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?!
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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!
I WIN!!
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
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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
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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.
Flip!
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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....
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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.
Priceless....
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....
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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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For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
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What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
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Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
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Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
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Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...