As humans, we’re fortunate to live on the planet Earth. There’s enough mystery, wonder and adventure to last every single one of us a lifetime. There are breathtaking views that can only be reached by hiking 20 miles up the side of a mountain. There are fascinating creatures that can only be seen in remote parts of the world during certain times of the year. Needless to say, there are a lot of really cool things that can be experienced. Most of the time, people find these hidden gems through word of mouth. A friend leaves the country and stumbles across a hidden waterfall, and instantly, you want to go there, too. On the other hand, there are some treasures that are found entirely by accident. But these kinds of treasures bring a different kind of value to your life. While they may be beautiful, they’re also monetarily valuable.A German woman was strolling around her favorite flea market when she spotted a great deal on a couch. She couldn’t resist, so she paid the vendor the $215 they were asking for. Once the woman got the couch home, she realized that there was a painting in the couch. After having it appraised, the woman found out that it was a 17th-century painting and she later sold it for $27,630!!
One of those priceless copies was found inside the walls of a home in Minnesota. As the owner grabbed the copy out of the wall, he accidentally ripped the back cover. Even so, this original copy was sold at an auction for a whopping $175,000! Who would’ve known that the comic books that kids had to hide from the parents would one day be worth so much money!
This couple from California was spending their afternoon in their garden when they stumbled across something that wasn’t fit for a salad. While digging around, the couple found a strange container. They must have been in a state of shock when they discovered that it was filled with $10 million worth of gold coins! Talk about a gold rush!
A man in Austria decided to expand his pool area, so he began the excavating process. During the dig, he found 200 hundred pieces of jewelry and other precious items that were believed to be over 650-years-old! But instead of selling the treasure trove, he lent them to the Austrian Museum for them to display!
As you know, Marie Antoinette was convicted of high treason sentenced to death in October of 1793. Marie must have known what was coming because she gave all of her most prized pieces to her nephew. It wasn’t until recently that the nephew’s descendants located the jewels and put them up for an auction.
A British farmer had lost his hammer in a field. After looking for it and failing, he decided to ask his neighbor if he could use his metal detector to find it. Unfortunately, the man never actually found the hammer. But he did find 14,000 coins from ancient Rome, which the British Museum later purchased for $2.7 million.
There were only a handful of Ty Cobb’s baseball cards printed in between 1909 and 1911, so finding just one of them is exceptionally rare. So could you imagine finding several of them? While cleaning out their grandfather’s attic, this family found SEVEN of Ty Cobb’s million-dollar baseball cards.
It was the year 1978, and two kids were messing around in their backyard. They thought it would be a great idea to dig a big hole in the yard, but they never expected how great of an idea it really was. As they were digging, the kids ran into some metal. It turned out to be an entire Ferrari! Apparently, the previous homeowner was trying to get one over on his insurance agent and buried the vehicle on his property!
While this resident of Nashville was shopping at a thrift store, he decided it would be a great idea to purchase an impressive “replica” of the Declaration of Independence. In a strange turn of events, what he found wasn’t actually a replica, it was, in fact, one of the 200 original copies of the Declaration of Independence. The man sold it at an auction for a smooth $477,650!
A Turkish man was renovating his home when he noticed that there was a hidden passageway. After further investigation, the man discovered that the passageway turned into an 18-story tunnel system that was capable of holding 20,000 people! This man had actually uncovered The Derinkuyu Underground City, which can actually be toured by the public now!
As Amanda Reece was renovating her home, she stumbled across two metal boxes. The boxes were hidden inside one of her walls and contained something extremely strange. Inside the boxes were rare Depression-era money! Eventually, Amanda found out that the bills were worth $180,000! She could buy a brand new home with that kind of money!
Typically, during a divorce the assets are divided between the couple, which is what led cartoonist Don Trachte Jr. to hide the famous Norman Rockwell painting, “Breaking Home Ties,” behind a false wall in his home. He may have gotten away with not giving it to his ex-wife, but his sons definitely reaped the benefits of the hidden treasure when they sold it at auction for $15.4 million!
While the Deikov brothers were mining the clay pits in Panagyurishte, Bulgaria, they discovered a few things that seemed to be made out of gold. As it turns out, they really were made of gold! After a bit of excavating, 13,000 pounds of gold treasure from the 3rd-century were taken out of the Earth.
While they were digging the well, the farmers noticed something odd sticking out of the dirt. It was a stone head! Once they had completely dug out the head, which was attached to an entire body, the farmers finally understood what they were dealing with. These simple farmers had unearthed the hidden tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and his terracotta army!
Teri decided that it was worth the $5 asking price, so she purchased it and brought it home. Once she got it to her house, she realized that she didn’t have the room for it, so she tried to sell it. That was when she learned that her painting was a priceless work of art done by none other than Jackson Pollock.
Cliff Bradshaw was metal detecting on the Ringlemere Farm, which is just outside of Sandwich, when he uncovered a dented gold cup. As it turns out, the cup was an actual artifact from the Bronze Age. Not only did the “The Ringlemere Cup” bring in $500,000, but it also led to numerous other discoveries in the area.
This piece from American painter, Martin Johnson Heade, had a way of popping up in the strangest place. This piece, in particular, is “Magnolias on Gold.” Before it was authenticated in 1999, it was being used a cover for a hole in the wall. It was later sold for $1.25 million!
While metal detecting near Middleham Castle, the previous residence of Richard III, in 1985, this amateur treasure hunter found a pendant. As it turns out the pendant was worth $4 million and was purchased by the Yorkshire Museum.
The year was 1947, and some shepherds were tending to their flock. All of a sudden, a sheep was separated from the herd and found its way to a cave nearby. Once the shepherds found him, they frightened the sheep. This caused the runaway to accidentally kick over a clay pot. Inside of this ancient relic were pieces of the Hebrew Bible that had never been seen before, which are now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This young man was exploring a strange cave system in the southwest of France when he realized that he may have stumbled across “something special” in the Lascaux Cave. Well, what he found was special indeed. That young man discovered approximately 600 cave paintings there were around 17,000 years old! Imagine finding that!
Farmer, Yorgos Kentrotas, was going about his own business looking for stones when he stumbled across something in the rubble of rocks. There, staring him straight in the eyes, was the ancient Greek artifact, “Venus de Milo.” If it wasn’t for him, we’d never have known that this beauty existed.
Illinois man, Wayne Sabaj, was digging around in his garden for when he noticed something sitting near his broccoli plants. It was a bag! As strange as it was, Sabaj looked inside of the bag. Inside of it was $150,000! Sabaj brought it to the police and they ended up tracking down an 87-year-old man who claimed to own the money! The old man also stated that he got rid of the money because it was cursed. The old man died shortly after, but his daughter shared some of the money to Sabaj, who died right before receiving it.
The Lyceum is known as the first Western-style university of the well-known philosopher, Plato. People assumed that the Lyceum had been lost, as many ancient buildings are. Fortunately, a construction project accidentally stumbled across the temple in 1997. As it appears, the Lyceum was hidden underneath a parking lot that hadn’t been paved yet.
The Rosetta Stone, which was used to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, was actually hidden inside of the walls of a stone fort. If it wasn’t for the French soldiers and their attempt to expand the fort, then the Rosetta Stone would have been lost forever, along with the knowledge that we now have of the ancient Egyptians and their way of life.
Up until 2003, it was believed that Teotihuacán was complete. Archeologists weren’t sure if there was anything else to discover, but that was about to change. Thanks to a whole bunch of rainfall, a large sinkhole opened up. After over a year of investigation and preparation, Mexican archeologists were given permission to investigate further, and we’re all lucky that they did. Once they made their way into the chamber, archaeologists discovered 70,000 different artifacts, including green glass crocodile teeth and jewels shaped into eyes.
In 1993, Escobar was shot and killed during a shoot-out with police 16 months after escaping from prison. Without prior knowledge of the history of the home, fast-food chain owner, Christian de Berdouare, purchased the home for $9.65 million. Once he learned about Escobar, Berdouare decided to demolish the home and rebuild. Once the demolition began, Berdouare began to find hidden rooms and large amounts of money. Berdouare eventually put the home back on the market.
One of his monuments located in Cherbourg, Normandy was being dismantled for restoration when the workers noticed something strange. Inside of the base of the monument was a hidden chest. Inside of the chest were gold coins that had been stashed in the statue ever since 1858. That’s some serious money hoarding!
A couple had recently purchased a home “as is” from the deceased homeowner’s daughters. The couple hired a construction team to begin renovations, but what they found during the demolition would end up bringing them a world of trouble. You see, the previous owner had a habit of stashing large amounts of money all over the house. The daughters found a lot of that money, as well as stocks and bonds, but it was time for them to sell the house. During the new owners’ construction process, $500,000 was found inside the bathroom walls. A feud ensued between the construction workers and the daughters, but the court ruled in favor of the daughters because they were the rightful heirs to the fortune.
While Spanish employees were working on the water pipes in the village of Seville they found 19 amphorae! Inside of these ancient artifacts were thousands of coins from the third and fourth centuries. It’s said that the treasure was valued at several million dollars!
When Russian construction workers were renovating a hotel, they discovered that there was a secret room between the second and third floors. Apparently, during the Russian Revolution of 1917, people stashed over 2,000 valuable objects wrapped inside of paper and cloth bags!
