Some people have all the luck.
From Roman coins to massive pearls here are accidental discoveries that made people rich
#8 In 1999 in the Australian outback a Miner
who is only known by his first name “Bobby” Was nearing the end of his 40 year career
as a Miner.
Bobby was cleaning out his very last mining bucket of rough stones before retirement when
he noticed something incredible.
A gem the size of his fist sitting at the bottom.
He kept the gem a secret for 14 years for fear of being targeted by thieves.
Eventually he revealed the stone to a Santa Fe based jewelry designer named Kathrine Jetter
who described the rock as a “breathtakingly beautiful stone” featuring a rich, royal
blue color that is enhanced by the stone’s natural and undulating form.
This gem was named the “Royal One” and the color is so brilliant that the stone almost
glows in the dark.
The stone was valued at $3 million.
Bobby is sitting pretty and enjoying the haul of his fortunate find.
#7 In 2012 in Bourenmouth Great Britain, an 8
year old boy Charlie Naysmith was walking on the beach of Hengistbury Head when he came
across a big chunk of what he thought was a yellow rock.
It weighed 600 grams and had a waxy finish.
Charlie thought that it looked neat and brought it home.
As luck would have it, this was no ordinary rock, it was actually a massive piece ambergris.
For those of you wondering what ambergris is, you’re not alone.
It’s a rare material that is only found in the interest times of whales.
Simply put, it’s whale Tom sit.
But it turns out that hardened whale Luke is super valuable because it is an ingredient
popular among perfume makers that they use to prolong the scent of their product.
So remember next time you’re spraying on perfume or cologne before a big date, you’re
spraying yourself down with whale scarf.
Charlie’s ambergris stone was sold for $63,000!
To make the ending extra happy, Charlie decided to donate a portion of his find to build shelters
for animals in his area.
# 6 Some people are just born lucky.
While most of us spend a lifetime of hard work and perseverance trying to amass a fortune,
others are dealt winning cards on the very first hand.
Wesley Carrington of Hertfordshire England is one of those fortunate few.
Back in 2013 Wesley bought a metal detector on a whim thinking that it would be a fun
hobby to scan a field near his home for buried metal.
Within the first 20 minutes of picking up the machine the metal detector started beeping.
He dug 7 inches into the ground and uncoverd a coin that was gold in color with a roman
figure on it.
As it turns out, the gold coloring was actually pure gold and the coin was an ancient Roman
Solidus.
The Solidus was a currency that was issued in the late Roman Empire under Constantine
who ruled over the massive empire from year 306 to 337.
Each coin was made with 4.5 grams of gold and they were used to facilitate trade among
romans.
Wesley’s coin had been traded all the way up to England which indicates how prolific
they were at the height of their circulation.
Wesley was understandably pumped with his historic find, he pocketed the coin and kept
on searching.
Within minutes his metal detector went off again.
To his delight, he found an identical coin hidden in the ground.
This process went on for the rest of the day.
In a few hours Wesley found 55 Roman coins and he only stopped because it got too dark
to continue.
The next day he went back at it again and by the time he finished Wesley had uncovered
158 buried coins.
Worth nearly $1000 a piece Wesley earned $156,000 in 24 hours of work.
It is believed to be the largest collection of roman coins ever found in England and perhaps
the most salient example of beginners luck in history.
#5 Typically a penny from 1974 is just worth
one cent.
However in the case of Robert Lawrence it can be worth millions.
Robert is the son of a long time deputy superintendent of the U.S. Mint in Denver Co, When his father
passed he bequeathed Robert with his coin collection.
It was nothing fancy, it was just a bunch of coins in a zip lock bag.
After a few months Robert decided to take the small collection to a local coin expert
who was impressed by the 1974 penny.
After doing some research the expert discovered that it was actually an aluminum Penny.
One of only 10 made.
Back in the early 70s the treasury department was experimenting with different types of
metals to be used for penny’s.
They made 10 trial aluminum pennies but scrapped the metal as an option because it wouldn’t
work in vending machines.
It was believed that all 10 aluminum pennies had been deep void.
But turns out that Robert’s dad has gotten his hands on one of them.
Robert’s lucky penny was valued at a whopping 2 million dollars!
#4 In 1989 a Pennsylvania man went into a flea
market.
He found a picture frame that he really liked and he bought if for just 4 bucks.
It already had a little picture in it, but he wanted to swap it out for one of his own
images.
When he removed the picture he found something that would revolutionize his live.
A mint condition first print copy of the original signed declaration of independence.
Written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed by the founding
fathers of the 13 colonies of the United States and sent to King George of England, essentially
telling the king to get lost cause America wasn’t going to put up with his taxation
without representation nonsense any longer.
Only 25 original handwritten copies were made.
The unidentified man was able to sell the copy for 2.4 million dollars in 1991.
Later it sold again in 2000 for $8.1 Million.
#3 While playing in an abandoned house in Pennsylvania,
some local kids found several old coins near one of its walls.
When their parents found out, they broke the walls and hundreds of coins fell out.
All in all there were $8,500 of ordinary coins and some rare coins that were valued at $200,000.
So where are the coins today?
They’re sitting in the children’s trust funds.
Just the ultimate broke of good luck, getting rich by playing hide and go seek is literally
the dream.
# 2 In 1992 Peter Whatling, A British Farmer asked
his friend Eric Lawes to help him find his lost hammer, using Peter’s home made metal
detector to find the missing hammer, Eric spent an entire afternoon searching for the
lost tool in peter’s field.
But instead of finding the misplaced hammer, Eric stumbled across a oak box filled to the
brim with gold and silver jewelry and coins.
It was on of the largest collections of fourth and fifth century roman jewelry ever to be
discovered in Britain.
Archeologists named this treasure the “Hoxne Board” and it was brought to the British
Museum in London for display.
The Jewelry and coins are worth a grand total of $15 million dollars and Eric received a
prize of $2.3 million for turning it in.
Eric shared the reward with Peter who can now afford to buy all of the hammers that
he wants.
# 1 In 2006 off of the coast of the Philippines,
a family of Filipino fishermen were out for the day rounding up fish to sell back at the
local market.
When it was time to call it a day, one of the sons reeled in the boats anchor and when
it surfaced, to his surprise, he found that a giant lamb was stuck to the metal.
The son brought the lamb home and when he opened it up in his room he saw that inside
was the world’s largest pearl.
This thing is gigantic!
Its 1 foot wide, 2.2 feet long and weighs 75 pounds.
Not knowing the value of his find, the fisherman, who has requested that his identity remain
anonymous, kept the pearl under his bed for 10 years and would rub it every morning for
good luck.
Eventually the man told his aunt, who works at the local government’s city tourism council,
about his enormous pearl.
Together they turned in the find which is estimated to have a value of $100 million
dollars.
Because he’s a man of the people, the fisherman offered it to the city’s tourism board at
an undisclosed price.
It’s currently on display as a tourism attraction and the record breaking pearl is a big draw
for people from all over the world who want to see this one of a kind stone.
I hope you loved the video.
What would you do if you found a 2 million dollar coin?
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Until next time friends!