Let’s get trashy!

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Or maybe what one person THINKS is trash is another person’s treasure.

That certainly seems to be the case in these tales from people who found what they thought was junk but it turned out to be valuable.

Let’s check out some cool stories from folks on AskReddit.

1. Good quality.

“My grandfathers violin. Sat in my garage for years before I dug it out because I wanted to learn violin and couldn’t afford to buy one.

Turns out, it’s a pretty high quality violin (and celebrating its 100th birthday in a few months!)”

2. Junk box.

“Garage sale box of junk for $5.

Had a rare Eisenhower silver medallion that was for a meeting in South America.

It was on eBay for 30 seconds and sold for $500.

Telescoping Luke action figure. $300. I’m a coin dealer so I see some cool stuff.”

3. PBR.

“I collect Pabst Blue Ribbon stuff. I have a cup full of bottle caps.

The Pabst bottle caps have playing card numbers/suits under them. I haven’t gone through my caps in a while but I wanted to see if I was any closer to having a full deck.

So I empty my caps out onto the table and all of a sudden a coin falls out! A 1937 Washington quarter. 90% silver. I have no idea where it came from.

My weird cap collection found me some silver.”

4. Joy Division.

“In a shop, found a first pressing of joy divisions album “unknown pleasures” in almost perfect condition.

When I held it up to the light and saw that ruby glow (they’re translucent but only in very strong light), I nearly fell over!

Big fan. $2 well spent! Now worth about $150 here in Australia!”

5. Oops!

“A 1973 Honda 250 Elsinore. Picked it up for a hundred bucks. Rode it until it died put a couple hundred bucks in it rode it some more.

Eventually it wasn’t worth fixing and it was trashed. Learned later it could be worth as much as $10,000 in good shape”

6. It’s mine now.

“My grandfather worked a trade all his life.

He was doing some pipe work at a house, when the owner of said house asked if my grandfather wanted to buy an old sword for $10, but it was broken in half. My grandfather said sure, he would have the money the next morning.

His coworker went behind his back and bought the sword, so the home owner said he had another one fully intact, and sold it for $1.

The date on the hilt is 1863, forged during the American Civil war. It is now in my possession.”

7. Awesome!

“One of my dad’s friend’s fathers died in about 2000.

They were cleaning out his garage and found a banjo…they gave it to me “since I played guitar,” whatever they thought that meant in regards to banjoes.”

Anyway it was a late-‘20s Gibson. I dusted it and took it to the music shop I trusted most: it appraised at about $15,000.

I took it back to my dad’s friend, of course. First thing I said was, “so I got you a present from your dad…”

About a decade later my friend’s wife’s uncle left her “the old guitar in my closet.” It turned out to be an early 1960s Gibson ES-335. That one’s good for about $30,000.”

8. City dump.

“I found a LaBlanc clarinet in a city dump in perfectly good condition.

I called the company with the serial number. They told me it was one of 100 Bflat clarinets made in 1952 and worth $2,500.”

9. Hang on to it.

“My grandpa gave me a really good condition Han Solo and Tuan Tuan figure, I didn’t think it was a piece of junk, and still liked the look of it. He said, “take good care, hold on to it, and don’t open it.”

I never knew what he meant until I looked on amazon and eBay, people were selling them for hundreds!

Now I know what he means, as it collects dust, it also collects value.”

10. Rusted out.

“Me and my aunt found an old rusted piece of pin that’s the size of a coin

When we cleaned it, we found markings on it. We asked my aunt’s friend who works at a museum and he said it was most likely an earring from precolonial times of the natives in our country.

The museum bought it from us for around USD380 or about 20k in our money.”

11. Jackpot.

“Years ago a family friend found an old record at a garage sale.

Turned out to be one of two copies of a Velvet Underground recording. If I remember right, the original owner had worked with the band, passed away, and his wife sold a bunch of his records.

Family friend bought it for 75￠, and sold it for a cool $25,000 on ebay. A couple places even reported on it back in the day.”

12. Good deal.

“Saw an ad on Facebook of a bass for $30.

Bought it and it turned out to be a fender jazz bass which is like $600 on the fender website!”

13. Pearls.

“I bought some black pearls from a box of “junk jewelry” at an antique mall for $5 each for matching bracelet and necklace.

They turned out to be the real thing Tahitian Black Pearls, worth several hundred dollars.

I wear them on special occasions.”

14. Gold watch.

“My dads girlfriend found a gold watch in a thrift shop that was made in Switzerland for .50.

It sold for around 1,800.”

15. Hiding cash.

“My grandpa died when I was young and my parents had a garage sale to get rid of junk and they almost sold a cookie jar before checking what was inside and it was a wad of $100 bills.

Turns out my grandfather had a habit of hiding money in random places and he had false books hiding pearls, false bottoms in drawers hiding gold or cash and about $1000 in a bicycle’s left handlebar.”

Wow!

Have you ever found something you thought was junk that turned out to be worth something?

If so, tell us all about it in the comments. Thanks!

The post People Share Things That Turned Out to Be Valuable That They Thought Were Junk appeared first on UberFacts.

I think we’ve all dreamed about finding some discovered item that we rush home with under our coat and, once safely at home, we examine it and discover that it’s something worth a lot of dough.

It’s never happened to me, but I think I still have some time to get lucky…

Here are some stories from some folks on AskReddit who found “junk” that turned out to be worth something.

Let’s take a look.

1. Wow!

“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 !”

2. Score!

“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.”

3. Good investment.

“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.”

4. Not a fake.

“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.”

5. Old guitar.

“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.”

6. Awesome!

“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.”

7. A good flip.

“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.”

8. Estate sale score.

“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 $3,500 and I paid maybe 30$ for all 4 prints and paintings I wanted.”

9. Who knew?

“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?”

10. Good fortune.

“Bought a mid-century Ottoman for $75 at an estate sale in NYC.

Found out years later it’s worth $3,000.”

11. Ghosted.

“So my mom and I were helping a family friend deep clean the house to sell. (Not rich, but not poor) Well I found these cool colorful sketch-style art prints all rolled up in a corner of his shop, he told us that we could keep them, since he wasn’t much of an art guy.

Turns out the signatures on the prints was Dali. I had been to a Dali and Picasso exhibit in Rome, so I recognized the signature.

We had them appraised, they were worth quite a bit. Out of respect we told the guy who gave them to us. He asked for them back and then he ghosted us with the prints. We aren’t in touch with him anymore. Never found out what happened with them.”

12. It’s gold!

“When I was nine or ten years old, I found some metal clips and a brooch while playing in some old ruins. Since our city has been there since Roman times, it was obvious that it might be really old. But usually, that stuff isn’t worth much.

Showed it to the archeologists at the local museum and turned out it was gold. Everything. They asked where I found that, excavated the area (again) and found quite the stash of fine Terra Sigillata with coins and jewelry in it.

I was allowed ro keep three things and I chose a perfectly preserved dinner plate, a ring and a coin.”

13. The old owners.

“Found an old box under some insulation in my new house’s attic, opened it out of morbid interest and found a sega with a handul of games.

Out of the love of mine i contacted the old owners (i guessed they might love theirs like i do mine) they were so ecstatic to have it back.

Turns out that it was their sons, they had lost him when he was 8 and that sega plus a handful of other things were all they had left.

Might not have been worth loads of money but was definitely more valuable to them than any amount of gold.”

14. Priceless.

“When I was 17, I found a driver’s license on the ground from a guy who was 22 and resembled me a fair bit.

Rarely had a problem getting into bars or clubs with it. It was priceless.”

How about you?

Have ever discovered what looked like a piece of junk but it turned out to be valuable?

If so, please share your story with us in the comments.

The post People Talk About “Pieces of Junk” They Found That Turned Out to Be Worth Some Money appeared first on UberFacts.