78 Homeowners Who Opened A Cupboard, Lifted A Rug, Or Cut Into A Wall And Found Something Unexpected

Houses often outlive the people who live in them, and they hold on to things even better. According to the English Housing Survey, roughly one in five homes in England was built before 1919. That gives previous owners a lot of time to lose, hide, or forget about whatever is now sitting in the attic. Some of what's up there is worth a fortune.

In 2010, a family clearing out a house in Pinner, a suburb in northwest London, found an 18th-century Chinese vase among the household clutter. It dated from the Qianlong period, and the auctioneers at Bainbridges in nearby Ruislip estimated it at around a million pounds. It sold for £43 million to a buyer from mainland China, a record for a Chinese work of art at the time.

In 2014, a leak in the roof of a house near Toulouse, France, sent the owners up to the attic to check the damage. They found a large painting that had apparently been sitting there for around 150 years. Eric Turquin, the Paris art expert who examined it, argued it was a lost Caravaggio from around 1607, and it was valued at up to €100 million. Other specialists disagree. A private sale in 2019 stopped it from going to auction, and the argument over who painted it hasn't ended.

Before governments insured deposits, plenty of people kept their money in places a bank couldn't lose it. Roughly 9,000 US banks failed during the 1930s, and the FDIC didn't exist until 1933, so cash ended up in mattresses, jars, and walls.

In 2013, a couple walking their dog on their own property in Northern California spotted a rusty can sticking out of the ground. It held gold coins, and more cans turned up nearby, 1,427 coins in total, dated between 1847 and 1894. The face value was $27,460, and the collection was worth around $10 million. The couple stayed anonymous and it's now known as the Saddle Ridge Hoard.

Old British houses hold strange finds, and one of the most common is a single worn-out shoe. Builders and homeowners hid them in chimneys, beside doorways, and inside walls over several centuries. The usual explanation is that shoes held the shape of the person who wore them and were meant to trap evil spirits trying to get in through the gaps in a house.

Northampton Museum, in the middle of England's old shoemaking country, has spent decades keeping records of these finds. They show up across Britain, and also in North America and Australia. Mummified cats have been found hidden in the same spots, which is a lot to discover mid-renovation.

Some houses were built with secrets in mind. Under Elizabeth I, being a Catholic priest in England was a crime, so wealthy Catholic families had hiding places constructed inside their homes. These were called priest holes, and a Jesuit lay brother and carpenter named Nicholas Owen built many of them until he was arrested and saw his end in the Tower of London in 1606.

Searchers would measure rooms and tap walls to find the missing space, so the best hides sat behind staircases and under floors. Old country houses like Harvington Hall in Worcestershire still have some on show, and a few more may be waiting for someone with a crowbar.

If you find something yourself, the rules depend on where you live. In England and Wales, the Treasure Act 1996 says that objects at least 300 years old, made of at least 10% gold or silver, must be reported within 14 days of the discovery. In the US, rules vary by state, and you should check before you start selling anything. You will probably also want to check before you tell the neighbors.

Not every discovery will pay for a new roof. Plenty of people found old newspapers, a time capsule, or a note left by a builder, and the house felt a little more interesting afterward. That is still a better result than the drawer of mystery batteries.