Mine isn't necessarily weird but how I fell into it was!
Around 10 years ago I was working in the IT industry, I decided to help my dad out one weekend sell hunting gear at a militaria expo (basically antique military gear and army disposal). One of the sellers had a 'vampire k*****g kit'. Knowing very little about antiques at the time I pulled out each piece, checking them over. The story checked out, did some research on my phone throughout the day and found out that it could be a fake in two ways. It could be a kit put together by someone out of antique pieces to make it seem real. And technically even if it was authentic it was a Victorian fake. With the fear of vampires in the late 19 century, con men put together vampire k*****g kits and sold them to rich businessmen visiting Europe.
What stood out to me though was the main reason I bought it. In the middle of the kit was a crucifix with an ivory inlay, that doubled as a god d**n percussion pistol!!!
Long story short I took a chance spent $1000 on it and got persecuted by my father for such a dumb move, I didn't have much in my savings at the same.
I took it to Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Australia and they flew someone out from the US to look at it which was pretty exciting. Within 5 minutes of looking at it they offered me a ridiculous sum of money for what I thought was a large investment to begin with.
While in ways I do regret selling the kit, it allowed me to start a career in the antiques trade. Five years later I moved to the UK to study a degree and now I specialise in rare obscure antiques that have allowed me to travel all around the world sourcing new weird objects!
Around 10 years ago I was working in the IT industry, I decided to help my dad out one weekend sell hunting gear at a militaria expo (basically antique military gear and army disposal). One of the sellers had a 'vampire k*****g kit'. Knowing very little about antiques at the time I pulled out each piece, checking them over. The story checked out, did some research on my phone throughout the day and found out that it could be a fake in two ways. It could be a kit put together by someone out of antique pieces to make it seem real. And technically even if it was authentic it was a Victorian fake. With the fear of vampires in the late 19 century, con men put together vampire k*****g kits and sold them to rich businessmen visiting Europe.
What stood out to me though was the main reason I bought it. In the middle of the kit was a crucifix with an ivory inlay, that doubled as a god d**n percussion pistol!!!
Long story short I took a chance spent $1000 on it and got persecuted by my father for such a dumb move, I didn't have much in my savings at the same.
I took it to Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Australia and they flew someone out from the US to look at it which was pretty exciting. Within 5 minutes of looking at it they offered me a ridiculous sum of money for what I thought was a large investment to begin with.
While in ways I do regret selling the kit, it allowed me to start a career in the antiques trade. Five years later I moved to the UK to study a degree and now I specialise in rare obscure antiques that have allowed me to travel all around the world sourcing new weird objects!