A man buys a tray in a second-hand store and its value increases by thousands: “Only two in the last 50 years”
An eagle-eyed thrift-store shopper in Illinois hit the jackpot last year, when he paid a bargain price for a highly valuable antique.
A Chicago man is set for a 1,000-fold return on a recent purchase at a thrift store, having unearthed a rare, centuries-old piece of porcelain china worth an estimated $5,000.
Last October, John Carcerano made the discovery at a Goodwill branch in Evanston, Illinois, paying just $4.99 for what turned out to be an 18th-century Chinese armorial export plate.
“In the corner of my eye I noticed the plate”
“The plate was underneath a modern plate and three other people were digging on the cart with me,” Carcerano revealed in an interview with Newsweek this month.
“When everybody walked away from the cart, including me after we went through it, in the corner of my eye I noticed the plate was underneath a modern one.”
After an internet search turned up evidence that he had uncovered a hidden gem, Carcerano got confirmation of the plate’s value from antiques specialists at top auction houses. The item is set to be auctioned this summer.
“A lot of people don’t know Asian art or porcelain well and it’s very surprising how they don’t even touch that stuff or look at it,” he told Newsweek. “I have a pretty good education, I could identify it and that’s how I recognized the Chinese export plate.”
Man buys plate for $4.99 at thrift store, then discovers its actual value https://t.co/SiJggZVMg0
— Helen Michell (@HelenMichell12) February 4, 2025
What other thrift-sale treasures have been unearthed in the U.S.?
Carcerano is the latest in an ever-growing list of eagle-eyed Americans who have picked up a previously unidentified treasure at a bargain-basement price.
Other recent examples include New York art dealer Allen Treibitz, who in mid-2024 spotted a painting worth a six-figure sum while perusing items at a barn sale in the Hamptons.
Treibitz paid just $50 for a piece by the 19th-century Canadian artist Emily Carr. At an auction in Toronto in November, the painting sold for CA$345,250 (around US$240,000), according to CBC.
“It stood out from everything else in that barn,” Treibitz told CBC. Auctioneer David Heffel added: “We were provided photos and there was no doubt in my mind that this was an exciting Cinderella discovery.”
In September 2023, meanwhile, a picture by the early-20th-century American painter N.C. Wyeth was sold at auction for $191,000. Per NPR, a New Hampshire woman had purchased the painting for $4 in 2017, at a thrift store in Manchester, N.H.
What thrift items tend to be the most valuable?
If you’re out to hit the thrift-sale jackpot, china and artwork are among the items you should have your eyes peeled for, writes House Beautiful’s Elizabeth Kadar.
Drawing on the advice of a number of antiques experts, Kadar also points to items such as glassware and solid-wood furniture.
Meanwhile, Vintage Cash Cow’s Anthony Charman tells the finance website Don’t Waste Your Money that thrift shoppers should likewise be on the lookout for articles such as jewelry, rare coins and vintage toys. (You will find information on rare coins at AS USA.)
Along with antique furniture, such articles are among “specific types of items that will always be valuable”, Charman explains. First-edition books are also “worth keeping an eye out for”, he says.
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