- [Voiceover] History and Mother Nature
leave the darndest things lying around.
Many times they're found by experts
actively searching for them,
but sometimes an amateur blunders into something
fantastic that just happens to make him
very, very wealthy.
Number one is the Hoxne Hoard.
In 1992, British farmer Peter Whatling lost a hammer,
so he asked his friend Eric Lawes to search
for it with a metal detector.
What Lawes ended up discovering was
tens of thousands of Roman coins,
along with jewelry and other small valuable items.
All totaled, the Hoxne Hoard contained more
than seven pounds of gold and 50 pounds of silver.
As required by law, Whatling and Lawes
reported it to the authorities,
and the items were eventually placed
in the British Museum.
However, the government was required to reimburse
Lawes for fair market value that was calculated
at 1.8 million pounds,
which today is worth $4.6 million dollars.
Lawes split the money with Whatling,
and laws were actually changed to require
such a division between finder and landowner
in future cases.
Number two is the Staffordshire Hoard.
The Hoxne Hoard isn't even the richest
archaeological find found by amateurs.
In 2009, Terry Herbert discovered gold items
in a recently plowed field in Staffordshire, UK.
Eventually, over 3500 pieces dating from
the seventh and eighth centuries were eventually excavated.
The original find was valued at 3.3 million pounds.
Finds continue to be made at the site, however,
and the finder's fee continues to apply.
Number three are the works of Martin Johnson Heade.
In the last 20 years,
three different paintings by 19th century
American artist Martin Johnson Heade
have transformed from cheap purchase into major sale.
In 1996, his Magnolia Blossoms on Blue Velvet
sold for almost $1 million dollars,
after having been bought along with another
piece of art at an estate sale for $100 dollars total.
Then, in 1999, Two Magnolias on Blue Plush
sold for $882,000 dollars,
after having been bought for $29 dollars
at a rummage sale.
A month later, Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth
sold for $1.25 million dollars after having been
bought for next to nothing.
Number four is Action Comics #1.
In 1938, someone builds a house in Elbow Lake,
Minnesota and stuffed the walls with newspapers
and other cheap paper materials as insulation.
Included in that material was Action Comics #1,
which features the first appearance of Superman.
At the time, it wasn't worth anything.
Today, a mint condition Action Comics #1
can fetch $2 million dollars.
This was far from mint condition, however,
as it had been stuffed in a wall for 80 years
before finally being discovered in 2013.
Graded a mere 1.5 out of 10,
it still fetched $175,000 dollars
for the man who bought the home for just
over $10,000 dollars.
Number five is the Royal One Opal.
It was an opal miner's very last day on the job
when he found the Royal One at the bottom of his bucket.
At first glance it appeared to be of poor quality.
Only after cleaning it up did he get a hint
of what he had.
For the next 14 years,
the 306-carat black opal was kept in a bank vault.
Besides being large,
it has exceptional color, clarity, and purity,
all of which factor into its value.
In 2013, it went on sale with an asking price
of $3 million dollars.
Number six is the Amarillo Starlight Diamond.
Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas
is the only diamond-bearing site in the entire world
that's open to the public.
You can just walk in, dig, and keep what you find.
And that's just what W. W. Johnson did.
While vacationing with his family,
he unearthed a 16-carat diamond,
the largest find since the park opened in 1972.
It was later cut down to 7.5 carats,
and is thought to be worth $150,000
and $175,000 dollars today.
Number seven is a 1964 Shelby Vobra Daytona.
Designed exclusively as a racing car,
only six 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona's were ever built.
Of these, the original went missing in the 1970s
and was feared destroyed.
In fact, it had been put into storage by Donna O'Hara,
daughter of a bodyguard of music producer Phil Spector,
who previously owned the car.
Then, in 2000, she committed suicide,
and her mother discovered and sold the car
for a cool $3 million.
The sale has not been without challenges.
Spector claims he'd only put it in storage,
not transferred ownership.
And a friend of Donna's has paperwork willing
the car to him.
The mother eventually settled with the payment
of $687,500 dollars.
Number eight is the Declaration of Independence.
In 1989, a man spent $4 dollars on a painting
at a flea market because he liked the frame.
As he attempted to remove the painting,
the frame fell apart and a piece of folded paper fell out.
It turned out to be one of the first 500
printed copies of the Declaration of Independence,
made in 1776.
Only 23 were known to have survived,
and only two of which were in private collections.
When it went to auction in 1991,
it was thought to fetch up to $1.2 million dollars.
In fact, the final price was $2.4 million dollars.
Number nine is the 12-pound gold nugget.
In 2013, a man who wishes to remain anonymous
was searching in a field in Ballarat, Victoria,
in Australia, looking for gold,
just as hundreds of people have done before him.
Sizable nuggets have come out of Ballarat,
but what this man found was 12 pounds
and nine inches long,
resting just 23 inches under the ground.
By weight the nugget is worth $300,000 dollars.
However, the rareness of its size could increase
the price substantially.
Number 10 is a golden orb.
A scrap dealer bought a gemstone-embellished gold orb
for $14,000 dollars,
hoping to sell it for its raw material value.
However, prospective buyers thought he had
overestimated its worth and turned him down,
so it sat on a shelf for years.
One day he Googled Vacheron Constantin,
the name etched onto the piece.
Results included an article featuring a picture
of the egg and the headline,
"Is this 12 million-pound nest egg on your mantelpiece?'
He'd actually come across the Third Imperial Egg,
one of the 50 Fabergé eggs created in Russia
in the late 19th century.
It was reportedly sold to a private collector
for $33 million dollars.
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