Editor’s Note
This article highlights the thrilling potential of treasure hunting in everyday markets, where overlooked items can turn out to be valuable antiques. It serves as a reminder to look closer—you never know what might be hiding in plain sight.
Markets, flea markets, garage sales… these places are full of curiosities, forgotten objects, and sometimes unsuspected real treasures. Some bargain hunters have been particularly lucky, stumbling upon pieces of inestimable value, as reported by the site Barnebys.fr.
Take this gilded copper dish, acquired for a handful of euros at a flea market: it was actually a piece of 17th-century silverware. Put up for auction on June 14, 2019, it found a buyer for 1,500 euros. A nice gain for an initial investment of 2 euros. But the story doesn’t end there. In Sweden, two candlesticks bought for €900 in Hälsingland turned out to be rare works signed by Anna Petrus, a renowned Swedish sculptor. The result? The National Museum in Stockholm acquired them for 46,800 euros.
Another surprising example: a German student, looking for cheap furniture, buys a sofa bed for €190. Once settled in her home, she discovers an oil painting hidden in the furniture. After identification, it turns out to be a work by Carlo Saraceni, a 17th-century Venetian artist. Title of the painting: Preparation for the Flight into Egypt. It was resold for €19,500.
Some objects, bought for just a few euros, have brought in staggering sums. This is the case of this ring adorned with a 26-carat diamond, dating from the 19th century. Its first owner had paid €11 for it, thinking she was buying a piece of costume jewelry. She didn’t know that this jewel would be resold for over €750,000.
A similar surprising scenario for an American family who, in 2007, fell for a small porcelain bowl at €3 to decorate their kitchen. Intrigued, they had it appraised: it was actually a 12th-century Chinese piece. Estimated at €200,000, it finally soared to €1.96 million at auction.
A similar story took place in another region of the United States, where a buyer had acquired a small statue representing a seated Buddha. 20 years after its purchase, the object was estimated at over €100,000 and finally sold for €1.87 million. In 1989, a man who wanted to reuse the frame of a painting bought at a flea market discovered a paper placed behind it. It was simply an extremely rare document: a copy of the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence. Made in the very year of the declaration of independence, this historical document was in very good condition, which allowed its buyer to get €2.1 million for it.
Finally, let’s go back to the end of the 19th century, in Russia. At the time, the country was ruled by the Tsars. The jeweler Fabergé, who worked for the imperial family, had made 57 Easter eggs, set with precious stones. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, these magnificent objects were scattered everywhere. In 2014, only eight of these eggs had not yet been discovered. One of them was found by an American scrap metal dealer at a flea market. Bought for €7,700, a justified sum for such an object, its price soared when it was identified as one of the eggs made by Fabergé. The scrap dealer became a multimillionaire since this object sold for €19.5 million.
