No doubt you have made your way around a yard or garage sale before, and maybe come across something you think may be worth something to sell on. But more likely than not, you leave empty handed rather than adding to your own stash of clutter at home.
Next time you go to a garage sale, however, you should try and take a closer look at what’s in offer. Garage sale and yard sale hunters have been known to find some amazing trinkets worth thousands! Most of the time, the original owner doesn’t even know that the items they are selling are worth much, much more and worthy sometimes of a place in a high end auction house or similar. This was the case for the following items that were sold for close to nothing and turned out to be extremely valuable.
1. A note from Stephen King
Before The Shining became a cinematic horror masterpiece, it was one of Stephen King’s most popular books. A lucky individual spotted a paperback version of The Shining for $1.99 and upon opening it was ecstatic to discover a personal note on the inside, dating back to 1981.
Along with the note, a picture of Stephen King was stuck under the cover, leading the buyer to believe the original owner had purchased the iconic book at a book signing with the author.
2. James Bond attire
A watch that was created specifically for the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball was quickly snapped up at a car boot sale for only £25! With the watch being a one-of-a-kind unique item, it was sold on for £103,875 in 2013! Talk about Goldfinger!
3. Unpublished Marylin Monroe images
A chap called Anton Fury bought a small envelope of photo negatives in 1980 for $2 at a garage sale. When he looked further into the images, he was elated to find out that it was 30 unpublished images of Marilyn Monroe and 70 images of Jayne Mansfield.
It is unknown if Anton kept the photos or sold them on.
4. Egyptian antiques
When an elderly woman from Cornwall died, all of her personal belongings and items from her home were put up for sale. An auctioneer came across these belongings at the sale and a statue bust of a feline which has been sitting in her house for years caught his attention. When he took a closer look and did some research, he found out that it was possibly linked to an individual who ran an Egyptian antiques dealership. The feline bust statue dates back to around 600 B.C.E. and may have been discovered by Howard Carter, the same man who discovered Tut’s tomb.
The auctioneer sold the piece for over £50,000.
5. Andy Warhol sketch
A man from Las Vegas claimed he bought an original Andy Warhol sketch at a garage sale for only $5 that depicted singer Rudy Vallee. It is thought that Warhol sketched it when he was around 10 years old and it was put on display in 2012 at The Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.
A sketch piece from Andy Warhol of that nature would be worth millions of pounds but his family and experts are not convinced that it was drawn by him as it does not hold any characteristics of his usual style.
