83 Times People Found The Weirdest But Also Amazing Things At The Thrift Store

And now and then, the maybe pays off in a very big way. According to Good News Network, a woman in Manchester, New Hampshire stopped by a Savers store hunting for frames to reuse and left with an old painting that cost her $4. She assumed the signature was a fake, hung it in her bedroom and eventually stashed it in the attic.

Then she shared photos in a Facebook group, which is a plot twist we can all appreciate, and the painting turned out to be a lost work by N.C. Wyeth with an auction estimate ranging from a quarter of a million to three million dollars. Another shopper who initially found a painting unappealing learned it was Vertical Diamond by Ilya Bolotowsky and worth far more than she expected. Mental Floss reports it sold through Sotheby's for $34,375 including the buyer's premium.

Of course, most finds never see an auction house, and that is perfectly fine. The everyday wins are smaller and often stranger, like a jacket that fits as if it had been waiting for you, a lamp shaped like a fish or a board game with every single piece still inside. Secondhand things arrive with history attached, and half the fun is wondering where they have been and who loved them before you did. That sense of story is something a brand new item on a shelf simply cannot offer. Then there is the social side.

Thrifters love to swap tips, compare hauls and cheer each other on, which helps explain why online groups full of proud shoppers exist. A great find is rarely kept quiet for long, because the excitement is meant to be shared. So the next time you spot something odd peeking out from under a stack of old puzzles, give it a second look. It might be nothing at all, or it might be the best story you tell this year.