1. Doulton Lambeth salt glazed stoneware brown bear, found in a garden in Hythe, Kent. Sold at £8000 at The Canterbury Auction Galleries.
Where would you think the best place is to find precious art, antiques or collectables?
An art gallery perhaps? A museum? A billionaire’s home?
You could have hidden valuables that you are not aware of right under your own roof.
According to a study by Antiques Trade Gazette of 100 unusual places where hidden art, antiques and collectables have been found in the past five years, 75% of surprising valuable finds were within the home or garden.
The top four best places for uncovering hidden gems accounted for half (50%) of all the discoveries:
1. Attics and lofts (14%)
2 = Boxes and tins (12%)
2 = Cupboards, drawers and wardrobes (12%)
2 = Garages, outbuildings and barns (12%)
Some of the more unusual locations have included a bread bin and a freezer.
During the winter break, if you are spending a few days relaxing at home it would be worth having a look to see what you can find - you may be pleasantly surprised by what you uncover.
Places to rummage
Outside the home, great places to rummage are charity shops (7%) and car boot/junk sales (8%) with more surprising locations including a seafood restaurant and a pub garden.
The study focused on items that were reported in ATG or sent to us as press releases. All the items were subsequently sold at auction, bringing the lucky owner an unexpected windfall.
Auctioneer Catherine Southon is one of many for whom uncovering special items in surprising places is all part of the day job.
“As an auctioneer discoveries are a regular occurrence but some of the most unusual finds are very memorable,” she says. “From a 16th century backgammon board found on a skip to an 18th century atlas found at the back of the wardrobe, the unusual places items are found before being offered at auction know no bounds.
“We have had so many items found in extraordinary places over the years including a Fabergé photo frame and a rare Hong Kong medal. Often it is these items that attract interest from collectors and institutions.”
2. An early 16th century gold merchant’s ring, found in a private garden close to the site of Bridlington Priory in East Yorkshire. It sold for £36,000 hammer price at TimeLine Auctions.
Richard Winterton has had similar experiences over his many years as an auctioneer.
“People squirrel away all sorts of things,” he says. “A brilliant example was a gorgeous unheated certified 4.16ct Burmese sapphire and diamond ring which we handled earlier this year. It was discovered hidden in a Derbyshire home wrapped up in a supermarket carrier bag swathed in socks and left hanging by the porch door.
“The ring sold for £11,000 at The Lichfield Auction Centre… amazing that people had been coming and going for years with no-one realising it was there.”
Here we list some of most notable recent discoveries we at ATG have been told about or have reported.
Found in gardens
1. Hidden in shoulder-high overgrown grass and weeds, a 2ft 5in (75cm) high Doulton Lambeth salt glazed stoneware brown bear was found in a garden in Hythe, Kent. Offered at auction with an estimate of £2000-3000 it sold for a hammer price of £8000 on August 7, 2019 at The Canterbury Auction Galleries. The buyer was a private collector living in South Yorkshire. The bear is likely to be the work of Royal Doulton artist Mark V Marshall who worked at the firm c.1878-1912.
2. An early 16th century gold merchant’s ring was found in a private garden close to the site of Bridlington Priory in East Yorkshire in March 2019 by a metal detectorist. After proper procedure for treasure discoveries, it was reluctantly returned to the finder as the local museum was not in a position to acquire it. The ring took a double-estimate £36,000 hammer price at TimeLine Auctions on February 25, 2020.
Found in very unusual places in the home
3. Discovered in a freezer, this antiquarian jewellery sold for £68,000 at Kidson-Trigg.
3. Discovered in a freezer next to a joint of lamb, antiquarian jewellery from a run-down house of a deceased estate sold for £68,000 at Kidson-Trigg near Swindon in November 2019.
Another example was the first-ever recording of David Bowie on lead vocals was discovered in a bread bin. Long thought lost to history, a copy of The Konrads’ 1963 demo I Never Dreamed was discovered by the band’s drummer, David Hadfield, while moving in the 1990s. He kept the find a secret until announcing in 2018 that it would to go auction. It sold for £39,360 at Omega in Merseyside.
Found in boxes and tins
4. An early 20th century sapphire and diamond ring found in a box of costume jewellery sold for £15,000 at Trevanion in February 2023.
5. A collection of letters written on behalf of the Duke of Windsor in the 1930s were found in a box among other family papers and offered at auction at Catherine Southon. The group of 14 letters from the Private Secretary of Edward VIII, all with envelopes addressed to Mrs Boraston, an avid fan, date from the period from June 1937 to Christmas 1939. On February 8, 2023, they sold for a hammer price of £350.
6. When auction house Hartleys’ valuer Daisy Hodgson was rummaging through an old biscuit tin in a family home in north London she spotted something that she thought might have great potential. Alongside various trinkets was a very dirty cornelian seal. After cleaning she found the crimson stone had a fine intaglio engraving with the signature C Brown. Following further research, the West Yorkshire firm catalogued the seal as by the celebrated Georgian gem worker Charles Brown (1749-95). Brown and his brother William both exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1770-85. Between 1786-95 most of the brother’s work was produced on commission for the court of Catherine II, Empress of Russia. The intaglio gem mounted in a gold scroll is finely carved with a version of George Stubbs’ work Horse Frightened by a Lion (1770). Estimated at £20,000- 30,000, the new discovery was hammered down at the Ilkley saleroom on December 7, 2022, for £19,000.
Found in attics and lofts
7. This ‘Russian’ tunic from Chanel’s famed spring 1922 collection was found in an attic in a house in France and sold for a hammer price of €100,000 (£86,000) at a sale in Paris held by Kerry Taylor with Maurice Auction on November 18, 2022.
8. Handwritten personal correspondence from Philip Larkin to his cousin Vera Thorpe came to light after being discovered in an attic in Sutton Coldfield. It sold for £1100 at Richard Winterton in February 2023.
9. On January 9, 2020 an oil painting of a pointer dog in an open field sold for a hammer price of £3400 at Sherborne saleroom Charterhouse. It had been found in the roof space of a Devon cottage. “Apart from being covered in a film of dust and cobwebs, it was in remarkably original condition and would certainly be described as being market fresh,” said Charterhouse auctioneer Richard Bromell. The 18in x 2ft (45 x 61cm) oil on canvas was painted by Maud Earl (1864-1943), an Anglo-American artist known for her accurate depictions of dogs. The picture was estimated at £700-1000 and sold to a US buyer.
10. Stashed in a loft for almost 50 years, a tape thought to contain possibly the first ever demo version of David Bowie’s 1972 hit Starman sold for £41,000 at Omega Auctions in Merseyside in March 2019.
Found in cupboards/drawers/ wardrobes
11. Found in a wardrobe during the clearance of a deceased estate in Spalding, ‘a group of four early 19th century French heraldic plaques’ sold way over hopes at Stamford Auction Rooms in Lincolnshire on February 26, 2022. The 9in (22cm) enamelled brass plates, each extensively inscribed and dated de VI jour de Juillet MDCCCXXI, were made in 1821 as stall plates for recipients of the Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath - the chivalric award that originated with the Plantagenets. The four plaques offered in Stamford had later been mounted on a frame for use as a planter or wastepaper basket. Estimated at £500-800 they were hammered down at £10,000.
12. Auctioneer Catherine Southon has fond memories of this item. “A couple wandered into our valuation day near Canterbury - they were the last couple that we saw on a very busy day,” she recalls. “They had moved into a family house and this was found at the back of the wardrobe. They didn’t give it a second thought but as they were coming to our valuation day they thought it may be worth finding out the date.” It turned out to be an Atlas Royal of c.1733. It sold for £24,000 on February 8, 2023.
13. A pair of oval paintings was found in a cupboard during a house clearance in south London. Each measured 18 x 15in (46 x 38cm) and both works had survived in decent condition despite a discoloured varnish. The portraits depicted Arent DePeyster and his wife Rebecca. Arent DePeyster, was a member of a prominent New York family who served in the Eighth Regiment of the British army in North America. The pair sold for a hammer price of £38,000 at Bellmans in Wisborough Green on October 11, 2022 to Mackinac Island State Park Commission, an agency of the State of Michigan, for its permanent museum collection.
Charity shop/car boot sale/antiques market
14. Bought for £20 in a charity shop a near pair of Qianlong mark and period doucai jars sold for £46,000 at Roseberys on May 16, 2023.
15. Purchased for £1 from a Hertfordshire charity shop in 2019, this Qianlong (1736-95) famille rose wall vase sold for £380,000 at Sworders on November 8, 2019. The lucky vendor of the vessel - which is inscribed with an imperial poem - was in the room at the Westbury Hotel, Mayfair, to watch it sell after a 10-minute bidding contest. Unaware of the significance of his find, he had been deluged with bids and enquiries after briefly listing it for sale on eBay. After withdrawing it from sale he took it to his local auction house for a fuller appraisal.
16. Bought for just £8, this item, described as ‘a Cornish tile’, was purchased at The Tavistock Pannier Market in Devon in June 2020. The buyer recognised it as by the famed Victorian designer William De Morgan. The lustre tile subsequently sold for £3800 from an estimate of £800-1200 at Woolley & Wallis in October 2020 thus netting the purchaser around a cool £3400 profit after fees.
Found in barns/outbuildings/garages
17. Found in a garage (about to be thrown out), this Louis Vuitton steamer trunk sold at Windsor Auctions for £8000 in November 2022.
18. A Canadian silver presentation tankard awarded in 1860 to iconic English bare-knuckle prize fighter Tom Sayers (1826- 1865) was among the treasures found in a garage in Bath when two sisters cleared out their mum’s home. It took £5000 at Hansons in January 2022.
19. An owner of an old toy car had no idea of its value. Stored in an old barn at home the Atco Junior Safety First Trainer Car was eventually offered at auction with an estimate of £3000-5000 and sold for a hammer price of £8500 at Smiths of Newent on January 6, 2022.
Found at a car boot sale/junk sale/library sale
20. Bought for 30p in a library sale after being withdrawn from Wolverhampton Library, this hardback copy of a first edition, first impression of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone appeared at Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Lichfield on July 10, 2023, where it sold for £10,500 to an online buyer bidding on thesaleroom.com.
21. Purchased at a car boot sale for £3.50 this Victorian table tennis bat served up a nice surprise for its owner when it sold for £1000 at Hansons in September 2021.
Found on a rubbish tip
22. D-Head XLVI by David Bowie, Can$90,100 (£52,690) at Cowley Abbott.
22. D-Head XLVI, a David Bowie painting that sold to a US collector for a record Can$90,100 (£52,690) at Cowley Abbott in Canada in 2021. It had been bought for Can$5 (£3) at a local rubbish tip.
Found in very unusual places outside the home
23. A huge Meiji cloisonné vase, $110,000 (£85,000) at Clars Auction Gallery.
23. A huge Meiji cloisonné vase stood as a centrepiece in one of San Francisco’s oldest seafood restaurants until it was revealed to be the missing element to a spectacular garniture made for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was sold at Clars Auction Gallery of Oakland, for $110,000 (£85,000) in February 2019.
Go further afield with metal detecting
If you want to treat hunting down valuable objects as a hobby and are willing to travel well beyond your own home to find them, then buying a metal detector and getting out and about is the way to go.
Your best chances of success are in fields in Gloucestershire, Suffolk and Lincolnshire. According to the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme’ most recent annual report (2021), 45,581 archaeological finds were reported during the period with 96% found by people metal detecting. The most recorded finds were in Gloucestershire (8113, 18%), Suffolk (4676, 10%) and Lincolnshire (4247, 9%).
