Have you ever found something amazing at a thrift store?
I'm not just talking about a pair of jeans that you absolutely loved. I'm talking about a real treasure, worth much more than the price tag.
These 12 folks have all found items of varying worth, from one man finding out he made a marriage happier, to millions and millions of cash dollars.
Some of these are very rare stories that have circulated through the news, and others are everyday folks telling their own stories of personal triumphs on Reddit. Whether or not you'll ever be lucky enough to strike millions, you can still always hope to find a treasure like one of these ordinary people.
These 12 stories are all pretty unbelievable in their own ways, but do you have a favorite?
Please SHARE with your family and friends on Facebook if you think you know someone who's struck gold!
[H/T: Reddit]
Thumbnail source: Wikimedia Commons / Wehwalt
1.
"A first printing of the Declaration of Independence, said to have been found in a picture frame bought at a flea market two summers ago, was auctioned for $2,420,000… at Sotheby's.
The previous owner, who was not identified, had told Sotheby's he bought a torn painting for $4 in a flea market in Adamstown, Pa., because he was interested in its frame. When he got home, he said, he removed the painting… and concluded the frame could not be salvaged, but found the Declaration, folded and hidden in the backing. He showed it to Sotheby's experts earlier this year." – The New York Times
2.
"Bought a couch at a thrift store, found $500 in the crease." – Reddit User
3.
"My grandma was at a garage sale and found the matching pitcher for her cut crystal set for 50 cents. She raced off to the car after paying for it with her hands shaking and giggling like a crazy person They're worth a few hundred." – mama2lbg
4.
"This small piece of paper [in a suit jacket] had the name and phone number of this girl called Carmen and a well written poem by someone named Nick. The next night, I decided to try calling the phone number for the hell of it.
A woman picked up the phone and answered 'Hello.'
'Ummm, hi… are you Carmen?'
'Yes I am, who is this?'
'I'm Jason, I'm sorry to ask but do you know someone named Nick?'
'Yes, that's my husband… why?'
'I bought a used suit jacket at the thrift store and I found a small note inside the pocket. It had your number and name on it and a delightful poem by a man called Nick. I was curious and I called you.'
…I then went ahead and read her the poem, line by line with gusto. Apparently, he never said the poem to her and she was absolutely ecstatic about it.
We hung up and the next day the guy calls me.
'Bro, I don't know who you are but all I'm going to say is your a 'hero di niro'.'
So there you have it, I became a Hero Di Niro, all for $7 at a Thrift store." – chabaz
5.
"An artist who specializes in pet drawings, Beth Feeback planned on covering the two $10 paintings she had bought at a [thrift store] in North Carolina with a pair of her signature giant cat faces. The paintings, she thought, were probably from the ‘70s, but lacked the whimsical fun of abstract art.
It was a stroke of luck that the Concord, N.C. woman forgot to recycle the paintings as canvases after she brought them home in April. Last week — nearly five months later — one of them sold at Soethby’s for $34,375." – TIME
6.
"So, there [my teacher] was, just poking around a thrift store in the books section when he sees a copy of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien for 99 cents. He picks it up, thumbs through it, [and] notices some odd writing on the first page. It was signed by Tolkien and numbered. He immediately purchased it and left the store the luckiest man in the world." – Suchomimus
7.
"I was just digging through all the junk one day at my local thrift store. Out of the corner of my eye I spot a small black square. I flip it over and there is a golden coin underneath a protective glass. After looking at it more closely I realized it was a 1 ounce gold coin. I buy it for $2 and take it home to find out more information. I ended up selling it for about $1500 2 years later to have money for Christmas." – streetmitch
8.
"A number of years ago, when I was into collecting games. I paid 99 cents [for three boxes]. I sold them on eBay for around $600 total." – btravis72
9.
"I Bought a pair of pants from a thrift store nearby to get messy in during work (cleaning up after animals at a shelter). I bought the pants for $2.50, when I got them home, cutting tags off, the original tag was still on them with the price tag of $305!
They weren't even that nice!" – KittyCyatt
10.
"Bought an old alto saxophone for $30… later [I] looked it up and found out that it's worth at least $4,000." – malzblanc
11.
"At the bottom of a cardboard box were some cabinet cards and a 4×5 inch tintype. Randy Guijarro had two dollars in cash on him and offered to buy the three photographs in the bottom of the box. The offer was accepted and he walked out of the store, at that time unaware, that he had a photograph, that once authenticated, would be insured by Kagin’s Auction House for $6,000,000." – Huffington Post
12.
"[I got] a brown leather briefcase… for $7.00, opened [it] up and [found] the original hand written carbon sales receipt for $700.00 form some place in California. The receipt was dated 1997, [and] with a quick [search] to adjust for inflation that comes out to $1,009.25." – kelroy
Have you ever found anything spectacular at a thrift store? Please SHARE with your family and friends on Facebook!
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
