# What are some of the most valuable items ever bought at yard sale? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 5, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328 "2008-02-05T01:43:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/1 "2008-02-05T01:43:06Z")
Surely there are records out there that state that John Q. Public bought a set of ancient candlestick holders from Rose Public in 1983 for 2 bucks, in turn, they turned out to be worth two hundred million dollars. That is obviously an exaggeration, but are there records on file of things like this happening? If so, what are some of these items bought and what were they really worth? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/2 "2008-02-05T01:45:54Z")
Just to start things off, I bought a 20 quart pressure cooker for five bucks at a yard sale. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/3 "2008-02-05T01:46:04Z")
There is a case in Adamstown, PA where someone bought an old torn countryside picture for $4 at a flea market and found a nice crisp Declaration of Independence. One of the original 500 in fact! Source: > **[Did a Bargain Hunter Find Original Print of Declaration of Independence?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/declaration-of-financial-independence/)** > > Did a lucky bargain hunter get more than he bargained for when he purchased a old painting? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/4 "2008-02-05T02:29:40Z")
I was bored, once, in an old furniture shop with a friend once, and no, not the kind of old furniture shop that has classy antiques, and I took to looking at the old grotty books on a shelf. I was very happy to buy a copy of a book called “Shirley” by one “Currer Bell” for the grand sum of 5p/fivepence. Yes, it had the first few pages missing so I doubt it would have been worth much resale money anyway, but I just liked to have it (even if I would have to go and read my other copy by that dreadful plagiarist Bronte woman just to read the first few pages again). 😃 Oh well, no surprise riches, but some happy amusement. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/5 "2008-02-05T02:33:27Z")
[Who The Fuck Is Jackson Pollock](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487092/) tells such a tale but it is still under dispute I think. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/6 "2008-02-05T02:35:06Z")
Was watching _Antiques Roadshow_ tonight and one woman’s story was she bought a piece of furniture at a garage sale for $20, because it looked French. She had owned the piece for about 30 years and the appraiser said it was worth about $30,000, being a famous French furniture maker’s work from 1835. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/7 "2008-02-05T02:55:49Z")
[Here](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070518.wlyard18/BNStory/lifeHouseHome/home) is another: Ontario art lover Paul Martin bought an oil painting for $200 at a yard sale. The painting turned out to be a noteworthy work by the late Canadian artist E.J. Hughes. It’s likely to nab $100,000 at auction next week in Vancouver ---
**Author:** ![Satyagrahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Satyagrahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satyagrahi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/8 "2008-02-05T04:37:59Z")
My favorite was one seen on The Antique Road Show, a few years back. A woman had her prized collection of “collectible” silver spoons from around the U.S.; most of them bought for five bucks and worth three but there was one old, beat-up spoon with an oddly shaped handle. The appraiser asked where she had gotten that and she couldn’t remember except that it was at some flea market somewhere and it has cost her a couple dollars. The appraiser, who had obviously checked his resources, went on to explain that this spoon, which had once had an emerald affixed to the handle, was one of the spoons used at the coronation feast of King Richard II of England in 1377. Only two others were known to still exist and both were with the Crown Jewels collection in the Tower of London. He went on to say that, while it would be polite to first offer it to the British government, it would be extremely difficult to put a price on it but that he expected that any of several museums would be willing to pay several hundred thousand dollars and, in competitive bidding, it could go much higher. I’ve always thought one could write one hell of a fun novel about that spoon got from then to now. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/9 "2008-02-05T04:56:36Z")
Another Antiques Roadshow case: a woman bought a very old three-legged corner table at a yard sale. She paid perhaps $25 for it. (That and other dollar figures are approximate remembrances.) Knowing something about old furniture, she wiped it down with a damp cloth but otherwise made no attempt to restore it herself. On the road show, it is revealed by two experts (who can barely contain their excitement) that the table was actually made by a famous Revolution-era cabinet maker, that it’s in excellent condition under all the grime and that it could easily fetch $150,000 at auction. On a later episode, they actually showed the table, nicely cleaned up, at auction, where it went for somewhere in the region of a quarter million dollars. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/10 "2008-02-05T05:53:51Z")
One of my favourite Antiques Roadshow items was the one where a woman brought in a grotty looking old helmet, the kind from a suit of armour. Turned out it was excessively rare from medieval Italy and worth $250,000. My most favourite on the American version of Roadshow was the old guy with a Navajo blanket he’d got from his grandad. The appraiser called it a “national treasure” and said it was worth at least $500,000. Then there was the dreadlocked English guy who kept pulling silver out of a sack and the appraiser’s eyebrows kept going higher and higher and in the end he had about a half million pounds worth of silver in there. Great stuff. I have nothing like that. I wish I did. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/11 "2008-02-05T06:00:56Z")
Although not procured at a “yard sale”, the paintings bought by the father of Jean Preston should count as a modest find later deemed to be quite valuable. > [@](#): > > Worldwide press coverage reported in November 2006 that two missing masterpieces by Fra Angelico had turned up, having hung in the spare room of the late Jean Preston, in her “modest terrace house” in Oxford, England. Her father had bought them for £100 each in 1965 then bequethed them to her when he died in 1974. Jean had been consulted by their then owner in her capacity as an expert medievalist. She recognised them as being high quality Florentine renaissance, but it never occurred to anyone, even all the dealers she approached on behalf of the owner, that they could possibly be by Fra Angelico. They were finally identified in 2005 by Michael Liversidge of Bristol University. There was almost no demand at all for medieval art during the 1960s and no dealers showed any interest, so her father bought them almost as an afterthought along with some manuscripts. Ironically the manuscripts turned out to be high quality Victorian forgeries by The Spanish Forger. The paintings are two of eight side panels of a large altarpiece painted in 1439 for Fra Angelico’s monastery at San Marco, but split up by Napoleon’s army 200 years ago. While the centre section is still at the monastery, the other six small panels are in German and US museums. These two panels were presumed lost forever. The Italian Government had hoped to purchase them but they were outbid at auction on 20 April 2007 by a private collector for £1.7M.[17][18] [Full Wiki article here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fra_Angelico). ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/12 "2008-05-01T19:02:45Z")
Moderator, can we move this to Cafe Society? That way we can keep this interesting thread going? ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/13 "2008-05-01T19:19:30Z")
[QUOTE=vison] \ My most favourite on the American version of Roadshow was the old guy with a Navajo blanket he’d got from his grandad. The appraiser called it a “national treasure” and said it was worth at least $500,000. \ [/QUOTE] That bit was brilliant. The reason the blanket was so valuable was that it represented the dawn of Navajo weaving. It was a simple striped blanket (alternating white and indigo) with no fancy geometrics or colors (what the Navajo would later become famous for) and, of course, it was in perfect condition. “National treasure” were exactly the words the appraiser used. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/14 "2008-05-04T18:19:55Z")
[The Declaration of Independence](http://www.snopes.com/luck/declare.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/15 "2008-05-04T18:31:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] [The Declaration of Independence](http://www.snopes.com/luck/declare.asp) [/QUOTE] [Yep.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9441951&postcount=3) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/16 "2008-05-04T22:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] Moderator, can we move this to Cafe Society? That way we can keep this interesting thread going? [/QUOTE] Motion granted. Thread moved from General Questions to Cafe Society. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/17 "2008-05-04T23:30:51Z")
I bought a Jewel aquarium that tends to start at around $500 on ebay for $10. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/18 "2008-05-04T23:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Ol’Gaffer] That bit was brilliant. The reason the blanket was so valuable was that it represented the dawn of Navajo weaving. It was a simple striped blanket (alternating white and indigo) with no fancy geometrics or colors (what the Navajo would later become famous for) and, of course, it was in perfect condition. “National treasure” were exactly the words the appraiser used. [/QUOTE] Maybe this was a different one, but I remeber one Native American blanket that was a chief’s blanket and was supposedly given to (IIRC) Kit Carson on his wedding day to the chief’s daughter. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/19 "2008-05-05T00:14:51Z")
[QUOTE=Satyagrahi] The appraiser, who had obviously checked his resources, went on to explain that this spoon, which had once had an emerald affixed to the handle, was one of the spoons used at the coronation feast of King Richard II of England in 1377. Only two others were known to still exist and both were with the Crown Jewels collection in the Tower of London. [/QUOTE] This gave me chills. [Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkYn39i4Fw&feature=related) to the video of the Navajo blanket segment. Someone decided it was the #1 Antiques Roadshow find, in terms of value. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328/20 "2008-05-05T01:54:43Z")
Since the OP sounds as if he’s looking for factual answers on a large scale (money-wise, that is), I’ll move this over to GQ. ETA: Oops, I didn’t see that it had already been moved from GQ. It doesn’t belong in Cafe Society, though, so I’ll move it over to MPSIMS. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-valuable-items-ever-bought-at-yard-sale/436328.md?page=2)