Treasure are usually found in deep dark places- maybe hidden away at some dark corner in at the basement of an old abandoned castle or a fort or maybe buried deep in many layers of an old temple of a long lost civilization or a ship wreck in the middle of nowhere- but the very least expected places are your backyard, or your home or at a car parking, or the treasure washing up on the beach. With the recent changes and developments we keep finding many treasures of historical importance all over the places.
Let’s have a look at all the treasures that were found accidentally:
1. 1000 Year Old Chinese Bowl
In 2013, a New York family while rummaging around in a neighbourhood garage sale, decided to buy a white bowl for $3- which later turned out to be a 1,000-year-old Chinese treasure.
2. Action Comic Book No 1
In May 2013, builder David Gonzalez in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, intended to flip a dilapated property for profit. And while knocking down a wall, he discovered a copy of Action Comic Number 1 worth $175,000
3. Age Old Gold Bongs
The Scythians ruled over Europe and Asia for a thousand years. Gold artefacts discovered in Russia which dated back 2,400-year-old were used to inhale cannabis and opium and are considered priceless.
4. Atari’s Buried Games:
In 2014, a documentary called Atari: Game Over- Excavators unearthed 1,300 ET games cartridges at a landfill site in New Mexico, which was bombed in 1983.
5. Baseball Cards
A Californian family stumbled upon a tatty brown paper bag and found seven super-rare Ty Cobb baseball cards dating from 1901, worth a $1 million.
6. Black Truffles
An Australian farmer accidentally found one of the biggest black truffles ever grown in Australia. Weighing in at 1.5kg, it was valued at $2,770.
7. Depression Era Currency
Contractor Bob Kitts accidentally found hidden $182,000, belonging to the Depression Era in a bathroom wall while working at an Ohio house, behind the walls.
8. Diamonds hidden in a Dusty Old Chair:
Angela Milner-Brown and her husband Angus discovered diamond jewellery worth $6,595 hidden inside an old dusty chair they’d bought for just $7 at an auction.
9. Gold Rush Coins
A couple from Northern California struck gold when they found a pot of rare gold coins buried in their back garden containing 1,427 mint condition coins with an estimated value of $10 million (£7m).
10. Keith Haring Mural:
In 2010, architect Todd Ernst uncovered the artwork in a townhouse in New York City’s Tribeca neighbourhood.
11. Largest Pearl
A Fillipino fisherman found the world’s biggest pearl, weighing 34kg, off the coast of Peurto Princesa, unaware of its value, he kept the pearl for a decade as a ‘good luck charm’ under his bed, before it being seen by his aunt, a tourism officer, who found it to be valued in excess of $100m
12. Norman Rockwell Painting
This picture by artist Norman Rockwell was discovered by the sons of late cartoonist Don Trachte Jr behind a false wall owned. Mr Trechte Jr had hidden the painting to avoid his wife getting her hands on it following their divorce in 1970.
13. Painting in a sofa
In 2007, a German student found a 17th century oil painting in a shabby old couch she bought for just $215 at a Berlin flea market. The painting was sold for $27,630 at auction.
14. Rail Road Sign
Ian and Lynda Spires of Milton Keynes, England noticed that the floorboards had the names of towns and cities written on them- which was then they realized that the boards were actually valuable railway station signs, which went on to fetch $2,830.
15. Rare Gold Coins and Bars
A man from San Jose bought an abandoned storage unit for $1,100 at an auction, and found rare gold coins along with a few gold and silver bars worth $500,000 inside the storage unit.
16. Roman Treasure Trove
In September 2014, a small box filled with priceless Roman treasure trove was found buried beneath the Fenwick department store in Colchester, England.
17. Star Wars Toys
In 2011, San Franciscan Steven Hoffer re-discovered a dust-covered boxes in his parents’ attic – on inspection, he realized that he was the owner of 50 first-edition Star Wars toys .
18. US Gold Coin Stack
19th century US gold coins were dug up in a garden in Hackney, London in 2009. Priced at $113,000, it was later known that the coins were buried just before World War II by a Jewish family fearing a Nazi invasion.
By: Archa Dave
