it because it still looked nice. But it's a real Cartier watch and it's worth $1000+. Keeping it because I'd never buy myself something like that.


Sunburst Ugly

Dad carried around a junk guitar for 50 years. Ugly as hell sunburst Gibson acoustic (circa 50's or 60's can't remember) that he eventually sanded down into something prettier. When I was learning he took it to be tuned up by our neighbor who owned a shop and was a collector.

Dude came back exasperated and told us that my dad had sanded about 50k off the guitar, and that it would have been totally worthless if he hadn't left the logo on.


Small Metals....

I found a very small, round piece of metal on the floor in my workplace. I couldn't figure out what the item was and knew I should just discard it, but felt compelled to keep it for some reason.

That afternoon my co-worker was distraught - the unique type of battery that her cochlear implant needed fell out, and was probably in a dumpster somewhere because the cleaners had come through. I gave her the weird piece of metal in my pocket, and she almost burst into tears from relief.


Jean Carlu

Old folded up piece of paper in the bottom of a box my dad had I found cleaning up the house, torn up and faded.

Turned out to be a 90 year old original Jean Carlu poster worth roughly $20,000 after spending $1,000 for restoration.

We have the English version of this making it worth more. Depending on the art market which is currently down it is worth less but still this range is about right. No plans on selling it yet, might go to a museum or exhibit first.


Karma Paid

Get Money Entrepreneur GIF by Smart Money Mamas Giphy

Well, a moron couch surfer who crashed in my guest room for a few months left behind a 1970s Fender Super Twin tube amp worth $1800 he didn't know about.

It made cleaning up his urine bottles worth it.


Dali Luck!

Typical not me but a friend - she found a copy of a Salvador Dali painting at goodwill. She loved him and it was a big print so she grabbed it for like $20. She took it home and took it out of the old junky frame and it had a stamp of authenticity on the back, and she had it assessed and it's worth 20k. Lucky B! Ha.


bidding in Texas....

A few years ago, I was looking through the goodwill website the let's you bid on stuff that you find. I stumbled across one of the Texas goodwills pages, and then saw an auction for a huge box of phone accessories, that no one was bidding on. I started looking through all the pictures, started researching some of the brands, and started realizing the whole box was worth a decent bit. I took a shot, and made my bid. Someone else saw what I saw, and started a bidding war with me, but I eventually won with a bid of $106, then $24 for shipping.

Few days go by, and I finally get the box, well 2 boxes, and they were both huge. Started taking inventory, and ended with 100 iPhone chargers, 100 android chargers, about 250 iPhone 8 cases in all different styles, 80 battery packs, a few iPad cases, and about 1000 screen protectors. Turned my $130 total investment into an EBay business, and made almost $8,000 in about 9 months.



unimpressed viola davis GIF Giphy

Someone gave me a hideous purse out of a box on its way to goodwill. I sold it on eBay for $1,100. I've had some good flips, but that was the best.


Paying Back the Cat

Weird painting of a cat with birds on its back no one wanted. Paid $20, worth $400. My mom thought it would be an investment. Bought a ton of stuff done by her fav artist. Kept saying she got it at a steal and it was worth way more. Artist got screwed when he got Alzheimer's and people took advantage somehow (I don't remember) but now his work isn't worth anything.


The Bracelet

My mom in college worked for a small grocery store. She was sweeping aisles one day when she found a bracelet and just threw it in the lost and found for someone to come back for later. Months went by and I guess the employees got to check the lost and found for anything they wanted if no one claimed it. She remembered the bracelet and just grabbed it. She got it home and cleaned it up. It ended up being a Tivol bracelet wrapped with real diamonds. Its since been turned into a new wedding band for her lol.


The Long Shot

My friends and I were at a concert and found this broken bracelet under a merch table as we were about to leave the venue. It had an interesting engraving on it, something about being a son and friend. Because it was broken we were thinking about just tossing it, but ended up throwing it in our backpack to bring to the office later (my friend worked at the venue so she was going to turn it in). The next week I was browsing reddit on a thread of the same kind of music we were listening to at the show and just as I was about to fall asleep, someone's post caught my eye.

It said something like "This is a long shot but I lost something..." and it piqued my interest so I clicked it. It was someone from that same show asking if anyone had found a silver bracelet. Turns out it was the same one we found and it seemed to be a special gift from the person's parent and they were looking for it. We connected and got the bracelet returned to the guy, and the whole interaction is actually in my reddit history, it's a fun (albeit quick) read!


A cheap Matin....

snoopy rock star GIF Giphy

Bought a cheap Martin guitar because I was broke and wanted to play. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it's worth a few grand now because it was a limited edition thing. It's still appreciating to the point where I had to insure it.


Calcium for the Win

So my family went to a nearby town's vintage sale thing. My dad found this dirty old glass milk bottle, and he got excited when he found it. I didn't know what he found so exciting since it was just a milk bottle. After we got home, he explained that it was a a milk bottle from a dairy farm. One of the cofounders of that farm was my great great grandfather (on my dad's side). When one of the world wars began, he sold it off to the other founder.

Tl;dr my dad found a glass milk bottle, and I found out I'm a descendant of wealthy dairy farmers.


All for 30....

I was at an estate sale and bought a few paintings sweet lady told me to take the last one I liked as package deal since I ran out of cash, turns out one of them is a pretty rare original print worth about 3500$ and I paid maybe 30$ for all 4 prints and paintings I wanted.



When I was younger, I would rummage around the drawers and cabinets in my grandmother's house, just "adventuring" and "discovering", which is what I called it. I happened to find this old folded piece of paper, but it only took three seconds for me to just disregard it and push it aside. I think I was trying to get something else that I saw.

After I finished with whatever I had, I picked up the piece of paper to throw it away. Out of childlike curiosity, I opened it up and saw the words in it. It looked like a letter. It seemed important, so I gave it to my grandmother who gave it to my mother when she came to pick me up (my grandmother is blind).

Come to find out, it was a love letter from my grandfather to my grandmother. That really made their day.

EDIT: Some of y'all need to chill. I was three-years-old. My grandmother and grandfather (who isn't blind) were fine with me doing that, as long as I cleaned up after myself. I didn't give her hell. She isn't some stereotypical "poor old blind grandma". She has the hearing of a bat and a hand of iron.


Unexpected Juice

My father in law goes junking occasionally for side cash and strange gifts. One day he shows up randomly with a 1st gen fatboy ps3 with backwards compatibility. He goes "hey I don't know if you can use this but I thought you might enjoy it. Somebody had it sitting out for garbage."

I fired it up fully expecting to have to do some repairs but it booted up and plays just fine! He refused to take any money for it. He can be a real stand up guy.


In the Bin....

Trash Bin GIF by Emmerdale Giphy

I found a book at a trash bin. The Wind in the Willows I never got to read it as a kid... after finishing it I googled the edition date turns out its a collectible worth $300...? Who knew.




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