Do you ever wonder what would happen if you took some random item from your house to get appraised?
If you watch Antiques Roadshow, either the US or UK version, you would know that sometimes, the stuff you have lying around could make you a very rich person.
Take a look at these 6 items that were worth an insane amount of money, and then consider giving your old belongings a second look.
A missing Diego Rivera painting.
Diego Rivera was one of the most famous Mexican muralists of the 20th century, so it’s surprising that one of his paintings would ever go missing.
But when one man brought in an early work by the famed artist, everyone was shocked to find out that it had simply been hanging out behind his grandparent’s door for years.
This painting, called “El Albañil”, meaning: “The Bricklayer”, was valuated between $800,000 to $1 million.
Faberge Flower worth more than 1 million pounds.
You’ve heard of Faberge eggs, but I bet you never thought that anything with the Faberge name would show up on Antiques Roadshow. All those eggs and everything Faberge is in museums, right?
Not quite. Apparently, on the U.K version, a pear blossom made from Faberge jewelry was the most expensive item to ever appear on the show.
It was valued at £1 million, which is a bit more than $1.3 million.
It is a truly gorgeous piece, so it’s well worth the money.
Baseball Cards.
Remember the Boston Red Stockings? Probably not. They were the baseball team before the Red Sox, but they existed so long ago you definitely never saw them play a game.
One woman went on Antiques Roadshow with a set of this team’s baseball cards from the 1871-1872 season.
They had been passed down through her family by her great-great-grandmother who gave the team a place to stay that year.
Because of this woman’s kindness in 1871, the whole team gave her the baseball cards along with a signed letter.
The extra touch of a handwritten letter raised the worth of these old baseball cards so much, that when they were evaluated, they were worth $1 million.
A Patek Phillippe watch that later was reappraised for even more money.
Patek Phillippe is an iconic Swiss watch designer, and when you add an antique element into the mix, you’ve got a pretty expensive watch.
This watch was initially appraised at $250,000, and the appraiser called the watch one of the finest he had ever seen. But at auction, the watch ended up selling for far more.
You see, the Antiques Roadshow appraiser hadn’t accounted for the fact that this watch is actually a custom job. In addition to time-telling, it comes with a calendar feature and a moon phase feature.
At auction, the watch ended up selling for $1.5 million.
A contemporary model of the Angel of the North statue.
Something more surprising than this find’s price is its age.
In Gateshead, Northern England, the Angel of the North statue stands in homage to the history of the area. However, it was erected in 1998, so it’s not quite an antique at all.
Neither are its models. The replicas that aided in the design of this statue are much smaller than the actual statue, and never saw the light of day, but they were essential in demonstrating the design to the decision-makers in the area that voted on building the statue in the first place.
Because these relatively new objects are considered to have a place in history, this model was evaluated at £1 million.
The Football Association Cup.
The one item on UK Antiques Roadshow that has been worth more than the Angel of the North model is a trophy for a soccer (or football) match.
This specific cup was handed down from one team that won the match to the next, between the years 1911 and 1992. At that time, it was retired, and a new model of the cup began to be used. It was evaluated at over £1 million, and about $1.4 million.
Watch the video below to see more amazing Antiques Roadshow finds!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
