22 Amazing Treasures That Were Found Accidentally

Incredible hidden treasures

From paintings gathering dust in attics to pots of coins discovered in the garden, read on to see some incredible treasures rediscovered in the most remarkable circumstances.

Department store treasure

In September 2014, a small box filled with gold and silver jewelry that had sat undisturbed since 60AD was found buried beneath the Fenwick department store in Colchester, England. The box turned out to be a priceless Roman treasure trove of international importance and is currently on display in Colchester Castle.

One of the world’s largest black truffles

Australian farmer Stuart Dunbar was lucky enough to accidentally find one of the biggest black truffles reportedly ever grown in Australia. Truffles are already a pretty pricey ingredient, so it comes as no surprise that the fungus, weighing in at 1.5kg, was valued at AU$3,700 (US$2,700). Dunbar described it simply as "a beast".

Diamonds hidden in a dusty chair

Ever thought you could quite literally be sitting on a fortune? Well a couple from Scotland did just that. Angela Milner-Brown and her husband Angus discovered jewelry worth $6,485 hidden inside an old dusty chair they’d bought for just $6.50 at an auction 10 years previously.

Valuable painting in a sofa

In 2007, an impoverished German student lucked out big time when she found a 17th-century oil painting in a shabby old couch she'd snapped up for just €150 ($170) at a Berlin flea market. The painting was eventually sold for a whopping €19,600 ($22,330) at auction.

US gold coin stash in London

A hoard of 19th-century US gold coins were dug up in a garden in Hackney, London in 2009. Worth $104,000, it was later discovered that the coins were buried just before World War II by a Jewish family fearing a Nazi invasion of the UK. The treasure was eventually claimed by a descendant of the family.

Atari's buried games

In 2014, as part of a documentary called Atari: Game Over, excavators unearthed 1,300 E.T. games cartridges at a landfill site in New Mexico, which had been unceremoniously dumped after the infamous title bombed in 1983. Incredibly the games have generated $108,000 in sales from buyers from around the world. The money has gone to the Tularosa Basin Historical Society.

Concealed comic book

In May 2013, builder David Gonzalez snapped up a dilapidated property for just $10,100 in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, which he intended to flip for profit. Gonzalez' bargain purchase paid off and then some. While knocking down a wall, he discovered a copy of Action Comics Issue 1 worth $175,000.

Old cash found in a bathroom wall

Contractor Bob Kitts accidentally unearthed a couple of years’ worth of salary in a bathroom wall during a job at an Ohio house. Behind the walls sat $182,000 in Depression-era currency. Unfortunately he only ended up with a few thousand after a lengthy court battle with the homeowner. Still, a couple of thousand is better than nothing.

Hoard hidden in a piano

A 110-year-old piano was the unlikely hiding place for a hoard of over 900 gold sovereign coins, the largest-ever haul of such coins in the UK. The upright piano had been donated to Bishop's Castle Community College in Shropshire in 2016, and while the college's piano technician Martin Backhouse was working on it he found the coins stored in white corduroy pouches lying underneath the piano's keys. The hoard was valued at $648,500.

The sculpture propping open a shed

An 18th-century bust of a British politician, Sir John Gordon, was discovered propping open the door to a shed in the village of Balintore, Easter Ross in Scotland. Valued at more than $1.9 million, it has now been displayed in the Louvre in Paris.

The Hoxne Hoard

In 1992 a farmer living near Hoxne in Suffolk, England lost a hammer in his field, so asked a friend to try to find it using their metal detector. They didn’t find the hammer, but they did find a host of coins, spoons, jewels and statues dating back to the Roman Empire. The farmer and his friend were paid $2.3 million for the haul, which is now on display in the British Museum.

The Declaration of Independence

In 1989, a man in Philadelphia picked up an old painting at a flea market for $4 (£3), simply because he liked the frame. Investigating a tear in the canvas, the frame fell apart in his hands and a folded document fell out. It turned out to be an old copy of the Declaration of Independence and was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for an incredible $2.42 million.

Comics in the closet

Michael Rorrer was cleaning out the Virginia home of his great aunt, who had recently died, when he discovered her husband’s old comic book collection. This wasn’t just any old stack of Archie comics though – half of the collection was auctioned off in 2012 and raised an incredible $3.5 million.

The hidden haul in the inherited house

A Frenchman who inherited a property in Normandy from a relative who had died discovered an enormous collection of thousands of coins and bars weighing more than 220lb in 2016. “It started when he found screwed under a piece of furniture a tinplate box (with gold inside),” according to La Dépêche, the local newspaper. His next find was inside a “whisky bottle box with a few gold pieces carefully hidden.” The find gradually grew, and he has since sold it all for €3.5million ($4m).

The Bugatti in the garage

When Dr Harold Carr passed away in 2009, he left his niece and nephew the deeds to his dusty garage in Newcastle, England in his will. When they opened it up they discovered their eccentric uncle had stored a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S there, which had once been owned by British aristocracy. It fetched a cool $4.2 million at auction.

Long-lost Keith Haring mural

In 2010, architect Todd Ernst uncovered a mural by artist Keith Haring while renovating his home in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood. The home, complete with artwork still in place, was sold in January 2015 for a cool $10 million.

Buried Gold Rush coins

A couple from Northern California struck gold (literally) when they discovered a pot of rare gold coins buried in their back garden. The pot, which had been hidden away during the 19th-century Gold Rush, contained 1,427 mint condition coins with an estimated value of $10 million.

Hidden $15 million painting

A painting by artist Norman Rockwell was discovered behind a false wall owned by the late cartoonist Don Trachte when his sons were renovating their father's property. The painting had been hidden by Trachte to avoid his wife being granted it following their divorce in 1970. It later sold at auction for $15.4 million.

Forgotten classic cars

A treasure trove of 60 rusting classic cars was discovered on a French farm in 2014, worth over an incredible $25 million. The cars were collected from the 1950s to the 1970s by entrepreneur Roger Ballion, but his haul sat dormant in corrugated iron shelters on the farm after he hit financial problems. One Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder was previously owned by French film star Alain Delon and sold for €16.2 million ($18.5m) alone.

$30 million paintings in the attic

When Thomas Schultz and Lawrence Joseph bought a cottage in Long Island, New York, they discovered a massive haul of paintings in the attic. The collection, which was painted by the artist Arthur Pinajian, has now been valued at an incredible $30 million.

The forgotten Caravaggio

In 2014 a 400-year-old painting, believed to be by the Italian master Caravaggio, was discovered hidden in the roof of a house in Toulouse, France while repairs were carried out. The painting was valued at as much as €120 million ($137m) but was bought by a mystery buyer before it went to auction.

 

The 17th-century painting in a fashion boutique

During the construction of a new Oscar de la Renta fashion store in Paris, builders got more than they bargained for. Behind a wall they uncovered a 10-by-20-foot 17th-century painting by a Flemish painter called Arnould de Vuez. Why was it there? It's suspected it was hidden to prevent Nazi looters from taking it during the Second World War.

Discover some treasures the Nazis stole that were sensationally recovered