Storage Wars sees bidders hope for a huge profit by placing their money on units without any knowledge of what’s inside. Sometimes, they get incredibly lucky – like the time newspapers from the day Elvis died were uncovered.
Dan and Laura once got their “oo-er” on when they discovered a pirate treasure chest worth $1,000 dollars. But the unique finds don’t stop there, as the cast have found plenty of unbelievable items on the A&E show.
From a famous art collection to finding $7.5 million in cash within a unit, the bidders’ eyes have almost popped out of their sockets at these discoveries. We placed a bet or two to come up with the five best Storage Wars finds EVER.
Frank Gutierrez art collection
The biggest return on Storage Wars was the Frank Gutierrez art collection found in season 3. Darrell Sheets discovered the work after spending $3,600 on a locker, before an art expert declared it was worth upwards of $300,000.
While some disagree with the appraisal, according to the show’s stated value, it remains one of the largest storage unit finds on record. Darrell even offered up the paintings to fans for a good price on his website.
The entire collection were totally rare paintings, with Darrell ending up selling most of the work for under $200 each.
Millions of cold hard cash
Dan Dotson auctioned off a storage unit for $500. But rather unexpectedly, the guy who bought it found a safe inside and got the surprise of a lifetime when he opened it – $7.5 million in cash!
NPR reported that an attorney for the previous owners contacted them with an offer of $600,000 reward money for the return of the cash. After declining, a second offer from the attorney saw the locker winners take $1.2 million of cash.
They then returned the remaining $6.3 million, an offer the new owners decided to accept. However, unfortunately for A&E viewers, the magical moment when the unit was auctioned off wasn’t caught on camera.
7.5 million dollars found in a #SelfStorage Unit #Auction
New #StorageWars
Nov 7th 10/9c @AETV
Here’s more to the story. https://t.co/Xea7UT6Puy…
Nationwide Self Storage
Auctions Sign Up!https://t.co/m1fWpP2qrv https://t.co/oJXPhUKzCu @paytheladylaura @storageauctnet pic.twitter.com/yH7QW0lgyZ
Newspapers from day Elvis died
Dave Hester bought a storage unit that was loaded with newspapers dated August 16, 1977. Turns out it was the exact same day music legend Elvis Presley died, with the collection later valued to be worth $90,000.
The purchase happened in the first season of Storage Wars, with its worth totally mistaken for simply a pile of newspapers at first glance. Little did he come to realise just how valuable they were!
I won one of those Elvis Newspapers from @StorageTreasure @davethemogul got on #StorageWars Framed for Ma's Christmas pic.twitter.com/xfu4OC3L
— Christopher Braddy (@ChrisBraddy) December 26, 2011Pirate treasure chest
A treasure chest was valued at $500,000 after just $1,100 was spent on the unit it was buried in. The locker was auctioned off by auctioneer duo Dan and Laura, to a man called John.
John won the bid to discover that Spanish gold coins, as well as gold and silver bars that dated back centuries, were inside a blue Rubbermaid container that initially didn’t look like anything special.
Sooo who found the REAL treasure chest with gold doubloons on #storagewars?? I wanna know!!
— Amanda (@Amanda55304) November 16, 2011The $90K worth of comic books
Darrell Sheets, aka The Gambler, discovered a collection of G.I. Joes, Hot Wheels, and a whole host of other collectible dolls and toys, along with a huge amount of comics – 3,000 of them, to be exact.
He valued each item at $10 a piece, before realising just how many there were to be found and eventually settling on an overall total that topped the collection at $90,000.
WATCH STORAGE WARS ON A&E ON TUESDAYS AT 9 PM
AND GET FREAKY WITH US ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7HApaCtsaSewaO102eaqKVfqsCiedGemKWhpK56tcKOrKuoqpGcsm7DwKuqZpqVqMFussinm6xllauys3nPoqmarJViwbOxwKysq51dmLWmv9Nmq6hlY2V9rHnFmqSoraNirrPA