Woman Buys Statue for $100. Blown Away on 'Antiques Roadshow' 20 Years Later
If you love a good garage sale, you probably also love the hunt for a good deal. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
It’s awesome when you discover a hidden gem. If you’re lucky, you might make a little profit from something that the original owner is ready to get rid of.
From lamps to furniture to trading cards, hunting for the right deal no matter what the item can be exciting.
One woman in St. Louis, got the deal of a lifetime — 20 years after the garage sale ended! What she learned about her purchase left her stunned.
The woman had gone to a local garage sale of a person that she described as a “colorful character.” She was excited to see what she would find among his things for sale.
As she arrived at the sale, she knew that dealers had already gone through the merchandise and she didn’t think there would be much left. But then she saw a bronze statue that caught her eye.
20 years later, she decided to bring the piece to the one place that could tell her all about it — the Antiques Roadshow.
That wraps it up for our first hour from St. Louis! What was your favorite appraisal of the night? #antiquesroadshow pic.twitter.com/jHXN6EO41x
— Antiques Roadshow (@RoadshowPBS) February 20, 2018
The PBS show is filled with appraisers for almost everything under the sun, including bronze work.
She sat and listened as the appraiser told her about the statue. It turned out to be a Chinese Bodhisattva Gilt Bronze statue that was very well made. But what she heard next was something out of a bargain hunter’s dream.
The statue was extremely old, dating back an astonishing nearly 600 years to the early 15th century and Ming Dynasty.
The appraiser asked the woman how much she thought it was worth. She replied that, to her, it was worth $100, the price that she paid for it.
The woman was in clear disbelief as the appraiser told her the real value of $100,00 to $120,000. Now that’s a good profit!
The woman was so shocked that she asked him if he was sure. “I can’t believe it,” she said over and over again.
She had originally purchased the piece for its beauty, but had never suspected she had a real treasure all along.
Although the statue was missing an arm and hand and was still valued at such a substantial amount of money, the estimate was on the conservative side.
But this hidden treasure may just be cause to start searching in your own attic for potentially valuable gems hidden deep in boxes.
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