They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but some of them are actually worth millions. Passionate collector Randy Guijarro stumbled upon one such photo while browsing through a thrift store, and bought it for just $2 together with three more photographs.
He noticed that the man in the photo looked quite familiar and he was quite certain he was the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid. At first, his claims were met with skepticism, but the photo was authenticated by Kagin's Incorporated and valued at a whopping $5 million!
Not to be confused with Tiffany & Co, Tiffany Studios was all the rage during the Gilded Age. Tiffany glass was a symbol of prestige and fortune, and it was a true luxury to own one of their signature stained glass windows, Tiffany lamps, and other mosaic luxury items.
They went out of business in 1933, but the prices of their vintage products are still sky-high. This Tiffany Studios Peacock Mirror from 1905 was appraised by PBS’s Antiques Roadshow appraiser, Arlie Sulka, who put its value at $25,000.
When Dori Rhoades decided to sell an old denim jacket for $20 at a garage sale, she expected to earn some cash but ended up losing a fortune instead. She accidentally sold an $18,000 pair of earrings, after tucking them inside the pocket for safe-keeping.
To make the whole thing even worse, the earrings were a family heirloom, given to her by her parents who immigrated to America from Vietnam. She was heartbroken after losing them because the earrings represented all the sacrifices they made to build a good life for their kids.
Sean and Rikki McEvoy browsed through vintage bargains at a local Goodwill, looking for clothes they could sell online, but they never expected one of them to be worth a fortune. That turned out to be the case with a West Point sweater that they bought for just 58¢.
The couple noticed the nametag “Lombardi” stitched into the sweater, but only paid attention to it after watching a documentary about Vince Lombardi. The sweater ended up belonging to the NFL coaching legend and it was later sold at an auction in New York for $43,000.
Tony Marohn bought an antique stock certificate from the Palmer Union Oil Company for just $5. While researching its history, he found out that Coca-Cola was its successor, and decided to contact the company asking for his stake, claiming he was owed $130 million.
This was the beginning of a messy legal battle that continued even after his death in 2010. Coca-Cola’s lawyers rejected his claims that he was owed 1.8 million shares of Coca-Cola, claiming his certificate was “worth in the range of zero.”
British businessman Andy Fields was always passionate about garage sales, and he truly struck gold while visiting one in Las Vegas. He bought a few paintings for just $5 and one of them turned out to be an early work of none other than Andy Warhol!
It’s believed that he was just ten when he completed the sketch, which most likely shows the '30s singer Rudy Vallee. Fields didn't plan on selling the drawing right away, but Warhol's early sketch would most likely fetch $2 million at auction.
Nintendo’s games were such a huge hit during the '90s that college campuses across the U.S. organized an event called Nintendo Campus Challenge. Special cartridges were created for this competition and they were later destroyed… or were they
Rob Walters was lucky enough to stumble upon one of them at a garage sale and JJ Hendricks later bought it for $14,000. He decided to resell it on eBay, where it was sold for over $20,000 in 2009.
Velvet Underground went down in history as one of the most iconic and influential rock bands of all time, and their rare records can now fetch pretty impressive prices. Warren Hill knows this better than anyone since he made quite a profit after selling one of them.
The Montreal native stumbled upon a rare Velvet Underground at a flea market and bought it for 75¢. It was recorded at New York's Scepter Studios in 1966 and was later sold on eBay for around $25,000 to an anonymous buyer. It was auctioned again by an Oakland record store in 2016 and it reached the price of $155,000.
Art collector Michael Wilson truly struck gold while browsing through Angel View Thrift Store in Yucca Valley. He stumbled upon an interesting painting that set him back by just $40 and decided to buy it because it had a strong Andy Warhol vibe.
After seeing the news story about Andy Fields, who found an early Warhol painting in Las Vegas, he realized their signatures matched. The painting known as "The Gold Thinker" was then authenticated and valued at between $500,000 and $2.5 million before being auctioned off for charity.
Racquel Cloutier was in the hospital giving birth when her husband Eric decided to clean up the home before her arrival by organizing a garage sale. Selling an old watch box for $10 seemed like a good idea until he learned there was a valuable item hiding inside.
His wife put her $23,000 diamond wedding ring in the box for safe-keeping so her young kids wouldn’t be able to reach it. She was upset after learning that the ring was gone, but she held onto hope that the buyer would do the right thing and return the ring.
