We all have heard that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but what if this was something most of the world would recognize as a treasure that disguised itself as trash? I’m feeling like delving into some trivia today, so let’s check it out!
A Haul of Gold Coins Worth 500,000 Euros Stashed in an Old Piano!
One piano tuner had the best day at work ever when he discovered, hidden inside of a piano that had been donated to Bishop’s Castle Community College, seven cloth bags containing 913 gold sovereigns and half sovereigns dating anywhere from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The stash was worth 500,000 Euros (my keyboard won’t let me type the Euro sign) in 2016 money.
The piano had been donated in 2016 to the community college by a couple named Graham and Meg Hemmings. They’d owned the piano for 33 years before unwittingly donating it and the treasure it contained to a local school. During all that time, they never knew that it stored a secret stash of gold coins.
The Bishop’s Castle Community College called in a tuner to work on the old piano, especially since moving them can get them out of tune by itself, only for the lucky man to stumble upon the hoard. The haul was quickly declared to be a treasure, and while a British museum would take custody of the gold, its value could be divided up between the owner and the finder. In a cruel twist of fate, that meant the school and the tuner. Mr. and Mrs. Hemmings, who unknowingly owned the gold for 33 years, were not entitled to a claim.
The Painting in a Couch
Do you remember being a broke college student, or perhaps a broke young adult? One German student went thrift shopping in Berlin and bought a pullout couch for $215. When she got it home, however, she discovered way more than old wrappers, pennies, and other trash you sometimes find in second-hand sofas: a famous painting!
Just typing that makes me think I’m getting something appraised in Animal Crossing…
The painting was a 17th-century masterpiece titled “Preparation to Escape to Egypt” by Carlo Saraceni. The painting depicts the moment Icarus plunges from the sky as he and his father attempt to escape their imprisonment. It sold at auction for $27,630! Talk about a good bargain on used furniture!
Turns Out There Isn’t But One Photo of Billy the Kid
Randy Guijarro was minding his own business, browsing through an antique store in Fresno, California, when he came upon a photograph of Billy the Kid playing croquette with his gang, The Regulators! The infamous outlaw, who really should have been pardoned, was previously only known for one unflattering photograph. It turns out that now there’s more about this legendary hero or wayward criminal than we’ve seen so far.
He originally found the photograph in a cardboard box in the antique shop and paid $2 for it. Clearly, the shop had no idea what it had, for the photo, which took five years to authenticate, has been valued at $5M. That’s a lot of money!
By the way, if you want a great documentary on Billy the Kid, look no further than here:
A Pharaoh Among Bicycles
Have you ever been down in your basement and found something extraordinarily out of place? I found the skeletal remains of a dead rabbit once and still have no idea how it got down there! The God’s House Tower museum in Great Britain had a similar incident when they found a 2,700-year-old statue of an Egyptian king was serving as their bike rack.
Whoops.
The statue supposedly depicts King Taharqa of the 25th Dynasty, ruling from 690-664 BC (BCE). He was a great temple builder and probably didn’t expect that any statues of him would one day be serving as a bike rack in a British museum.
The Declaration of Independence
It sounds like something you’d see in a movie like National Treasure, but this is real. One of the most important documents in history, an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independence is worth a tremendous amount of money. However, in 1989 one lucky flea market shopper in Pennsylvania managed to purchase a painting for $4 just to have the frame. While taking it apart, he found that it contained a copy of the Declaration of Independence!
There were only 24 copies of the Declaration ever made on July 4, 1776, and it’s amazing how often they show up in these little markets for dirt cheap (in 2006, another one sold for $2). This one sold at auction in 1991 for $2.4M!
oh my, I really have to start thrift shopping lol